The Lord Has Prepared His Table for Bernice in His Father's House

So there are these two disciples of our Lord who have journeyed together on the Road to Emmaus (let’s call it Indiana 23).  Side by side they have lived and walked and traveled, at home and away, within the Lord’s House, and with their family.  They have surely had their troubles and hardships on the way, their own various health issues, and their daughter’s stroke and subsequent struggles; but you would rarely have known or hardly have guessed any of those burdens they bore.

Bernice and Eldon have always radiated joy and contentment.  Look at the wonderful picture from their 50th Anniversary celebration, and you can see it so clearly in their faces and their smiles.  They embraced their life together in real happiness — playing cards, dancing, quilting, traveling.

Bernice lived her life on the road to and from Emmaus, not only with Eldon beside her, and family and friends, but with the Lord Jesus.  She and Eldon lived together in the Word of God and prayer, reading from their Bible day by day at home, and worshiping together in the Lord’s House every week.  To be on the road with Jesus is to be in His Word and in His House, and so they have been.

And here is the truth: In the confession and prayer of His Word, in the telling and retelling of the story of Christ Jesus, He Himself draws near and journeys alongside of His disciples on the way, in both good times and bad, in all the joys of life and in its sorrows.  So has He been with Bernice.

I’m sure that all of us can relate to the sadness of those very first disciples of Emmaus on this day, as we mourn Bernice’s death.  She touched so many lives with her gentleness, quiet humor, and  compassionate love, her departure from this vale of tears has left an emptiness in our hearts and lives — none of us more so than you, dear Eldon, now left without your wife of sixty-two years!

But where we are all so tempted and prone to despair in our fallen, mortal flesh, the Lord Jesus gently chides our slow and foolish hearts, and He does not leave us to wallow in sadness and fear, not even in the face of death and the grave.  He comes alongside you today, as He has walked with Bernice and Eldon all these years, and He joins your pilgrimage through this valley of sorrow.

It was the presence of Christ Jesus that sustained Bernice in peace and hope throughout her days on this earth, all the more so in the final weeks and months of her mortal life.  When she spoke of her illness, of her cancer and its treatment, and of her hospice care at home, it was with the calm acceptance of her Lord’s good and gracious will for her, with faith and confidence in His Gospel.  Not by her own reason and strength, but by the Word and work of her Lord Jesus Christ.

So also for you, and for all of His disciples, the same Lord Jesus opens the Scriptures to reveal Himself to you.  He opens your ears to hear, your heart to believe, and your mind to comprehend the glory of His Cross, as He leads and guides you by His Word and Spirit into His Father’s House.

It is only by His Word and Spirit that faith is created and sustained in your heart and life, especially in the midst of adversity and hardship, under the trials and tribulations of the Cross.  Otherwise, you cannot comprehend the Cross or make any sense of it.  Neither are you able to bear the Cross  except by the Word and Spirit of Christ Jesus, whereby He calls you to fear, love, and trust in Him.

Even so, it is paradoxically by the way of His Cross that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, enters into His Glory; because it is by His Cross and Passion that He has redeemed His Israel from sin, death, the devil, and hell.  It is by His Cross that He has redeemed and reconciled you and all the world, including Bernice, to be His own.  For the Lord both wounds and heals; He kills and brings to life.

Indeed, the Cross and Passion of Christ Jesus stand at the heart and center of the Holy Scriptures, at the heart and center of the whole creation and all of history.  The Cross is the defining event by which the incarnate Son has fulfilled all that the Prophets have spoken, and accomplished His great Salvation for you and all people, and entered into His Glory as your merciful and great High Priest.  His Cross likewise defines and shapes your Christian faith and life on earth, as it did for Bernice.

His Resurrection from the dead on the Third Day, in accordance with the Scriptures, is therefore not a contradiction or the undoing of His Cross.  It is, rather, the manifest victory of His Cross.  And as He was crucified for your transgressions, put to death and buried in His Body of flesh and blood like your own (and like Bernice’s), so His Resurrection from the dead is your resurrection and your righteousness in the presence of God — which He now gives to you with His Gospel.

It is in that hope and confidence of His Cross and Resurrection that we are gathered as His people today.  To mourn, yes, but also to confess the sure and certain promise of the Resurrection and the Life everlasting, which Bernice shares with Him forever by virtue of her Baptism in His Name.

What she needed most in this body and life, and what you and all your family, friends, and loved ones need above all else — in order to share in the Resurrection and to live with God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — is more than just the news and information concerning Jesus of Nazareth.  What you need is Christ Jesus Himself, in His own Body of flesh and blood, crucified and risen.

So, then, especially at those times when He is hidden from your eyes, and when He appears to be moving on without you, He teaches you to pray, to call upon His Name, to bid Him come and stay with you.  And as He teaches you to pray, so does He hear and answer.  He comes and meets your every need by spreading His Table before you and feeding you with Himself from His own hand.

As St. Luke has here described so beautifully in this Holy Gospel, your catechesis on the road with the Lord Jesus brings you to His Breaking of the Bread, to the Holy Communion of His Body and His Blood, given and poured out for you, for the forgiveness of your sins and life and salvation.

It is here at His Altar in His Church that He is with you, as He has been here with and for Bernice throughout all these many years, revealing Himself in mercy, and giving Himself to His people.

That is what makes this place a true “Emmaus,” not only in name but in actual fact!  For He comes to make this humble dwelling into the very Temple of God.  We call upon His Name and ask Him to abide with us in grace, mercy, and peace.  And so He does!  But so it is that you become a guest at His Table within His Father’s House, wherein He serves as the Host, the Waiter, and the Meal.  So it was that He also came to visit Bernice in her home last week, to feed her with Himself.

To be sure, the Lord Jesus is with you on the way, in His Word, in your life and conversation — as surely as He has been with Bernice throughout the many years of her Christian faith and life.  But at the heart and center of it all, He is with you, as He has been with her — to love you and to serve you with Himself, and to open up your eyes — in the Holy Supper of His Body and Blood.

That is the destination to which He leads you and brings you by the preaching and catechesis of His Word, that you should find Him and receive Him in the Breaking of the Bread, and fear not death nor any other evil, but live in Him, both body and soul, here in time and forever hereafter.

But what then are we to think or say about Bernice, or about any of the other faithful Christians who have suffered and died across the centuries and around the world?  For Bernice has suffered, and now she has died.  Was her confident faith in Christ Jesus misplaced or in vain?  Have all her prayers — and all our intercessions for her — gone unheard and unanswered?  By no means!

The truth is that Bernice has been redeemed in body and soul by the Cross and Passion of Christ Jesus, by His holy and precious Blood, by His innocent suffering and death on her behalf.  Indeed, she shared both His Cross and His Resurrection already in her Baptism.  There she was crucified, put to death, and buried with Christ; and her life was thereby hidden securely with Christ in God.

So it is that all of her suffering in this life on earth, and now her death and her grave, are sanctified by the glorious Cross of Christ; and they are vindicated by His bodily Resurrection from the dead.

Such things are by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and not by sight or sense.  But they are true and real and sure, even so.  That is why we do not mourn as those who have no hope, but as those who hope and trust in the Resurrection and the Life everlasting of our Lord Jesus.

Bernice was blessed with such hope and confidence by the Word and Spirit of Christ Jesus.  That was evident in the way she faced and dealt with her illness over these past six months, so gracious and at peace, so calm and content in Christ.  Not in denial, but in the confession of His Gospel.

Her faith and hope and confidence in Christ have been evident all along, certainly throughout the decades that I have been privileged to know her.  Evident in the love that she demonstrated for all her neighbors in the world — for Eldon; and for her family, her siblings, her children, and her grandchildren; for her many friends and fellow Christians; and for her Emmaus congregation.

Her faith and love were obvious in her gracious hospitality, as she and Eldon opened up their hearts and their home to others, hosting the Emmaus picnic for years, and sharing their tomatoes.

As Christ opened His home to her, so did Bernice open up her house and home to her neighbors.  As a member of the Body of Christ, she cared for the Body of Christ in His members.  And as she thus cared for the members of His Body, so did she receive and care for Christ Jesus Himself.

She was both a Mary and a Martha, no doubt, in both learning and loving; in both hearing the Word of Christ and sharing His hospitality; in both receiving the Body of Christ and returning thanks for that holy Gift.  Loving the Altar from which she received His Sacrament, she assisted for many years in caring for that Altar, especially by taking care of the flowers that adorned it.

And as often as the Lord gave His own holy Body and precious Blood into Bernice’s frail, mortal body — as He continued to do in the last weeks of her life on earth, there in her living room at home along with her family — He was redeeming her for Himself and for His Father in heaven, and sanctifying her body and soul with His Spirit, unto the Resurrection and the Life everlasting.

So it is that we lay Bernice’s body to rest on this day in the confidence that Christ shall raise her body from the dust on the Day of His appearing.  Though her poor body suffered such affliction in the final months of her mortal life on earth, then her body shall be made perfect and glorified, like unto the Lord’s own glorious body, henceforth immortal, imperishable, and indestructible.

For His Body and His Blood, given and poured out for her to eat and drink in repentant faith and with thanksgiving, are the down payment, the surety, and the pledge of Bernice’s resurrection.

As He gave Himself for her into death upon the Cross, and as He has given Himself to her in the Sacrament of His Altar, so has He received her to Himself and taken her into the palm of His hand.  He preserved her faith and life in Him throughout her pilgrimage on earth, on her steady journey to and from Emmaus; and nothing and no one shall ever be able to snatch her away from Him.

He has prepared His Table for Bernice in the House of His God and Father.  And as a member of His Body, as a beloved member of His Holy Bride, she lives and abides forever with Him in the blest Communion, Fellowship divine of His crucified and risen Body, enlivened by His precious Blood.  So does He also abide with you, and you with Him, in His Breaking of the Bread within the household and family of God, which is the Holy Christian Church, on earth as it is in heaven.

Though you cannot see it with your eyes (not yet, though someday you shall!), the Holy Spirit calls you by the Gospel to be gathered here at the Lord’s Altar with all the holy angels and archangels, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with Peter, James, and John, with Bernice and all the saints, to worship and give thanks to the Lamb upon His Throne, who was slain for all your sins, but who is risen from the dead — He is risen indeed! — and behold, He is alive forevermore.

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

Bearing the Cross and Following After Christ Jesus

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor who was finally executed by the Nazis for his opposition to Adolf Hitler.  Among his many writings, he famously wrote, concerning the cost of discipleship, that when Jesus calls a man, He bids him come and die.  And I recently recalled that, years ago, when I made reference to Bonhoeffer and those poignant words of his in a sermon at Emmaus, Bob made a point of telling me afterwards how deeply he was moved by that calling of our Lord to bear the Cross and follow after Him, even unto death.

I was reminded of that occasion on one of my recent visits to Bob and Hilda over these past few weeks, as I preached to the two of them on the Holy Gospel we have heard this morning.  It was the Gospel for the coming Sunday that week, but it was also the Word that our Lord desired Bob to hear and receive as he anticipated his death from this mortal life on earth.  And afterwards he told me that it was the Gospel that he wanted me to preach for his funeral; it was the Word of the Lord that Bob wanted his children and family to hear on this day.

These past couple months were not the first time that Bob was confronted with the fact of his mortality.  I don’t know what dangers he may have faced while serving in the army (in those two years immediately following Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s execution, actually).  But I do know that Bob was thinking about his life and his death when he had heart surgery some time ago, and again when he was hospitalized with bleeding on his brain a couple years ago.  In each of those cases, as again this past month, he spoke seriously to me about his faith and his future.  There was a clarity to his thinking in the face of death, a genuine humility, and an awareness of what really mattered.  And what he sought, what he wanted and needed in that hour, was the Word of his Good Shepherd.

In this most recent case, Bob knew that he was dying.  Which is of course true for all of us, all the time, whether we are aware of it or not.  But the Lord answered the prayer of the Psalmist and of His Church, teaching Bob to number his days, that he should thus gain a heart of wisdom, which begins and continues in the fear and faith of God.  That is the wisdom in which he departed from this mortal life, confessing his sins in repentance, and clinging to Christ Jesus with confidence.

Like Simon Peter, Bob was also taught by God the Father, by His Word and Holy Spirit, to know and confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  He is the Wise Man who builds His House upon the Rock, His holy Christian Church upon the Ministry of His Gospel.  He does so with the forgiveness of sins in the mouth of His servants, on earth as it is in heaven.  And so it is that not even the gates of hades are able to prevail against those who dwell with Christ in His House; for there with Him, where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.

You know, as Bob did, that Christ Himself went to His voluntary suffering and death on the Cross for the sins of the world.  And God the Father raised this same Christ Jesus from the dead for the salvation of the world.  So does He also raise from death to life all who believe and trust in Him.

Of course, this way of the Cross is foolish and offensive to the world and to your fallen flesh, but in truth it is the power and wisdom of God.  Indeed, the righteous Servant of God, the Son of Man is high and lifted up and greatly exalted precisely by His death upon the Cross.  That is where and how the one true God reveals Himself as He truly is — in Self-sacrificing love, in tender mercy and compassion for those who were at odds with Him, and with free and full forgiveness of sins.

For Christians, too, as for Christ upon the Cross, what you feel and experience, and the way that you and your life appear in the world, are not the measure of what is good and right and true in the presence of God.  Bob’s condition and appearance, for example, in the final days and weeks of his life on earth, were certainly not good.  His mortal flesh was wearing out and wasting away, as he was poisoned from the inside with toxins his body could no longer process, handle, or remove.

Yet, Bob was not abandoned by the Lord who loves him, no more than Christ was abandoned to the grave when He gave His body and life in faith and love upon the Cross.  Indeed, He took all of Bob’s sickness, suffering, mortality, and death upon Himself, in order to bear it in His own flesh and blood, to do away with it forever.  And not only Bob’s suffering and death, but all of his sins and iniquities, his transgressions and trespasses, which are the deepest, most fatal sickness of all.  The Lord Jesus took all of this upon Himself; He dealt with it, atoned for it, and put it to death in His Body on the Cross, so that Bob and you and all the world might have life in His Resurrection.

The Son of the living God has become the Sheep led quietly to the slaughter, the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, in order to rescue, redeem, and recover all of us lost sheep who have gone astray.  The Shepherd has given His life for the sheep who love to wander!

So it is that when you, or any of us, like Simon Peter, become Satanic in our good intentions and proud presumptions — supposing that we know better than God and have a better way than the Cross — then the same Lord Jesus Christ, who has given Himself for us, calls us to repentance.

When He responds with such strong words, “Get behind Me, Satan,” He admonishes you to get back in line and follow after Him, to listen and to learn from Him, instead of attempting to teach the Teacher.  He calls you to follow in the way of God — to bear the Cross; to be crucified, dead, and buried with Christ Jesus — and thus to rise and live a new life with Him in faith and love.

This is what it means to be and to live as a Christian, a disciple of Christ Jesus.  That you hear and heed His Word, and live according to it, even when it seems foolish and makes no sense to you.  That, where you have sinned, as often as you fail and fall short, you repent of your sins and bear the fruits of repentance in your thoughts, words, and actions.  That you bear the burdens of your callings and stations in life.  That you love and serve your neighbors and forgive their trespasses against you.  And that you find your life and health and strength, your greatness and your glory, and your real, lasting treasure in Christ Jesus, in His Body crucified and risen from the dead.

It is not possible to purchase your way into heaven, which Christ has purchased for you.  Only do not forfeit your soul and your salvation by renouncing His Cross and chasing after the world!

Rather, look to Christ in the Gospel of His Cross, in the Ministry of His forgiveness of sins, and so live unto righteousness by faith in Him, in the sure and certain promise of His Resurrection.

That is where Bob’s life is truly found, even now, and that is what animated his life on earth, even in the midst of sin and death.  He was not a wealthy man by worldly standards, but in Christ Jesus he was rich beyond measure, and for that reason he was generous in his love toward others.  He was steady, hard working, and faithful in serving his country, in doing his job, in caring for his wife and family.  He was a kind and gentle man, because he knew the grace and mercy of God.

Such things have been among God’s gracious gifts to Bob in this body and life, and so also to his neighbors in the world who were served by his love.

And yet, it was not to any of his own good works that Bob turned in the face of death.  He did not boast of himself, but only in the Cross of Christ.  That is where his heart and mind were fixed in peace and hope.  He confessed his sins in the confidence of the Gospel.  He asked for his pastor to come and speak to him, to bring him the Sacrament.  It was to Christ that Bob turned, to His Word of forgiveness, and to His Body given and His Blood poured out in the Holy Communion.

That is where Bob turned when he knew that his life was ending.  And his faith and hope in Christ were not disappointed or put to shame.  The Lord who went to the Cross for him in love, also came to Bob to care for him in love, to strengthen and sustain him in repentance, faith, and life.

It was from His Cross that Christ anointed Bob with His Holy Spirit, as He does for His whole Church on earth, in order to raise him from the dust of the earth and give him life; for He divides the booty of His Cross and Resurrection with all those whom He calls to Himself in peace.

Here in time within His Church throughout the world — at Emmaus on the corner of Milton and Dale, in the living rooms or at the kitchen tables of His homebound Christians, or at their hospital bedsides — He leads His people in the green pastures of His Word; He cleanses and refreshes them with the quiet waters of Holy Baptism; and He prepares His Table before them, to feed them with the Life-giving Bread of His Body, and to quench their thirst from His overflowing Chalice.

So also hereafter, in the Resurrection of the body and the life everlasting of body and soul, Bob and all the saints of God shall abide in the House of the Lord forever.  For they live and abide in the Body of Christ Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead, which is indeed the Temple of God, eternal in the heavens.  They feast at the Wedding Banquet of the Lamb in His Kingdom, which has no end: Not for sixty-eight years, but happily forever after.  For not even death shall ever be able to separate the members of the Bride of Christ from their true and heavenly Bridegroom.

Bob is now among those who have come out of the great tribulation.  He now rests from all his labors, and his good works of faith and love follow after him in Christ Jesus; they do not lead the way or get him into heaven, but they do follow after as a testimony to his faith in Christ.  For he washed his robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb, in the waters of Holy Baptism.

Here and now in this poor life of labor, especially for those of you who grieve and mourn, the tribulation is terrible and difficult.  It is often filled with hardship and pain, with disappointment and heartache, with hunger and thirst — or, sometimes, sadly, with the loss of appetite.  Here in this fallen and perishing world there is the beating heat of summer and the biting cold of winter.

But through this dark valley of the shadow of death, you are called to bear the Cross and follow Christ — as Bob has been called and has followed — into the life everlasting.  As the Cross puts you to death, so does it raise you to newness of life with the forgiveness of all your sins.  And as you suffer here with Christ Jesus, so shall you also be exalted and glorified in His Resurrection.

It was necessary for the Christ to suffer these things, and so to enter into His Glory by the way of His Cross, in order to open the way for the fallen sons and daughters of Adam to follow after Him — through death into life.  So it is that Bob has borne the Cross of Christ in repentance, faith, and love, and his mortal flesh and blood have suffered death, that he should enter into life with Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Thus do we lay his body to rest on this day in the hope of the Resurrection of all flesh, when he shall be raised in glory, like unto the glorious Body of Christ, immortal and imperishable.  Then shall he stand before the Throne of God and serve Him day and night in His Temple — as even now his spirit lives and his soul abides in the Tabernacle of God, which is the Body of Christ, His flesh and blood, given and poured out.

Having guided him to springs of living water in the font of his Holy Baptism, Bob’s great Good Shepherd has washed away every tear from his eyes forevermore.  So shall the same Lord Jesus wash away your tears of mourning, grief, and pain, as well, that you may clearly see with your own eyes at the last your risen and living Redeemer in the flesh.  Then shall you see Him as He is, and you shall be like Him, and together with Bob and all the saints you shall praise Him in perfect joy.

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

The Good Shepherd Has Gathered Phoebe into His House Forever

In my mind’s eye, I vividly remember and still picture Don & Phoebe as a vibrant, active couple.  They were already in their late 60s when I first met them, but they were so youthful, even then, and well into their retirement years.  I have a particularly strong memory of Phoebe being an active golfer in those days.  She was such a classy and elegant lady, always so gracious and so kind.

Her later years, however, were not so kind and gentle to Phoebe.  In my perception, there was a turning point when she injured herself, some five years ago.  Although her body slowly healed, her mind and memory were never quite the same afterwards.  Things became increasingly difficult for her over the past couple years, in particular.  Frailties and weaknesses.  Confusion and simplicity.  Her body was aging and gradually deteriorating, while her mind was becoming more childlike.

The last several times I visited Phoebe, over at Morning View, she was cradling a baby doll and caring for it, like she was a little girl again, or engaged in other children’s activities and puzzles.

With Don we were given such a beautiful example of a husband caring for his wife, of a Christian loving and serving his neighbor in patience and in peace, even at great personal cost and sacrifice.  But we have also had a good example in Phoebe, as well, and perhaps a more humbling one.

To live by faith, like that of a little child, is to rely on the providence of the Lord, to receive His good gifts, and to be cared for by His mercy and His charity.  It is to live entirely by grace, which is what it means to be a Christian.  And sometimes it is precisely our place and purpose in life to be utterly dependent on others to care for us; to watch and wait upon the Lord in quiet patience.

That can also be the toughest and most challenging task.  It is so hard to be patient, and you really want to know what’s going on, what you should be doing, what’s going to happen, and when.  You want the Lord Jesus to speak plainly.  But, instead, He confronts you with His Cross, which not only crucifies Him, first of all, but it crucifies you, as well, and puts to death all of your plans.

This “theology of the Cross,” as we call it, is the hidden and mysterious revelation of the one true God in the hurt and humility of His Christ, the Crucified One.  It is both painful and comforting.

It is hard to bear and hard to understand.  But as the One who bears all your sins and griefs and sorrows, your frailty, mortality, and death, in His own Body on the Cross, the Lord Himself is the Good Shepherd, the Champion, Protector, and Savior of the weak, the small, and the helpless.

As a Mom, Phoebe took care of her children when they were young, not unlike a shepherd caring for his sheep.  But for awhile now, and especially since this past summer, her children were really at the forefront of those who were taking care of her, and seeing to it that all her needs were met.

Perhaps you’ve seen those billboards and commercials about the reversal of roles between parents and children as they age through the stages of life.  And you know that’s how it goes.

But there never is a role reversal between you and your Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.  He is ever and always the One who is caring for you, providing for you, protecting you, and feeding you.

Even when you’re at those points in life when you might be able to kid yourself (for a little while) that you’ve got things in hand and under control, and you suppose that, as an “independent adult,” you’re taking care of yourself, taking care of business, and managing life — even then, it is the Lord who is caring for you in every way, whether you know it and acknowledge it or not.  Truth be told, without Him, without His grace and mercy and forgiveness, you would be utterly lost.

Sometimes His care, protection, and providence require that He seek you out and bring you home from wherever you have wandered and gotten yourself lost and in danger.  Then He calls you to repentance, and He disciplines you in love, that you would return to Him and remain close to Him.

And when you are weak, He is strong for you.  In fact, in the Kingdom of God, in the pastures of the Good Shepherd, ironically, true greatness is found, not in your own strength, but in relying on the strength of Christ by faith, recognizing your frailty, your weakness, and your need for Him.

Thus, again, the excellent example that Phoebe has been to all of us, especially in her final years, and in these past six months, as she has lived by faith alone.  Not by her own works, but solely by the grace of God in Christ Jesus.  Like a little child again.  As a sheep of the Good Shepherd.

Jan and Jim and Tom and Allison and I heard the Word and promises of this Good Shepherd — for Phoebe, and for all of us — when we prayed with her and for her this past Tuesday evening, the night before she fell asleep in the same Lord Jesus and departed from this mortal life on earth.

True to His Word, He cared for her and provided for her, in body and soul, throughout her life on earth, even to the end; and so also has He carried her through the valley of the shadow of death.

He cared for her through Don for all those many years.  He cared for her through her children in these final years of life.  And He cared for her recently through the good folks at Morning View.

What is more, over the years He also provided her with various pastors here at Emmaus, who were her shepherds on earth, who cared for her in Jesus’ Name; who baptized her, forgave her sins, and fed her from the Table of the Lord and from His overflowing Chalice of Salvation.  For she was Jesus’ little lamb, really at every step along the way, at every stage in life, even unto death.

Dr. Luther once commented that even a seven-year-old child knows and understands that the Church is the gathering of the sheep by their Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ; and as their Shepherd, as their Pastor and Bishop of body, soul, and spirit, He leads them and guides them, He guards and protects them from predators, and He feeds and nurtures them in safety and in peace.

So, indeed, did the Savior, Christ Jesus, do for Phoebe.  Not only in her prime and in her heyday, in the spring and summer of her life, but also and especially in these hard last days, weeks, months, and years, in the fall and winter of her journey.

And because He, the Good Shepherd, laid down His life for her and all His sheep, and took it up again by the Spirit of His God and Father, so shall He raise Phoebe, His dear little lamb, from death and the grave, from the dust and ashes; and He shall glorify her with abundant life forever.

The Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross has atoned for all of His sheep (and all the world), in order to rescue them from the wrath of God, from sin, death, the devil, and hell: to save them, indeed, from all the enemies that would otherwise devour them, not only here in time, but for eternity.

And in His Resurrection from the dead, His own Body has become the true, divine, eternal Temple of God: in heaven and on earth, both now and forever.  His crucified and risen Body is the House of the Lord, in which you live and abide, even now by faith, and in the Resurrection forevermore.  For He is the true Solomon, the true King of Peace, great David’s greater Son; and His Body, the Church, is the Portico by which you enter from this mortal life into the Kingdom of God.

Phoebe’s life in her younger years was active and involved, not only in the world, but in the Lord’s House, His Church on earth.  So was He preparing her for the later years and leading her to them.  As He promised and encouraged in her Confirmation verse from Pastor Kleinhans (Psalm 37:4), she delighted herself in the Lord; she delighted in His Word and the preaching of it.  She and Don were always faithful in their church attendance, and in their support of the Church and Ministry.

And the Lord has given to Phoebe and to Don the desires of their faithful hearts.  He has fed them with His Gospel in Word and Sacrament here at Emmaus.  He has freely and fully forgiven all of their sins.  And He has gathered them to Himself, to dwell with Him in His House forever and ever.

By the Blood of the Lamb — in her Holy Baptism, and in the Chalice of the Holy Communion — Phoebe was cleansed and refreshed within and without, in body and soul; and with the forgiveness of her sins, she was given life and salvation with God in Christ Jesus.  She was clothed in the white garments of His Righteousness, adorned and beautiful as a bride made ready for her husband.

It is true that we look forward to a joyful reunion in the Resurrection with all our loved ones who have departed from this life in the faith and confession of Christ; and certainly it is true that Phoebe and Don are together with God in Christ.  But even more to the point, and more decisively, they and all the baptized are fellow members of the Body and Bride of Christ Jesus, and He is our heavenly Bridegroom, who dresses and adorns His beloved Bride in the Beauty of His Holiness.

So it is that He, in love, has called Phoebe to Himself, justified by His grace, and sanctified by His Holy Spirit.  He has gathered her into His House, where she lacks for nothing and suffers no pain or sadness; for God has wiped away every tear from her eyes, and the Lamb on His Throne is her Shepherd forever.

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

Walter Lives in the Flesh and Blood of Christ

I would not describe Walter as a skeptical man, although I do know that he had his doubts and suspicions about the government and the state of the world.  He was certainly nobody’s fool, that is for sure.  He knew his own mind, and, let’s be honest, he could be rather stubborn about it.

But do not misunderstand.  If Walter could be stubbornly determined at times, he was even more sure and certain about his faith in Christ and his confession of the Gospel.  That is what he lived for, and that is what he trusted and relied upon throughout his life, through various illnesses along the way, even unto death.  There was hardly anything that could keep Walter away from church.

So, it might seem odd to hear about St. Thomas this morning at Walter’s funeral on this Second Day of Christmas.  Perhaps unfairly, Thomas is typically remembered for his doubts, and for the fact that he was missing on that first Easter Sunday.  That sure doesn’t sound like Walter, does it?  But there are several reasons for which we give attention to this Holy Gospel on this occasion.

I know the paper indicates that Walter died this past Thursday, the 22nd of December.  That was when Rob & Sandra discovered him at home, and I understand that he had enjoyed a good day on Wednesday, the day before.  But from what I’ve been told, he was putting himself to bed for the night when the number of his days in this life on earth were completed and he fell asleep in Jesus.  So, by my reckoning, it was on the evening of the 21st, the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, when Walter laid down his labors for the last time and entered his Sabbath Rest in Christ.

How appropriate that he should pass from this fallen world of darkness, death, and doubt, into the marvelous Light of Christ on the night of the Winter Solstice.  For the darkest days are now behind us, and the Light of the Revelation of the Glory of God now shines upon us in the Gospel of Christ Jesus, our Savior.  As Walter knew that Light by faith under the Cross here on earth, so does he now live and abide in that Light within the neverending Eighth Day of the Lord’s Resurrection.

That’s another thing about this St. Thomas Day Gospel: Not only is it heard just a few days before Christmas, but then again, every year, throughout the whole Church, on the Second Sunday of Easter.  And it really ties together so beautifully the Incarnation and the Resurrection of the Son of God, conceived and born of St. Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, dead and buried for three days, but risen from the dead in His own glorified Body of flesh and blood, never to die again, but living and reigning forever at the Right Hand of His Father.

It is surely in that hope, in the crucified and risen Body of Christ Jesus, that Walter lived and died, and that we remember and give thanks for him today in the confidence and confession of the Resurrection.  For the Word became Flesh, true God became true Man, that He might gather up the children of men into Himself as members of His Body, and bring them with Himself through death into life, into the Glory of His God and Father.

Not that we yet see it.  For now we live by faith under the Cross in the midst of sin and death.  And even Walter’s eyes await the final Resurrection of all flesh, when he shall behold his Lord and his God face to face.  But by the grace of God, by His Word and Holy Spirit, Walter believed and confessed, as we also believe and confess, that our Redeemer lives.  Against all the apparent evidence of this fallen and perishing world, and despite the frailty of our own dying bodies of flesh and blood, we trust and rejoice in the promise of the Lord’s Resurrection.

Which is no doubt why Walter requested the Old Testament Reading from Job 19 that we have heard this morning, and the glorious Easter hymn based on that Holy Scripture: “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.”  For at the last, it is written — as though in rock by an iron stylus — He shall stand upon the earth, and from our own risen flesh, with our own eyes, we shall see Him as He is.  The very thing that St. Thomas desired, which he and the other Apostles of the Lamb were granted, that we who have not yet seen might believe by the Word of their eye-witness testimony; and that we, believing that Holy Gospel, might have life in Christ, in both body and soul.

So that is why our hearts and minds are turned to the testimony and example of St. Thomas on this day.  That we should find and receive the blessed comfort, peace, and rest that both St. Thomas and our dear brother Walter were granted in the flesh and blood of Christ Jesus.  That in the face of doubt and fear we should be not faithless but believing; and, in the face of death and the grave, we should have the glorious life for which the Lord our God created us in His own divine Image.

Not that any of this is easy for this little while that we spend on earth.  Let’s not kid ourselves.  It was not easy for St. Thomas, who, like all but one of the Holy Apostles, was martyred for the Name of Christ.  And it was not easy for Walter, either, though you might not have guessed it from his positive attitude and generally cheerful outlook.  He was always doing “pretty good for an older man,” moving forward and persevering in the faith and confession of Christ.  But he had his hurts and suffered some painful losses on his sojourn.

If there was one thing in particular that troubled Walter and weighed so heavily upon him, it was estrangement within families.  I gather that went back to his own father leaving his family, when Walter was just a little boy, too young to understand the whys and wherefores, but only that his Dad was gone and his Mom was left to deal with things on her own.  But there were similar such departures and losses in Walter’s adult life, as well, and even this past year.  He simply could not understand how anyone could turn his back on his own family.  But I expect that he had regrets of his own, too, for the fact is that we are fallen and fallible creatures.

The question is whether those sins and uncertainties of life will drive you away from Christ and His Church, or closer to the Lord in the Ministry of His Gospel.  For Thomas, who was at first absent from the gathering of disciples, he found peace when he returned to the place where Christ is present.  And for Walter, too, his peace was found in the faith and life of the Body of Christ.

It was the Body of Christ that sustained him when he was hit with the double loss of his son David and his daughter Linda within months of each other five years ago.

It is a terrible thing for any parent to bury his own children, and the seemingly insurmountable finality of death could hardly be more stark.  So Walter grieved, to be sure, and he carried the burden of that sorrow for the remainder of his own life.  But not as though without hope, for his hope remained in Christ, in the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus.  For that One is the Son whom God the Father gave to save us, handing Him over to death and the grave.  He is the Child born of Mary, whom she saw crucified, dead, and buried.  And He is the One who has conquered death and risen from the dead for the righteousness and salvation of all the sons and daughters of men.

You, then, be where that Lord Jesus Christ is found.  Not as though to earn or merit anything, but to receive everything by the grace of God in the Body of His Son.  If you have wandered away, as Thomas did for awhile, then come back as he did on that Eighth Day of Easter.  Follow the good and faithful example that Walter has set for all these past many years in coming to church.  For it is in the congregation of His Church on earth, in the gathering of His disciples in His Name, that Christ Jesus is Immanuel, God With Us, even to the close of the age.

That is particularly clear in this Holy Gospel, in which the Liturgy and Ministry of Christ are set before you in His Word and works of grace, mercy, and peace.  Not because those first disciples and Apostles were so courageous and strong, but despite the fact that they were not.  Beset by fear and sadness, hiding away from the world in a locked room, nevertheless, the Lord comes to them, and takes His stand in their midst, and grants to them His Peace.

His Word to them is a liturgical greeting, such as you hear in the Divine Service when the Lord Jesus has consecrated bread and wine to be His Body and His Blood, given and poured out for His Christians to eat and to drink.  Thus taking His stand in the midst of His disciples, He declares that His Peace is with you always.  That is the true and lasting Peace of forgiveness, of rescue from death and the devil, of reconciliation with God, and of righteousness, life, and salvation.  It is such a Peace which the world can neither give nor take away, because it is yours in Christ alone.

His Peace is given to you, first of all, as it was given to the disciples then, and as it has been given to Walter for these past 92 years, by the Word and Spirit of Christ, especially His Word of Holy Absolution, that is, the forgiveness of sins in His Name.  For when the called Ministers of Christ deal with you by His divine command, it is valid and certain, in heaven also, as the way and the means by which Christ your dear Lord deals with you Himself.  And by that Word of forgiveness, He breathes His Spirit upon you, into your ears, your heart and mind, your body and soul.

So it is that you, a child of Adam, mortal and returning to the dirt, are raised again from the dust of the earth to be and remain a living, breathing son of God in Christ Jesus.  As surely as Walter has received that same Word and Spirt of forgiveness and life, and even though he has died, yet shall he rise and live forevermore.

I have no doubt that it was for the sake of that Ministry of the Gospel, in loving gratitude to Christ Jesus, that Walter was always so respectful and supportive of his pastors.  He put his trust, not in the flesh and blood of mortal men, but in the Word and Spirit of the Living God, who has chosen in His mercy to speak and act through men.

And as the same Lord God did for St. Thomas, so He has done for Walter, and so He does for you.  From His wounded side He has poured out the cleansing and refreshing water of Holy Baptism, so that you are forgiven all your sins, grafted into the Body of Christ, anointed by His Holy Spirit, and named by God the Father with His own Name.  Here, then, is a Father who will never abandon His children or His family.  Here, too, is a Bridegroom who will never leave you nor forsake you.

As He took Walter to be His own dear child by the washing of the water with His Word and Spirit on the same day he was born, on the 23rd of May in 1924, so did He remain faithful to this dear son of God, our brother in Christ, until the day of his death last week.  And by His faithfulness, He preserved and strengthened Walter in the one true faith, even unto the life everlasting.

From His wounded hands and side, Christ Jesus has also poured out His holy and precious Blood to fill His Chalice of Salvation, so that Walter was able to receive this great mercy, no less than St. Thomas.  Forgiveness and Life and Salvation in both body and soul.  From his confirmation at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Frazee, Minnesota, in May of 1938, until his final Sunday on earth, the Fourth Sunday in Advent, Walter was given to eat and to drink the Body and Blood of Mary’s little Lamb, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

From the Manger of Bethlehem to the Cross and Resurrection, to the Breaking of the Bread at Emmaus, Walter was fed and cared for by the Lamb who is also the great Good Shepherd of the sheep.  Though he could not yet see it with his eyes, he shared the faith of Job in the Resurrection and the Life of his Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  And because St. Thomas and the other Apostles have seen the crucified and risen Lord, so by their Word of the Gospel did Walter receive and trust, believe and confess the same Lord, the Son of God and of St. Mary.

In the Sacrament of the Altar, the Body of Christ was given to Walter, and the Blood of Christ was poured out for Walter, that he should thus recognize and worship his own dear Savior by receiving His Salvation.  The Church on earth, from Frazee to South Bend, was Walter’s Bethlehem.  And the Altar of his Lord was the Manger from which he fed upon the Christ, even when that Altar had to come to his own home, to his hospital room, or to a rehabilitation center.  That was Walter’s Paradise, even in the face of sadness, sickness, sin, and death.

And even now, though Walter’s body begins returning to the dust from which it was taken, yet shall he be raised and glorified in his body, like unto the glorious Body of Christ.  And in that final Resurrection of all flesh — for which we and all the faithful wait, and watch, and pray — then shall Walter see with his own two eyes, from his own flesh, the great Redeemer who loves him, in whom he lives forever and ever.

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

The Lord Has Heard and Answered Robert's Prayer in Christ Jesus

It was six or seven years ago, as I recall, when Bob & Herta portrayed Zacharias & Elizabeth in the Christmas Pageant at Emmaus.  Bob wore an alb for the part of Zacharias, who was a priest; and he used the incense thurible that Pastor Grobien had brought back from Indonesia, because it was at the altar of incense, as we have heard this morning, that Zacharias received the Word and promise of the Lord concerning the son who would be born to him and Elizabeth, although they had previously been unable to have children, and now they were seemingly too old.

It is especially appropriate that we should remember this occasion and the conception of St. John the Baptist at this time, as we have now entered the sacred Season of Advent and wait upon the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For it is the special office and vocation of St. John to go before the face of the Lord, to prepare His Way, and to prepare the people for His coming in the flesh.

In this Holy Gospel, then, St. Zacharias is found going about the duties of his priestly office, offering the incense within the Jerusalem Temple at the time of the morning or evening sacrifice.  Those daily sacrifices were important and significant, but they were preliminary and preparatory to the incense, which ascended to the Lord as the tangible prayer and petition of Israel for the restoration of God’s Word and the preaching of it, and for the Redemption of His people.

It is this petition, which St. Zacharias offers on behalf of Israel, which has been heard and is here answered by the Lord in the message of the great Archangel Gabriel.  Not that Zacharias and his wife have been holding out hope for a family at their age, but that their hope in the Lord will be fulfilled in the sending of God’s own Son within the house and lineage of David, and that their son, St. John, conceived and born by the grace of God, will come first to usher in the Christ.

By the sending of His Son in human flesh and blood like yours, conceived and born of St. Mary, God the Father turns toward His lost and wayward children, and He opens His heart to them in love.  And by the sending of St. John the Forerunner, He calls them back to Himself, turning their hearts away from sin and death to forgiveness and life in the crucified and risen Body of Christ.

St. John prepares the Way of the Lord, and he prepares the people for the coming of the Lord, by the preaching and baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  In the waters of the Jordan, the people are put to death to themselves, to their sins, and to the world with all of its idolatry, and they are raised up out of the water, cleansed and made brand new within and without, to live before the Lord in the righteousness of faith and love.

The surprising thing, of course, even to St. John at the time, is that the Lord Jesus comes and submits Himself to that same preaching and baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, although He has no sins of His own.  He is baptized by St. John for the sins of the whole world.

So it is that St. John the Baptist, as the priestly son of a priestly father, prepares the Lamb of God for sacrifice and offers Him up to the Lord.  In entering the Jordan River, Jesus enters into the sin and death of all the people and makes it all His own, even unto His death upon the Cross.  And in His coming up out of the water to the Voice of His Father, to the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and to an open heaven, He receives the promise of the Resurrection and the Life Everlasting, which He has accomplished for you and for all people in His own Body of flesh and blood, and to which He called our brother Robert all those years ago, in 1936, in the waters of Holy Baptism.

As surely as the Archangel Gabriel spoke the Word of the Lord to St. Zacharias at the altar of incense, so surely did the same Lord speak His Word to Bob when he was baptized into Christ Jesus by Pastor Weber at Ridgedale Presbyterian Church in South Bend.  There he was rescued from sin, death, the devil, and hell; and there he was given the sure and certain promise of the Resurrection and the divine gift of eternal Life and Light and Love for both his body and his soul.

That Word of the Lord has been the absolute Truth from the very start, as the Lord Himself remains ever and always faithful.  He does not lie or deceive, nor is He unable to keep His promises.  It is, for now, by faith and not by sight.  But it has already been accomplished and established in the Body of Christ Jesus, that is, the same Body with which He has fed Bob at this very Altar for all these many years.  Faith thus clings to Christ in His Word and in His good gifts of the Gospel.

You know, as Bob did, that it’s often not easy.  To be sure, it is impossible for sinful man, except by the Word and Spirit of the Lord.  Even righteous Zacharias doubted and disbelieved the Word of the Lord to begin with.  And Bob also had his days of doubts and fears, of anxiety and stress. Nowhere is sin more prevalent and persistent than in the hearts of mortal men, who do not trust the Word and promises of God but worry and fret about tomorrow and fear death more than God.

This year was a particularly tough and challenging one for Bob.  Not only with all the troubles and violence across the country and throughout the world, but especially as he watched some of his good friends grow weaker and die, and as he faced the frailties of his own flesh.  His heart attack this past week also brought back memories of the attack he suffered some seven years ago, which was another stressful time.  But I don’t suppose that anything challenged Bob’s confidence more than the death of his twin great grandsons, Levi and Owen, which weighed so heavily upon him.

Our Father disciplines his children in love, just as He disciplined St. Zacharias with ten months of silence, that we might learn to quiet our troubled hearts and minds and to listen to the mouth of the Lord.  The office and vocation of St. John the Baptist continues to this day in the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, which is the daily and ongoing significance of Baptism, calling you back to the confidence and certainty of Christ and His Cross, by which you are saved.

Even now, the Father turns toward you and opens His heart to you in the Word of Christ and in His Word made Flesh.  So, then, having tasted the kindness of the Lord in the Gospel, keep on thirsting for the pure spiritual milk of His Word.  Regardless of your age or experience, even on the cusp of ninety years, like Bob, you are called to be and to live like a little child, like a newborn infant, fed and cared for by the Father in His Son and by His Spirit within His Holy Christian Church.

It was by that steadfast grace of God that Bob lived his life and finally faced his death with faith in Jesus Christ.  Not only in the good times, but also in the bad, in both happiness and sadness.  Not by his own wisdom, reason, or strength, but by the mercies of the Lord.  He bore the Cross that he was given to bear and carry, following after Jesus in the promise and hope of the Resurrection.

Indeed, it is by the Cross and Resurrection of the Lord that Bob’s whole body and life were being conformed to the image of Christ, his Savior; in much the same way that you (and all Christians) are called to offer up your body and life as a sacrifice of praise to the glory of your God and Father, so that the world, in the midst of its deep darkness, should see the Life and Light of Christ in you.

That priestly sacrifice of Christian faith and life was beautifully exemplified in Robert Johnston, and not only when he was portraying St. Zacharias in our children’s Christmas pageant.  The good fruits of the Cross of Christ and of His Resurrection from the dead, such as Bob received in the Ministry of the Gospel, were abundant in his own callings and stations in life.

Faithful in bearing the Cross in the service of his country back in the mid-40s, Bob was also then a faithful and devoted husband to his dear wife for almost seven decades.  What a testimony Bob thus gave to the faithfulness of our heavenly Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.  He was likewise a man after God’s own heart, as a father turned in love to the children.  First of all to his own daughters, and then as a father to many other descendants, so to speak; not by genealogy, but by faith and love in Christ, not unlike old father Abraham.  Five years of foster care for a total of twenty one babies.  And then, in his retirement, nine years of rocking newborn babies at the hospital, some eight or nine hundred of them he told me this past Monday.

He wondered out loud whether it was weird for a man to love babies so much.  But it was not.  It was a demonstration of the true strength of a real man who showed genuine care and compassion for the weak and little ones.  As God the Father turned His heart toward Bob in Christ Jesus, so did Bob turn his heart in love toward all those children for the sake of the same Lord Jesus Christ.

By the same token, at the other end of the spectrum, Bob and Herta have also been demonstrating the love of God in Christ by visiting so many of our homebound members over the years.  I cannot even tell you how often I have gone to see those dear folks and have had them say, “Oh, Bob and Herta called or stopped by to see me.”  What I can tell you is that it has meant the world to them.

Now, in my experience and estimation, Bob was generally a quiet and gentle man, but he did have things to say, and he said them as much with his life as with his lips.  When he was confirmed here at Emmaus, Pastor Kleinhans gave him the verse that the choir has sung for us this morning:

Whosoever confesses Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father who is in heaven.

That is what it was: Not Bob earning his salvation by his good works, but Bob confessing his Savior, Christ Jesus, by loving his neighbor as he was loved.  For the Spirit bears the fruits of the Gospel in those who hear and receive it, as Bob was given to do by the grace of God up until this past Sunday.  To “confess” is to say the same thing, so Bob spoke to others as he was spoken to.

And according to His promise, Christ also confesses Bob before the Father in heaven, just as He has brought Bob to the Father in Himself.  For Christ Jesus is our merciful and great High Priest in all things pertaining to God.  He is the Sacrifice of Atonement for all of our sins, and He is the Whole Burnt Offering who has given Himself entirely for our salvation, so that we might belong entirely to God.  He is also the sweet smelling Incense that arises and ascends unto the Father, so that Bob and all who are in Christ are well pleasing to Him.  The Lord Jesus Christ is our Prayer and Petition to the Father, even as He has risen from the dead and ever lives to make intercession for us before the Throne of God.  But so is He also the Answer to your every prayer and your every need, as He is given and poured out for His Christians to eat and to drink in the Holy Communion.

The Body of Christ Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead, is the true and everlasting Temple of God, whereby the Lord abides with you, here on earth as it is in heaven, and wherein you abide with Him, both here in time and hereafter in eternity.  Whereas St. Zacharias entered the Holy Place of the Temple in Jerusalem, probably only on that one occasion, you are called to enter the Holy of Holies made without hands, eternal in the heavens, as a member of His royal priesthood in Christ Jesus, and to live and abide there with Him forever and ever.  His Body is your true home, now and always, here at His Altar, and in the Resurrection of your body unto eternal life.

When I saw Bob at the hospital, what turned out to be the last time, this past Monday, he was sitting up and actually looked pretty good for a guy who had just suffered a severe heart attack.  He told me then that he expected to go home the next day.  I was surprised by that prospect, but I didn’t question him.  And as it turned out, he was more right than he could possibly have known.

Like you, Bob was but a stranger here, a sojourner, an alien in a foreign country, as it were.  His true home is with the Lord, in the better Country of the heavenly Promised Land, in the true City with lasting foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God — the Holy City, New Jerusalem, of which Bob sang together with the congregation here at Emmaus less than one week ago.

See how the Lord has shown His favor to His dear child, Robert.  The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has called Bob to Himself.  He has answered all of his prayers by His Word and by the Redemption of His Son.  Now his soul and spirit are at peace.  All of his labors are ended.  And at the last, his body also shall be raised from the dust of the earth and glorified forever, like unto the glorious Body of Christ.  And so shall he live, both body and soul, forever and ever in Christ.

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

Anne Has Departed from this Life in the Peace of Christ, Her Savior

What is it that you’re looking for in life?  What are you trying to find?

Whatever you might call it, however you might describe it, and however your heart might feel it, what you’re looking for and longing for is peace.  Not simply a truce or cease-fire.  Not merely the absence of arguments and conflict.  But real peace.  Genuine contentment and true satisfaction.  Confidence in who you are and why you’re here.  And not only reconciliation, but actual friendship with God and with your neighbors.  A peace that flows with identity, meaning, and purpose.

In her latter years, especially, Anne was challenged, tried, and tested precisely in that regard.  She spent twenty years without her husband.  Her children were grown, and two of them, Ronald and Richard, preceded her in death.  She could no longer stay in her own home.  Her thoughts were getting fuzzy, her memory slipping.  And she had so many chronic aches and pains, all coupled with a growing weariness of heart, mind, and body.

She was tired and bored, and she often wondered why she was still here.  And yet, Anne’s faith, hope, and love remained in Christ, as He remained faithful to her.  And her peace, even to the last, was located not in her abilities, activities, or achievements, but precisely in her Lord, upon whom she waited in patience and in prayer.

Like Anne, you’re also looking for such a peace that surpasses all human comprehension and achievement.  And, like her, you are called to find it in the same place that Simeon and Anna did: In the Temple of the Lord.  Which is to speak, no longer of any one building over in Palestine, but of the Body of Christ Jesus, the Babe, the Son of Mary, who grew up to be crucified under Pontius Pilate, who died and was buried, who has risen and ascended to the right hand of the Father.  Your true and lasting Peace is found in the Sign of His Cross and in the promise of His Resurrection, in accordance with the Word and Spirit of God.

But how shall you perceive and recognize what Simeon and Anna saw in the Christ Child, that is, the Light of revelation to the Gentiles and the Glory of His people Israel?

And how shall the Light of Christ reveal the meaning and purpose of your life, not haphazard and capricious, but graciously given by God?  To say it simply, how shall you live and die in peace, in the way that Anne was granted to live and die by faith in Christ Jesus?

If you “live like you were dying,” as they say, that might seem helpful in some respects; or maybe not so much.   But that approach is not the source of peace, especially when life lingers long past the point when you can run with the bulls, parachute out of an airplane, or even maintain your normal routines in caring for yourself.  However long or short your days and years on earth may be, your life is not in your own hands to do with as you like.

But simply resigning yourself to the fact that someday you’re going to die — sooner or later, this way or that — such an attitude is also not the peace of Christ but the cold logic of Satan.

Consider, instead, the righteousness of faith in the Gospel, which reasons in this way: “Yes, it is true that I shall die from this temporal life on earth; and I have already died with Christ in my Baptism.  But so is it also true that my life is hidden with Him in His Resurrection and Ascension, in the bosom of my God and Father in heaven.  Therefore, even though I die, yet shall I live.”

Who dies thus, dies well.  And so has Anne now departed from her life on earth in the Word and faith of Christ; and by the power of her Holy Baptism she lives and abides forever with Christ in God, even while her body yet awaits the Resurrection of all flesh.

In the meantime, for you who remain in this mortal body and life — although you also are in the process of dying — there is a meaning and a purpose for the time and place that you are given here, for your callings and stations in life.  As it was for Anne throughout her almost 99 years, so also for you, even when that meaning and purpose are hidden and mysterious.  You live in faith and love, in patience, prayer, and praise, and already there is peace for you in the Lord Jesus Christ.

For whether you live or die, you are the Lord’s.

That is the key, first of all, to this Holy Gospel, to the Presentation of our Lord Jesus in the Temple, and to the Peace of Christ that you share with Anne, with Simeon, Anna, Mary & Joseph.

You are the Lord’s  because He has redeemed you, purchased and won you.  As He once redeemed the firstborn sons of Israel from death, and redeemed His people Israel from Egypt, so has He even more gloriously redeemed you and all people from sin, death, the devil, and hell, by the Sacrifice of His holy Body and the shedding of His precious Blood upon the Cross.

That is why Jewish parents brought their firstborn sons to the Lord’s house: The Levites did so to dedicate their sons to service in the priesthood; and the rest of the Israelites came to redeem their sons from sacrifice, to sanctify them for their life in this world to the glory of God.  Because, in truth, both they and all their children are the Lord’s by right, who is their Creator and Redeemer.

So are you also His, along with your parents and children, your brothers and sisters, and all your family, friends, and loved ones.  You belong by right to your Creator and Redeemer, from whom your life and all things come by His grace alone.

So does He call you daily to repentance and to faith in His Word.  To be baptized, if you are not, and to remember the significance of your Holy Baptism all the days of your life.  He calls you to live, in whatever place He has put you, whatever your situation and circumstance, no longer for yourself, but for Him who for your sake died and was raised.  To live in faith toward God, and in fervent love for Him and for your neighbor, all for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Savior.

It is by His own Cross and Resurrection that He works repentance in your heart and life, and by which He sanctifies your body and soul to the glory of His holy Name.

And it is by His Cross and Crucifixion that He reveals the secret thoughts of your heart, as Simeon prophesied to St. Mary.  For His Cross opposes whatever selfishness and self-righteousness there is in you, whatever striving for yourself.  His Cross brings about the dying of your self.  That, too, belongs to the purpose of your life on earth, that God the Father should thus conform you to the Image of His Son.  Just as He also, in mercy, called Anne to Himself, named her with His Name, anointed her with His Spirit, and justified her in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead.

Because the Cross that Anne was given to bear and carry — and which you are likewise called to bear and carry — is first of all the Cross of Christ Himself, so also is the righteousness of His Resurrection credited to Anne, and to all those who believe and are baptized into Him.  Therefore, not death but life shall have you; not slavery but freedom; not fear and sadness, but peace and joy.

Christ has given Himself for you and for Anne and for all.  Not only for the dying of repentance, but also for the rising of faith.  Not only are you put to death to your self, but you are also raised up to a new life in Christ within His one Body of many members.  You live as He lives, and you shall never die.  You live as He lives, and your life is bound up together with all who live in Him.

Therefore, the peace that you are looking for and longing for in the depths of your being is not only your own comfort and salvation, but the redemption of Jerusalem and the consolation of Israel.

The peace that you are looking for is found in Christ Jesus, because He has reconciled God and man in Himself, in His own Person, in His own flesh and blood, in His Cross and Resurrection.  You find the peace that you are looking for in Him, and you also find your neighbors and friends in Him; your brothers and sisters; your fathers and mothers; your sons and daughters; your babies and old people.  In loving Him, you love each and all of them.  And in loving them, you love Him.

So it is that your love for Anne over the years, and her love for you, have been a confession and an exercise of the Love of God in Christ Jesus.  Hence, there is real meaning and purpose in your life on earth, in your loving care for your neighbors, and in being loved by your fellow Christians.

It is both a humble and exalted thing, that to love and to be loved as a Christian is to live by faith in the Image of the Son of God.  It is humbling to care for those who are nearing the end of their mortal life, and even more humbling to be cared for after a lifetime of caring for yourself.  But in Christ Jesus, by faith in Christ, you are raised up and exalted by the grace of God, by the glory of His Gospel, by His merciful care for you and for all of His dear children.

It is to such a life that you are called to live by the Word of the Lord, and so are you guided by His Holy Spirit to live and love in peace.  That is what brought Mary and Joseph and Simeon and Anna to the Temple, to the little Lord Jesus.  And the same Word and Spirit of the same Lord brought Anne also to the Temple of God in the Body of Christ Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead.

Thus, like her namesake, Anne was also in the Temple as often as she could be, serving by night as by day with her fasting and prayers.  And when she was no longer able to be in the Lord’s House due to her age and infirmity, the Temple of the Lord came to her, where she was, in the preaching of the Gospel and in the Sacrament of His Body and His Blood, given and poured out for her.

In much the same way that dear St. Mary and St. Joseph brought the Christ Child to the Temple in Jerusalem, so that blessed St. Simeon and St. Anna were able to receive Him and rejoice in His salvation, so did Anne receive her Lord Jesus and rejoice in His mercy and compassion, in His free and full forgiveness of all her sins.

That same Gospel of forgiveness in the Body of the same Lord Jesus Christ is likewise given and poured out for you in His House, in the Temple of His Church on earth, wherever His Word is preached and His Sacraments are administered in His Name.

It is all the blessed good work of the little One who opened the womb of His Mother Mary, who was brought up to Jerusalem and presented to the Lord: not only in the Temple once upon a time, but once-for-all upon the Cross, in order to become in His own Body the Temple of God forever.

This little One, the Babe, the Son of Mary, He is your Peace.  For in flesh and blood like yours, He has been righteous and devout, and He has performed everything in fulfillment of the Law.

By His Cross He has redeemed you, and in His Resurrection His Body has been established as the true Temple of God in heaven and on earth.  As your merciful and great High Priest, He ever lives to pray and intercede for you before His God and Father, while He also comes and enters in to be with you here in His Church on earth.

As He cared for Anne throughout her long life, redeemed her for Himself, preserved her in the one true faith, and granted her to depart in peace, so does He care for you in love and call you to die and rise with Him, to live by faith in His Word and promises, and to abide now and forever in His Peace, which far and away surpasses all our human understanding.

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

Every Day Is a Good Day in Christ Jesus

There’s lots of hatred, harm, and violence in the world and in the news these days; and numerous attacks against the holy estate of marriage, in particular, escalating over these past few years.  It’s far too easy, and far too common, for any of us to become discouraged and dismayed, cynical and bitter, anxious and afraid.  But the Lord has offered us a powerful and positive example in Don’s Christian faith and life, in his attitude of faith and love, and in his faithfulness and care for his dear wife, Phoebe, even until his death.  Despite the difficulties that he faced, both in his own health and in Phoebe’s, he persevered in the hope and confidence of Christ Jesus and His Gospel.

By way of contrast, King Solomon has written in Ecclesiastes of life “under the sun,” having considered what it means if “what you see is what you get.”  He concludes that all the days and years and seasons of this life, whether in poverty or wealth, in foolishness or wisdom, are a pursuit of vanity — apart from the promise of the Resurrection and the Life everlasting in Christ Jesus.  Apart from Him, the Word-made-Flesh, crucified and risen from the dead, everything is vanity.

Solomon would have you fear the Lord and in the Wisdom of His Word and Spirit give up on the search for any meaning of your own devising in this life under the sun.  Not to despair or give up hope, but to find your real meaning in Christ and in the life that He has won for you in heaven.

This attitude and point of view make all the difference in the world in the way that you approach your job and the work that you are given to do.  Which, again, stands in contrast to the way that Solomon writes of hard labor and emphasizes the drudgery of work.  For in this he points to the emptiness of any job done purely for the paycheck, without any sense of purpose or enjoyment.

Driven by the false notion that you work for the purpose of making and preserving your own life, you’re always so conscious and concerned about what you have earned and deserved for yourself, that you lose sight of the Lord and forget that He alone is the gracious Giver of all good things.

Instead of receiving what you have from God in thanksgiving — and instead of sanctifying all that He has given you by putting it to use according to His Word and with prayer in His Name — you horde what you have as though it were yours by right and by merit, and you covet what you have not, as though you were being treated unfairly and short changed.  You make idols of the world and all its stuff, and you set your heart and mind on sin and death instead of the Living God.

Instead of recognizing that He feeds and clothes and provides for you, granting all that you need to support this body and life by grace — as He does indeed for even the birds and the flowers — you worry and fret and anxiously attempt to provide for yourself by all manner of strategies.

Yet, the fact remains that you can neither add to nor subtract from that which God has determined and accomplished in His divine Wisdom.  You cannot lengthen your days, nor prolong your life; nor can you invest your life with any lasting meaning or significance.  It is foolish and futile to try.

As Solomon describes, all your grasping efforts in this life are nothing more than “striving after wind,” which is to say that you are grabbing for something without any real substance, and trying to hang on to something that will only ever slip through your fingers.  Hence, the consequence of all your toil and striving is simply that your work becomes “painful” and “grievous” all your days.

It surely would have been very easy for Don to give himself over to such temptations and to fall into that trap.  And I fully expect there were those days and nights when he did for a time.  But by the grace of God, by His mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus, by the sustenance of His Word and Sacrament, Don was strengthened in his faith to live and to labor in peace and with contentment.

We can admire and appreciate that good example; and you should also learn from it to rely upon the Lord and His means of grace, instead of striving to make it on your own.

Otherwise, “even at night,” as Solomon writes, your heart and mind do not lie down and rest.  You know what he’s talking about.  Nights when you lie there in bed, desperately trying to sleep, while your mind, so to speak, is up pacing the floor and wringing its hands in worry.

Few things in life are worse than not being able to sleep, unable to rest from your work and your worries for even a little while.  And somehow, lying in bed at night, staring at the ceiling and fighting back the tears, Solomon’s point is painfully clear:  “Everything is Vanity!”

St. Paul understood that point, as well.  He writes in his Epistle to the Romans that all of “creation was subjected to futility.”  It was all declared “Vanity” by the Lord Himself, after the Fall, when He cursed the ground and life on earth because of sin.  The woman would have pain in childbirth, and the man would toil to harvest food by the sweat of his brow and the hard labor of his hands.

Of course, the ultimate curse was death itself — the great equalizer, which brings a halt to all of your attempts to do anything for yourself.  Here today and gone tomorrow.  Like a breath, you disappear into nothing.  You turn back to dust and blow away in the wind.  There’s no denying it.

But St. Paul also writes that creation was subjected to futility “in hope.”  In hope for a day when all would not be Vanity.  In the hope given by God Himself, even as He was cursing the ground and everything else “under the sun.”  The hope that He gave when He promised a Savior, the Seed of the Woman, who would crush the devil’s head and open up eternal life to all who trust in Him.

That hope was accomplished in Christ Jesus.  As St. Peter writes, “you were bought back from the ways of Vanity inherited from your father Adam — not with the gold and silver that you spend your life striving to get — but with the precious blood of Christ Himself.”

Apart from Christ, everything really is Vanity.  But in Christ, there is real meaning and a purpose to it all, a future and a hope for the blessings of eternity in the Resurrection.  In Him you have the promise of a life that will never end in dust and ashes.  In Him you find the confidence to live your life — even your life right here and now on earth — in peace and joy and happiness.

Thus, Solomon goes on to write about life under the sun, that there is nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in your work.  For God’s good creation has been restored by the coming of Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son.  In the face of sin and death, the Lord recaptured the meaning of life as the true Man who lived as one of us — eating and drinking, and working as a Carpenter.  His life in the flesh shows beyond all doubt that your life, too, is meaningful and important to Him.

Not only that, but, by the Cross of Christ, that which you bear, and that which you suffer, is likewise not without purpose and significance.  Which is why Don’s labors and his sorrows were not tragic but sanctified by the life, death, and Resurrection of his Savior, Jesus Christ, no matter how it might have felt, and no matter how it might have looked or seemed to the world.

Our dear Lord Jesus Christ, by His life and by His death “under the sun,” has earned eternal life in body and soul for Don and for you in the Kingdom of His God and Father.  So now your work on earth is no longer an attempt to grab something for yourself.  For what could you possibly ever gain beyond the Kingdom of God?  No, you work simply to enjoy and use what God has given you to glorify His Holy Name and to serve your neighbor in love, as Don has served his neighbors.

What Don was taught and confessed in his confirmation verse is true.  As Christ has died for us and risen to new life in His Body, we live no longer for ourselves, but for Him who loves us.  You do what He has given you to do in this body and life on earth, even unto death, in the confidence that He provides all that is needed, and in the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection.

That is the real difference between “the man who is good in God’s sight” and “the sinner.”  The man who is good in His sight has wisdom, knowledge, and happiness.  But the sinner just works away to gather and store up wealth for himself, which he must eventually give up to someone else.  He dies in disappointment and disappears with nothing to show for all his striving.

The man who is good in God’s sight is not good or pleasing in himself, but he is reckoned good before the face of God.  That is the one who has, in faith, received credit for the goodness and righteousness of Christ Jesus.  And by that same faith, the one who pleases God also understands that everything in life is a gift of God, which he receives and uses in thanksgiving and in love.

God granted Don such faith by His Gospel–Word and Sacraments, so that he was able to look at his life as a privilege, and as an opportunity to enjoy the gifts that God had given him “under the sun,” awaiting in patience and in peace the day that arrived according to God’s will this past week.

The same Lord God who did not spare His own dear Son, but gave Him up for Don and for us all, has also freely given all good things to Don and to all His Christians.  Not only food and clothing for this perishing body and life on earth, but the Food and Clothing of Christ, His Body and His Blood, His Spirit and His Righteousness, His Resurrection, and His indestructible Life.

Which is why Don was able to approach every day as a good day in Christ, in the confidence of the Cross, and in the hope of the Resurrection.  “There are no bad days, Pastor,” he said to me on one of my visits earlier this year, just a few months ago.  Some days are better than others, but each and every one of them is a gift, an opportunity to love and to serve.  That is how Don received them, and sanctified them to himself by God’s Word and prayer, and used them, in the course of his lifetime, to serve his country, his employers, his wife and family, and his congregation.

That is the attitude of faith, with which you also are called to approach whatever God has set before you in this life, whether it be as a husband or housewife, a teacher or student, an accountant or a grandparent, or whatever you might be.  When you look at your life and all it brings your way as a gift from God, then you will have joy and satisfaction in everything that you do.

And when you trust that God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is taking care of you, and that He alone is your Maker and Preserver and the Giver of all things, then you are able to sleep peacefully at night, knowing that your life is safely and securely in His hands.  Which is really only practice for someday dying peacefully, knowing that your death is but a doorway into everlasting life, and, if you die before you wake, then the Lord your soul will take to Himself.

So it was that Don fell asleep in Jesus this past weekend, and even now, while his body lies in dust and ashes, it rests in peace and quietly awaits the Resurrection unto everlasting life.

So are you also given to wait upon the Lord for that day and that hour when He shall call you from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven.  Each and every day is thus a good gift and a gracious opportunity to live by faith in His Word and promises.  And everything is beautiful in its season.  Not for its own sake, nor in itself, but for Christ Jesus’ sake and in His Body of flesh and blood, in His Word and Holy Spirit.  For He has entered into time and space, into His good Creation, in order to redeem and sanctify all things and make them new by His Cross and in His Resurrection.

It was into that redemption, that righteousness and new creation of Christ, that Don was baptized all those years ago.  And that has made all the difference.  As he was thus glorified in Christ, and Christ in him, by his faith and life in the Gospel, so shall he also be raised in glory at the last to live forever in body and soul.  God grant you also that same Peace and Sabbath Rest in the promise of your Baptism, which is the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection and of the Life everlasting.

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

God So Loved Robert by Saving Him in Christ

What you think of Jesus, and your relationship with Him, determines where you stand with God.

For whoever believes in Him, the only-begotten Son, has eternal life with His God and Father in heaven.  And so it is by faith in Jesus Christ that Bob is not dead and gone, but alive with God, now and forever.  His soul abides in the perfect peace of Christ, even as his body now rests from its labors and awaits the Resurrection of all flesh in the final judgment.  Indeed, though his mortal flesh has worn out, failed, and died, Bob shall not perish forever because he lives, even now, in the crucified and risen Body of Christ, his Savior.

But whoever does not believe in this Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, remains in the darkness and is condemned by and for his unbelief, and will surely perish.

For life and light and love are found only in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and it is by faith alone that you abide in that true and only God, the Holy Trinity.  Apart from Him, there is only darkness, death, and damnation, from which you could never escape or save yourself.

But of course, that is where you and all of us were conceived and born — in the darkness of sin — subject to death, deserving of damnation.  And that is where you would remain eternally, if not for the fact that God has sent His Son into the world and given Him for you; and He, Christ Jesus, the Light of the world, has come in the flesh to shine Himself into your darkness and to manifest the works of God in you for life.

Praise God, that is what He did for Bob in tender mercy and loving-kindness.  He made Himself known by the preaching and confession of His Word, and by His grace He called Bob to fear, love, and trust in Him, and to live in the Light of His Word.  Even as the same Lord Jesus Christ here causes His Word to be preached into your ears, in the face of sin, death, the devil, and hell.  He causes His Word of Life to shine for you in the presence of your enemies, so that you should be rescued from all evil and live with Him in His Kingdom.

And yet, you are afraid, and you are made nervous by this Word of God.  For your deeds are evil, and you do not want them revealed.  You do not want yourself to be exposed and found naked and ashamed in the light of judgment.  You prefer to pretend that you’ve got it covered, that you’re doing fine, and that your life is safe and sound — all the while you’re wearing out and dying.

Thus, you cannot bring yourself to come to Christ.  You would instead retreat even further into the darkness of pride and ego, or into the darkness of doubt and despair, even to the point of death, rather than facing the truth.  In ignorance and fear, you would hide yourself away from Him who is alone your life and light and salvation.

Apart from Christ, you do not know the Love of God the Father, and you do not partake of the Holy Spirit — and you neither know nor can you believe the Gospel.

But without such faith, you cannot know Christ Jesus or come to Him.  You are terrified of Him and flee from Him in fear.  Even the bravest of hearts, the boldest of soldiers, who would put themselves in harm’s way, rush into the breach, and face down the enemy unflinchingly, are no match for the terrifying judgment of God’s Holy Word.

Yet, even now, take heart.  For the Lord pursues you with His Word, and He puts you to death by His Spirit, not to destroy you or drive you away, but to resurrect you from death to life, and to bring you of your darkness into His own marvelous Light.

Everything else finally pales by comparison to these mercies of God, though they are hidden in this fallen world under the Cross.  All of the Lord’s other blessings in this body and life, even those of wife and children, aim at the blessing of His Word and the preaching of it.

So it was that Elaine and her pastor and her congregation brought Bob to faith in the Word of Christ, and to the confession of His Word, and to the new birth of water with His Word in Holy Baptism.  So, too, even after Elaine’s death, Bob returned again and again to the household and family of God, to the Divine Service of His Word and Sacrament.  He was indeed faithful, even unto death, having fixed his hope on the Gospel of Christ and the promise of His Resurrection.

I can tell you that Bob and I spoke frankly about these very things over the past several months, in particular.  He lived his life and faced his death in the confidence of Christ.  And his prayer, as he shared with me in his final weeks, was that his children would likewise find their hope, their peace, and their life in the House of the Lord.

The very fact that you are here today, not to mourn as those who have no hope, but to mourn in the joyous hope of the Resurrection, is testimony to the grace of God.  For as He acted in love and mercy to call Bob to Himself, to gather him into His Church, to enlighten him with His gifts, to sanctify and keep him in the one true faith, so does the same Lord call you to Himself, to know Him, to love Him, and to live with Him by faith in His Gospel of forgiveness.

It is in love that He has acted, for Bob in his lifetime, and no less so for you.  And it is in love that He comes to serve you here and now by the preaching of His Word.

The Father sends the Son, not to condemn and punish you for your evil deeds, but to forgive your sins and judge you righteous by His grace, to save you by His Gospel.

For Christ Jesus, the Son of God, has borne your sin and suffered your punishment; He has been naked in your place upon the Cross, and He has taken your shame to be His own, so that you might be clothed in His righteousness and covered with His honor.  He was crucified, dead, and buried on your behalf, and He is risen from the dead for your justification, vindicated by His Father.

This same Christ Jesus shines His Light in the darkness, in the midst of sin and death, and He brings life and immortality to light through the Gospel of His Cross — for the forgiveness of all your sins and reconciliation with God.

So do the rivers of living water flow from His side, from His innermost being, to cleanse and refresh you in Holy Baptism.  And so are His Body and Blood prepared as a great Feast within His House, on earth as it is in heaven: The choicest Wine and finest Meat, given and poured out for His children to eat and drink, that they should thus abide with God and rejoice in His presence.

Thus do we give thanks for all His gifts and benefits, and we sustain one another with the Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs of His Word.  We rejoice, give thanks, and sing the Gospel, which God the Father sings to you by the Holy Spirit in the Flesh of His only-begotten Son.

By that Word of the Gospel, He causes the Light to shine within the darkness of your heart, and He pours out the Holy Spirit upon you unto life and salvation.  So do you believe in Him who is your Savior, Jesus Christ.  He is your Strength and your Song, and He has become your Salvation.  And as you believe in Him, by His grace, by His Word and Holy Spirit, so shall you not perish but have eternal life — with Bob and with all who abide in the crucified and risen Body of Christ.

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

In Due Season

The eyes of all wait upon the Lord to open His hand and provide for all their needs in due season.  So did Betty also spend her entire life as a Christian waiting upon the Lord in faith.  But especially in these past four or five months, she waited.  Patiently and peacefully, yes, but also eagerly.  She watched and waited on the Lord.  She waited and prayed for the right time, the appointed time, when He would finally take her from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven.

Not that Betty was one to weep and moan, leastwise not in my experience.  But as much as she was able to find joy in her life and was so thankful for all the many blessings with which the Lord had blessed her on this earth, she knew her time here was drawing short.  She was ready to go home.

Especially in these last days and final weeks, she was very aware of how dependent she was on the care of others.  She was deeply appreciative of the help that she received from her children and various providers, but it is also a humbling experience to be in that position.  Old ladies, and old men, too, become like little children again.  We talked about that on my last visit with Betty, this past week, as we heard the Holy Gospel for the coming Sunday.  For Jesus takes the little child up into His arms, and He says that the Kingdom of God belongs to such a one as this.  Not because little children are so innocent or sinless, by no means, but because they are so helpless to care for themselves, and so they must rely upon and trust in those whom God has given to care for them.

To be so small and weak and helpless is a difficult cross and challenge to bear.  But it is also one of the ways by which God teaches you how to live, that is, by His grace and not by your own skill.

So, did Betty have her troubles?  Oh, yes, of course she did!  Some of you are well aware of that, because you were close to her, and you were there with her and helped her in her difficulties.  But so did you also discover that her heart was not troubled by those trials and tribulations of this life.

I don’t mean to suggest that Betty was never grumpy or distressed or saddened by her situation, although I rarely saw it, myself.  But the fact is that she knew, as St. Paul did, the secret of being content with her circumstances.  Such joy and peace she positively radiated throughout this long summer now past, in which she could hardly do anything but lie in her bed and wait on the Lord, and yet she did so quietly in hope, and she never stopped expressing her gratitude for God’s grace and mercy toward her.  What a remarkable witness in this final season of her life on earth.

And really, for as long as I have known her, these past twenty years, she had a way of seeing the good, the lovely, and the beautiful in this world.  She enjoyed reading books; and she had a great interest in history; and she took such pleasure in her garden flowers; and, oh, how she loved people in all their wonderful variety.  She made a conscious choice to dwell, not on the evil, but on the good, as the Apostle admonishes Christians to do.  That’s not naive; it’s divine wisdom.

The secret of such contentment, peace, and joy — the wisdom by which Betty lived — is that of faith in Christ, in His Word and promises, in His Cross & Resurrection, and in His Righteousness.  These are the works of God, which He has accomplished from before the foundation of the world and established for all eternity in the Body of His incarnate Son.  No one can add to any of this, nor can anyone subtract from it.  Nothing in all of creation can undo what God the Lord has done.

Betty lived and worked, she waited on the Lord, and she loved her neighbors in that hope and confidence of faith, because Christ comforted and cared for her; He strengthened and sustained her faith in Him by His Word of the Gospel, His forgiveness of her sins.  The “secret” is that simple.

Now, to be sure, the comfort and contentment of the Gospel are hidden for the time being, for this life on earth here and now.  They are hidden under the Cross.  Not that God is making sport with us, but that we should learn to fear God and to live by faith in His Word, and not by sight or the experience of our senses.  Neither presumptuously, nor pessimistically, but in the peace of Christ, crucified and risen from the dead.

The Cross of Christ is laid upon your fallen flesh, as it was upon Betty’s, and as it is laid upon the whole of creation, so that you should learn the fear and faith of God and neither despair on account of your troubles nor make idols of this world with its beauty.  For this world, with all its ups and downs, with all its goods and evils, is perishing and coming to an end.  But so has the Lord also placed eternity in your heart, that you should long for Him, and look for Him, and wait upon Him, until at last you rest in Him, both body and soul, forever and ever.

If this divine wisdom is a “secret” hidden under the Cross, so is it also revealed in the Cross of Christ, in His Word of the Cross, and in His Body and His Blood, which are the fruits of His Cross.

This one Lord, Jesus Christ, is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, as you have heard this morning.  In Him you know the Father, not in the way of abstract trivia, facts and information, but as a son or daughter, as a member of His household and family: a little child in His Home and at His Table.

That is what is yours, and that is what is Betty’s in Christ Jesus, conceived and born of St. Mary, crucified, dead, and buried, risen from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father.

That is the place He has prepared for you, where you live already now by faith in His Gospel.  For in your Holy Baptism, you have died with Christ and risen with Him, and your life is now hidden with Him in God.  There it shall remain, safe and secure, until your life and your place with God in Christ are manifest in His appearing, in the resurrection and glorification of your body in Him.

Imagine that, even now, for dear Betty!  That her poor body, though it has suffered, declined, and deteriorated, and though it returns to the dust of the ground whence it was taken — her body shall be raised up at the last and glorified in Christ.  Healthy and strong; beautiful, lovely, and perfect; immortal and imperishable: Glorious in its appearing, like unto the glorious Body of Christ, with which, indeed, He has these many years and again last week fed her body for the life everlasting.

Even now, under the Cross — beautiful to faith alone — He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life in His means of grace.  Not only by what He has done and accomplished once for all upon the Cross and in His Resurrection from the dead, but also by what He continues to do through the Ministry of His Gospel, by which He comes to forgive you all your sins and to receive you to Himself.

He comes to be and abide with you here and now, so that, now and forever, you may be and abide with Him in the presence of His God and Father.  That you should fear no foe nor any evil with Him at hand to bless.  For ills have no weight and tears no bitterness with the Victory of His Cross and Resurrection in view.  Neither death nor the grave can triumph over you in Him.  Nor could even these last great enemies rob Betty of her hope and happiness in Christ Jesus.  Indeed, she prayed and waited to depart from this world, and yet, to be with Him still.

That, again, is the “secret” of contentment, of peace and joy and gladness in any and all situations: In the fluctuations of the times and seasons.  In your daily labors, and in your rest and relaxation.  In your celebrations, and in your sufferings.  In your eating and drinking, sleeping and waking, and all your coming and going.  In your living, and in your dying.

All of these activities and circumstances are opportunities to live by faith and in love, to glorify God, to rejoice in His good gifts — to hear His Word, to receive His pledge and promise of eternal life and salvation, and to wait upon that which He shall do at the time He has appointed.

The outcome is already accomplished and certain in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead.  So is it certain for you, as it is for Betty, whom the Lord has now called to Himself in due season.

As she reclined in the green pastures of His Word, and was cleansed and refreshed by the waters of His Baptism; as she feasted at His Table here, and drank from His Cup, so does she dwell in the House of the Lord forever, a beloved child, a dear daughter of her God and Father in Christ.

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