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As we continue in a series of 'snippets' from the honour contexts being heard in responses and reporting surrounding the world's mourning and memories of the late Queen Elizabeth II …..here is the next 'Snippet' and subsequent thoughts to ponder in relation to our own lives.
SNIPPET 5
Another comment which has been almost constant among the mourners around the UK is that they want to come to 'pay their respects'.
It's a phrase that flows off our tongues almost subconsciously in the expression of an emotion.
But why these words?
Why not come and just say 'I have come to remember'.
I think they are actually words that express something going on in our hearts that is related to honour, and we once again don't often really think about. We feel a certain way, and culturally it is normal to express those feelings by certain words, without pausing to think about why we feel that way and why we choose those words, or why the culture over generations have chosen those words to be used in such contexts and emotions.
Why do we 'pay respects'?
The Cambridge Dictionary defines it in terms of giving honour.
The Plain English website said similar in commenting about it in relation to the Queen's death
After her death was announced, people gathered outside Buckingham Palace to pay their respects. Obviously, they didn't go to greet King Charles III personally. But they went to show their respect for the queen and to show their support for the royal family. There were a lot of people, but they made a polite visit to Buckingham Palace. They weren't cheering, they weren't drinking, they weren't partying. They went to share stories, light candles, lay flowers talk to one another, and show their support for the monarchy and to make a respectful gesture.
and in relation to the new appointment of the new British Prime Minister, Liz Truss.
Liz Truss recently took over as prime minister of the U.K. I imagine that a number of people came by to pay their respects in the day or two after she assumed that office. People made polite visits to acknowledge and respect her new authority as PM.
The word 'respect' emerges in the 14th Century in English and comes from the Latin 'respectus', meaning 'to look back', to observe/see again, to consider, acknowledge. When you take the time to keep re-looking at something, it is something that has value to you, importance and worth. You look at that rather than other things or other people for that time and priority. It matters.
But to 'pay respects' not only has the honour word of 'respect' in the phrase but 'pay'.
So why do we want to 'pay honour' and not just give honour and consideration?
The Collins Dictionary presents both the definitions of 'pay' and 'respect' in order to describe the phrase, and thus also brings in the idea that something is paid because something is owed, which infers a debt.
So here we have a context of somehow feeling we need to come and 'pay an honour debt'…but why?
We could argue that it's just a phrase that means nothing, but I think there is a very profound meaning in it.
How do we incur a debt? How do we end up 'owing' someone something?
Essentially because either we haven't given someone what we should have for something we have 'taken' from them, or we have been given something by them that we feel has been a great sacrifice by them on our behalf, for our good that we haven't paid for or given in a reciprocal way. In other words the other person has not received from us something that should be given to them in return for something they have given us.
I would also consider that the greater the gap between what they did for us and what we could ever do for them, the more we then feel 'the least we can do' is offer the public acknowledgement of their worth and value. I would suggest it becomes a form of thankfulness. We may not be able to materially give or pay but we can emotionally and relationally agree with them that something of value was transacted that we have benefitted from and should be acknowledged.
This issue of course can turn up in all kinds of contexts (consider also the whole Australian 'Acknowledgement of Country' statement that includes the words 'pay respect')
So here we have a context highlighted by the Queen's death, where people wanted to take the time to 'look again', to show the worth of another who they believe has given them so much that they could never 'repay' (for example in hours worked), to express thankfulness.
We don't often think about non-financial debts and what they involve, but the death of someone might remind us in stark terms of the value of someone because we suddenly feel the impact of their loss.
While the 'pay respects' term has maybe widened a little in its generally held meaning, at its core, it is the acknowledgement that honour is owed and should have at least some effort put into 'paying' what you can…and if no longer to the person who has now died, to those associated with their honour (ie their family) and in a way that 'costs' you something (whether that be financial, time, emotion, effort, etc). This is seen in laying flowers on a grave or at the gates of a palace, as well as lining up for hours in the rain, wind, cold, without ready food, toilets, bed, so as to spend a few seconds to 'look' and 'bow', and shed tears, or to come at your own expense across the world, or down the street, to share in the sorrow of another in the midst of their grief.
SELAH - PAUSE TO PONDER
So what can we learn from this?
Honour can be a debt.
When we talk about Christ coming to pay our debts, or we pray the Lord's prayer 'forgive us our debts' (Matthew 6:12), let us not ignore the context of the honour debt we owed, and could not pay - a kind of double debt…
1.because our sin (falling short, missing the mark) of not honouring God as we should is like something we constantly 'take' from God - in the sense honour is something we should give God but we didn't/don't. Thus we 'owe'.
2.On top of this we have no way of 'paying' that debt, thus our doom is death—'loss of honour' and thus separated from and unable to be in God's presence—forever. There is nothing we can do that is acceptable to God as true honour because we are in an unacceptable state. We owe a debt we can't pay…..so God sent Jesus to pay a debt he didn't owe.
As our substitute Jesus paid our honour debt. He, the perfect honourable one in status, lived a perfect honourable life in practice, unlike us who 'fall short of glory' in a dishonourable status and also a dishonourable practice (sin and sins). He became sin for us so that our sins are paid for, and he rose again victor over death so as to be restored to glory and welcomed back as acceptable on our behalf in God's presence.
Our sin debt, is an honour debt. Our debt of sin, is a debt of dishonour of God. We fall short of the glory we were meant to have from God, and thus give God, as the creatures made in his image.
Just recall Romans 3:23
'For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God'
and what Romans 1:21 says about this world:
'for although they knew God they did not honour him as God, nor gave thanks to him'
We have not given God what he is owed, and yet God has given us himself in Christ, so that our debt can be eliminated.
When people come to 'pay respects' there is a definite realisation that that action doesn't actually fully 'pay the debt' in real terms, but often when someone dies and there is a family fued, much can be forgiven if the estranged family members at least 'turn up' and at the cost of their own pride and finances they come and 'look again' on the one they 'owed'.
We can never 'pay' the debt we owe for our sinful state and its resulting 'sins'. But because God the Father sent his Son to pay that debt, we have the opportunity to 'look' in a way of far greater significance than any 'look' to another human being. We don't have to stand in a queue and find ways to sacrifice in the hope our efforts will be accepted as 'paying enough respects' to get us accepted by the one we dishonoured and into the welcome of his heaven.
Jesus paid the full respect [honour] due so that if we 'look' with the eyes of our hearts to the One who has already finished and fully 'paid the respect' and been confirmed as accepted, we can be counted as 'included' in his honour…and with the seal of assurance from the King, in the Holy Spirit given to indwell us.
So the end of the story told us in Colossians 1:27 is that it is
'Christ in you the hope of glory'
is an assured hope, the guarantee that in Christ, the glory/honour has been restored to us the dishonourable ones, who owed an honour debt we could not pay, because he paid the debt he did not owe.
Let us continue to 'look' to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), not because we have to keep 'paying respects' but because we rejoice that he has paid our honour debt in full.
Hallelujah!
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