Call No One Happy Until He Dies

The ancient Greek historian Herotodus (c.484–c.425 BC) claimed that no one should be called ‘happy’ until he has died, for until then we can never be sure what misfortunes may befall him. According to Herodotus, “the powers above us are full of jealousy and fond of troubling our lot. . . . [O]ftentimes the gods give men a gleam of happiness, and then plunge them into ruin” (The Histories 1.32). In other words, no matter how blessed someone may seem, we shouldn’t proclaim them ‘happy’ because we never know how their story will end. Only when their happiness has continued until their death can we really be sure such a person deserved to be called ‘happy’ in life. This view, of course, sees happiness as a matter of material possessions and other temporal blessings.

To some, Herotodus seems singularly pessimistic, offering a glass-half-empty perspective. After all, happiness that doesn’t last is still happiness, isn’t it? St Augustine, however, agreed with Herotodus that happiness that doesn’t last doesn’t really deserve to be called happiness at all. For that reason, he believed that there is no genuine ‘happiness’ on earth, since everything earthly is by its nature temporary. True happiness is reserved for life after death, when nothing good can ever be taken away from us against our will.

It’s a powerful and tantalizing vision: All the good things we’ve ever enjoyed preserved from ruin, decay, diminishment, the ravages of time, the loss of life or vitality. All the best preserved at their best. Everything and everyone we value all together in one place for us to enjoy forever. Now that would be happiness indeed!

The Easter story puts a whole new twist on Herotodus’s perspective. If Christians were to say, “call no one happy until he dies,” it might have a completely different implication—not that we can’t be sure earthly happiness will continue to the point of death, but that true happiness doesn’t really even begin until death. Herotodus worried that we can never be sure how a person’s earthly story will end: Sure, they may be blessed and successful now, but what about later? Christians take an opposite view. Whatever a person’s earthly circumstances now—whether blessed materially or not—we don’t have to wonder how their story will end. Jesus tells us: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12.32).

Does this foreknowledge spoil the story for us, ruining our anticipation of the unknown ending? By no means. Knowing that our end is secure in Christ’s loving arms provides a sure foundation on which to stand when we are buffeted by life’s frequent storms—and when we rejoice in life’s multitudinous blessings. Knowing the end of the story gives us strength and courage to risk spending our time, talent, and treasure in service to others, not worrying that we may lose ourselves in the process. When temporal blessing is not our first concern because we know that eternal blessing is secure, we can devote ourselves to following Jesus’ teaching to “seek first the kingdom of God,” resting assured that “all these things will be added” to us as we have need (Matt 6.33).

No, knowing the ending doesn’t spoil the story. It makes a bolder, more courageous story possible. The happy ending of Easter morning came for Jesus only after the darkness and suffering of Good Friday. For those who follow his way of the Cross, the happy ending comes ahead of time, as we anticipate already what “eye has not seen nor ear heard . . . . The things God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor 2.9).