John 10:11-18; 1 John 3:1-2; Isaiah 40:9-11
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
God’s children. That is what we are. Now, we didn’t choose to be God’s children, – no one chooses to be born – but we are God’s children born of the Holy Spirit through water and faith. Being God’s children was not a decision that we made, but it was a decision that the Lord made who formed us in our mother’s wombs. We are not God’s children because we are so very good and never sin, nor because we attend church every Sunday, nor because we believe all the right things, but we are God’s children because He chose us in Jesus Christ and created faith in us by His Holy Spirit through the Word of God and sealed us in His Name through Holy Baptism. That is why we are God’s children now. That is why Mary Lynn is God’s child now. And what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The Father’s love is seen in this: He gave His only Son over to death on the cross that we should not perish but have everlasting life in Him. That is what we just remembered and celebrated on Easter Sunday. Greater love has no man than this, that he should lay down his life for his friends. Such love is selfless and sacrificial. Such love is exemplified in the love of the Father for His Son, and the Son for His Father, and the love of the Father and Son together for us, His children. Such love is also exemplified in the image of a shepherd tending his flock.
Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He knows His sheep and His sheep know Him. The Good Shepherd has laid down His life for His sheep, including His dear lamb, Mary Lynn. Our Good Shepherd has passed through this valley of the shadow of death where we live our lives and He has secured for His beloved sheep good pasture, safety, and life in His Father’s house forevermore. And, because He has traversed this deathly valley already Himself, He knows it intimately and He is well prepared to shepherd His sheep safely through it. Our Good Shepherd has faced our greatest enemy, death, which threatened to keep us in our graves. Jesus defeated death by taking away its sting, sin. He took our sin, He took all man’s sin, He took Mary Lynn’s sin upon Himself, and He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become righteousness in Him. “He will tend His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms; He will carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”
Amongst Jesus’ final words to His disciples is this New Commandment: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, when you have love for one another.” I know that “love” means many things in our language, but what Jesus means is agape, a selfless and sacrificial love that serves others without counting the cost. It was agape love that Jesus demonstrated in His own selfless and sacrificial service to us, laying down His life to set us free from sin and death. We show that we have received His love when we return that love to Him by sharing that same love with others. Christians share the love of Jesus in their lives, words, and deeds primarily through their vocations.
Mary Lynn was a nurse for forty-four years. I can hardly imagine a vocation that embodies the Christian virtues of love and service, selflessness, and sacrifice better than nursing. Shortly after she graduated high school, Mary Lynn began her nursing career serving the most vulnerable and helpless of humankind, newborn babies born premature or with health complications in Iowa’s first NICU in Des Moines. Then she worked for many years at the hospital in Waverly, showing love, care, and compassion serving others in their time of need. Perhaps her favorite experience in nursing, however, came near the end of her career when she served as a traveling health care nurse. It was then that she came to realize what had been true all along, that she had a God-given passion for providing exceptional care to her patients whom she considered family. Mary Lynn ended her nursing career in 2014 after forty-four years. Well done, good and faithful servant.
Anyone who knows Mary Lynn and Jack knows their love and support for the Waterloo Black Hawks hockey team. Mary Lynn and Jack have been season ticket holders for eighteen years and traveled the country in support of their team. What a gift it is to share something you love with someone you love. Mary Lynn was even watching a hockey game the night her Good Shepherd called her home, making her, literally, a lifelong fan. Mary Lynn loved crocheting and was also a gifted seamstress. She made Jen’s wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses. Mary Lynn was also known to make clothes for both Jen and Emily – the very same clothes, mind you, having the very same patterns and made from the very same fabric – a frugality she seems to have inherited from her mother who did the very same for Mary Lynn and sister Bonnie.
Life wasn’t always easy and full of laughs. Life never is. But with the trials and the tribulations, those who trust in the Lord have faith and hope to see them through. Many Christians somehow have the idea that, if you are a believer, then things will go well for you. That most certainly is true over the long haul, but that does not mean that a Christian will not experience sorrow, hard times, and suffering in their lives and in the lives of those they love; in fact, they most definitely will. Jesus said, “If you want to be my disciple you must take up your own cross and follow me.” The way of Jesus is the way that leads through the valley of the shadow of death, which is this life, not around it, and into the Father’s house forevermore. Our Good Shepherd Jesus has traversed that valley already and has defeated death which barred our entrance into the Father’s house, and now He accompanies His children, His sheep, as they make their own way through that valley. Mary Lynn understood this. She understood Jesus as the Suffering Servant and the Man of Sorrows depicted in Isaiah, and she could relate to Him, and her own life to His, as one “acquainted with grief.”
Mary Lynn was a child of God, born of water and the Holy Spirit. In Holy Baptism our LORD named her and claimed her as His own child and promised her, “I will never leave you,” “I am with you always,” and “nothing can separate you from my love in Jesus Christ.” Jesus lives! And because He lives, we believe that we shall live also. Because of the promises of God in Christ Jesus we can take comfort and have hope that Mary Lynn is with Him and that we will see her again on the day of resurrection. Then there will be joy that will never be taken from you and peace and comfort without end.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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