Today’s Scripture Reading (April 2,
2015): Revelation 19
On May 2,
2011, Osama Bin Laden was buried in the Arabian Sea. The decision, at least in
some circles, was not a popular one. Family members and supporters argued that the
burial at sea deprived them of their right to mourn Bin Laden’s life and
passing. Under Islamic custom, the body should have been buried on land with
his head pointing toward Mecca – Islam’s holy city. Even if no one wanted the
body, the appropriate thing to do would have been to go to a deserted island
and bury the body in an unmarked grave with his head pointed toward Mecca. Of
course, with Osama Bin Laden, that was not the case. There were many who wanted
to take care of the body and bury him according to Islamic tradition. But for
the Americans that was the point. They feared that even an unmarked grave on a
deserted island could quickly become a shrine around which his supporters could
rally. And that was not acceptable to the ones who had taken Bin Laden’s life.
Besides, there seemed to be a bit of a poetic justice that the one who
engineered the 9-11 attacks, an event which produced many bodies that could not
be recovered and given a proper burial according to North American customs,
would not receive a proper burial himself – even though in Bin Laden’s case a
proper burial was possible. And so a decision was reached to bury Bin Laden at
sea – and essentially to try to pretend that the man had never existed.
Burial is an
important part of life. All life ends, and customs with regard to how to handle
the end of life vary from culture to culture, but in the end we somehow know
intuitively that the dead should be handled with great respect. It is ingrained
into us from the very beginning. My first conscious understand of this concept
was probably from an old episode of Star Trek that I watched as a kid. Trapped
on a hostile planet, looking for a way to get off, a crewman dies. And as far
as Commander Spock was concerned, there was no need to bury the dead, what
mattered now was the simple act of getting off of the planet. But others in the
doomed shuttlecraft disagreed. Beyond every other consideration, even the
ability to survive, was the proper and respectful burial of the dead. We will
even risk life in our attempt to treat the dead properly and with respect. It
is also the motive behind the idea of “no soldier left behind” – a treasured
military value within our culture.
So it is not
surprising that many are offended by this image in John’s vision. The picture
John draws with his words, which are highly symbolic, is of a battle in which
the enemy is killed. In fact, all of the enemy forced are killed – there is no
one left standing after the battle. So there is also no one left to take care
of the dead, and therefore the dead lie motionless on the battlefield, and are
left for the birds to come and pick at the flesh.
The passage
speaks of this God who is creator and the author of life, also being able to
speak death (the sword coming out of the mouth). It is the culmination of
something that we know from biology. There really is no such thing as stasis,
from a biological standpoint we are either in the process of growing (and
living) or dying. From a Spiritual standpoint, for those in the end who have
chosen life, life will be given to them. But for those who refuse to make that
choice, there is only death. There simply are no other options. And for those
who die outside of God, in the end there can be no proper handling of death. It
is an unnecessary end when life (and honor) could have been chosen. And so the
bodies of the dead lie on the battlefield waiting to be eaten by the wild
animals. Because there can be no respect and no honor outside of God.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:
Revelation 20
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