Remember me

Last month, titan of the Australian music industry, Michael Gudinski, was farewelled at a star-studded State Memorial at Rod Laver Arena. From all accounts it was a joyous and moving occasion. He was remembered as an entrepreneur, true music-man, and all-round great guy. His memory will no doubt live on. Do you want to be remembered? To be honest, I’m not particularly interested in being remembered myself, I’d be quite happy to shuffle off this mortal coil when it’s my time and be forgotten soon thereafter. But I gather that living on in the hearts and minds of others is a fairly common desire. It has even been immortalised in Shakespearean verse with the ghost of Hamlet’s father pleading for his son to hold his spirit close with the words, “Adieu, adieu, remember me”. In a more recent work of art, the makers of the film Life in a Day 2020 – a compilation of life-snapshots from around the world – included a contribution from a man living an incredibly isolated life in rural Siberia. This man admitted that his motivation for being in the film was his fear that his life would pass unnoticed. He wanted to be remembered. We’ve just come through the Easter long weekend, which begins, of course, with Good Friday – the day on which Christians bring to mind the death of Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified just outside of Jerusalem. The scriptures say that at his execution, as Jesus hung on his cross, he had on either side of him the company of two criminals, also having their sentence of death carried out in that slow and agonising way. One of those cross-companions of Jesus somehow recognised Jesus’ righteousness and divinity, and so pleaded with him, saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”. He also wanted to be remembered. The thing about remembrance is that it can be more than just the thinking of warm and fuzzy thoughts. Remembrance, although perhaps not etymologically, can truly be a verb – a doing word. The ghost of Hamlet’s father was not asking Hamlet to cuddle up with a warm cup of hot chocolate and look at pictures of his dear old dad with a smile on his face and a tear running down his cheek. No, the request, “remember me” was a call to honour him by seeking revenge for his most unnatural murder! In a similar, and yet totally different way, the cross-hanging-criminal’s request of Jesus gave voice to the man’s desire for salvation from violence, pain, suffering and death. Jesus made a promise from that cross, and he kept it. He did remember him. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise,” Jesus said. The Christian gospel expresses that Jesus may have died on the cross, but that on Easter he rose from the dead, coming into that kingdom the criminal next to him had alluded to. In doing so, Jesus changed what it can mean for us to be remembered in death. We don’t have to resign ourselves to only being filed away in the memory banks of the family and friends that survive us. In Christ, the remembrance is done in us. That which is remembered itself continues on. We live on in paradise with Jesus! That’s, ultimately, how I hope to be remembered. You can be remembered that way too •