Sermon: Funeral of Catherine Gegenheimer - 2020

27 June 2020

Text: John 14:1-7 (Lev 26:3-13, Phil 1:21-23)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Dear Kathleen, Buddy, Carol, family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, and honored guests, peace be with you!

When someone lives to be nearly a century, we are tempted to think that death is natural.  It isn’t.  God did not create us to die.  Rather, He created us to live.  Death is a result of the fall into sin of Adam and Eve, and that act of rebellion against God continues to reverberate to us in our day.  

Of course, we see the effects of sin all around us.  How can anyone look at the news and think that this is how God meant things to be.  And just because someone had a long and fulfilling life does not make death any more normal or natural.

Catherine was part of our lives in different ways, whether a relationship of family, of friendship, of coworker, of student, of brother of sister church member, or as someone who gave her the body and blood of Christ.  Indeed, Catherine made every room she walked into brighter.  The fact that she was aged does not diminish our desire to see her in the flesh again, to hear her voice again, and to embrace her again.  The temptation to see death as natural is wiped away when we consider our mourning.

At her burial, I read St. Paul’s reminder that although we Christians do indeed grieve, we do not “grieve as others do who have no hope.”  Our hope comes from the fact that “Jesus died and rose again” and “through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.”

And so for us Christians, death is not the end of our existence, but the beginning of truly becoming whom we were meant to be.  Our dear sister Catherine is in the loving arms of her Savior, in whom she was baptized, in whom she believes, in whom she has everlasting life.  And on the Last Day, she and all believers will rise in the flesh, and we will be reunited in a very real physical way, even as we say in the creed, we believe in “the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”

Do you want to look into Catherine’s eyes again, hear her tell you that she loves you in her own voice, and embrace her again?  Well that, dear friends, is the promise that was made to you and to Catherine when she was baptized.  For Almighty God Himself took her into His holy covenant, saying, “I will… be your God, and you shall be My people.”  He promised to Catherine that her enemies would be destroyed, and dear friends, death is our enemy.  

But in Christ, death is a conquered enemy, rendered powerless to defeat us.  For us Christians, death is a temporary separation, and we look forward to the resurrection and to the promise of everlasting life.

And this, dear friends, is why we Christians live life to the full, without fear of death.  For we know that “to live is Christ, and to die is gain,” as the apostle confesses.  Life is a gift from God, and certainly Catherine loved life and loved her family in this life.  She loved partaking in the Divine Service and sharing in the body and blood of Christ.  But to the Christian, as St. Paul says, as much as we love our lives here, our “desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”

The unbelieving world cannot make sense of this.  To them, death is seen as the end of all existence, and it is frightening.  They do indeed grieve as those who have no hope.  But we Christians hear the comfort of our Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ, who says, “Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”

We have a place in life, and in death.  Our place is with Christ.  And in death, we continue to be with Christ until the day of the resurrection, when our bodies will be restored.  And we will continue to be with Christ and with all of our loved ones who are baptized and who believe for all eternity – in the flesh – eating and drinking, rejoicing and embracing, alive to the full in bodies that are perfect, without pain, without suffering, without sin, and of course, without death.

This is why Catherine loved to be in the sanctuary of the church, where she heard the Word of God, the good news of salvation and eternal life.  It is proclaimed here by men who have been given authority to preach the Gospel.  It is here, in the sanctuary of the church that we hear the words of Holy Absolution spoken directly to you by men who have the authority to speak those sacred words.  It is here, in the sanctuary of the church where Christians young and old are brought to the saving waters of Holy Baptism.  It is here, in the sanctuary of the church where Jesus physically comes to us in a miraculous way, penetrating space and time to join us physically in His true body and blood, as Jesus says, “for the forgiveness of sins.”

Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Catherine knew this truth and confessed this truth.  She staked her very life on this truth.  She raised her family in this truth.  Her faith was strengthened by Word and Sacrament in this truth.  And it is this truth that sets Catherine free: free from the fallenness of this world, free from pain, free from aging, free from death.  For in Christ, Catherine is victorious over sin, death, and Satan.  

And again, as I read as we committed Catherine to the tomb to await the resurrection, I read St. Paul’s beautiful words of defiance against death: “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal 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.”

We feel the sting of death in being separated from our loved ones, but they do not feel death’s sting, for they are in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has redeemed Catherine and all the saints by His grace, according to His mercy.

And whether a person is one day old or a hundred years old, when death comes, we are reminded that it is unnatural.  But when death comes to the Christian, we are also reminded that this unnatural enemy has been defeated by our Lord Jesus Christ.  His victory is Catherine’s victory.  And we will see her again.  We have our Lord’s promise of that.  For He is the way, and the truth, and the life.

And to Catherine, to you, and to all Christians, “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.  Amen.

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