Peace. You have peace and hope in the midst of your mourning. That is good. Death is bad. Christ has overcome death and so shall Lois. So shall you. And that is good.
Scandalous. She married Merv before he was finished at the seminary. Back in those days that was a no-no. She lived a scandalous life as well, which is to say, she lived her life under the cross of Jesus. Her life revolved around 2 things: God and family, both biological and of faith. She labored long and hard next to her husband, with her children, with her friends. How much food did she make for her family over the years? How much food did she make for church potlucks, dinners, get togethers? She labored for the food that did not perish, the Bread of God who came down from heaven and gives life to the world.
Jesus fulfilled the will of His father in regards to Lois. He fed and nourished her along the way. There were some good times, and some difficult time. And through it all He did not lose her. He preserved her in the true faith to life everlasting.
Lois wouldn’t want today to be about her but rather about what God has done for her in Christ, and what God has done for you. Jesus explains this in John 6, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him who he has sent. This work cannot be commanded, but is given and received in faith. In faith, in the possession of Him who is sent, Lois believes and lives. Much more important than the works of Lois, which were many and good by faith, is the work of God. God worked through her, granting her faith in Christ, but also a faith in Christ that is lived out in love toward others.
So we mourn not as others do who have no hope. Even in death she bears witness to the hope she has in Christ. Not past tense, as in had, but present tense. We know that our Redeemer lives and the at that souls of the righteous, the souls of those declared righteous by faith alone in Christ alone, they are in the hand of God. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.
Let us fight the good fight of faith, the faith that lays a hold of the promises of God in Christ Jesus that in Him we have eternal life, in Him we are made new, in Him we are destined to be raised on the Last Day. May we be ready, just as Lois was, for the final summons as the Lord called her to Himself. Let us rest in this time of mourning, surrounded by loved ones, rest in the peace of God that passes all understanding.
I look at your family and I can’t help but think of how many funerals you all have been too, participated in, preached for, helped with. How many times have you spoken words of comfort to those who mourn so that they do not mourn as those without the hope of the resurrected Christ. There’s nothing I can add to what you have preached. There are no new or more profound words I can say to make your sorrow lessen or the coming days and weeks and years be any different. So I’m not going to try. All that I am going to do is leave you with the only words that truly matter, the only words that make an everlasting difference, and the only words that Lois would want you to hear: the words of Jesus, “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him would have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day.”
Grace and peace to you from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Family and friends of Alice, what a joy, even in the midst of sadness and loss that we face, to be able to gather together today in the faith and the hope and the knowledge that Alice is with the Lord. Alice has fought the good fight, finished the race, kept her course in faith. She has received the crown of righteousness, won by Jesus and received by her through faith in Him. Jesus had prepared her for death long ago, at her baptism when she was connected to His death and therefore to His life. He kept her in that faith, a faith that shaped her life, the way she lived, the people that she lived for.
There are many good things that we have to celebrate about the life of Alice. 92 years of life is sure to have created more memories, more stories, more laughs, more wonderment that we have time for today. There was a mischievousness in her that I could never pinpoint. Something behind those eyes that let a person know there was more going on in that mind of hers than she communicated. On the other hand, she sometimes communicated what she was thinking very… clearly. Is it fair of me to say that she could be stubborn at times?
But there’s also some bad things. Growing old is not for the faint of heart. It is a form of suffering, for you see how frail a body is worn down by the wear and tear of the years. Alice didn’t remember much toward the end. Her body and mind were wearing out. And it aggravated her. She knew something was wrong, and she didn’t much care for it. But she also knew that the Lord was soon to call her to Himself. She also knew her journey was in Christ, that as she grew old in Christ, those marks of age are marks of honor and wisdom and a reminder and yearning for eternal life with Him. And then death came. And it did not belong. She was ready, yes, but death still came like a thief in the night. It is our enemy. It was meant from the beginning that people should die. We mourn when death comes our way, even when it comes after a long and full life like Alice enjoyed. We mourn because we feel the loss, we feel the sadness.
Yet Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me.” These words are spoken to people like you and I when in times of great need, of great comfort. The Lord had prepared a place for Alice. A place here on earth with so many of you. A place in your lives that cannot be filled nor replaced. A place in the church where she sat week after week for so many years. A place in heaven with the Lord. And a place in eternity with all the saints of God.
In our Gospel reading for today, we hear the account of Jesus healing a paralyzed man, a healing that took place both of his soul and his body. In doing this, Jesus illustrates a very important part of His ministry: the forgiveness of sins. This miracle is recorded right after two well known other miracles. The first is when Jesus calms the storm after falling asleep in a boat with His disciples. After they get off the boat, He casts demons out of two men and into some pigs, which then ran into the sea and drowned in the waters. Now, he comes back across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum. As he arrived, some men bring a paralytic to Him on a bed. He sees the faith of the men who brought the crippled man, and speaks to him, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”
Now, some in this man’s position might think, “That’s nice, but what I really want is to be walk again. I want my body to be healed.” How many times have we heard, or thought, those same things when we’ve fallen ill, or heard a cancer diagnosis, or the after effects of a car accident, or whatever it may be. We pray and want this physical problem fixed, which isn’t wrong by any means, but this misses the entire point. Jesus healed this man, He healed him of his true sickness and handicap, which wasn’t because he was paralyzed. The man had a sick heart, a sinful heart, that needed to be healed. And that healing comes through the forgiveness of sins, not just in this body and in this life, but through eternity. For where there is the forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation.
Some of the scribes who were there didn’t like this one little bit. The Pharisees knew that the forgiveness of sins is God’s work and belongs to Him alone. For this reason, they through Jesus a blasphemer, they thought Him slandering God, and making Himself to be on the same level as God. Here, the accusation is that Jesus claims divine authority, since forgiveness must come from God alone. Which is exactly Jesus’ point.
And so, knowing their thoughts, He says to them, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk.’? Obviously, it is easier to declare someone forgiven that to tell a paralytic to rise and walk. So Jesus does both just to prove His could, to prove His point, to prove who He was. “‘But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ – He then said to the paralytic – ‘Rise, pick up your bed and go home.’”
Jesus speaks directly and immediately with God’s own authority. This was the beginning of long standing conflict between the followers of Jesus and the heirs of the Pharisees in rabbinic Judaism. It’s the scandal of the incarnation. Jesus has the authority to forgive sins because Jesus is the Son of God. It is scandalous to think that God would become man, and as fully man act with the authority of God.
This Jesus, who is the Christ, the Son of God, came from heaven and became man, suffered, and died to save us from our sins. This is the cause, the means, and the treasure through which the forgiveness of sins and God’s grace are given to us. It must not be sought anywhere else other than through and in Jesus. Whoever comes to God with any works outside of those that belong to Jesus, brings to God a pile of sinful garbage. If you want to be free from sin, stop trying to do it yourself, stop seeking to bring your works before God, rather crawl to Christ as the One who takes away the sin of the world and puts it on Himself and nails it to the cross.
“Take heart, My son, your sins are forgiven.” These are powerful words, these are God’s words. This is what is called, “Absolution.” The word “Absolve” comes from Latin words ab, which means “from”, and solvere, which means “to loose.” It refers to the sacred act of loosing a person from sin, to free one from guilt of all their sin. When we confess our sins, whether publically or privately, and hear God’s word of forgiveness spoken to us, then, like the paralytic, we are absolved (TLSB, notes Matthew 9:1-8), our sins are loosed, we are freed from the guilt and the shame and the punishment because Jesus has taken all that upon Himself.
Only Christians believe this. This divides you from every other belief and worship on earth. The difference between Christians and non-Christians has nothing to do with how good of person you are, how loving you are, how you have it all together. The thing that marks Christians as different is simply this: the possessions of the forgiveness of sins.
How do you get this forgiveness? That’s the big question now isn’t it? How do you get, today, what Jesus earned upon the cross 2000 years ago? It’s pretty straightforward actually. Forgiveness is delivered through the Word of God and the Sacraments, and it is received by faith. First, sin is driven out of the heart and grace is poured in. Second, the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed; one person to another.
This too may seem just as scandalous as Jesus forgiving sins. One of the most common questions asked about a Lutheran Divine Service centers around the Confession and Absolution. Luther’s Small Catechism states the Biblical position that confession has two parts: first that we confess our sins, second that we receive absolution, that is forgiveness of sins, from the pastor as from God Himself. And so often that rings as blasphemy in people’s ears. “You have no right, no authority, no power, to forgive the sins of anyone, especially when the sin isn’t even directed against you. And the answer to that is “You are exactly right. I don’t have the right, nor the authority, nor the power. But Jesus does, and by Jesus’ authority, and in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Jesus has commanded that His church proclaim this message, this Gospel, to the entire world.” God has given to His people the authority to forgive sins. Jesus clearly speaks in John 20:20-23, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” As Christians we not just talk about forgiveness, we actually deliver forgiveness; we not just announce God’s forgiveness in Christ, we actually forgive in Christ’s name.
It’s not just the pastor, but all baptized Christians have this authority, which rests in God and which He delivers and commissions to us by virtue of our Baptism. Christ puts His word in our mouths that that we can say as often as necessary, “you are forgiven in the name of Christ!” This should be the voice of the church until Christ Himself returns on the Last Day. These words, “I forgive you” should be some of the most common words spoken in your homes, between husbands and wives, parents and children. This is the very Gospel, the heart of the Christian faith. Do not neglect it. Do not ignore it. Do not silence it. This is your baptismal right, it is your baptismal life – a life marked with repentance and faith in the forgiveness of sins won upon the cross by Jesus Christ.
Who is getting married? This looks like a wedding bulletin today. And it is. Jesus speaks of the parable of the wedding feast. Our Lord took human nature into the unity of His Person. He married humanity. It is to this wedding that God the Father has called us. It is for us that this wedding has been arranged.
Now, the Kingdom of God is like a King who throws a feast for His Son. The Kingdom of God is not like a party. It is like a King who is generous. He invites many, but they do not respond to the invitation. And so the King sends more servants to tell them that everything is ready for them. But they don’t want to come, being too busy with the things of this world Inexplicably, they refuse to come to the banquet prepared for them. In a sense, this shows the power of unbelief. The King doesn’t force them to come. God doesn’t force people into the Kingdom of heaven. The invitation is sent, God sends His preachers to announce it has arrived in Christ, but people can, and do, reject it.
While the King is generous, His patience knows limits. He grows angry at those who disrespect Him. He enacts vengeance and destroys cities. Some of those invited to the feast ignore the second invitation. Others greet these messengers with violence. And so they are no longer welcome.
The point is that not everyone goes to heaven. Jesus is no universalist. The sinfulness of humanity deserves death and hell. The righteousness of Christ and entrance into the Kingdom of God are offered to all. Some, such as the majority of the Jews of Jesus’ time, simply reject the invitation out of hand. They can’t be bothered. They are too busy with the things of this world. They have to go off to their fields or their business, or they are angry and malicious and kill the servants, the Old Testament prophets, for even asking them to come. And so the King enacts justice. He raises an army and destroys cities. The God who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah over their sinfulness, also destroyed Jerusalem over their rejection of His Son using the Romans in the year 70 to enact His wrath against those who rejected Him.
Even so, the wedding feast is ready and the King desires people to come. And so He invites others, all others, even those who do not deserve it. God does all the work, provides all the grace. You haven’t been good enough. You don’t deserve to be in His presence, to eat His Body and Blood, but He wants you to have it. And so He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies by His Gospel. Your worthiness isn’t based on yourself, but it is based on faith, on trust in the goodness of the King.
And people come, but we have the example in the parable of the one who does not wear the wedding garment and is tossed out. Why was this one guest rejected? His character was no objection, for bad and good were both invited. His status was no objection, for the king had sent out servants to gather up everyone they could find. Why was the wedding garment such a big deal? In Jesus’ time, Israelites expected invited guests to wear festive wedding garments which the host could provide. It’s not that the man was underdressed, it’s that he refused to wear what was given to him. This man’s failure to dress in appropriate clothing, which was freely given to him, offends the King, the host. The same disobedience which made others refuse made him unfit, even though he was present.
So also He throws out those who would come to the feast but not actually participate, those who will not wear the appropriate garment. They are cast into the dark place of eternal torture. Many of those called into God’s kingdom miss out because they refuse to respond to the invitation properly—in faith. “This does not mean that God is unwilling to save everybody. But the reason some are not saved is as follows: They do not listen to God’s Word at all.” AC
This is the warning, and the point of the parable. The Kingdom of heaven is like the King and His actions. The marriage is the work of salvation. Christ is the groom, the Church is the bride, we are the guests. The coming of the king into the hall is the second coming of Christ. The wedding garment is the robe of Christ’s righteousness, the grace of God, in which a person is clothed through the waters of baptism. It is not enough to be invited and come, only to refuse the righteousness of Christ, to outwardly be a part of a church but inwardly reject the Gospel.
Some have come into the feast by the garment, by invitation, by Baptism, and then, tragically, has taken off the garment. He didn’t get in without it. He had it. But now he refuses it, he grows tired of it. He mocks it. He forgets the vows he made at confirmation. He does not to fear, love and trust in God above all things. He takes the King’s hospitality for granted. The wedding garment offered in Christ was rejected. If any are cast out into outer darkness, it will be because they refuse to put on the new man, which the Lord Himself earns and provides. The only way you come into the Kingdom is if you shirk your own righteousness and are clothed with His righteousness.
So repent. And stay dressed! Cling to the robe of Christ’s righteousness that covers all your sin. You have been invited and granted entrance to the kingdom of heaven by virtue of your baptism, rejoice with the saints of God. In the presence of the King. In the wedding feast, the eternal marriage as Christ has wed Himself to the bride, the Church of God, presenting the Church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish (Eph 5:27).
100 years, that’s a long time. It is hard to summarize the life of someone who has lived 100 years. It can’t be done. Summarize what is most important, and what still matters.
And did she ever witness and participate in a lot! Think of all the change that she saw in her life. Born at the end of WWI, she lived through the roaring 20s, the Great Depression, WWII, the 50s, the birth of television, space flight, disco, computers, the internet. From horse and buggy to cars. And up to the end, she still bragged about how she had never had a ticket while driving and that she wasn’t happy her license was taken away when she was 95.
But there was a constant in her life that shaped her more than anything else. She is not unlike Ruth in the Old Testament reading. She met her husband, a story that she retold often, “Your people shall be my people and your God my God.” For over 80 years, she was a member here at Zion. She walked in faith alongside her husband, her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great-great grandchildren. The same faith, the same Lord, the same hope of eternal life. She is a child of God. She is beloved in the Lord. She has victory over her sin, over the devil, over death. She has the hope of the resurrection of the dead and she waits with the saints of God for that day of the Lord’s return. This is not just a summary of her life, but also of your life in faith.
You are a testimony of the grace of God shown to Gerry and through her to you. Over that 100 years, Gerry mattered. She made a difference. You here are witnesses of that difference. The family, the friends. The love, the joy, the happiness, the hope. She mattered. She mattered to you. She mattered to me. She matters to Christ, so much that He would die for her that she might live. You matter to Christ. He died for you, so that you might live. So that 100 years might seem as the blink of an eye in light of all eternity. Whether you live 50 years or 100 years here in this mortal life, in terms of eternity, what’s the life, the length of a lifetime?
Jesus says in the Gospel reading, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” Gerry knew that a place had been prepared for her, for her family and friends, even from before the foundation of the world. And this is no temporary house, no hotel room, no care facility room. This is a permanent residence, an eternal home, with Christ and with all the saints of God.
And Gerry knew the way. She knew the way that extended beyond 100 years and past this mortal life. It was a way that passes through death to the resurrection and life everlasting. It is the way that Jesus forged, where Jesus beckons people to follow, where Jesus is present. For Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
Blessed are the dead in the sight of the Lord. Here on earth, death does not rob you of your life in Christ. For He has done it all for you, just like He did it all for Gerry. Don’t neglect that gift, don’t ignore it, don’t deny it. Gerry wanted to know you not just here and not, but for eternity.
She is blessed with life even now.
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Let not your hearts be troubled. Hope in Jesus. For in Him we rejoice. Gerry is home. She is with Jesus, with all her loved ones. And through our tears, through our loss, we have a glimpse of the heavenly home, of mansions so great it is beyond imagination. And we wait with Gerry for the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting, an eternal homecoming with Jesus. Amen.