A Christian Woman Thinks (And It's Dangerous)

Short and Sweet

Here's another essay for you. Let's call it #49 (randomly assigned) of my collection for A Christian Woman Thinks (and it's dangerous).

Short and Sweet

My uncle Jim died unexpectedly last year. One day he was with us, the next he was clutching his chest in pain. He died before reaching the hospital.

I was sad, but believe he has joined Jesus in heaven, where I hear gas is much cheaper (just kidding, of course). What I mean to say is, he’s enjoying eternal life right now. Lucky guy.

I read his obituary; it surprised me. Not because of its content, but because of its length. It consisted of maybe three paragraphs, and the third was made up entirely of the required list of relatives section. The other two paragraphs were only a line or two each. They simply said who he was, that he liked motorcycles, that he died and had a bunch of relatives. That’s how I remember it.

It struck me, this sparse accounting of life. I felt bad about it. Why, I don’t know. Is there shame in having a short obituary?

Jesus had a short obituary. It was nailed up above His head on the cross. It read something like this, as I remember it: Here is Jesus, King of the Jews.

Wow. Even shorter than my uncle Jim’s. Not even a list of relatives section.

Yet, didn’t that small accounting of Jesus’s life and death say so much in so little space? First, who He was. He was Jesus. Emmanuel. God with us, in the flesh! The One the scriptures had been talking about for years. The Lamb of God. Right there before all eyes present. Look no further, this is Jesus.

Second: King... He is King! The soldiers meant this in mockery, but in mocking they unknowingly admitted a great truth. He is a king! Not prince, not duke, but king (you must read this line and do the voice of the Cowardly Lion in your head while doing so - I’ll write it again here so you can do this). Not prince, not duke, but King! (stretch your hand up, finger in the air, make a statement. Yeah, that’s it). King!

Third: (King)....of the Jews. Hold the phone, I’m not Jewish. Doesn’t apply to me. Could have stopped the obit after King, right? Wrong. This says everything about His heritage, about God’s special relationship with the Jews, about the lineage Christ descended from.... it’s important, because it was all part of the plan. It’s kind of the list of relatives section, isn’t it? King of the Jews. King of God’s chosen people. Are you one of the "chosen?" That means us, too. He is King of us if we accept Him as our King. In doing the choosing of Him, we become part of the "chosen." Funky, eh?

I’ve started to write my own obituary I think it should be something of a cross between my uncle Jim’s and Jesus’s. Something like this: Here is Chris. She liked music & stuff. She had these relatives (insert list of relatives here). She is a daughter of the King of the Jews.

Short, but sweet. Just the way I’ve come to think it should be.

Speaking of short and sweet, here's one of my other favorite short and sweet things - my niece Brooke Amber. She turned 1 in May, and she's a delight. Finally, one of my brothers had a child and didn't leave me on my own in the production of grandchildren department.