Grace, mercy and peace be to you
from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Romans
8:18)
For I
consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with
the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth
and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and
our Redeemer. Amen.
In the year
1613, in what is modern-day Poland, there was a massive epidemic that broke out
in the city of Fraustadt. The Lutheran pastor there in that town, called
Valerius Herberger, then wrote the only hymn that he ever wrote, which begins
like this:
Farewell, I
gladly bid Thee,
False, evil
world, Farwell!
Thy life is
vain and sinful,
With thee I
would not dwell.
I long to be
in heaven,
In that
untroubled sphere,
Where they
will be rewarded
Who serve
their God while here.
Now to our
ears, we might think: The world is false and evil? Life is vain? Life is
sinful? Is that all there is? But I often think that if we consider the fact
there are over 2 billion people who profess to be Christians in the world
today, and if we consider that Christianity has been going on now for 2000
years, I think it would be safe to say that most Christians who are alive today
and most Christians who have lived throughout history have understood this very
well. Most of the Christians in the world today don’t live lives that we might
think are particularly successful, particularly affluent—in fact many
Christians today live in poverty and suffer tremendously. Most Christians
throughout history have never lived in such prosperous times as what we do. And
yet—the Christian faith continues. Why? Because the Holy Spirit knows how to
encourage us, and the Holy Spirit reveals in God’s word, as St Paul says, that
the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory
that is to be revealed to us.
Do you hear
that? The glory that is to be revealed to us.
So as we
gather here on this day for Judith’s funeral, there’s a wonderful truth for us
to remember: the sadness of this occasion is only felt by us, but not by
Judith. Her death is a sad for us, but not sad for her. Because the
sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is
to be revealed to us.
In the bible,
this comes out constantly—In the gospel of Luke, we read that there was a
rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously
every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with
sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table.
Moreover, even the dogs came and liked his sores. The poor man died and was
carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was
buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham
far off and Lazarus at his bosom.
This is such
a powerful story that Jesus tells here. Here we see a rich man, an important
man, a wealthy man, a successful man. And outside of his house we see a
battler, a struggler, someone who in the eyes of the world isn’t important,
isn’t successful—but at the end of the day, what happens? Is it the rich man
who goes to heaven, and the poor man who goes to hell? No—it’s the poor man who
goes to heaven. He has been the faithful one.
Now, is Jesus
saying that all poor people go to heaven and all rich people go to hell?
No—that’s not true. Lazarus went to Abraham’s bosom, and Abraham himself was a
very rich man. In Genesis 13, it says: Now Abram was very rich in livestock,
in silver, and in gold. But these things didn’t define Abraham. When you
read about his life, you don’t necessarily notice his wealth. But for the rich
man in the story—the only thing that can be said about him is that he rich. He
is defined by what he owned, by what he wore, by what he ate.
And so in the
story—it’s the poor man, called Lazarus, who goes to heaven. What’s amazing
about this story is that Lazarus sat at the rich man’s gate, and for years and
years the rich man didn’t notice him. And yet, God noticed him.
And so—here
we might think about Mt Barker or the areas in which we live? Who are the
important people in the eyes of the world? Who are the successful people? Who
are the influential people? And yet, these are not necessarily the people whom
God notices. And this is the most important thing—God shines his light on all kinds
of people, who go about their everyday lives, not making a big name for
themselves, but who hear his word, believe it, and carry on in faith and in
hope.
It strikes me
that Judith would never have run for mayor in Mt Barker. There would be plenty
of people who would never have noticed her, even in the church. But God noticed
her—and this is the greatest blessing of all.
And so, the
old Lutheran pastor I mentioned before, says not just farewell to the world,
but good morning to heaven: I long to be in heaven, in that untroubled sphere,
where they will be rewarded, who serve their God while here.
You see,
whatever sadness there is in the world, whatever heartache, whatever grief,
there is something that is stronger, and deeper, and more powerful than any of
that put together, and that is the blood of Christ. We believe that Jesus died
and rose again, and that he is the one who has paid the price, the bill, which
we should have paid for our lives, not with gold or silver, but with his precious
blood. In this world, people may think success likes in gold and silver, achievements,
successes, but in the church, our success, our boasting, and our joy is in one
thing: the precious blood of Christ. When we go to bed at night, as it
says in an old musical, we might like to snuggle up to our cash register—it’s a
little lumpy but it rings. And when we die, we’ll take none of it with us. But
the Christian faith believes in something much more precious: the blood of
Christ that cleanses us from all sin.
Now, you
might think—goodness me, pastor Stephen—this is a gloomy sermon. Sure—it’s a
gloomy sermon, if all we are looking forward to is something in this life? St
Paul says: If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people
most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the
firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
All of the
gloominess has been destroyed by Jesus. His death and his resurrection have
destroyed it all. And so, when we die with Jesus, then we will have every
wonderful gift, and joy, and pleasure of heaven to look forward. The gloominess
has been washed away with Christ’s blood, so that all that is left is pure joy.
A pastor said
to me recently: Don’t you know that we live in Sodom? He’s referring here to
the old cities in the bible, Sodom and Gomorrah that were well-known especially
for their wickedness, as it says.
And so, isn’t
it a wonderful thing to come and remember the fact that our sister in Christ,
Judith, has left the city of Sodom once and for all, and has now entered the
city of Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem?
We all know
from our own experience that there are many sorrows and disappointments to be
found in this life. Isn’t a wonderful thing to come and remember the fact that
Judith has left each and every sadness far behind her, never to return to
again?
We all know that
there’s plenty of sin that catches us all the time. Isn’t it a wonderful thing
that Judith is now completely free from sin now for the first time in her life?
And it’s not
because of her or what she has done, her virtues, or even her successes or her
wealth—it’s because of the precious blood of Christ, it’s because of her
Saviour, her Lord, her Jesus.
And so no
wonder that St Paul says: For I consider that the sufferings of this present
time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
I once read
where an old writer wrote that we are all built into God’s house like living
stones. But if we are going to be useful for the house, we have to be cut and
polished, and then brought to the house, and built into the walls. And then all
the walls form together a wonderful city, the heavenly Jerusalem—and in this
city, we will no longer hear the hammer or the axe.
That’s what
we remember today—the hammer and the axe have ceased, and the only thing left
is God’s comfort, God’s joy, God’s pleasure that another one of his little
ones, another one of his quiet ones, has entered his city. As it says in
Hebrews: For her we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to
come.
Jesus says: Blessed
are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Amen.
We thank you,
dear Jesus, that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to
the glory that will be revealed to us. We thank you for Judith and for the
great many blessings that so many of us have received from you through her. Strengthen
and comfort us in our grief with your word and with your Holy Spirit. Amen.
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