What Titles Matter Most

The following is an excert from The Lutheran Hour broadcast of October 5, 2003:

In 1989 Zita, the last empress of Austria and the last queen of Hungary died. The day of her funeral, 8,000 mourners filed out of Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral and fell in line behind the hearse drawn by six black horses. Two hours later the procession concluded at the Capuchin Church.

There, in keeping with tradition, a member of the funeral party knocked on the door and a priest asked, “Who goes there?”Zita’s titles were read aloud: “Zita, Queen of Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia. Queen of Jerusalem. Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Cracow.”

“I do not know her,” came the voice from within the crypt.

The funeral group knocked a second time. “Who goes there?”

“Empress Zita,” was the more simple reply. Still the door remained shut.

The mourners knocked yet a third time. “Who is there?” “Zita, a poor sinner,” was the answer.

That answer was the right answer and the procession was allowed to enter. During the course of her long life, Zita had seen history swirl around her. She was nobility. She was acclaimed. But on the day of death, all of these things were meaningless. Only one thing was important—her trust in Jesus.

Empress Zita's funeral made me contemplate what might be my eulogy. After the gospel is proclaimed, I hope something similar to the following will be said: "Thomas, a poor mortal sinner, a child of the covenant, a baptized boy clothed in the righteousness of Christ - boldly approach the throne of the one true and living God."

I think those titles will do.