CASKETS AND COFFINS

This is an unusual topic, but both items are important and common in our Western tradition. What is the difference between the two? It is really quite simple: caskets were first used in the 16^th century, and “coffin” comes from an old French word (coffin) meaning “a little basket” which originally referred to a small box or chest for precious items like jewelry.

The physical difference between a coffin and a casket is in their shapes. A coffin traditionally has six sides, reminding one off the shape of the human body, and does not always have a hinged lid, while a casket has four sides and a hinged lid. 

“Casket” became a euphemism for “coffin” because it sounded nicer and not so morbid. But both represent death. You most likely would not find a replica of a casket hanging on a Christmas tree or a painting of a coffin on the living room wall.

In Waco, an elite cherry solid casket will cost about $1600, and a spartan silver one will run about $2000. There is usually a deal where you can get $100 off for some reason or other.

Military caskets are available for each branch: Army, Marines, Navy, and Air Force and are all priced at about $2,300. However, the “Veteran Select” costs $3,500, is available in different colors, and there is free shipping to any state.

In other words, and worlds, there are many styles, sizes, and colors to choose from. In the long run, it doesn’t matter. The casket and its corpse will be lowered into the ground and eventually rot, even if the casket is encased in cement. 

Cremation caskets are available online from Amazon and vary in price from about $1,200 to $2,500. Because they (and their corpses) are going to be burned, why the fuss? Why not a cardboard box? The best deal in cremation may be to buy an urn for the ashes, usually for less than $100, although a companion urn, marble, or floral will cost more. Urns are often placed in a columbarium, which is an urn wall with individual slots for the containers. 

I’ve gone into some detail on caskets, coffins, urns and the like because that is what seems important in our culture. I haven’t bothered with the total cost of funeral homes, graveyard tombstones, the hearse, and other extras, not because they are not featured in our culture, but because it is often another layer of expense for the families and friends of the departed.

The early German missionaries sailing to New Guinea took their coffins with them and stored them under their houses. They were practical and matter of fact about the matter. There was no embalming (another matter) or cremation. In the tropics, three days is about all you can wait before the body becomes rotting and putrid, so burial must be relatively quick.

Abraham asked the Hittites if he could buy a burial site for his wife Sarah (Genesis 23). He bought a field and a cave that was in it for four hundred shekels of silver. The writer of Ecclesiastes talked about a “proper burial” (6.3), most often with the father and mother. Even the poor and foreigners had a potter’s field reserved for their burial.

According to the Scripture and following Jewish burial customs, the body of Jesus was prepared with spices and perfumes. It was placed in a tomb belonging to a man named Joseph. But the tomb could not contain the body of Jesus and at his resurrection: “the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.”(Matthew 27.52).

That is the hope and promise we have as Christians because “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.” (1 Corinthians 15.13)

Regardless of the cost of a casket, the corpse inside it will rot. However, for the Christian, all that will change at the resurrection: “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;“ (1 Corinthians 15.42)

We can follow our families wishes and the dictates of our culture, but our desire should be to “continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.” (Colossians 1.23).

Easter reminds us of that day when Jesus arose from the dead and it is our guarantee of rising from the dead ourselves. There is a caveat: we must believe the words that Jesus said to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” (John 11.25-26, NIV)

Thanks be to God!

Karl Franklin