It just didn’t seem right! I was standing at the casket of my Uncle Bill in the front of church. As I looked at his dead body and saw all the bouquets of flowers ornately placed around the casket, all I could smell was baked beans! The ladies in the church basement were getting things ready for the meal to be served after we came back from the cemetery. As is customary in the Midwest, that meal included baked beans, ham sandwiches, and potato salad. But it just didn’t seem right to smell food at the time of death!

Funeral banquets

Did you ever wonder why we have a funeral meal after the committal service? Although food might be the last thing on the minds of mourners, it makes sense to have a meal for family and friends who have traveled far to come to the funeral service. It also gives family and friends an opportunity to visit, reminisce, and enjoy one another’s company before they have to return to their daily routine. Life goes on after a funeral. But, as a little boy, it still didn’t seem right to me to think about eating food as I stood at my uncle’s casket.

Over the years and after leading many families back to church after the committal service at the cemetery, I’ve come to appreciate the funeral meal as a picture of heaven. Why would I say that? Think of what happens. When we come back from the graveyard, the mourners gather, and the food is served. After a while, the silence begins to break as people visit, and soon it is not uncommon to hear people laughing and enjoying one another’s company. It actually becomes a happy time after a family leaves the cemetery.

Heaven’s banquet

Isn’t that what God says heaven will be like? After Jesus comes to get his people from the graveyard, he will take his believers to heaven. There a banquet will be served where they will feast on the finest of fare, and there will be laughter and joy in the presence of the Lord.

Listen to how Isaiah describes what God’s people will enjoy in his kingdom: “On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth” (Isaiah 25:6-8).