Sermon: Funeral of Ruth Ziifle

6 February 2021

Text: John 11:20-27 (Isa 46:3-4, Rom 6:3-11)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

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

Our dear sister in Christ, Ruth, is the last of her generation to be called to her heavenly home: one of six extraordinary sons and daughters of William and Leonora Ziifle.  William was an entrepreneur, a hard worker, and a remarkable intellect who loved his family and understood the value of education – making sure that all six of his children had the opportunity to attend college.  But William and Leonora understood that there is one kind of education that means even more than the university: to be catechized into the Christian faith.

The Ziifles brought Ruth to this very baptismal font when she was less than a month old, because they knew the words we heard again today: that we “who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death.”  For “if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.”  They brought Ruth to the waters of Holy Baptism to prepare her for her death nearly a century later. 

And the same pastor, the Rev. Eugene Schmid, who baptized Ruth also catechized her, that is educated her in the Christian faith, and also gave her Holy Communion for the first time – the first of a lifetime of encounters with Jesus in the Divine Service, in Word and Sacrament, in having her sins absolved and being prepared to die in the Lord – which she has done by grace.

Ruth knew the Scriptures, and she knew why this was important.  She was truly prepared to leave this vale of tears.  And as active as she was in the community and the church, she understood that she was just a stranger here, that her true home is eternal life in Christ Jesus, having died to sin in baptism, and having been raised to new life.  I had the privilege to be the last of a long line of pastors who served Ruth with the Gospel, with the Body and Blood of Christ, with Holy Absolution, and in studying together the Word of God. 

Ruth also knew the church’s liturgy, having sung it week in and week out for nearly a century.  She knew the glorious hymns of our Lutheran tradition, which confess that by grace we’re saved, grace free and boundless.  She believed this, and doubted it not.  She knew that she would die, and she knew into which narrow chamber at Hook and Ladder Cemetery that she would be laid to rest, even as she expects our Lord to awaken her from death, when she will be raised in the body to look into her Savior’s face, to be physically reunited with her family and with all believers on the Last Day.

Ruth chose the Gospel reading for this service, because she knew that the Christian faith is all about the resurrection.  Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us a little preview when He raised His friend Lazarus from the dead, calling him by name from his tomb, where he came out to be reunited with his loved ones who mourned his loss.  For Ruth knew and loved the words of Jesus: “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live.”  He said this to Lazarus’s sister Martha, who mourned the loss of her brother.  Her mourning was turned into rejoicing, dear friends, even as will our mourning.  Ruth knew what it is to mourn.  She outlived most of her family and friends – including losing her beloved sister Myra less than two years ago.  Ruth and Myra were inseparable their whole lives, and now they are separated no more.

Ruth knew that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”  She enjoys that eternal life even now, dear brothers and sisters.

The Lord blessed Ruth with a long life, so that she might be of service to others.  As Isaiah spoke, God knew Ruth “from before [her] birth,” even in her mother’s womb, and God planned for Ruth’s life “even to [her] old age,” carrying her even through to the time of gray hairs.  The Lord’s words are certainly appropriate in Ruth’s case: “I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and I will save.”

 From the baptismal font to the tomb that Jesus will open, this joyful refrain that Ruth sang again and again sums it up best, dear friends: 

By grace!  On this I’ll rest when dying;
In Jesus’ promise I rejoice;
For though I know my heart’s condition,
I also know my Savior’s voice.
My heart is glad, all grief has flown
Since I am saved by grace alone.

Amen.

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