John 14:1-6; Revelation 7:9-17; Job 19:21-27
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” That was Job’s confession after Satan took away his livelihood and his possessions and the lives of his children, all with the LORD’s permission. “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” That was also Dorothy’s confession when her youngest son Roger died in the Lord early Tuesday morning. It all boils down to this: We come into this world with nothing, wholly apart from our choosing, and we leave this world with nothing, wholly apart from our choosing. Still, God hasn’t changed. He is still God. He is still good. He is still righteous and just and holy. “Blessed be the name of the LORD.” Though I have nothing, though I am nothing, Job confessed, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” Though the LORD permitted Satan to take from Job absolutely everything he loved, save his life, not only would Job not curse God and die, as his own wife and friends tempted him to do, but Job blessed and praised God and put his trust in the LORD’s righteousness and goodness. Job held on in hope of resurrection and restoration in his Redeemer whom he confessed to already live even then, now, and always.
“If God is for us,” asks St. Paul, “who can be against us?” “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” God does give us good things, but He also takes from us at times the good things that He has given, even as He gives to us people we love, and He takes from us at times the people we love. But that doesn’t change who God is – God is good – and it doesn’t change the fact that God is for us, and not against us.
Jessica, Annie, Brooke, and Chloe; Dorothy, Steve, Kenny, Marie, Cheryle, and Laurie, grandchildren, family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. “Let not your hearts be troubled.” “You believe in God,” believe also in Jesus, Job’s Redeemer, Roger’s Redeemer, and your and our Redeemer too. The LORD gave everything good to His own Son Jesus, and the LORD took everything away from Him; blessed be the name of the LORD. Though Job was a righteous man among men, he was still a sinner. Therefore, God made Christ, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus suffered and died for us, in our place, fulfilling the Law and breaking its curse. Then the LORD raised up Christ from death, the first fruits of those who die in the Lord. Thus, Jesus is the resurrection and the life for all who believe, in that, even though they die, they will live, the end result being that death is not death at all, for death has been defeated in Christ. The grave cannot hold us, and we need not fear it. Just as Christ Jesus is risen from the dead and lives, so too will we who are baptized into Him rise and live. You will see those you love again; you will see Roger again with your own flesh and blood eyes and hear his voice with your own flesh and blood ears and hold him again with your own flesh and blood arms, and no one will ever take your joy from you.
Roger was a farmer, that was his God-given vocation, which means that he tended to the LORD’s creation just like his and our ancient forefather Adam. Roger worked the soil, milked the cows, and he birthed the calves and the lambs. He heaved the bales of hay, fed the livestock, fixed the machinery, and much, much more, and all before noon on Monday. I believe that farming is the vocation most emblematic of the LORD Himself. After all, God created the earth, watered it, filled it with plants and animals, and caused it to be productive and fruitful. Then God made Adam to care for His creation, to work the ground and reap its harvest and to care for the animals and all that He had made. And so much of our Lord Jesus’ teaching is agricultural in nature: The Sower and the Seed; the Wheat and the Tares; The Fig Tree and All Trees; The Sheep and the Goats; etc. Farmers are close to the land, God’s creation, life and death. They know what it takes to produce a loaf of bread and a 5 lb. bag of flour, that it’s not as simple as going to the grocery store and plopping it in your cart. Farmers know how they can’t make it rain when they need it to, and how they can’t make it stop raining when they need it to not. And no one sees the secret miracle of an inert seed springing to life and becoming fruitful, or the beginning of the life of a lamb or calf. It takes a whole lot of faith and hope to be a farmer. Roger was a man of faith and hope all his life.
But Roger was also a loving and devoted husband, son, father, grandfather, and brother, and he worked and served and sacrificed just as much in those vocations as well. As a young boy Roger worked with his father Ralph on the farm, and working on the farm is precisely what he was doing this past Monday when his heart gave out. From beginning to end, from birth to death, Roger lived out his Christian vocations in love for God and neighbor, and especially for you his beloved family.
Roger was a Bloker, and that means something special, because the Bloker family is something special. To me, Bloker means love, for that is what I see and experience amongst you. I was blessed to be with you five years ago during Ralph’s last days on earth. During that time, I experienced the strong bond of love in your family. Every time I would visit Ralph in the nursing home there would be 15 – 30 Blokers there! The Bloker family loves being together, in good times and in bad times, and your love for each other and your love and hope in the Lord will see your through the grief and sorrow you are experiencing now.
They say that your average cat has nine lives. Well, Roger must have had ninety-nine. That boy nearly killed himself how many times? Once he rode his motorcycle through a barbed wire fence. Another time he flipped his motorcycle while popping a wheelie to impress a girl downtown. Another time still he was nearly taken out by a broken chain while trying to pull out a stuck manure spreader. And Roger was a tease. Kenny had spent a lot of time carefully constructing a working farm out of the dirt, had all his trucks and tractors, barns, and animals neatly arranged, and then Roger came charging in with a large Tonka truck and plowed right through it. Roger would play with his sisters as well, even with Barbie dolls. He would say, “Let’s play barbershop,” and then he would cut the hair off all the dolls.
Roger loved the Lord. Maybe he didn’t go to church as much as he should’ve, but he was often heard to say, “I talk to the Lord every day.” More than that, Roger showed his faith in the Lord in how he treated people and the love he showed them. He was kind of heart and had a generous nature. He loved to teach kids about animals and farming. He and Chloe and Caleb worked together raising sheep to show at the fair. He was always ready to lend assistance to a neighboring farmer.
Roger wasn’t perfect; none of are. That is why he needed a Redeemer, just like Job, just like all of us do. Roger believed and trusted in Jesus, and he is with Him now. “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
When I met with you the other day you told me about a Danish family Christmas tradition in which your family would dance around the Christmas tree singing “Nu er det jul igen,” pardon my Danish. In English this means, “Now it is Christmas time,” and the song goes like this: “Now it is Christmas time, and now it is Christmas time, and holidays will last until Easter.” I can understand why this is a favorite Christmas tradition! The idea of the joy of Christmas lasting all the way until Easter sounds perfectly delightful! Yet, even when you told me this I thought, but what about Lent? The forty days of Lent, with its call to repentance and somber reflection upon Jesus’ suffering and death for our sins, is a huge interlude between the joyous seasons of Christmas and Easter. Ah! But there is more to the song! “Now it is Christmas time, and now it is Christmas time, and holidays will last until Easter. No, it is not true, no, it is not true, for in between is Lent.” My dear brothers and sisters in Christ. I encourage you to think of this time of your grief and sorrow at the death of Roger as a Lent, an interlude of a sort between the joy of life now and life eternal to come. For, even during Lent, as we reflect upon the wages of our sin and the price our LORD paid to redeem us from sin and death, we already know the truth of the resurrection. Thus, in the midst of our sorrow and our tears there is hope and even a little joy. For we know that our Redeemer lives and that in our flesh will shall see God! Let us take comfort that our brother Roger is at rest in the arms of Jesus and in the hope that we will join Him in the presence of the LORD in His time. Jesus lives! The victory is won!
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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