Grace, mercy and peace be to
you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
I am the resurrection and the life… Do you believe
this? She said to him, “Yes Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of
God, who is coming into the world.
Prayer: Lord God, our
heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so
that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
We pastors are often in the
situation at funerals of having known people a lot less than most other people.
I have only known Ray for a year, since I arrived in Maryborough. But he was
one the first people from Maryborough that I spoke to on the phone, he was the
first person from Maryborough that I met, his was the first house I went to on
my first day here, and he drove me around and gave me the “cook’s tour”. And
for most of that time during the last year, I knew him as a very willing and
helpful worker. And despite his shakiness, that willingness to help and to
contribute went on almost until the very last minute when he went to hospital
and was then unable to help anymore.
There’s a bible verse that I
often think of about Ray from Psalm 84, where it says: I would rather be a
doorkeeper in the house of the Lord, than dwell in the tents of wickedness. There’s
was always a kind connection between Ray and our church doors because he was
usually the only person who could reach the bolt at the top!
But somewhere in the mix, I
remember having a very significant conversation with Ray, when he told me that
he hadn’t always been part of the church, and there was a reasonably
significant period of time when he stayed away. He told me that the reason he
came back to church was that he attended a funeral here, and it got him
thinking. And so it’s a very significant thing that we should be gathered here
today for Ray’s funeral, because in some sense, things have now come full circle.
I’ve preached at many funerals before, and much of the time, we pastors are
never quite sure what kind of an impact the things we say have on people. But
maybe even today, there’s another Ray here, who is wondering about this world,
about society, about things, and is thinking about what will happen to them
when they die, and what will happen to them, and where they will go. You never
know. What we do know is that in the face of death, at a Christian funeral it
is always our desire to receive our comfort not from people, from human
feelings and sentiments, but from the living and active word of God from
heaven, the voice of the Holy Spirit himself. And when the word of God is
spoken, then we know that the Holy Spirit is active and powerful to bring strength
and a living comfort to us.
In the Gospel reading, which
I read just before, we read about a small discussion between Jesus and Martha,
whose brother Lazarus has died. Later on, we read that Jesus goes to her
brother and raises him from the dead.
Martha doesn’t really know
what to expect. Jesus asks her various questions, and she answers well, even
though she might not really know what she’s saying.
Martha says to Jesus: Lord,
if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that
whatever you ask from God, God will give you.
There’s a kind of sense in
which Martha treats Jesus as the ultimate fix-it man. If he were here, her
brother wouldn’t have died. There’s a sense too with Ray, that sometimes we
might be sitting around before church, trying to organise something, and we
think: we’ll wait for Ray to arrive. He’ll know where that thing is, or he’ll
know what to do, or he’ll know how to fix that.
So we read that Martha says: If
you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that
whatever you ask from God, God will give you.
There’s a sense in which
maybe she blames Jesus for her brother’s death. And maybe she wants him to fix
the situation, but she doesn’t know really what she’s asking. She says,
“Whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” “Do whatever you like.”
So Jesus says to her: Your
brother will rise again.
And the same words apply to
us today. Our brother will rise again.
History isn’t finished as
soon as someone dies; because all history belongs to God, and he is not the God
of the dead, but the God of the living.
“Your brother will rise
again”, says Jesus.
And Martha says to him, I
know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.
Listen to how Martha makes a
good confession of faith – even though she doesn’t fully know what she’s
talking about.
She’s talking to Jesus like
he might not get the job done. Or when he gets the job done, it will be so far
off in the future!
Martha says to Jesus, I
know that he will rise again on the last day. Jesus said to her, I am
the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall
he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you
believe this? She said to him, Yes Lord; I believe that you are the
Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.
Jesus says to her: “I am the
resurrection and the life.” “Whenever I’m around there is resurrection.”
Now today, we have come to
farewell a father, a grandfather, our friend Ray. We know for one thing that
God sent him to us for our benefit. And also, God had put you there for him.
God looks after the world by appointing people to help look after it and its
people. God looked after you and took care of you by sending you Ray. God looked
after Ray and took care of him by sending you to him.
But now there has come a time
where we say, The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of
the Lord. And this is not an easy thing for us to accept sometimes.
But there’s something that we
really need to think about and this is this. Before Jesus went to suffer, and
die and rise again, he actually told his disciples about it in advance. He
prophesied about these things if you like. But the disciples had no idea what
he was talking about. But when he was risen from the dead, then they went “Aha”
– I get it now. I understand what he was talking about. Beforehand, we had no
idea, but now we get it.
Also in the gospel reading
today about Martha and Jesus, Jesus says some things to Martha which she
doesn’t really understand until afterwards. She doesn’t understand what Jesus
means when he says, “Your brother will rise again”. “I am the resurrection and
the life.” But when he goes and raises her brother from the dead, then she gets
it. The light switches on for her!
In the Christian faith, we
also say that those who have died will rise again.
We don’t just say that they
will be alive. We say that they will rise again.
On Easter Sunday, Christians
throughout the world don’t just say, “Christ is alive”, but “Christ is risen”.
He is risen from the dead! He’s gone there and he’s come back! And on Easter he
goes to his disciples and show them the wounds in his hands and his feet and
his side and says, “Have a look! It’s me! I was nailed to the cross, and now I
am risen from the dead.”
Because when we say sometimes
that someone is alive, we can often mean that to say that they are “alive” in
our hearts, or they are generally “alive”. But that often doesn’t give us much
comfort or strength in the long run, especially when we know that the person
isn’t there for us any more.
But Jesus doesn’t just say to
Martha, “I am the life”, he says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” “Your
brother will rise again.”
He will rise, not because he
was perfect, or because he wasn’t a sinner. If being without were the criteria
for eternal life, then there would be no hope for any of us, we would all be
stuffed! But he will rise, because of Jesus words which he speaks. Jesus speaks
his words in baptism on us, he forgives our sins, because he suffered, died and
rose again. The whole point of holy baptism, is that we are taken by Jesus to
himself, so that he can give us as a gift to others, not just now, but also at
the time of the resurrection.
In this life we also suffer,
we also mourn. In this life we also die. But we will also rise. So Jesus says, Everyone
who lives and believes in me shall never die.
And now we can say of Ray that
he is resting with his Lord. As St Paul says, he has departed to be with
Christ. But the story doesn’t end there.
And we might sit there and
say, “How can this happen?” How can there be a resurrection of the dead? Let
God sort that problem out. That’s the same question that Mary asked, “How can
this be, [how can I become a mother] since I am a virgin?” Let God sort that
problem out.
The most important thing is
this: Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. In a sense, Martha
listens to these words and doesn’t really know what he’s talking about. And the
same goes for us. We sometimes don’t know what Jesus is talking about. But
don’t let that stop us. All faith begins with blindness: it doesn’t begin with
sight, it begins with hearing the words of the living Lord Jesus Christ, who
holds life and death in his own hands. Now we see in a mirror dimly, says St
Paul, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know
fully, even as I have been fully known.
And so in the face of death,
we confess that Jesus also had died. Jesus is the only sinless, perfect one.
We, on the other hand, are all totally and completely sinful and corrupt people
without any exceptions. We have all fallen short of the glory of God, and even
our good thoughts are tainted with bad motives. In and of ourselves, we are
completely unable and unworthy to stand before God and meet him in all of his
holiness. But Jesus entered into the world, he suffered, and died, and he took
the weight of every single one of our sins and failures and weaknesses upon
himself, upon his own shoulders, and he made a complete and perfect payment for
every single one of our sins. And he defeated the power of death by rising from
the dead on Easter Sunday. But then after this, Jesus sent out his apostles and
disciples to tell people what they had seen and to preach it, and we still
carry this on today. And when this Word of God goes out, the Holy Spirit goes
out and changes people and creates a living faith in them. And what is begun
here on this earth, in this life, is finished and completed in the next life.
It begins here with the simple word of the forgiveness of sins won by Jesus on
the cross. It begins here with the simple water of baptism, and the eating and
drinking of the Lord’s Supper. All these things are given to us for the
forgiveness of sins. God gives all this forgiveness completely and totally
freely, without any contribution on our part whatsoever. It is a totally free
gift. But these things also point us forward to heaven itself, to eternal life,
to the resurrection of the dead. Because it is the same God who empowers both
the beginning and the end – he empowers his word here on earth and empowers
faith, even if our faith seems to us to be so weak, and it his power, his
truth, his love that promises the wonderful gift of eternal life with him. It
is the same Jesus that we meet by faith in this life that we will finally see
face to face.
And so Jesus says, I am
the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall
he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you
believe this? And Martha said to him, Yes Lord; I believe that you are
the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.
Blessed are those who mourn
for they will be comforted. Amen.
Lord God, heavenly Father,
send us your Holy Spirit at this time, as we mourn the death of Ray. We thank
you for his life and all the many blessings that you gave to us through him.
Comfort us and strengthen us with your holy comfort, and give us everything that
we need, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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