Episode 42: Memorial Day

Readings:

Psalm 46
Isaiah 40:28-31
Revelation 7:9-17
John 11:21-27

Sermon:

In the ancient Greek epic The Odyssey, there is a riveting scene where Odysseus, anxiously trying to find his way home after ten years of war and ten years of wandering, meets the spirit of Achilles, that great warrior killed at the end of the Trojan War, in the midst of Hades. It is a painful encounter, with Achilles surrounded by the spirits of those brave men who gave their lives in that conflict, once in the flower of their youth and strength, now mere wraiths wandering eternally, as if in a bad dream from which they can never wake. Achilles sums up his unhappy existence to Odysseus: “I would rather be the lowest slave among living men instead of a King among the Dead.”

If this were all our brave men and women who have given their lives for our country had to look forward to, it wouldn’t be much of a reason to celebrate their memory every year as we do today on Memorial Day. It would be kinder to let them be forgotten, to let their families forget their faces rather than picturing them wandering as disembodied ghosts for all of eternity. If that version of the afterlife was true, then there truly would be nothing worth sacrificing one’s life for, since it would all end in futility and hopelessness.

As Christians however, we have been given a great gift, not just the gift of salvation and eternal life, but the gift of hope in this life. Since Our Lord went to the gates of death and broke them open, we need no longer fear the grip of death as something that tears us from everything dear to us; rather as St. Francis of Assisi wrote in his famous hymn, death leads the child of God back home, following the path that Christ Himself went down for us.

This is not to say that we glorify death and do not value life, rather it means that as St Paul says, we do not mourn as those who have no hope. We suffer from the loss of our loved ones but we do not despair of their eternal fate. We can look forward to the day when we will be reunited and never separated again, enjoying their company and fellowship throughout all the ages.

And so, with this perspective, it is very meet and right to celebrate the memory of those who followed Our Lord’s example and laid down their lives for those they loved. We can thank God that our country has always had its share of men and women who thought it worthwhile to protect the liberties we enjoy, even at the cost of their own lives, serving not as slaves at the bidding of a tyrant, but as free people freely choosing to place their lives at the service of their nation. May God continue to bless our nation and make us worthy of the sacrifice of so many of its best lives.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.