Yesterday we took a family trip to the graveyard. As we walked around, we noticed some massive spire monuments and large family mausoleums. We saw one large family mausoleum that was completely made of marble that likely cost well over a million dollars. All it had on the outside was a name, a name that will one day be forgotten. Even in death, people strive to glorify their own name with their wealth. Yet it is all in vain.
Otto's Tomb
Now, I am not against elegant burials. It is a fine thing to honor the dead. They do look nice and they provide some great jobs. Jesus was buried in a rich man’s tomb. Many venerated saints have decorated tombs are still destinations today.
What I am really trying to get at is the heart of the people here. It is one thing to be honored in death. It is quite another to be facing death and to yearn to honor yourself. That is what many of these monuments are. Looking at the dates on the tombs, many of these people were old and were probably making their own plans for their burial. Confronted with death, they decided the best thing to do was to spend large sums of money to make sure that at least their name stuck around.
As we walked around I saw one particularly well built mausoleum with a gorgeous stained glass window inside. What stood out to me is that instead of a last name, it had a full name: Otto W. ___ MD. (I censored the last name). What was interesting is that this was one of the only tombs that explicitly declared an accomplishment in life. Sure, some say “beloved mother” or “husband”, but I did not see any that mentioned professional achievement. By putting on the “MD”, Otto wanted to explicitly declare “I was a successful doctor”. With a wonderfully landscaped yard and a beautiful building, here lies Otto and his wife Edna. A couple hundred thousand dollars will do that. But in only a few years the trees will die, the tomb will fall apart, and the name of Otto will be lost. Up close, you can see how already thousands of bugs are nesting in the stone, showing its slow but steady decay.
Bug nests on Otto's tomb
I really hope this was not the only legacy Otto left. But for most of Americans, this is our legacy. We work hard, build wealth, glorify ourselves, and ignore God. When facing death, the best we got it to turn to our stuff and make a last ditch effort to make our name live on when our body won’t. I know a guy who has the license plate: ”He who dies with the most toys wins”. (It was interesting given he definitely was not going to win if that was the barometer.) I like the license plate: ”he who dies with the most toys… still dies”. Our stuff is fleeting! We can’t bring it with us! It is NOT what we live for.
We talked about how even today we are similar to the pharaohs of Egypt. They tried to live forever by building grand monuments to themselves. They even packed their tombs full of actual money in order to buy off whoever was on the other side. And today, many of us are working as if our stuff will somehow give us the eternal life our heart desires.
But that stuff is fleeting. It will rot and be gone. This is why Jesus tells us
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:19-21, emphasis mine)
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be. In their last days, these people put their hearts in these tombs… which will one day be gone. Where is your heart?