Easter, 2013

Today it is Good Friday so everyone’s thoughts go to this day over 2,000 years ago when our Lord and Savior was crucified.  It is always a sad day to me but then Sunday soon comes and we rejoice in His resurrection.  I read where traditionally people actually go through a crucifixion in three villages in the Philippines to atone for their sins and hope for miracles.  Several dozen people re-enact the crucifixion and hang on the cross for a few minutes with nails in their hands and feet and then are taken down and put on a cot for medical attention.  The Catholic Church does not condone these practices that have occurred each year from the 1950’s but it is still done each year.  Even if we hung on a cross until we died, it would not mean the same because Christ took on our sins and set us free with His sacrifice. We could have our bodies burned or do whatever else we might do and it’s meaningless because nothing we can do atones for our sins.  Only the blood of Christ saves us because He was the Son of God.   This is what we reflect on each and every Sunday as we remember Him and his sacrifice, and His resurrection, with the emblems of the Lord’s Supper.  He told his apostles as often as they partake of the supper; we remember his death on the cross.

We all have thought about heaven and what it will be like.  All I know is what the Bible says about it.  It’s too difficult for the human mind to comprehend eternity and the hereafter.  I do know from reading the Bible what it is NOT.   People have come up with all kinds of things that did not come from knowing the Bible.   We get a description of heaven in Revelation but is the language figurative?  

     “Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.  Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates and names written on them which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south and three gates on the west.  Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.  And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates and its wall.  The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth and height are equal.  Then he measured its wall; one hundred and forty-four cubics, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.  The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.  The foundation of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysophase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.  The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was one pearl.  And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.”

The overall effect is that of an incredibly beautiful and transparent city, symbolizing never-ending glory and purity.  We know there will be no pain, suffering or tears there.  We will be with Jesus and the angels that serve Him.  What will we do?  I don’t know but I don’t think we’ll be bored as we are as in the human body.  I think we may sing beautiful songs of praise.  Will we know each other?  I don’t know but there’s indication that we will from reading the story of the rich man and Lazarus.  Will we be as husband and wife?  According to Jesus instructions to the Pharisees when they questioned whose wife the woman would be that had seven brothers as husbands, there will be NO marriage in heaven.  The spiritual body will be different from the physical body. 

Have you heard of Ghost Marriages?   An article came from our son in China.  He read this on-line as he searched for interesting news:

Chinese families are increasingly performing "ghost marriages," where they seek out eternal companions for their deceased relatives.

Is love eternal?
While that can be a difficult question to answer, ABC News reports that a growing number of families in rural China are hoping to make it as everlasting as possible by reviving "ghost marriages," the ancient Chinese tradition of marrying two corpses and placing them to live with each other underground.

Traditionalist Chinese families can be reluctant to leave their dead, unmarried relatives without a spouse. According to ancient folklore, lonely corpses might rise from the dead and try to take the living back to their world to keep them company.

While the custom fizzled in the past century after Mao Zedong and the Communist Party tried to eliminate it in 1949, it has experienced a resurgence in rural Chinese coal communities where money is becoming more abundant and where young men frequently die in coal mining accidents.

When mining accidents turn tragic, victims' families typically receive financial compensation. According to China Daily, the families of 23 miners killed in a 2011 coal-gas burst at Xiangshui CoalMine in Guizhou each received almost $164,000 from the company that controlled the mine, the GuizhouPanjiangGroup.  With the restitution money and other mining-related proceeds in hand, many rural superstitious Chinese have become able to not only afford expensive dowries and elaborate ceremonies, but also the most desirable corpses.  A recently deceased young, attractive woman can fetch $30,000 on the black market, NBC reported.

Unfortunately, the surge of new money and demand for brides has created a brimming grave-robbing industry in rural China as well. Earlier this month, according to The Guardian, a Chinese court sentenced four men to prison for stealing 10 female corpses, falsifying their medical records and selling them for roughly $38,000. To increase a cadaver's asking price, criminals have even resorted to performing plastic surgery on the deceased, NBC reported.

Along with grave diggers, "ghost matchmakers" have also sprung up near the coal communities. The intermediaries assist in the selection of the corpses and broker their acquisition between two families. The matchmakers have been known to travel to extreme lengths to procure the best cadavers. According to the Global Times, they sometimes lurk in Chinese hospitals where they cut deals with grieving families. Worse, according to ABC, a Chinese man murdered six women in 2006 so he could sell them for ghost marriages.

When the deceased are more ethically and lawfully obtained, their unions can be similar to those of the living: expensive and festive. A brother and sister profiled by NBC News spent $2,500 on betrothal gifts to the family of their father's new 21-year-old bride, who died in 1989. Their father was divorced when he died at the age of 48 in 1968.

Entertainment is sometimes present at "ghost marriages" and guests commonly eat and drink. After the ceremony, the deceased newlyweds' families typically remain close. According to NBC, some Chinese think the bond between the families of the deceased is closer than the one shared by in-laws of the living.

There is no end to the things people can dream up.  We read about the terra cotta soldiers uncovered in a tomb of an Emporia in Xi’an China.  I watched a PBS documentary where they tried to determine how they were constructed and how long it took to get this army of soldiers ready to bury with the dead Emporia.  It was an amazing feat.  But, apparently the dead Emporia never needed his army to fight the enemy.  They were still intact and standing at attention after all these years. 

We know that the Egyptians buried many things with them for the afterlife.  The same thing was true of the American Indian.  People from every nation have believed in a “higher power” and life after death.  It is still traditional in rural China today to bury pictures of money, cell phones, furniture, cars, etc. so the dead person can have them on the “other side.”   Once a year there is a Tomb Sweeping Holiday when the Chinese people go to the gravesites and decorate the graves with artificial wreaths of flowers.  They leave an actual plate of food there for the dead loved one to eat.  Some really poor people go to the grave after people leave and pick up the food to eat themselves. 

Another question we often have but I can’t answer is, “When we die, will our souls go straight to heaven?”   I know many people believe this.  I often read where someone says of a loved one, “She is in the arms of Jesus now.”  Or “She is an angel in Heaven now.”  When Jesus died, for three days he went to Paradise, the realm of the dead In Christ.  He did not have a bodily resurrection until Sunday and he did not ascend into heaven until 40 days later.  Acts 2:34…”For David did not ascend into the heavens…”   John 3:13 “No one has ascended to heaven, but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  He told his apostles in John 14:2, “I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. “   If he has not come back to receive the apostles, he has not received others in heaven yet.  That promise is good enough for me.  I can rest in Paradise until He’s ready to return.  Another question we often ask or think about is, “Will we know anything at the time of death?”   The rich man knew where he was but is that story an analogy?  I don’t know.  I read in Eccl. 9:4 “For the living know that they will die.  But the dead know nothing.  And they have no more reward.”   At death, the determination for the soul is fixed.  There’s no repentance for the dead.  We cannot pray someone out as one religious group practices. 

This may seem to be a morbid subject but thinking of the resurrection of Jesus on Sunday brings us such glorious hope.  None of us want to live in this life forever.  The worries, the suffering and sadness we face would be too much.  The promise of eternal life in heaven with Jesus someday is the goal we must focus on each and every day of our lives.  We do not know the day or hour he will return.  We must be ready.