Sermon: Funeral of Robert Childress - 2019

19 January 2019

Text: John 10:10b-15, 27-30 (Isa 43:1-3a, 1 Cor 15:51-57)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Dear Rhonda and Robert, family and friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, and honored guests.  Peace be with you.

Robert has joined his beloved Betty in eternity.  The good news is that we Christians have a Good Shepherd who “lays down His life for the sheep.”  Jesus also went to His grave, but He didn’t stay there very long.  He died to redeem us from death and restore us to life.  

As we have just heard anew from our Gospel reading, our Lord says to us, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”  And no matter what happens in this fallen world, Jesus promises: “No one will snatch them out of My hand.”

But it seems that Bob and Betty have been snatched from our hands.  We can no longer talk with them, embrace them, or hear their voices on this side of glory.  This is why we mourn, dear friends.  We are filled with sorrow.  We have been unnaturally separated, and it causes us great pain.  God understands this.  He truly does.  For His own Son went to the cross as a sacrifice for us.  And this was done out of love for us, out of a desire that we live forever in happiness.  And so this is why, although we Christians mourn, we mourn in hope, knowing that we will see our loved ones again.  We will be reunited with them in eternity.

And it’s important to reflect on what this means.  So many people misunderstand what the Christian faith teaches – what the Bible teaches, what Jesus teaches – about life after death.  We are not angels, and we don’t remain as spirits floating around in the sky.  As we confessed in the creed, we believe in “the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”  When Jesus rose from the tomb and was seen by thousands of people, He was not a ghost.  He made a point to let the disciples touch Him.  He even cooked up a breakfast on the beach and ate with them.  When God raises us to everlasting life, He means it.  In the fullness of time, God will “transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body,” and this is the promise that He made to Betty and to Robert, and to all who believe and are baptized.  God has plans for us in eternity with new and greater bodies – only without sin, without suffering, without aging, and without death.

Indeed, we will talk with them, embrace them, and hear their voices again on the other side of glory.  And that is why we Christians mourn – but we mourn in hope!

St. Paul speaks of the perishable body putting on the imperishable, and the mortal body putting on immortality.  And this is possible because our Lord Jesus Christ destroyed death by His own death, vanquishing evil on our behalf, shepherding us as His very own lambs who hear His voice, and who follow Him!

St. Paul leads us Christians in confessing “Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is your victory.  O death, where is your sting?” as we heard anew in our reading.  We feel the sting of death in our mourning, dear friends, but that sting is temporary, for the Lord’s victory is our victory, as the apostle continues: “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And we can take great comfort in this, dear brothers and sisters.  Just as the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem is empty, all of our graves will one day be empty as well, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.”

We can live the rest of our lives in expectant boldness, knowing that our reunion gets closer with each passing day.  Yes, we feel the pain of separation, but we will also feel the exaltation and unspeakable joy of reunion that will last forever!  

And as we heard in our first reading, the prophet Isaiah reminds us that God created us; the Lord formed us.  We are here by design, by the will of God.  We are all part of God’s grand scheme.  And the lives of Robert and Betty, who brought many of you into existence, and who nurtured you, taught you, and made your lives better – are intentional creations of God.  And so, we can have no fear, for God also redeemed them, and us, by the Lord’s death upon the cross.  

And so we have this promise of God as spoken to us again by Isaiah: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

And the reason that He gives us for our victory over all of the suffering of this world is this: “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

God is our Savior.  He rescues us.  Our Lord Jesus Christ redeems us – even from this broken and fallen world, even from death, even from mourning our beloved siblings, parents, grandparents, colleagues, and friends.

So, dear friends, ponder these words, for they aren’t my words, but rather God’s Word.  And this Word is God’s promise: the promise that our lives have purpose: eternal purpose.  Our lives do not end when we leave this fallen world, for the mortal puts in the immortal in Christ.  The perishable puts on the imperishable – just as the Lord Jesus rose from the death.

This is why Easter is so meaningful to us, dear friends.  Before we know it, it will be here, and we will reflect again on what it means that “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”  The symbol of Good Friday is the cross: an instrument of death that has become an instrument of life – by the transformation of God.  The symbol of Easter is the empty tomb: a place of sorrow that has become a place of joy – by the resurrection of Jesus.

Let us reflect on the Word of God, especially that Word where Jesus reminds us that He is our Good Shepherd, knowing that He has shepherded our beloved Robert and Betty together, to eternity, where we await a glorious reunion with them.  And let us give thanks to God for His mercy, now and forever.  Amen.

Peace be with you.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.