I walked into the Trinity Church graveyard looking for someone. Well, looking for a memorial to someone, Alexander Hamilton. Just 350 feet West of the New York Stock Exchange building in the graveyard attached to Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan can be found markers for Hamilton, his wife Eliza, and their son Phillip. We had been to the Statue of Liberty and wanted to make a brief stop at the church. Hamilton has made something of a comeback. The musical featuring his life rekindled interest in him and the founding of America.
The musical focuses on his legacy. How he came from nothing, rose in power and influenced, and especially how he was able to secure financial power and freedom for America. He established the building blocks of capitalism that made much of the economic wealth in the US possible. He was on track to being president. He wrote the majority of the Federalist Papers which defended and supported the Constitution. He was a brilliant lawyer, distinguished military leader, and assistant to George Washington. His face is on the ten-dollar bill. He was also the only founding father to have a plan to free the slaves without a Civil War. His plan mirrored those of European countries that purchased the freedom of all of the slaves.
He did not become president and his plan was never seriously considered, all because he was involved in a scandal in 1791. He betrayed the vows of his marriage. He tried to cover it up with bribes. When it was discovered, he was accused first of embezzling money. Hamilton cleared his name of financial crimes, but only by detailing his moral failures. His political career was over and the country careened on toward Civil War. It could have been different.
His marker is easy to find. In reality, his body was buried in the graveyard unmarked. He had died in a duel which was scandalous. The marker was added later. It has engraved on the side, “The Patriot of Incorruptible Integrity.” Everyone knew differently. He was genius, he was brave, he was flawed.
It was raining so we headed inside the church. We quietly walked around admiring the artwork, the stained glass, and the hush of a worshipful place. People sat in the pews. Some were praying. I took a picture out of a side door toward the graveyard. As I spun to reenter the church I saw two large bronze doors. Above them was a tympanum, “the triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance, door or window, which is bounded by a lintel and an arch.” It was dedicated to the memory of John Jacob Astor.
The name tickled my brain. “Didn’t he die on the Titanic?” I later read the story. It is true that John Jacob Astor died aboard the ship. He was returning from his honeymoon. It had been an extended trip because the circumstances of his second marriage were plagued by scandal. He had been hiding out in Europe and Egypt hoping that the talk would die down. It never did. He was returning to America with his new extremely young and now months pregnant wife. She survived and later gave birth to his son. This arch, however, was actually given by John Jacob Astor IV, the one who died on the ship. He had made a donation to the church in honor of his father, John Jacob Astor III.
None of us want to be remembered for the worst thing that we ever did, but sometimes it is what sticks. We all want the slate wiped clean, but sometimes the stain is deep. There is forgiveness, there is eternity, there is reunion with the Father in heaven There are also consequences, injury, betrayal and hurt that ripples in our world. If it were not for grace, we would be stuck in our sin. Grace shows us a way forward. It is not in ignoring or overlooking the evils of our lives, but in taking real account of them on the cross and in the person of Jesus. He took my sin that I might be saved. He bore the consequences of my betrayal not that I might ignore what I did, not that others might treat what I did lightly, but so that we would all see clearly that I have been rescued.