Mark 5:35-43; 1
Corinthians 15:51-57; Isaiah 25:6-9
In the Name of the Father and of the
+ Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Dearly beloved, the Scripture readings I
have shared with you this evening each speak about death in slightly different
ways. In the reading from St. Mark, our Lord Jesus comforts a family whose
young daughter had died by telling them, “The child is not dead but sleeping.”
In the reading from First Corinthians, St. Paul speaks of the return of our
Lord Jesus on the Last Day, the Day of Resurrection, saying that “We shall not
all sleep, but we shall all be changed. […] …the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the
imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” The Prophet Isaiah
seems to have in mind several different fulfillments of the prophecy that death
will be swallowed up by victory: First, by the return of the children of Israel
from exile in Babylon. Second, in Jesus’ victory over death and the grave by
His own crucifixion, death, and resurrection from the dead. And third, death
will be swallowed up forever when Jesus returns on the Last Day and the dead
are raised. Then, lastly, even the beloved twenty-third Psalm speaks of death,
not only as something that we in time pass through, but as the very life that
we live, now, in the valley of the shadow of death. In all cases, however,
death has only a temporary sting and no lasting victory. Indeed, in Jesus’
death and resurrection, death’s sting, sin, is removed, and death, the last
enemy, cannot hold us in our graves, but it will be swallowed up in Jesus’
victory when He returns on the Last Day. Until then, truly, those who die in
the Lord are not dead, but they are sleeping – a restful sleep from which they
will be awakened when Christ returns.
Our dear sister in Christ, Evelyn, is
not dead, but she is sleeping. Yes, it is true that Evelyn’s body has died, but
it is also true that Evelyn’s soul is with Her Lord Jesus. We can take comfort
and find peace and hope in the sure and certain promise that those who die in
the Lord are blessed, that, for them, there is no more mourning, crying, nor
pain anymore; they hunger no more, nor thirst anymore, the sun does not strike
them nor any scorching heat, and God Himself wipes away every tear from their
eyes. Still, this is not the end of the story for Evelyn, nor for us, for she
and all the saints, and we as well, still long for that yet more glorious day,
the day of the resurrection of all flesh when the Lord returns in glory. For,
while Evelyn’s body rests in sleep, and while Evelyn’s soul is in comfort and
peace with the Lord, Evelyn will not truly and fully be Evelyn until both her
body and her soul stand together in the presence of God and the Lamb Jesus
Christ. That is the day and the fulfillment and the victory over death that all
Christians, all Christ’s saints, the Church on earth and in heaven long and
pray and wait for in faithful hope and expectation.
Now, I’ve known Evelyn for the past
eleven and a half years, the entire time I’ve served as pastor of The Lutheran
Church of Christ the King next door to The King’s Apartments in Pawling where
Evelyn lived. And, I think I knew her well enough, and I suspect that all who
knew her would agree, to say that Evelyn was one tough cookie. You didn’t have
to guess what Evelyn felt or was thinking; she’d let you know straight away.
And, she was determined and fiercely independent. She didn’t want anybody’s
help, and would even get angry if you were too persistent in offering it. Now, to
be sure, there were many who didn’t understand Evelyn. Some likely took her
independence as stubbornness and her opinionatedness as meanness. However, I
think they were wrong to judge her so. For, the Evelyn that I had the privilege
to get to know was not arrogant and self-secure, but she was disillusioned by
injustice in the world, by suffering and death, by wars and poverty and
politics. And, she would frequently ask “Why?” “Why is the world like this? Why
do people behave the way they do? Why doesn’t God do something?” Now, these are
fair and legitimate questions, and they can be asked in faith or in unbelief.
Evelyn asked them in faith. She wasn’t angry with God, just inquiring. Further,
when she didn’t get an answer, which we often don’t to such questions, she
accepted that it was God’s will and that He knew what He was doing.
Now, that’s faith, even the kind of
child-like faith that Jesus calls us all unto – faith seeking understanding,
the faith of Job, the faith of Mary: Lord,
may it be unto me according to Your Word. That’s the kind of faith Evelyn
had; the kind of faith I had the unique privilege to minister to and to shepherd
these past many years. A staunch Greek Orthodox believer, Evelyn attended my
little Lutheran parish faithfully nearly every Sunday that the weather wasn’t
too bad. In addition, she faithfully attended a small Bible study I hold at the
King’s Apartments each Thursday afternoon. Both in church and in the study,
Evelyn listened intently to the Word of God. Particularly in the Bible study, I
very much enjoyed Evelyn’s presence, as I like to emphasize certain Greek words
in the New Testament Bible. I would turn to Evelyn to get a fuller
understanding of the word being used, and she would typically provide it.
However, she never thought that I was pronouncing the Greek correctly. There
would be, what seemed to me, a very, very, very subtle emphasis on a syllable
or a subtle inflection here or there that would make my pronunciation
unrecognizable. But, Evelyn’s contributions always added depth, richness, and
relevance to our study. In fact, Sia, your full name Athanasia would come up
from time to time, a name that means immortality,
as well as your daughter’s name, Alethea, which means truth. Those are wonderful names, and very much appropriate for us
to consider today.
Evelyn was a child of God, having
child-like faith and trust in her Lord and Savior. Now she has fallen asleep in
faith in the Lord; her body rests, awaiting the Lord’s return and the
resurrection, but her soul is comforted in the Lord. It is right and
appropriate to mourn, for Evelyn has died and we will see her no longer until
that day. However, we do not mourn like those without faith, but our hope is in
the Lord who has won for us the victory over death and will give to us the
crown of life. When Jesus returns, we will all be awakened from our death-like
sleep and we will all be changed, our perishable mortal bodies raised as
imperishable immortal bodies, reunited with our souls that we may stand, once
again, as we were created to be, living beings and the children of God, with
all the saints before the throne of God and the Lamb. Then we will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever.
In
the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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