Just Shine On

*FYI: If you have never read “The Summoning of Everyman” (author unknown) I want to let you know that the characters are often named after virtues or objects, similar to Pilgrims’ Progress. Also, any direct quotes from the story will be italicized and bolded.*

‘The Summoning of Everyman’, often shortened to ‘Everyman’, is an allegorical moral play that was written around 1485 A.D.

‘Everyman’ represents all of mankind, in a single character. As a Language Arts assignment, I was directed to read this play. At first, I was not intrigued. I have never been good with the funny word orders and spellings that were used in the Middle Ages. But as the story went on, I realized that ‘Everyman’ had a lot of truth in it, that was a good reminder for me.

When the story starts out, God laments on the fact that Everyman has chosen to forget about Him. He has lived a life full of sin with no regard to God whatsoever. God calls upon Death, who is delighted with his task.

“Lord, I will in the world go run over all, and cruelly out search both great and small. Every man will I beset that liveth beastly. Out of God’s laws, and dreadeth not folly. He that loveth riches I will strike with my dart, his sight to blind, and from heaven depart. Except that alms be his good friend, in hell for to dwell, world without end.”

Scary, right? I imagine Death looking something like this during his speech:

Yes. Scary. Not someone I would want to run into on any given day, in any given place. Ever.

Death then sees Everyman, and tells him he has forgotten his Creator, and that God Himself sent Death to meet with him. “What, sent to me?” asks the astonished Everyman. “Yea, certainly,” is Death’s seemingly gleeful reply. Death explains to him that he must take a hard journey, and prepare a ‘book of accounts,’ covering his whole life, all choices, whether good or bad, and, a list of all good deeds. Everyman is terrified. He tries to cut a deal with Death, who tells him he is not to be spared. After dealing with Everyman’s pleading a bit longer, Death leaves.

Now, what Everyman does next, is quite brave. If Death visited me, I would be too scared to do anything more than write that book of accounts as quickly as possible. But, Everyman is a bit more courageous. He seeks out Fellowship, his good friend, and his family, called Kindred and Cousin, to help him write his accounts and accompany him till he dies. All three swear they will help him, but when he finishes explaining the tough situation he is in, they all high-tail it right out of his life. Everyman bemoans his situation, saying, “Ah Jesus! Is all come hereto?” His turns to his possessions, called Goods, next.

Think about that.

Family and friends have deserted you like the plague. You are going to die, and before then, you have to account your whole life, and all acts of charity, to help save your sorry backside. Just imagine all this. Then, you turn to your earthly possessions, Goods. You stuff all money into your pockets, cling to your iPhone and laptop as if your life depends upon them, and shove everything else in the various backpacks and duffel bags you own. This is, in effect, what Everyman prepares to do. Except, his Goods talk to him. If you shorten and modernize the conversation, it will sound something like this:
“No, I will not go with you. I could not follow you to the grave. I am extremely flattered that you turned to me, but guess what? You fell into my trap! You trusted me all this time, as I led you farther away from Christ, and now, I bid you, good-day!”

Goods too, abandons him.

Then enters Good Deeds. But Good Deeds is weak; sick even. Everyman had not attended to her, or built her up. He was too busy being selfish. Good Deeds tells him that her sister, Knowledge, can help him, and when she is strong enough, they both will accompany him on his journey. Knowledge guides Everyman to Confession, who sympathizes with Everyman. He grants him forgiveness, and this makes Good Deeds stronger. She is no longer tied down by Everyman’s sins.

Everyman then begins his journey, and calls upon Discretion, Strength, Beauty, and Five Wits to accompany him in addition to Good Deeds and Knowledge. The journey is long and hard. Everyman, his accounts complete, is near death. As he prepares his grave, Beauty is a bit miffed. She refuses to go with him to the grave, so she leaves. Strength follows. Not long after that, Discretion and Five Wits also leave. Everyman climbs into his grave with Good Deeds, as Knowledge lingers nearby. When Everyman finally hands over his soul to Death, Knowledge rejoices over the fact that angels received him. Everyman was saved.

In reading this play, it showed me how similar the story line is to our very human nature.

When we get bad news, we turn to family, friends, and even possessions. When humans and earthly possessions fail to help us heal completely, only then do we rely on God more heavily.

As Christian believers though, we can be encouraged by the fact that Christ will always be there, waiting for us with open arms, even if we become as lost as Everyman.

Sometimes, we also focus too much on things like physical beauty and strength. These things will not matter in the end, because they do not help us grow in faith. They are earthly things with no value beyond death, that can prove to be very distracting if we focus on them too much.

The story also makes another interesting point.

Simply believing is not enough to save our soul. We have to make our best efforts to live and breath our faith, and act upon it. We should also try to make Jesus apparent in everything we do. When we are accomplishing this, we are strengthening our list of good deeds. (This is something Pope Francis recently encouraged us to do!) It gives us a sense of fulfillment that fills us with inner peace.  Even better than that though, is that by living a faith-filled life in the best way we possibly can, we are given every reason to believe we will spend eternity in the best way we possibly can- with Christ.

~Alexis Grace