Funeral of Meta Karschimkus [Acts 7:54-60] (6-Nov-2014)

This sermon was preached at Kleemann's Funeral Home, Mt Barker, 11am.

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

Today for our funeral sermon I’d like to preach on our second reading today from the books of Acts, and I’ll just read this passage again.

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at Stephen. 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. And he 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. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

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

It was a pleasure to get to know Meta over the last few months since I’ve been here in Mt Barker. And we know that she passed away on Saturday just past, the 1 November. And when she passed away, it was told me that she was at peace. Isn’t that a wonderful thing? That’s a true gift of God. In the church calendar, on November 1, we celebrate All Saints’ Day, where we often remember all the Christians throughout the centuries who have died in the faith.

So for our funeral sermon today, I’d like to talk about how we Christians approach death, and how we look forward to it, whether it is peaceful or whether it is troubled for us. And this reading from the book of Acts is one of my favourite passages that speaks about death, not just because it’s about someone who shares my first name (!), but of the wonderful comfort that comes it. When we come to a funeral, we often don’t think that it’s the time to learn something. But we have to also realise that Christian comfort is something that has to be taught. So let’s learn the Christian comfort from this passage today, and may Jesus himself come and help us with this. Amen.

So in the book of Acts we read:

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at Stephen.

This reading is talking about St Stephen, who was the first Christian martyr. He was the first person to die for his faith. There aren’t many Christian deaths actually described in the bible, except of course, for the death of Jesus. St Stephen was a pastor, who was arrested by the high priests and then put on trial. While he was on trial, he gave a defence of his faith. And the people who were putting him on trial, didn’t like what they heard. We read: When they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at Stephen.

Often in our own life, we receive the sentence of death on us. Maybe for the first time, we realise that one day we’re actually going to die. And it really hits us. And it can be like the whole world and everything that we know is angry with us and grinds its teeth at us. Maybe for Meta, she had a sense of this when she was first diagnosed with Parkinsons. Even though this was a while ago, there’s still a sense in which we realise that a diagnosis like this is now pointing our lives in a certain direction. Maybe for us, we might even have a sense of this today—we know that 82 years old, while it is a good old age, isn’t necessary as old as people can live today, and we might realise that death can take us at any time. Our whole society is always trying to escape death and run away from it—people often work so hard to make themselves look younger and fitter—but one day we know that we will die like everyone else.

But then in our reading 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. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Can you see, that right at the time when Stephen realises that it’s time for him to die, Jesus himself appears? Jesus appears to him to strengthen him, and to point him forward, to lift up his eyes towards heaven and to say to him: Come, follow me. You don’t need to be afraid. I’m here with you now, and it’s time for you to come and enter into heaven with me.

Jesus gives this wonderful comfort through his word. And as we face death, the word of Jesus gives such wonderful power, and wonderful strength, even though we might feel hopeless, and helpless and weak. There was nothing much that Stephen could do, faced with this lynch mob, but Jesus stands there with him right in the midst of it.

One of the wonderful things here is that Stephen says: Behold, I see the heavens opened. The heavens are ready for me—and I am ready for heaven. I see the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

We Christians believe that God is everywhere, and that he is looking after and providing for the whole creation. He’s tending this plant over there, this flower, this bird, this animal, this person—all of which he is doing with his gracious hands. And we read that Jesus is standing there at God’s right hand. Jesus had died and risen from the dead, just for you, just for me, just for Meta. And now, he is not still dead, but he has ascended into heaven, in body and soul, and is now at God’s right hand. And just as God’s right hand is everywhere, so also Jesus is everywhere where he promises to be. He is our brother, sharing our human flesh, sometimes our frail human flesh, with us. Even in Meta’s last days and months and years, Jesus hadn’t run away and left her, but he stayed with her, looked after her, but also comforted her, and strengthened her in the word of God and in faith. This is why Christians go and read the bible to people when they are going to die, and give people the Lord’s Supper. Because especially when we are so weak, and close to death, just like Meta, this is the time when Jesus proves himself so strong for us—the heavens are opened, and Jesus is standing at the right hand of God. And it’s not as if it is perfect people, morally pure people that Jesus goes to attend—if that were the case, he would never come and strengthen us in death. Each us who faces death, faces death as a sinner—and we might despair of ourselves and our sin, since we are so weak and such disappointments even to ourselves. Often when we are about to die, we think of all the things where we’ve disappointed ourselves, let alone God. And yet, this is precisely the sort of person that Jesus comes to be with, because if we think we are a disappointment, Jesus is a never a disappointment. 

We also say this in our psalm today: The Lord’s my shepherd. Right up to our last dying hours, Jesus is still our shepherd. And it says: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Not absent from me, but with me.

Then we read in our reading:

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.

We read here about the particular way in which St Stephen was killed, by being stoned to death. But also it says that the witnesses brought Stephen’s clothes to a young man came Saul. This man was a terrible persecutor of Christians, but he converted, and took the name Paul. This man later became who we call St Paul, one of the first Christian missionaries, who wrote more books in the bible than any other person.

You see—this is where Saul’s contact with Jesus starts, at the first martyrdom of a Christian. And he learns from this death, so that when he dies, he also can die a Christian death. And it’s the same for us: we’re here to bury Meta today. And we love this lady, and we miss her. But at the same time, we know she had to die someday. She wasn’t going to live forever. And all throughout her life, we have received so many gifts from her, perhaps as her children, as her friends, as her family…and yet, even in her death, Jesus gives even her death to us as a gift. Because if any of us is going to learn how to die, we only really learn from other people who have done it first. And so just as Saul learns from this death of Stephen, so also Meta’s death is also something for us to learn from. Don’t we also want a peaceful death? But whether or not it is peaceful, don’t we want to be gathered to Jesus together with all his people through the centuries? 

And so we read:

And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Stephen’s death wasn’t actually peaceful. But still, in every death, we sometimes feel like we’re being pelted by rocks. We have people who give us false comfort and false hope. Sometimes we are pelted by the memories of all the things we regret. And yet, we are weak, and Jesus is strong. And Stephen here looks to his strong Jesus, and says: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. We read in the bible, that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. And also the apostles say: There is no other name given among people by which we must be saved. Jesus, the one who died and rose from the dead, is the one who receives our spirits. What a simple prayer here. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. It’s almost too simple! We’d much rather something long and complicated, but everything for a Christian death is here, because everything depends on one name: Lord Jesus. In the Greek, it says not just that Stephen called out, but that he was calling out, as if he was doing it over and over again. We call on Jesus to receive our spirit, as often and as much as we need.

And finally we read:

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

We are called by Jesus, even in the Lord’s Prayer, to forgive those who have sinned against us. Once we are dead, our grudges are going to die to. Are we going to take them with us to the grave? We pray in the Lord’s Prayer: Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

But do you notice here, that Jesus comes and strengthens Stephen first, and then he prays for his enemies. It’s not the other way around. We often think that when we die, we have to settle all our account first and then Jesus will accept us. No—Jesus encourages us, forgives us first, and then strengthened from that encouragement, we can forgive our enemies. If we can’t forgive our enemies, then we ask for the Jesus to send us grace to do it, or we can pray for him to do it. The most important thing here is that Stephen doesn’t say: Lord, I’m telling you that I don’t hold this sin against them. That is something that is sometimes outside our human strength. But he says to Jesus: You Lord, you, do not hold this sin against them. He commends them to Jesus.

And then read, and when he had said this, he fell asleep. This is such a wonderful confession of faith about death. There was a time when Jesus went to raise a young girl from the dead, and he said, This child is not dead, but sleeping. In the same way, it says about Stephen here, that he fell asleep. And so we also say about Meta: This child is not dead, but sleeping. And what does it mean if the person is asleep? Well, Jesus also said the same about his friend Lazarus who was dead. He said: Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him. And so, just like Stephen, just like the young girl, and just like Lazarus, Meta has now fallen asleep, but Jesus goes to awaken her. You see, in the bible, it often says that when a person dies, they are falling asleep. And this is because, we as Christians believe that they will also wake up again. Jesus will take this person by the hand, and raise them up from the dead, and reunite their body and soul in a glorious way. We say in the creed: I believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. St Paul says: Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

And so today, I’d like to finish with a wonderful encouragement to you from the book of Revelation, which was written on Meta’s confirmation certificate from Lithuania: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Dear Lord Jesus, strengthen us in all our weakness and keep us faithful to you and your word. Strengthen and keep us firm in your word and faith until we die.

Lord Jesus, receive our spirits. Amen.