John 14:1-6; Romans 8:31-39; Job 19:21-27
Dearly beloved family and
friends of our departed sister in Christ Katharina Drensek, brother Paul, niece
Krista, nephews Paul and Robert, grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our
Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We are gathered here today
to remember, to celebrate, and to give thanks for the faith and life our Lord
granted to His servant and His child Katharina. Listen again to the loving and
comforting words our Lord Jesus has for Katharina, and also for you: “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.”
God’s Son came as a man to
redeem Katharina, and to redeem you, from sin and death. Jesus rose from the
dead that Katharina, and you, will also rise. Jesus ascended to His Father in
heaven that Katharina, and you, will one day join Him there. And Jesus is
coming again to take Katharina, and you, to be with Him in the holy presence of
God just as He has promised.
Thus, we must never forget
of what our lives consist, and of what is their purpose, their end and goal. We
came from God and, we will return to God. We were created for communion with
God. It was because of pride, discontent, anger, and hatred that we fell into
sin, and that we must now bear the fruit of sin, which is death. But God in His
mercy and love could not, did not, leave us in that sorry state, but He did
what was necessary to redeem us and to restore us to full communion with Him
once again. God became one of us. Our Creator became as one of His creatures,
and He obeyed the Law perfectly and fulfilled it for us. He even did the
unthinkable – though He was innocent and without sin, He willingly took our
sin, your sin, my sin, Katharina’s sin, the sin of the whole world, upon
Himself and He suffered the punishment for sin and its fruit, death, in our
place, for us, for Katharina, for you. In exchange for our sin and death, we
now receive Christ’s forgiveness and eternal life. O blessed exchange!
While, undoubtedly, we
believe that Katharina was called home too soon, we take comfort that Katharina
is with her Jesus. We take comfort that each of us who trust in Jesus are
guaranteed the same when we die. As Jesus said to the repentant thief on the
cross, “This day you will be with me in paradise,” so each Christian soul goes
to Jesus upon death. And yet, this is not the end state, or even the best
state, but the Lord has something better still in store for us – the
resurrection of our bodies and the reunification of our eternal souls with our
glorified bodies. This is what Jesus means when He says, “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.” The Lord will return to take Katharina, body and
soul, to Himself. The Lord will return to take you, body and soul, to Himself.
This means that you have so much more than happy memories to hold on to. This
means that you have so much more than a voice and a smile to remember. This
means that, one day, you will get to see your loved ones again with your own
eyes. You will get to wrap your flesh and blood arms around your loved ones
again and hug them and hold them. You will get to hear their voice again, not
in a memory or in a vision, but with your own ears. Indeed, this is what Job,
trusting in the LORD’s promise, confessed two thousand years before Jesus’
birth: “I know that my Redeemer lives…. 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.” Therefore, let us find comfort now, not in
mere platitudes, but in the eternal, true, and living Word of God which cannot
be moved and cannot pass away, but will be fulfilled, for it is the eternal and
unchangeable, holy Word of the living God Himself, and it brings into being
what it says.
“What shall we say to these
things?” asks St. Paul. “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did
not spare His won Son by gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him
graciously give us all things?” Indeed, there is nothing for you to fear. Grief
and mourning are but for a while. We are not like those without hope. Our hope
comes from the certainty and the assurance of God’s Word of promise. That He
sent His only-begotten Son into our flesh to suffer and die for us is His
pledge and promise kept for you. Truly, in all things, even in suffering,
grief, sorrow, and death, we are “more than conquerors through Him who loved
us.” You can be certain of this: “neither death nor life, nor angels nor
rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the
love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Or, as Martin Luther put it in his great
hymn: “Take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife; though these all be
gone our victory has been won. The Kingdom ours remaineth.”
This is the Truth. And
Jesus is “the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.” Sadly, we have an enemy who
wants nothing more than for you to not believe it, or to believe that it’s not
for you. But the Truth is that Jesus is for you. Jesus is for Katharina. Jesus
is for everyone, of every time, and of every place: “For God so loved the world
that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but
will have eternal life.” Satan will try to get you to believe that’s just too
easy. Surely you have to do something, contribute something, earn something.
Surely you have to meet God half-way. After all, God helps those who help
themselves, right? If you’re a good person He’ll accept you, right? Wrong!
Absolutely, completely wrong! God has done all that is necessary in the gift of
His Son Jesus Christ. Nothing you can do will help, but God has done it all for
you. You need only to receive His gift and trust in His gift. Then it is yours,
no strings attached. But His gift will change you. His gift will change you,
the way a seed planted in the earth sprouts and grows and bears fruit, so will
you bear the fruit of His love. The way an apple tree bears apples, so will you
bear good fruits that serve your neighbor and that are pleasing to the LORD.
Your works are fruit; they come after the LORD’s gracious gift. Jesus is the
only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life; no one comes to the Father except
through Him.
And that is precisely why
we can take comfort today, and find hope today, and even give thanks to God
today. For, like Job, we know that our Redeemer lives. And, we know that
Katharina lives, even though she has died. We know that she is with Jesus right
now. And, we know that, on the Last Day, when our Lord returns, He will raise
Katharina, along with you and me and all the faithful, with glorified bodies,
reunited with our eternal souls, to live in heaven with God and all His
children forever. We know that we will see, hear, touch, hug, and hold our
beloved sister in Christ again. Does not your heart faint within you?
Tante Kea (Aunt Katharina)
believed in this. Tante Kea was ready for this. Tante Kea has received the
first part of the LORD’s promise already. Tante Kea is with Jesus. Still, Tante
Kea is waiting and looking forward to the fulfillment of the fullness of the LORD’s
promise, when Jesus returns. Then she will see, hear, touch, hug, and hold you
once again. Then her, and your, joy will be complete. But, for now, we take
great comfort in knowing that Tante Kea is with Jesus. To be with Jesus, our
Good Shepherd, is to experience no want, no lack of anything needful at all –
no suffering, no hunger, no thirst, no sorrow, no tears, no death. “Let not
your hearts be troubled.” Our Good Shepherd has blazed a trail through the
valley of the shadow of death and has knocked down the door that would keep us
in our graves. Now that door has become an open passageway to the house of the LORD,
and Jesus is the way. Do not be afraid. We are not like those without hope. You
will see Tante Kea again in the house of the LORD.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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