“Memento Mori”: Remember That You Must Die

We want to direct one another’s attention to our death. This is also “Practical Christianity,” or, if you would, “Family Guidance.”

I know very well that to consider one’s death is not an everyday subject we think about. In fact, we talk much more frequently about the expectations of our life than about our death. Somehow this is quite strange, for nothing is so insecure as our life. The breath of our life is in our nostrils, and when the Lord takes it away, we are gone. God has appointed us once to die, and after that the judgment.

Take your daily newspaper and read about the events which occurred in one day:

A 16-year-old was killed by a cartruck accident.

Four university students were killed in a car-train accident.

An 84-year-old person died in a nursing home.

A seven-year-old child died.

A three-month-old baby died.

A 55-year-old man died suddenly from a heart-attack.

A 70-year-old man killed himself, unable to cope with his wife’s death.

A 38-year-old mother died after a long bout with cancer.

I could continue this list, and so could you. Every day there is a new list in the paper. Each one of those people had a name, a family and friends who loved them. When you read many obituaries, some stand out in your mind because you knew them personally. We too have to die some day, and each time that a family member or friend of ours or a fellow member of our church dies, we are reminded about death.

When you awoke this morning, may I ask you what your thoughts about your life have been until now? Has your life reached its goal, or did you fail? Are you still looking forward to the fulfillment of some dreams or expectations for the future? When your fellowmen evaluate your life, what will they say? When you thumb through old photograph albums, you will quickly realize how much you have changed, physically, over the past years.

If this were the last day of your life, what would you do? If one of your dear ones was dying, what would you do? Have you ever thought about your death — whether or not you are ready to meet the Lord? If you knew that you were dying, what would you like those who are with you to do for you?

It is our duty to make appropriate plans for death; otherwise our loved ones are forced to make these difficult decisions at a time when they are most vulnerable.

It is true, we deny that we too must die. Yes, even in our circles people don’t want to think about it. We close our eyes to reality. Still, there is nothing else that we can be so sure of as the fact that we must die, but it has to become reality for us and we have to consider this very carefully.

The late Rev. B. Smytegelt said in a sermon that every little sharp pain proves to us that we carry death within us. And hasn’t everyone experienced pain at some time or other?

The vast majority of us dislike discussing our own death, neither do we want to make preparations for it. We postpone making our will, or updating it. We do not like to prepare for our burial. We would rather not talk about or consider this subject at all. And yet, God’s Word proclaims that we have already begun to die, from the very beginning of our life. Thus, we should not be so averse to dealing with the fact that we have to die. It is our duty to make appropriate plans for death; otherwise our loved ones are forced to make these difficult decisions at a time when they are most vulnerable, and may lack the time to make them carefully. Indeed, all of us must put in writing our burial instructions and leave them with those who have the responsibility of arranging matters. Making our last will is very important for everyone. For, the time in which we live is characteristic of change for all codes of our living standards, even those regarding our death. Hence, it is our duty to express in our will what has to be done with our body, after our death.

While the value of man’s life decreases considerably (think about abortion and euthanasia) the set norms for burial also change. Cremation of dead bodies is rapidly becoming a more common custom. Without realizing it we are drawn into various situations with the trends of the times. Consequently, opinions regarding the difference between burial and cremation are changing in favor of the latter, which is prevailing more and more. We must let ourselves be guided by God’s Word, which gives us the only trustworthy light which we need.

We read in Genesis 23 that Abraham bought a burying place from the sons of Heth, to bury his deceased loved ones. And in Genesis 25 we read that he himself has been buried there next to Sarah, his wife. His sons, Isaac and Ishmael, did it. Did not Abraham stipulate to his sons before he died where he was to be buried?

In Genesis 49:29-33 we read of Jacob’s last will — a very affecting one! “And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. The purchase of the field and the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.”

Hebrews 13:7 says: “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.”

Now this is what I want to bring to your attention in this article. “Memento Mori”: Remember that you must die. To do this, or not to do this, is a matter of faith or unbelief! Moses prayed in Psalm 90: “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” And David prayed in Psalm 39: “Lord, make me to know my end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, Thou hast made my days as a hand-breath, and mine age is as nothing before Thee.” Ethan says in Psalm 89: “What man is he that lives and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?” Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3 that there is “a time to be born, and a time to die.” It is not mentioned that there is a time to live.

Regarding Joseph’s last will we read in Genesis 50:24-26: “And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which He sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.” Joseph’s instructions were faithfully carried out when the children of Israel left Egypt to go to the promised land. For after the conquest under Joshua, Joseph’s bones were buried in Shechem, and that burial place became an inheritance of Joseph’s children (Josh. 24:32). We read of Ruth’s last will in Ruth 1:16,17, ‘Thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God; where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried.”

Though I could add many more Biblical proofs, let these quotations suffice for now. An old divine once concluded his sermon: “Consider much the day, and the moment, that you have to die”!

I want to endorse this statement. “Memento Mori,” remember that you must die, old and young, sick and healthy; meditate on it; think about your future. No, not the distant future, but the near future. We are often reminded of the actuality of our death when a family member, an acquaintance, or a friend dies, or by serious accidents. As long as we live we tend to think it always concerns someone else. And according to our imaginations, the next one who has to die, has to again be someone else. We think then about someone who is old and weak.

Sadly, as long as we are strong and healthy, especially when we are still young, we do not realize that death can also be close for us. Our death is not fiction, but a fact. As we review our lives, we realize there is a great disparity in the age of our readers. It may be that there are teenagers, a ten or twelve-year-old, or someone twenty years old. They assume that they have a long life lying before them. There are older ones, and even very old ones among us who have lived many years already — thirty, forty-five, seventy, ninety, or perhaps even more years. Yes, there is a big difference in the life-span of men. But if we, while thinking ahead, will pause for a moment, I want you to meditate upon this:

How long do you expect to live? May I whisper the answer? All our lives are proportional. There is but one step between us and death. No, there is no dissimilarity between young or old, healthy or weak ones. Every minute can be our last one. That’s why it is so necessary that we prepare ourselves for our approaching death.

Sometimes we are reminded suddenly, unexpectedly of preparing ourselves for death. It seems to be customary in America that business people try to sell their products by telephone. Because I personally do not like such a business system, I usually interrupt such callers’s sales-pitch with: “I am not interested.” But a couple months ago, I gave this same answer to one who called to sell me a grave. You know how it goes in such a conversation, “There are still some graves available; the price is still below the market,” etc. My answer was more or less an annoyed one, “I am not interested.” Who would ever try to sell you a grave by telephone? It was hard to believe. Still, this conversation by phone prompted me to reflect on it. I came to the conclusion that making preparations for our burial is not only an actual necessity, but it is Biblical to settle these matters because we are assured that they shall come. I discovered that my, “I am not interested,” was unbiblical!

This is the background of why I want to bring this article to your attention. But, dear friends, don’t think exclusively about your death and grave because dying means meeting God, our Judge. And we cannot meet God peacefully without soul-saving union with Christ by faith. We need to die with Him, and to be risen with Him, into a new life. How happy Asaph was when he could say: “Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory”!

The bodies of God’s children may rest in peace, because their graves are sanctified by Christ. They are waiting for the great morning of the resurrection. They are sown in corruption and shall be raised in incorruption (1 Cor. 15:42).

Dear readers, I know, you would rather lay this article aside, especially if you are still young and healthy. But I want to advise you to consider it very carefully. May it bring you on your knees, praying: “Lord, teach me how weak I am and frail.”

When a person has to be buried in the Netherlands, it is a custom that the church bells ring. The elderly among us will remember that. It is called “tolling the death-bell.” This was the means of conversion for a young man at one time. In behalf of the deceased one, that bell told him, as it were: “Today, me; tomorrow, you!”

I hope that this might be such a message for many of you. It’s a message for all, for old and young. ‘Thus sayeth the Lord: Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.” Please read Isaiah 38.

Rev. H. Hofman is pastor of the Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Kalamazoo, Michigan.

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