Week 4: Burial

Mostly Dead

It sometimes seems inconceivable, but one of my all-time favorite movies is The Princess Bride. In this famous Mel Brooks classic, a couple falls in love and is separated by fate. The movie traces their trials and tribulations alongside a cast of hilarious characters as they finally end up together. My dad taught his children to quote the film at every possible opportunity. In one scene, the main character is discovered dead by his side kicks. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum it up.

They take his dead body to Miracle Max, the local doctor/medicine man. Though initially Miracle Max refuses to see the patient, when he finally does, he announces, "He's only mostly dead! That means he's partly alive."

It's one of the more absurd lines in an entirely absurd movie, but it has always stuck with me.

In our final reading on being formed into the burial of Jesus, we read from Philippians chapter 3. In this text, Paul does not explicitly mention burial, but he does talk adamantly about his longing to join in the death of Jesus. Paul even gets a little sentimental. He reflects on all the things that used to matter to him and gave him an identity. He reflects on his Jewish heritage. He reflects on his training in legalistic righteousness. After reflecting on all of this, he is adamant that all of these things are simply rubbish compared to being found in Christ and united with Christ.

I think Paul's wrestling and longing in this text hit home with each of us. I'd bet my life that everyone who follows Christ struggles with the same longing. We want to be like Christ. We want to be transformed in an ever-increasing measure into his glory. We want to join him in his death, burial, and resurrection. Yet we feel trapped by the lust and lure of the world around us. Why is this?

I think it's because, if we're honest, most of us are only “mostly dead.” We want to bury parts of ourselves with Jesus. We want him to take our sin and our shame to the grave with him, but some other things about us we'd like to hold on to, such as our wealth, our prosperity, our beauty, our status, our fandom, and most of all our strong and stringent hold on control.

I think that's why so much of our spiritual life seems less than fulfilling. We have half-hearted discipleship because most of us have never entirely died with Christ. We have left parts of ourselves unburied. In his great mercy, Jesus just slowly prods us on.

“Bury that part too,” he says to us, “and that part and that part.”

Eventually, throughout our life, we find more and more of our previous self baptized and buried with Jesus.

What part of your life is Jesus asking you to bury today?

In what areas have you resisted dying with Christ?