A contractor once told me that he had been hired to dig a trench through a long-forgotten cemetery. I will spare you the graphic details, but suffice it to say that nothing was considered sacred. I had already read articles about such graveyards, so I was unsurprised. The articles spoke of town councils that had made comprehensive searches for anyone who might claim a connection to old graves in their towns, but found no one.
Solomon reminds us that remembrance of people and events has a use-by date when he writes:
“People don’t remember what happened long ago, and in the future people will not remember what happens now. Even later, other people will not remember what was done before them” (Ecclesiastes 1:11NCV)
Mighty Empires, led by exceedingly powerful leaders, have literally come and gone – leaving but a few clues of their existence. At the heights of their power they would have removed you from the face of the earth for suggesting that one day no one will remember them.
Although some of us can trace our family lines back further than others, for most of us things get a little vague when going back into the 1800s. Anyway, being the descendant of a famed Viking king may be a great conversation starter, but unless you can produce the hidden treasure, it doesn’t exactly pay the bills.
We know that Jesus is remembered today by more people than ever before. For a man whose biographers left no description of what he looked like, and only a few details of his life, he is exceptionally famous.
His identity and mission are the reason that he has not been assigned to the dustbin of history. He was Immanuel (God with us), who came to pay the cost of man’s sin on the cross—death—so we can live with him for eternity. Praise God!
That kind of love is something I will never forget!
John Staiger
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