Discarding the Shroud

O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.
He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever.  Isaiah 25:1, 7, 8

My mother died in my home in 1998.  Because she was under the care of Hospice, she did not need to go to the hospital to be pronounced dead.  The funeral director and his assistant came right to the house to pick her up.  As I waited for them to arrive, I pictured them taking her out in a black plastic body bag, and this was a chilling thought. The day was cold and snowy.  Black plastic seemed so harsh and lacking in any comfort.  But, when the undertaker arrived, I realized that the body bag was soft blue corduroy.  Perhaps it was lined with black plastic, but that is not what I saw.  I saw my Mother's favorite color and something that would enfold her as she traveled through the snow to the hearse.  Such a small thing...but, it has come to my mind more times than I can recount over the years.  Always, there is a sense of peace in the mental image of her body shrouded in soft blue fabric.

But...what if the shroud could be not only changed to something comforting, but totally discarded?  What if death could be swallowed up in victory forever?  What if the one thing we can be sure of, in addition to taxes, never happened again?

That is the message of Easter.  In rising from the dead, Christ has forever conquered death.  Death only has power as long as He allows it.  He planned long ago to release man from the grasp of certain death.  He has not just changed the shroud into something more aesthetic.  He has destroyed the shroud!

That is the message of Easter.

Here is my response:  I will exalt and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things!

Boredom and Drama

Human beings seem to require a certain amount of drama in order to stave off boredom.  Some personalities must feed off turmoil throughout their lifetimes.  Others only seem to require it during adolescence.

Those who need endless drama are endlessly difficult to live with.  Teenagers are only temporarily difficult to live with.  For most of them, sanity and clarity do eventually dawn.

During times when drama is necessary, a lack of it results in behaviors which will incite it.  These range from outright brawls to more minor occasions of "needling" or "stirring the pot."

It seems generally true that those who are addicted to turmoil don't recognize their addiction and may even complain about this trait in others.  Having a reason to complain results in conversation which perpetuates it.  Drama is contagious.

Personally, I am almost never bored.  I can always think of some creative project or knotty conundrum to occupy my mind.

BUT

I do also live on the teetering edge of a great swirling vortex of chaos provided for me by family members.  If I weren't exerting so much effort to prevent myself from being sucked in and consumed, maybe I would be bored and in need of creating my own drama.

Am I supposed to be grateful?

The Trojan Women by Euripides

This play takes place outside the city of Troy which has just fallen due to the Trojan horse.  Poseidon appears at the beginning of the play and has a discussion with Athena.  Athena is requesting that although she has assisted Agamemnon and the Argives in defeating the Trojans, Poseidon will see to it that they suffer hardship while sailing home…yet another example of the fickleness of the Greek gods.  Following this agreement, they disappear for the rest of the play, and the focus is on the women of Troy, who have been taken captive by the Argives.

Hecuba, who was married to the now dead Priam and as such was queen of Troy, is bemoaning her fate.  Although she is old and gray, she along with the other women will be given as spoils of war to the Argive army.  Because she is elderly, she will become nothing more than a slave.  The younger women will become, against their wills, the wives of the conquerors.  Particularly grievous is the fact that Cassandra, who is a virgin prophetess and Hecuba’s daughter, will become the wife of Agamemnon himself.  Hecuba is distraught, but Cassandra is delighted, because she sees it as a way to bring about Agamemnon’s ruin, and so avenge the deaths of her father Priam, brother Hector, and the other Trojans.  (It will turn out that she is right about this.  Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra, kills him when he returns, in part, over the fact that he has taken Cassandra as his wife and intends to replace her.  See “Agamemnon” by Aeschylus)

Hecuba’s son Hector and his wife Andromache have a son named Astyanax who is a small child.  Talthybius arrives with the message that Andromache must surrender her child to be thrown off the wall of Troy.  The Argives are apparently afraid that if he lives to adulthood, he will avenge the deaths of his father, grandfather and other Trojans.  Both Hecuba and Andromache are in great grief over this, but realize they are powerless to stop it.

Menelaus enters and has a discussion with Hecuba about Helen.  Helen, wife of Menelaus, was the cause of the war, because she ran off with Paris, Hecuba’s son.  Whether Helen should live or die is discussed in detail with Helen pleading for her life.  Menelaus intends to take her back to Argos to be killed in front of those who have suffered the deprivation of so many years at war because of her.  Hecuba cautions that Menelaus should not travel on the same ship with Helen, because she fears Helen will again win his heart.

Talthybius returns with the dead body of Astyanax which is being carried on the shield of his father Hector.  He is prepared for burial on the shield.

The women, including Hecuba, are herded off to the ships as they see Troy being burned to the ground behind them.

Observations:

*Once again the Greek gods are fickle.  Poseidon even makes this accusation against Athena.  Why leap’st thou thus from mood to mood?  Thy love and hate both go too far, on whomsoever centred.

*Sometimes death brings more honor to a person than life would have.  As for Hector…he is dead and gone, but still his fame remains as bravest of the brave, and this was a result of the Achaeans’ coming; for had they remained at home, his worth would have gone unnoticed. ….whoso is wise should fly from making war, but if he be brought to this pass, a noble death will crown his city with glory…”

*Hecuba and Andromache discuss whether there is more hope in life or in death.

Hecuba:  Death and life are not the same, my child; the one is annihilation, the other keeps a place for hope.

Andromache:  ‘Tis all one, I say, ne’er to have been born and to be dead, and better far is death than life with misery.  For the dead feel no sorrow any more and know no grief…

*Hecuba makes an interesting prayer, indicating that she doesn’t know who the supreme power is.  O thou that dost support the earth and restest thereupon, whosoe’er thou art, a riddle past our ken! Be thou Zeus, or natural necessity, or man’s intellect, to thee I pray; for, though thou treadest o’er a noiseless path, all thy dealings with mankind are by justice guided.  This is a bit surprising considering the vacillating nature of the Greek gods’ dealings with men.  But, I suppose that she believed that justice was being done, even though she didn’t understand it.  This is, of course, what I believe about my God…that what seems like an injustice is lack of infinite understanding on my part.

*Apparently the cost and ritual involved in funerals was being discussed long ago.  …yet I deem it makes but little difference to the dead, although they get a gorgeous funeral; for this is but a cause of idle pride to the living.

The Suppliants by Euripides

I had thought about giving up on Euripides, because some of the first plays I read seemed to be hateful of women.  However, I’m glad I persisted, because this one has some interesting themes.

The play is set at the Temple of Demeter At Eleusis.  (The temple of some god or goddess seems to be a common setting for Greek plays.)  Aethra, an older woman of Eleusis, arrives at the temple and is approached by a chorus of elderly women who are in mourning.  Aethra’s son Theseus is currently ruler of the land, which is a democracy.  The chorus entreats Aethra to intervene with her son on their behalf.  The sons of the elderly women, who are from Argos, have been killed in a battle against King Creon and the city of Thebes, which is not a democracy.  Contrary to what is considered right and proper, the Thebians are refusing to allow the elderly women to retrieve the bodies of their seven slain sons and bury them.  Also present and begging for help is Adrastus, who led the men into the slaughter.

Theseus arrives and inquires about the commotion.  After questioning Adrastus, he decides that this misfortunate is Adrastus’ fault, and there is no reason for him to risk war with Thebes in order to recover the bodies.  However, his mother persuades him that it is his responsibility to stand up for what is right.  He agrees to go to the council and have a vote taken, so that the will of the people decides the matter.

The council votes to try and retrieve the bodies through diplomacy first, but if necessary, to go to war.  Before there is opportunity to send a messenger to Thebes, a herald arrives from Thebes.  Initially, instead of delivering his message, he and Theseus get into an argument over whether democracy or monarchy is the best form of government.  Eventually, he gets around to delivering his message that Creon has no intent of giving up the bodies, and that the only solution will be war.

Theseus and his army attack Thebes and are victorious.  He graciously does not sack the city.  He only wants the bodies.  These are brought back to Eleusis and burned on a funeral pyre before the ashes are returned to their mothers.

A bit of a side story to this is that Evadne, daughter of Iphis and widow of Capaneus, throws herself on the funeral pyre of Capaneus, in spite of her father’s pleadings.  Also each of the seven men is eulogized and some interesting characteristics emerge in the eulogies.

The play concludes with the appearance of the goddess Athena, who gives specific instructions regarding the need to have the Argives swear that in exchange for the kindness of Theseus and the people of Eleusis, they will never attack Eleusis.

Observations:

*Although Euripides does not speak so negatively of women in this play, his compliments are back-handed.  Yea, for oft even from women’s lips issue wise counsels.

*The question of whether basic human nature is good or evil is raised.  For there are who say, there is more bad than good in human nature, to the which I hold a contrary view, that good o’er bad predominates in man, for if it were not so, we should not exist.  Logically, there are other options, but this is the view of Theseus.

*The notion of naturally occurring classes in society is discussed.  For, there are three ranks of citizens; the rich, a useless set, that ever crave for more; the poor and destitute, fearful folk, that cherish envy more than is right, and shoot out grievous stings against the men who have aught, beguiled as they are by the eloquence of vicious leaders; while the class that is mid-most of the three preserveth cities, observing such order as the state ordains.  So the concept that a stable society must have a strong middle class is apparently an old one.

*I am beginning to think that one could make a decent term paper out of the topic:  The Concept of Democracy as Seen in the Play of Euripides. 

Against:  Democracy is described as “rule by a mob.”

                A person who doesn’t rule for his lifetime has more opportunity to hide his failures

Whenso the city has to vote on the question of war, no man ever takes his own death into account, but shifts the misfortune to his neighbor.

For:        When laws are written down, rich and poor alike have equal justice.

                People are free to decide whose counsel is best.

In a democracy the young are encouraged.  A despot sees them as a threat and may kill them off or use them ill.

*The finality of death is described.  For this one thing, when once ‘tis spent, man cannot recover, the breath of life, though he knoweth ways to get his wealth again.  Bankruptcy can be survived.  Death is irretrievable.

*A preference for daughters over sons in old age is mentioned.  For naught is there more sweet unto an aged sire than a daughter’s love; our sons are made of sterner stuff, but less winning are their caresses.   I heard a story once about a man who was disappointed when his wife gave birth to a daughter.  The doctor said to him, “If you had had a son, when you are old he would be gone and off living his own life.  Your daughter will still be there to kiss your old bald head.”

*The Greek gods were fickle.  I see many a contradiction in their dealings with men.  As I have mentioned in prior blogs, I see the Greek gods as useless.  I believe in a better one.

*Parents hope that the good they do for their parents will be returned to them by their children.  For a wretched son is he who rewards not his parents by service;  for, when he hath conferred on them the best he hath, he in turn from his own sons receives all such service as he gave to them.  That is, of course, as it ought to be, but in this broken world, it doesn’t always work out that way.  Sadly, there are some wretched sons and daughters around.