Sermon: Funeral of Merlin Schexnayder – 2022

24 March 2022

Text: John 11:20-27 (Isa 49:13-16a, 1 Cor 15:51-57)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Dear Kelli, Kris, Rachel, dear Helen, family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, and honored guests: “Peace be with you.” 

 It was a privilege to visit Merlin a good bit during his last few weeks on this side of glory.  He was at home and surrounded by his loved ones and friends.  He was, of course, tired, but smiled and retained his sense of humor to the end.  It was a blessing to be with him in the presence of Kelli, Kris, Rachel, and Helen as we together confessed our sins and heard the words of absolution, as we heard the testimony and promises of God’s Word, and as Merlin was able to receive the body and blood of Christ in faith.

It is a lot of work to take care of family members at home, but it is truly a labor of love, just as Merlin loved and served you on this side of the grave. 

We Christians mourn the losses of our loved ones, and we mourn the loss of Merlin.  And so how strange it must sound to unbelievers to hear a reading that begins: “Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing.”  But the cause of this joy, dear friends, is because “the Lord has comforted His people and will have compassion on His afflicted.”  The heavens and earth sing out in joy because of the Lord’s promise of compassion, even in such times of sadness and mourning.  For God says, “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands.”  Isaiah wrote these words in 700 BC, long before God’s hands were impaled by nails at the cross, showing compassion to Merlin by rescuing him, promising him a resurrection like the resurrection of Jesus.  For Jesus died for Merlin, and Jesus promises you, dear brothers and sisters, fellow believers in this promise, that you will see Merlin again!

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” says St. Paul.  It will happen very quickly.  “The last trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable.”  And when our Lord returns, “this mortal body must put on immortality.”  This mortal body, dear friends.  St. Paul is talking about Merlin.  For Merlin received the promise that Jesus Himself gave: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.”  St. Paul continues, and we join him, with boldness in mocking death: “Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?”  We feel death’s sting, but it is temporary.  We feel this sting because St. Paul identifies it as sin, whose power is the law.  But St. Paul continues: “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And just like the prophet Isaiah, the apostle Paul points us to the cross, to the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shares that victory with His beloved and redeemed people.

We also heard John’s Gospel teaching us about a famous funeral.  Martha is mourning the death of her brother Lazarus.  She laments that Jesus was not there to prevent him from dying.  But in spite of this sad reality, Martha has faith that Jesus will fix things even now.  “Your brother will rise again,” says Jesus.  And Martha confesses, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 

Our Lord speaks to her words that Christian people cherish – especially when we face death; “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.”  This is our Lord’s promise given not just to Martha, but to all of us: including Merlin, for whom our Lord died.  And when Jesus asks Martha if she believes this, she speaks for all Christians: “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Jesus ruined that funeral a few moments in the future when he called Lazarus out of the tomb.  Like all things in creation, his body obeyed the voice of his Creator.  Lazarus was raised from the dead.  And Jesus performed this miracle not only out of compassion for Martha and her sister Mary, and for all the family and friends of Lazarus who gathered together to bury him and to mourn, but Jesus did this for all of you, gathered together here, even as we place Merlin into the tomb.

We await the “last trumpet” when Merlin will be called by name and restored to life.  And at some point in the future Jesus is going to ruin this funeral as well.  And the heavens and earth will sing, and we will mock death, for Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  Having faith in Him and His Word is how we receive the promise and receive it to ourselves – just as Merlin did.

Just as you brought him home and cared for him as the Lord enabled you, so too we will bring Merlin home to the tomb, where his body will dwell temporarily, awaiting being called to a permanent home, living in a new heaven and a new earth, one without aging and disease and suffering and death.  A promised world without separation, ever again.  And we look to this glorious resurrection, dear friends, holding fast to the promise and knowing that it will be a reality. 

What a great joy to know that we will be reunited in our bodies, where we will eat and drink and laugh and embrace, and will do so eternally.  This is not a mere figure of speech or empty words.  This is rather a promise made, and a promise fulfilled, by Jesus: at the cross and at the empty tomb.

In a few weeks, we will celebrate Easter: the celebration of our Lord’s resurrection.  On this Easter, let us especially remember and celebrate Merlin, knowing that the resurrection of Jesus points us to Merlin’s resurrection, and to our own resurrections, when we will pick up where we left off, and where we will join the heavens and the earth in singing for joy!  Where we will mock death, and where we will forever sing the praises of Him who promised: “I am the resurrection and the life.”

Amen.

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