Signs of Life

 The scriptures referred to are Isaiah 25:1-9, Philippians 4:1-9 and Matthew 22:1-14.

During my 40 years of nursing I have taken care of hundreds of patients. Most lived and got better, a few died. And after a while, you develop the ability to instantly, upon walking into a room, tell if a patient lying in bed is either sleeping or has passed away. I think it is the absolute stillness of a body that not only is no longer breathing but which is without any movement whatsoever. And I just learned that video can detect a heartbeat by picking up on tiny color changes in the face that occur when blood pulses under the skin. Supposedly it is so subtle that people can't see it but computers can, which helps them distinguish between deep fakes created by AI and videos of real people. However, I wonder if a nurse or a doctor can also sense it, albeit unconsciously.

Most deaths that I have witnessed, or come upon just after it happened, are peaceful. That and my own near fatal car crash, in which I passed out because of a collapsed lung and woke up later out of a coma, have left me unafraid of death. Mind you, there are certain ways I would not like to die. But death itself does not hold terror for me. If given a death sentence at my age, I would more likely experience regret over things I would never live to see, like my grand kids growing up, or ever seeing my great grandchildren. I am glad that my father got to see his great grandchild a month before his death.

And that is the real sting of death: losing loved ones. Death is the ultimate separation. If a friend or relative moves away, you can still see them, either through a visit or by video call. But once a person has died, that is the last time we will see and talk to them. I wonder if it's really hard for the relatives and friends of celebrities who've died to see pictures and movies of their loved ones everywhere. Robin Williams' daughter has asked that people stop making AI videos of him. Can you imagine how creepy that would be? And yet there are companies who are trying to sell people on the idea of having an AI version of a deceased person made that can, through audio and video sampling, interact with those they left behind. To me, that is the ultimate denial of the reality of death.

Yet the belief in a life after this one is a persistent feature of human psychology. More than 100,000 years ago, in the Qafzeh cave in lower Galilee, not far from Nazareth, humans were buried with grave goods, like tools, that seem to indicate belief in an afterlife. I think it is safe to say that we are the only animals who not only know that we will die but who also envision that death is not the absolute end of our existence.

In our reading from Isaiah, the prophet is praising God for all the wonderful things he does, like protecting them from their enemies and offering a refuge for the poor and needy. And then he moves on to an even bigger concern: death. After talking about a great feast that God will prepare for all peoples on Mt. Zion, he says God will destroy “the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the covering that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever.”

This passage is interesting for 2 reasons. First, there is the connection of a banquet with death. Throughout most of the Hebrew Bible, Sheol is where all the dead go and it is a gloomy place of dust, decay and darkness. There is no praise and indeed no thought or speech. (Psalms 30:9; 94:17; Ecclesiastes 9:10) There is no rejoicing or banqueting. But here we see the Lord setting out a fine banquet that is to be shared with all people.

Secondly, at this banquet where people are feasting, God “will swallow up death forever.” And this is in contrast to an earlier passage in Isaiah where we are told of God's impending judgment on his people who take from the poor, oppress them and grind them down. (Isaiah 3:14-15) In response God says, “So Death will open up its throat, and open wide its mouth; Zion's dignitaries and masses will descend into it, including those who revel and celebrate within her.” (Isaiah 5:14) Those who were partying when they should have been helping the poor will be swallowed up by death. It is possible that Isaiah was calling up a picture of the Canaanite god Mot, who was the personification of death and swallowed up people when they died. But in today's passage, God reverses that. He swallows up death. The enemy of all peoples will be no more. And we are told, “Then the Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces...” This is echoed in Revelation where we read, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.” (Revelation 21:4)

The God of the Bible is the God of life. He created life and everything that goes with it, like food and drink and joy. Death is the negation of all of that. It's like how a black hole sucks in everything around it and lets nothing out, not even light. God is the opposite. He is the source of all that is good. Which is why good things tend to be found together. For instance, where there is genuine love, you also find compassion, justice and mercy.

In our passage from Philippians, Paul tells us to focus our minds on a group of good things. We are to think about whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, anything that is excellent, and anything worthy of praise. These things go together, because they are signs of moral and spiritual health. Their opposites are also often found together: things that are false, dishonorable, unjust, sinful, disagreeable, not recommended, substandard and worthy of scorn. They are symptoms of things that are morally and spiritually unhealthy. Left untreated, they will eventually lead to death.

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus tells a parable about another banquet. The setup is that a king is giving a wedding feast for his son. We are told, “He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited...” In other words, these are people who have already received and accepted invitations. The king is now sending word that the food is ready. “My oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered.” This is a lavish feast. One fattened calf could feed a village. He doesn't want the food to spoil. But now the people who had previously accepted the invitations are too busy to come. This would be a grave insult, especially to a king. Still he sends out messengers to get people to come as they had agreed to. When some of the invitees actually mistreat and kill some of his slaves, they receive a punishment they should have expected. So then he sends his slaves out to invite anyone, good or bad, to the banquet. In the parallel passage in Luke, they are told to bring in “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.” (Luke 14:21) The king wants the wedding hall filled with anyone who accepts his invitation.

In Matthew's version, the king “noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe.” When he asks the man how he got in without proper attire, the man doesn't answer. And we think, “That's weird. The king has invited people from the streets. How could this man have gotten a wedding robe at such short notice?” But the king would know this and since it would be an insult to appear with dirty work clothes, some commentators posit that the king provided wedding garments for the guests. For this man then to refuse the garment provided would be an insult. And he knows this because he can't even come up with an excuse. So he is ejected from the wedding banquet.

Garments often represent righteousness in the New Testament. (Galatians 3:27; Revelation 7:13-14) In Revelation, the bride of the Lamb of God, that is, the church, makes herself ready. We read, “Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God's holy people.)” (Revelation 19:8) Since the fine linen was given, the righteous deeds were also given by God acting through his people. And we do see folks who supposedly accept God's invitation to enter his kingdom but who do not avail themselves of the righteousness he provides through Jesus. That healing of our sinful self comes through his Spirit, whom we receive when we accept Jesus, especially at baptism. As Peter says at Pentecost, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38) Having the Spirit is an essential part of following Jesus. Paul says “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if someone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.” (Romans 8:9) Even for those who have the Spirit, it is possible to not respond to the Spirit because Paul also admonishes us not to quench or extinguish the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19) And the vital signs that we are in the Spirit and that the Spirit is in us is that we produce the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

This parable is about accepting or refusing God's invitation to become part of his kingdom. The people who previously said they would come didn't. So God extends his invitation to everyone. Some who say they accept it refuse to do what goes along with accepting Jesus. Once a man who claimed he was a Christian actually told me that to say he should change his lifestyle and turn from his sins was legalistic because we are saved through faith and not by works. True, but in that same passage he was quoting Paul says, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10) We are not saved by works but we are saved for them. When I had my accident, I wasn't made better by walking; I was made better by trusting the surgeon to cut me open and put me back together. But he did that so that I could walk. If, as I've seen patients with hip or knee replacements do, I refused to do my physical therapy, I wouldn't walk again and the surgeon would have fixed my legs for nothing. Being able to walk was a sign of my recovery, that I was getting better, that I was reclaiming my life.

God is the source of life and of all good things. And Jesus illustrates this by depicting the kingdom of God as a banquet with lots of good food. It is a joyous celebration of the wedding of Jesus, the Lamb of God, and his bride, the church. And as we see in Isaiah, it is also a celebration of the end of death. God's eternal life will swallow up death. God will live with us and wipe away all our tears. Death need not spell our permanent separation from God or our loved ones. We need only to accept God's invitation, gratefully receive the righteousness given us by Jesus, and let his Spirit work through us to make us better people, people who are not out of place at his banquet, who can't wait to celebrate being with God and enjoying all the good things he has in store for us.