You might have seen it. You may even remember it. The early 90’s Tombstone pizza commercials. They all center around one man about to be executed in various ways. The executioner asks him, “What do you want on your tombstone?” He replies, “Pepperoni and cheese.” While the intent is to get you thinking about their morbidly branded pizza, it does get one to ponder their own tombstone. You have been to a funeral. All the nice things and memories of a person’s life are retold. What will be said of us? How will the epitaph read?
An epitaph is something that is written to epitomize the life of an individual. Some can be funny. Here are some actual epitaphs: “Here lies Ezekiel Aikel, 102, the good die young.” “Here lies Ann Mann who lived an old maid, and died an old Mann.” “The children of the Lord wanted bread and the Lord sent them manna, old clerk Wallace wanted a wife and the Devil sent him Anna.” Some can be somber: “Go and tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, dead we lie” (epitaph marking the battle of Thermopylae).
There were some epitaphs in the Bible that were quite telling about the individual to whom they concern. Jeremiah said this concerning Jehoiakim, “He will be buried with a donkey’s burial” (Jer. 22:19), which meant that he would be dragged out of the city and thrown on the trash heap. Because, “he did evil in the sight of the Lord his God” (2 Chr. 36:5). Jehoram reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and “he departed with no one’s regret” (2 Chr. 21:20). When Jehoiada the priest in Judah died, “They buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done well in Israel and to God and His house” (2 Chr. 24:16). At the end of Hebrews chapter eleven, there is this statement, “men of whom the world was not worthy” (11:38). This was quite the compliment.
An epitaph can be good or bad. It should reflect the life that was lived. The question is, what would be written of us? “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). There will be a final judgment. In the end, it will be God’s view, or epitaph, on our lives that matters most. If we are seeking to be told, “Well done, good and faithful servant” as two in the parable received, then we must live in accordance with the master’s commands (Matt. 25:21-23). “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). If someone asks you what you want on your tombstone, tell them, “A robe and a crown.”