From the Pastor’s Study (7/24/22)
I am often asked what I think about cremation as opposed to burial. A generation ago fewer than one-in-twenty were cremated at death. Many older folks still prefer traditional burial, but today the cost of cremation is two-thirds less. Primarily because of that, fully half of all Americans who die this year will be cremated rather than buried.
I tell people that the Bible does not forbid cremation. While my answer is based solely on my understanding of what the Bible teaches, I also sympathize with the problem of burial cost. For some it is a genuine hardship.
However, when asked, I also express a preference for burial – not a conviction, but a preference. That too is based on what I believe the Bible teaches.
When He died, Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb. The third day after His crucifixion, He rose from the dead. The Christian’s hope is that, just as Christ rose from the dead, someday all those who trust in Him will be raised from the grave in a body suited to everlasting life. Burial is not just a means of disposing of a body. It is a picture. It is a seed planted in anticipation of a future harvest of eternal physical life.
Cremation effectively erases this picture. People whose bodies are cremated essentially disappear. While sometimes the ashes are buried, often they are scattered in a field, on a lake, or rather irreverently stored on a closet shelf in an urn or a box. The departed are now part of the past; a memory. But the Bible teaches that these people are not just history, but are a continuing reality with a future.
For various reasons, in addition to the expense, families who choose cremation are far less likely to host a memorial service or a funeral. This is unfortunate. There is an old saying, “grief shared is grief diminished.” It is healthy for people to mourn with loved ones; to “weep with those who weep.” (Rom. 12:15) But more importantly, funerals are an opportunity to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I covet the opportunity to speak at funerals. A eulogy is appropriate at a funeral, but much more so is the gospel. Wise King Solomon wrote, “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house feasting, for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart.” (Eccl. 7:2) Who would not rather attend a birthday party, or a graduation open house than a funeral? Yet who ever left such gatherings with their priorities challenged, their outlook changed, their heart stirred? Funerals are an unparalleled opportunity to consider seriously the things that matter most – the value and brevity of life, the certainty of death, the question of life after death, and a man’s accountability to God. It pulls back the curtain of time, and briefly allows – if not forces – people to look into eternity and consider the state of their own soul and its relationship to the Almighty.
I was a high school teenager standing by my grandmother’s grave in the summer of 1979. I watched as her coffin was lowered into the ground. The grave marker was already in place. On it was inscribed verses from the book of Job. “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” (Job 19:25, 26) I was at first appalled by the words my grandmother herself had chosen to be her memorial for succeeding generations to read. Worms?!? This text refers to the decomposition of the body. How tasteless, I thought. But as I laid it to my heart, in the words of Solomon, I grasped the message God and my grandmother wanted me to hear. She believed that, yes, her buried body would decompose. But just as the Redeemer, Jesus, is risen and alive today, someday she would be raised. This burial was not just grim grief. It was bright hope and promise. Today, largely due to the lessons learned at a burial, my faith is firmly fixed on that Redeemer. I fully expect someday to see my grandmother again, and to live with her in the presence of God.