Funeral of Maija Gulbis [Acts 7:54-60] (9-Oct-2012)

This sermon was preached at Latrobe Valley Funeral Homes, Traralgon, 11am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (Acts 7:54-60)

He called out and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit.”

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

You might think that the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, is a very unusual bible passage for a funeral sermon. And you’d probably be right—I’ve never preached on this text before, on a Sunday or at a funeral, but I had come across this passage again recently during one of our parish bible studies, and it struck me in a new light.

Also, I had read this reading to Maija last Thursday, and of all the things I read to her, this reading seemed to give her particular strength. So I felt it would also be appropriate to preach on this passage today, so that the strength that she received on that day before she died might also be shared with everybody.

In the history of the church, St Stephen was the first Christian martyr: he was the first man to be killed for his faith. The word “martyr” means a “witness”. Sometimes today, the word “martyr” has been used by extremist Islamists as an excuse for their terrorism, and particularly for suicide bombing. But I think even most Muslims would agree that martyrdom is not bringing your own life to an end, but is when your life is taken away forcibly by others. In the second century, one of the teachers of the early church called Tertullian said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” In the first two centuries of Christianity, martyrdom was everywhere. And many people would have thought that when they were throwing Christians to the lions in the Roman colosseum that they were bringing the Christian faith to an end. But Tertullian said it was quite the opposite: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

Many people today often think that when the church conducts another funeral, that this would cause us some sort of panic, because it would mean that we’re losing members and the church is dying and shrinking. But it’s quite the opposite. Christians are happy to send a person to meet Jesus, their Good Shepherd, and when a person dies in the faith, this is a great victory and it gives much encouragement to many people and causes people’s faith to grow.

So let’s have a look at our reading. We read:

Now when [the members of the Jewish council] heard [the] things [that Stephen was preaching] they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

Stephen was brought before the council here with charges laid against him, and he was asked to give a defence. What he ended up doing was give a lengthy sermon about all the people in biblical history and how the great people of faith were often treated very badly. In the end, he says to them that in the same way, they had worked together in trying to have Jesus killed, when they should have listened to him instead. So they were angry with Stephen, even though he had spoken the truth.

Then we read: But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

These verses should give us great encouragement. Often people think that God is a long way off and far away, and particularly we can feel this at the time of death. We might think: Why is God doing this? Or why won’t he do that?

But in actual fact, he’s not far off at all: he’s close by. Jesus says in the gospel of Matthew: Not even one little sparrow worth two cents falls to the ground without my Father. All the hairs on your head are numbered. Even the most silent of prayers is still heard by God. He doesn’t hear your prayers because he’s got supersonic ears, but because he’s here.

But our reading also says that Stephen saw Jesus sitting at God’s right hand. In the Apostles’ Creed, which we will say soon, it is one of the central beliefs of Christianity that Jesus ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father. When Jesus ascended into heaven, it doesn’t mean that his human body has been destroyed somewhere. What it means is that Jesus in his human body is seated at God’s right hand, in such a way that wherever God the Father is, Jesus also promises to be there too in his human body.

So when a baby is baptised, Jesus Christ is there. When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we believe that it is Christ’s true body and blood that is given for us there through the bread and wine. When people are dying, it has often been the tradition of pastoral care in the church to give a person the Lord’s Supper, the body and blood of Christ, to strengthen them as food and provisions for the road. Martin Luther said: “You should go to the Lord’s Supper as if you were going to your death, so that when you die it will be just like going to the Lord’s Supper.”

We also believe that Jesus promises to be there in every sick, lonely, sad and suffering person. Every time we bandage and bathe someone else’s wounds, we do it to Jesus Christ himself. As you did it to one the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.

In the case of Stephen in our reading, even amongst all the noisiness of the world, and the hatred of the people, Jesus is there strengthening Stephen. And Stephen sees one of the most important realities of the Christian faith: that it is not simply God who is with him in his suffering, but Jesus himself—Jesus Christ who is both truly human and truly God—Jesus himself is with him in his suffering.

And so Stephen said: “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Do you see where he says, I see the heavens opened? In other words, the path is set before me, it is all laid out, and I am ready to enter into it. But the anger and the noisiness of the world just gets louder. We read that they cast him out of the city and stoned him.

It’s important for a moment that we think about what it means that he was “cast out of the city”. Jesus was also cast out of the same city. So even though the persecutors think they are throwing him out away from God and away from God’s holy city and temple, they are in actual fact throwing him closer to Jesus, to the place where Jesus was crucified.

In the same way, for all of us, death is not a pleasant thing. It often comes with a lot of suffering, and people start to think, “Why does God allow this?” But when we are thrown out of the city, we are brought closer to Jesus.

For us today, we’re also sad to have lost Maija, and even though she was very sick and had been sick for a long time, her death also came suddenly. But at the same time, this event is not sad for her, because she has gone to be with Jesus. And if that’s where she went, then how can we be sad, when her desires are now completely fulfilled and all her sufferings and pains are completely ended and exchanged for happiness and joy?

We also read in the reading that a young man called Saul was there at Stephen’s stoning, and later we read that he approved his execution. Later on, Saul persecutes many Christians. We read: Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. But later, Saul himself is converted, and takes on a new name, Paul. And this Saul, who was there at Stephen’s death, went on to become one of the great Christian teachers, and wrote close to half of the New Testament. And when Jesus called St Paul, he didn’t ask him, “Saul, why did you persecute Stephen and all these other people?” He says, “Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Because Jesus was at the right hand of God, enthroned as true God in his human body together with God the Father, Jesus was able to be there with all these suffering people.

Then we read: As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

In Greek, this passage reads a bit differently. It says: They were stoning Stephen, who was calling out and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit.” The English gives the impression that Stephen said this once. But the Greek gives the impression that he was saying this over and over, that this was what he was saying and kept on saying while he was being stoned.

In Psalm 31, there is the prayer: Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit. And these are the words which Jesus also spoke on the cross. But Stephen doesn’t simply say, “Lord, receive my spirit”, but he says, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” God the Father has given all his power and authority to receive people in death to his dear Son. And this should be a great encouragement to us. You see, without Jesus, we have no comfort and no strength. Without Jesus, we think God is just some sort of nebulous nothing who doesn’t care, or who is angry with us, or punishing us, and sending us bad karma.

But eternal life isn’t something that we seek to deserve by our own life, our character, our works, our prayers. It is simply something that we receive. In fact, what is more important is that the Lord Jesus does the receiving. And so Stephen says, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Jesus, don’t just draw me from a long distance to heaven, but come to my side and walk with me all the way.

And the last verse says: And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he said this, he fell asleep.

Sometimes, people use all sorts of euphemisms for death. We might say a person “passed away”, “passed on”, “has gone to a better place”, and things like that. But we read about Stephen that he fell asleep. This expression is not a euphemism. This expression signifies that this death is not the end, and that one day he will also wake up.

And the same goes for us. Even though we are returned to ashes and dust, Jesus also promises to resurrect our bodies and draw them together in a new way so that we are reunited in body and soul together with Jesus. So we also say in the creed, “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” And it is this hope that we as Christians are all looking forward to. And it is not just a future hope, but as St Paul said (or Saul, if you like), “a living hope”. [See comment below] And as Christian we have living, present hope, because we have a living, present Jesus, who sits at God’s right hand, and promises to comfort us and strengthen us with his words and Holy Spirit in person. And so, when we get to the end of the busy day, and all the noisiness of our lives, we look forward to that day, when like Maija, the Lord Jesus will receive our spirits and we will fall asleep with him.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Amen.