27 October 2019
Text: John 14:1-6 (Isa 25:6-9, 1 Cor 15:51-57)
In the name of +
Jesus. Amen.
Dear
Friends, peace be with you.
It
is a rule that pastors are not supposed to be friends with their parishioners. And it is also true that there are rare
exceptions to the rules. Aline is certainly
a rare exception in many ways!
She
had her own language: a combination of World War II slang, lines from fifties
tunes, and other quirky turns of phrase that became her own. I think my favorite was her reference to her
home as “the little old shack by the railroad track.”
When
my family moved to Gretna in 2007, we had no family here. Aline opened her home to us every Thanksgiving,
Christmas, and Easter. She cooked for
us. She welcomed us to her table. She took us under her wing and befriended us –
and it was only later that she joined our church and become my parishioner.
But
she was not an exception in one important way – because among us children of
the fall there are no exceptions. Aline
was, like all of us, as we confessed, a “poor, miserable sinner” who needed the
blood of Christ shed at the cross to redeem us, and give us eternal life as a
free gift. If you look at the picture of
Aline here, you will see her cross around her neck. Aline understood the cross, and she understood
the Scriptures. And that is why she came
to this holy place week after week. For
this holy place is not a place for holy people, but rather a place for sinners
who need forgiveness.
And the fact that Aline is mortal, that she is no longer with us in the flesh, is proof that she was right about that – and so are we, dear friends.
And the fact that Aline is mortal, that she is no longer with us in the flesh, is proof that she was right about that – and so are we, dear friends.
Aline
understood the Good News that Christ died on the cross to redeem us by His
grace. Our Gospel reading, in which Jesus
speaks of preparing a place for us – a home of many rooms – is a fit Gospel
reading for Aline’s memorial service. For
Jesus provides hospitality to us, dear friends.
He provides a home. And just as Aline’s
“little old shack” was Aline’s place of love and food and laughter – so too
does this describe what our Lord prepares for us.
Aline
prepared meals for us – including some of you too – out of love. Hospitality is love in action. Bringing people into your home and sitting at
table is love in action. And this is
what Jesus did for Aline: He invited her to feast at His own table here in this
sanctuary week in and week out. Aline
received the sacrament every Sunday until her health made it difficult, and
then she received the Lord’s body and blood at home.
And
we heard from the prophet Isaiah just what eternity will be like, dear friends.
How sad that people picture a horridly
boring heaven of floating spirits instead of vibrant, joyful, fleshly human
beings made new by our Lord! Christianity
teaches a bodily resurrection. For the
cross of Good Friday led to the empty tomb of Easter Sunday – and Aline always
shared a meal with us to celebrate Jesus’ bodily resurrection.
Aline
was not fond of wine, and at her table, the beverages were root beer and
lemonade, but Scripture speaks of eternity as a banquet. I recently heard a German band sing the old Oktoberfest
song: “In Heaven There is No Beer.” And I
realize that it’s a joke, but it’s a bad joke, dear friends. For what does the Lord actually promise us
that eternity will be like?
Isaiah speaks of eternity in fleshly terms: “The Lord of Hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well-refined.” Scripture is filled with such joyful images of eternity in the flesh, of feasting, of sitting at table with loved ones. Whoever wrote that Oktoberfest song has clearly never read the Bible, and knows nothing about Jesus.
Our Lord prepares a place for us, and promises to raise us from the dead. “He will swallow up death forever,” says Isaiah, and St. Paul confirms this with the great Christian confession: “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Isaiah speaks of eternity in fleshly terms: “The Lord of Hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well-refined.” Scripture is filled with such joyful images of eternity in the flesh, of feasting, of sitting at table with loved ones. Whoever wrote that Oktoberfest song has clearly never read the Bible, and knows nothing about Jesus.
Our Lord prepares a place for us, and promises to raise us from the dead. “He will swallow up death forever,” says Isaiah, and St. Paul confirms this with the great Christian confession: “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Right
here and now, we feel the sting of death, for is it a separation. It is painful.
But it is temporary, dear friends. And it has been destroyed by Jesus. And so we mourn, but not as unbelievers. Rather, we mourn in hope. For we are the people of the resurrection.
Yes,
I was honored to call Aline a friend, and to enjoy her hospitality and love,
but it is my double honor that I call her my parishioner. For even as she prepared meals for me and my family,
we celebrated the greatest meal of all as a church family: the Lord’s Supper. And now, Aline has gone to the place Jesus has
prepared for her. She awaits the
resurrection even as we all do, when we will be reunited, when we will feast on
the finest food and drink with our loved ones, when we “will be raised
imperishable” never to suffer the effects of sin, suffering, and death, with
renewed vigor, and enjoying divine hospitality that will have no end.
Thanks
be to God for the earthly life of our dear sister Aline, for her example of
hospitality and of laughter. And let us
give thanks to God for our Lord Jesus Christ, who prepares a home for us
forgiven sinners, who prepares a feast for us by His grace and mercy, and in
whom we celebrate the victory of life over death – the life that Aline now
enjoys for eternity.
Peace
be with you. Amen.
In the name of the Father
and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment