Sermon: Funeral of Thelma Kattan - 2019

3 January 2019

Text: Luke 2:25-32 (Job 19:23-27a, Rom 8:28-39)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Dear Darlene, Daniel, Dianne, family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, and honored guests.  Peace be with you.

It was my honor, however brief, to give pastoral care to our Lord’s faithful servant Thelma, as her life on this side of glory drew to a close.  When I visited her, I found a lady who, though elderly, and though suffering, was focused on others, mainly her family.  She prayed not for herself, but for all of you.  Even in her circumstances, she was vivacious and continued to live life to the full. 

And now she lives to the fullest in the very presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, in glory!

She was fond of pointing out that her two beloved churches were named Redeemer: Redeemer Lutheran Church in New Orleans, and Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fairhope.  These two parishes were given the name “Redeemer” because this is one of the titles for our Lord Jesus Christ.  A redeemer is a person who buys back the freedom of another person from slavery.  In the Old Testament, a redeemer was often a relative, and redemption meant that the person was set free.

Our Old Testament lesson is taken from the book of Job.  Job suffered greatly, but never lost faith in his Redeemer who was still to come in the future.  Job believed in this coming Redeemer, that is, in our Lord Jesus Christ, even though he would not be born for centuries.  But Job knew the prophecies, and he believed.  We, dear friends, know these prophecies as well as their fulfillment in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, who was born in space and time (as we call to mind at Christmastide), and who came to die for our sins on the cross (as we call to mind at Eastertide).  The Lord gave us His very body and blood in the Holy Supper, the Eucharist, and it was my privilege to give my dear sister Thelma the body and blood of Christ in the Holy Mass according to our Lord’s instruction and invitation.  It was my honor to give her pastoral care in her hour of need, and to tell her yet again of the good news of her Redeemer, who came to her to set her free from slavery to sin, death, and the devil.  And Jesus rose again from the dead, promising a bodily resurrection to Thelma, and to all who are baptized and who believe.  This is the Lord’s promise, to her and to us.

This week in the church, the Gospel reading is the same reading that I read to you: St. Simeon’s rejoicing, because, by the Lord’s coming, he, an elderly believer and one of God’s people, had seen the coming of his Redeemer.  Now he was ready to “depart in peace” according to the Lord’s Word.  For he had seen his salvation prepared in the presence of all peoples.  And this song of Simeon is the canticle at the end of the Lutheran Mass, after we have received Christ in His body and blood.  Thelma and I prayed this together after she took the Lord’s Supper that last time.  We will pray it together again here.

Thelma did indeed depart in peace according to the Word of God.  She did see salvation prepared for the people of God, those who believe and are baptized.  And like Job, she knows that her Redeemer lives!

This knowledge that our Redeemer lives is also manifest in our knowledge of a bodily resurrection to come, as Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”

Thelma will rise again, for that is what it means to have a Redeemer.  For in her flesh, she shall see God.  Her eyes will behold God.  And we too, dear friends, will behold the Lord’s servant Thelma in a resurrected body, no longer compromised by age and disease, by pain and death – but re-created anew!  This is what Job meant, and this is what it means that Thelma took the body and blood of Christ and heard the Gospel preached in houses of worship called “Redeemer.”

And though we don’t understand why God does what He does (which is another lesson from the book of Job), we trust His will and know that He loves us.  As we heard anew from St. Paul: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”  Thelma was called according to the Lord’s purpose when she was baptized, and the Lord provided her with His body and blood even as she was preparing to “depart in peace.” 

Listen to this magnificent comfort from our Lord through His Word given to St. Paul and shared with the Christians of Rome. Listen to this mighty Word, dear friends: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?....   No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This is what it means to have a Redeemer.  This is what it means that the Lord provided for Thelma, from infancy to old age.  This is what it means that by grace and through faith, according to the Lord’s promise delivered to her at holy baptism, she will rise again in the “resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”

Though we are separated from Thelma, this separation is only temporary.  For “nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord,” who is our Redeemer.

We know that our Redeemer lives.  We know that Thelma lives.  We know that we will live, and be reunited with her for the sake of, and by means of, our Redeemer.

And just as Thelma lived this phase of her life on this side of glory to the full, praying and giving praise to her Redeemer, she now lives it in glory to the fullest, and she lives eternally.  We look forward to seeing her again and taking part in that fullness of life, giving thanks to our Redeemer, now and even unto eternity!  Amen.

Peace be with you!

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