Long Live The King....

The king is dead. As the Associated Press reported a few days ago, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia was laid to rest.

But it wasn't that which caught my attention so much as it was the manner in which he was buried.

I guess you'd expect the deceased monarch of an oil rich country to receive all the benefits of, well, a king. To be buried in a gigantic crypt. To be richly adorned. To be kingly.

But no...he was "wrapped in a plain brown cloth on a wooden plank" and buried in an unmarked grave. That was that. Throw him in a hole and walk away.

The news site indicated that this practice was followed "in keeping with the kingdom's austere version of Islam." Now, left or right, conservative or liberal, think what you will about the Muslim world...about the country of Saudi Arabia...about the leadership of oil-rich nations...but this is impressive.

Sure, maybe King Fahd lived a decadent life up until the last. Maybe for him and his family this burial is just a meaningless symbol.

But it isn't that for me.

It is a powerful example of what death means. Of what life means. Of what my relationship with God means.

Our mortality strips us of everything we think we have and leaves us only who we are inside. Who we are before God. Rich or poor, weak or strong, saint or sinner.

What do we really take to the grave with us? What is our life about? Is it about anything that will persist?

Good questions, I guess...for all of us.

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."

Job 1:21