Betty Jaeschke Funeral

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Romans 8:38-39
Theme: Never Severed From Christ

Dear family, friends, and loved ones of Betty Jaeschke; and especially you Dianne, Raelene, and Mark, her children,

Nothing can sever the believer from Christ. Nothing! This is the promise we have just heard from God’s holy word. And those were some of the words that gave comfort to Betty’s soul as she was preparing to be received into eternal glory last Saturday night. When we near the threshold of eternity no words of comfort really matter except those of Him who has defeated death and thrown open the gates of heaven. So, we gather with solemnity but also with joy knowing that Betty has reached her final rest. Her journey is over. Her struggles are ended. Her heavenly home is occupied. Thanks be to God for His merciful love!

A Christian funeral always has a confronting element because we don’t make light of serious realities. Consideration of mortality often evokes a guttural reaction. Death is menacing. It is dark and consuming. It has an inevitability that we cannot overcome. We have no capacity to equal its supremacy. Unbelief severs all ties. Sin is both its cause and its consequence. Death finalizes the separation.

Dear friends, it is in our nature to go to great lengths to circumvent the things we fear most. Denial, fabrication, and escape are common responses when facing mortality. Some run as far away from any discussion of the matter as possible. Others simply bury their heads in the sand hoping to avoid the subject. Still others cling to some imaginary idea that happiness in the next life is a guaranteed outcome for all people. Personal reflection should restrain us from judging these reactions too harshly. We too are under the same influence. Death is not the natural way of things that some claim. It is not part of some grand cosmic cycle that was intended from the beginning. Death is the mature consequence of sin. It is punishment leveled against the sinner for offending God’s holiness.

But for the believer death is a transition to a more important reunion. Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God’s grace; the very substance of divine love. Everything stands or falls on the truth of Jesus’ sacrificial work for sinners- our salvation by grace, through faith. If grace in Christ is a fantasy, then existence itself comes unhinged. If divine love is a fallacy, then ultimate meaning is shattered. If God’s promises are hollow, then hope is finally lost. If the resurrection of Christ was only pious legend, then eternal death prevails. But, dear friends, Jesus Christ is indeed risen from the dead. The grave could not hold Him. Death could not bind Him. Hell could not subdue Him. Satan could not silence Him.

The women went to the tomb and He was not there. Later He appeared to more than 500 followers at the same time. He says to us, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”1 And the Scripture says, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”2 It sounds so simple and in one sense that’s true. But in another sense it’s the most difficult thing in the world. There are many challenges to faith and the Holy Spirit is required for it to be maintained.

God, of course, knew what challenges Betty would endure and what blessings she would enjoy. From the moment of her baptism He reclaimed her as His unique creation and promised her an eternal inheritance. Betty was confirmed here at St. Peter’s and her Christian journey was continually sustained by hearing God’s word, receiving His blessing in Holy Communion, and gathering with His people.

Betty understood the challenges of rural farm life, of family, and of relationships. Farming in the Mallee demands an astute gage of one’s capacities. If you don’t learn to adjust it can quickly break you. Betty learned to adapt even under trying circumstances. She wasn’t one to complain. Wisdom taught her the value of enduring on behalf of others. Betty knew she was a frail and fallible human being- a sinner like all of us. She had her share of regrets, disappointments, and sorrows in life. But she also knew she was God’s child. She knew Jesus as her Good Shepherd. She grazed in His pastures and found safety under His protection. She is now freed from all the burdens of this life.

The Scriptures encourage us to eagerly anticipate being released from all the consequences of sin. The weight of the world (our mortality) is literally lifted. Consider these words of promise. Philippians 3“Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.”3 John’s first epistle, “We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is”4 And Revelation 21, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”5

Only the divine promise can give peace to the soul. Reconciliation, forgiveness, freedom from guilt, liberation from shame, release from regret are achieved only through God’s bestowal of the merits of Christ to us frail humans. In Christ the roughest edges are made smooth, the deepest pains are relieved, the harshest offences are resolved. Anger gives way to peace. Fear is replaced by serenity. Sorrow transitions to joy. It seems impossible- given the experiences of life that jade us- that these things could really come true. But that is the reality of Christ’s redeeming power.

Dianne, Raelene, Mark; the emptiness left by the death of your mother cannot be filled by any means that human’s possess. The poignancy of grief is a recognition of the irreplaceability of the loved one. The blessing that she was to you and to others is her legacy. The Holy Spirit comforts you with the assurance that Betty lives. The confession of truth is clear, Christians believe “in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” Betty believed in the resurrection of the body. She took refuge in the divine promises. It was these words that put her heart at peace. “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”6 This has held true for Betty, and for this we give thanks to God. Amen.

+ In nomine Jesu +

Christian Burial of Betty Margaret Jaeschke
16 July, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 John 11:25-25
2 Romans 10:9
3 Philippians 3:20-21
4 1 John 3:2
5 Revelation 21:4
6 Romans 8:38-39