Comforting the Mourners at Funerals

WHAT impression does a funeral service conducted by Jehovah’s witnesses have upon those grieving family members who are of a different faith? Consider the following letter that the members of one family wrote to Jehovah’s witnesses in Ohio:

“In 1935 my father passed away, leaving my mother in the frustration and grief that only a widow can know. It was then that she turned to your organization, which, at that time, was very active on the radio, bringing your message to millions of people. We should have realized then what a wonderful group of people you are, but unfortunately we did not. You changed her life of dark despair to one of peace and contentment. She lived this life of serenity for over thirty years, enjoying every minute of it, until death overtook her last week.

“It was at this time that we learned our lesson of despair. As most of you know, when a person reaches eighty-four years of age, which was our mother’s age, most of their close friends and relatives have gone on before them. At least so we thought!

“This was brought to our attention by a story told us by a funeral director, the night before mother’s funeral. He related an incident not too long ago of a very rich and prominent man who came to our city and made it his home. He lived more or less in seclusion for several years in one of the large, exclusive downtown hotels, where he finally passed away. He requested in his will that he be buried in the city that he learned to love so well. Due to a severe snowstorm, there were no visitors the first day after his death. On the second day, a nephew finally arrived through the snow from Pittsburgh. He was the only one who made it. That night he and the funeral director maintained the long and lonely vigil. The following day this nephew was the only one to attend the rich man’s funeral.

“Although our situation was not that bad, we were a little apprehensive the night before mother was to be laid to rest. We wondered if there would be many or if anyone would even attend the services the next day.

“This feeling of apprehension remained with us the next morning until the minister of Jehovah’s witnesses arrived followed by groups of those wonderful people that make up the congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses. The spirit and friendliness they brought with them is hard to describe. Serenity is the best word I can think of. As they filled the rooms and expressed their message of sympathy, the gloom was suddenly dispelled and the whole world seemed brighter. We could not help but think how much richer our mother was with all these wonderful friends than that prominent man with all his wealth that we had heard about the night before. One of our relatives who was present said, with much admiration, that she had never heard such an inspiring service.

“You people will probably never realize fully what you did for us with your gifts of beautiful flowers and the kindnesses of the gentlemen who offered their services as pallbearers as well as the warmth of your friendly presence. All this we will not soon forget and for this all we can give is our sincere thanks, and may God bless every one of you.”

Truly funerals present a fine opportunity to comfort mourners with God’s message of the hope of the resurrection and by the Christian love and conduct of his people.

Questions From Readers

● In view of Thomas’ statement in John 20:25, was Jesus impaled with a nail through each hand?—J. B., Taiwan (Republic of China).

After Jesus’ resurrection he appeared to some of the disciples, but the apostle Thomas was not present. When told what had occurred, Thomas responded: “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and stick my finger into the print of the nails and stick my hand into his side, I will certainly not believe.” (John 20:25) Since Thomas mentioned nails (plural), some have wondered whether a nail was hammered through each of Christ’s hands.

If we read just the Bible accounts of the actual impalement, we would know very little