In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen.
Text: John 11:23
Theme: Death Defeated!
Dear family, friends, and loved ones of Sue; Jamie, Amanda, Shannon, and especially you; Robert,
The Holy Spirit addresses us today with candor. He speaks the words of Christ, and only those words matter. The purpose of a Christian funeral is not to artificially coddle the emotions of those who grieve. Nor is the aim to embellish the life and qualities of the deceased. We are realists, and with good reason. Nothing is more bittersweet than taking leave of a Christian. Grief can be punishing. Sue’s journey in this life has ended. But Sue is freed. Mortality no longer constrains her. She has been crowned with life. Thanks be to God! Joy not only tempers grief but finally triumphs over it.
The manner in which the biblical witness addresses topics of the greatest magnitude speaks to its integrity. The Holy Scriptures make a significant number of references to the practice of grieving. For the leaders of God’s people official periods of mourning often lasted for thirty or forty days. The fuller process took much longer. Nothing has changed about human nature. Coping properly with mortality requires greater capacities than human beings possess.
Dear friends, there is no human, present, practical cure for the problem of sin. The pathology of sin leads to physical and mental decline, and finally, death. Even more seriously, when left unaddressed it results in spiritual separation from God. Nothing could be more unimaginably horrific than separation from God’s goodness for eternity. The experience of death is the most vivid illustration of human vulnerability. We have no words, no actions, no magic with which to combat it. We have no weapons in our arsenal.
What’s important is knowing the One who does. God, you see, does finally give people what their hearts desire. If they desire that He have no part in their life and they carry that desire to their deathbed, then He grants their wish. The Scriptures are very clear on this. To remove Christ’s warning about taking our last breath while in a state of rejection of God’s love is to falsify the core message of Christianity. Christ redeems sinners. Apart from Him there is no salvation. The are no alternative paths, no detours, no shortcuts, no scenic by-ways, the road goes straight through His cross and empty tomb. Our piety won’t get us there. Our good works or good intentions won’t either.
Sue understood these things. Like Martha in our gospel, she knew Christ had the power of immortality. Sue had a full and active life. She was a busy wife and mother of three. She set about the task of these vocations with energy and warmth. She became one of the most knowledgeable people in the Lutheran parish during her many years working as secretary under many different pastors. In that capacity she was privy to the successes and failures, joys and sorrows of others in a way that most never see. She learned from that experience.
Life takes many turns and has not a few blind corners. Goals we plan on achieving are not always reached. Outcomes we haven’t prepared for sometimes catch us by surprise. Along the way, sorrows and joys, regrets, separations, and reunions are part of the journey. Sue experienced her share of all of these. The full extent of her hurts and her triumphs is known only to God. But only one goal finally matters in the end. Only one race needs to be finished. Only one line needs to be crossed. Only one tape needs to be broken. Sue’s confirmation verse was this: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”1
In the end then, Christians are not overcome by grief when a fellow believer dies. Faith looks forward to reunion. Temporariness and decay give way to permanence and perfection. In heaven there are no grudges; there are no regrets. There are no broken relationships. There are no addictions, no temptations, no occasions for shame or guilt. In heaven there is no claim to superiority and no sense of being inferior. There will be no violence, no fear, no disease, no frailty, no struggle.
And heaven is not some static place of boredom, drudgery, or semi-consciousness. It’s not a place of mandatory participation in the celestial choir even for those who have never liked to sing. But it is not a place we construct according to our own fancy either. It’s not a self-directed mecca of indulgence. Dear friends, to be in the unmediated presence of the Holy Trinity will command our attention with complete euphoria. Sue enjoys this already. God has prepared greater joys than we can even begin to imagine. We will not be occupied with trivial things.
Sue Kruschel was a baptized child of God. The purpose of her baptism has now come to fruition. She knew the promise of the gospel. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”2
She was one of His own, a lamb in the flock of the Good Shepherd. 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.”3
Death has been defeated. How do we know this? How can we be sure it’s true? You won’t find the answer in your intuition. You won’t locate it in myth or legend. You won’t find it in biomedical research or science. And we can’t take any comfort in the fuzzy and unfounded idea that everyone automatically “ends up in a better place”. You can only know because one Man walked out of His grave on the third day after His death. The women went to the tomb on Easter morning and He was not there. Later He appeared to more than 500 followers at one time. Jesus says, “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.”4
Robert, anguish of heart cannot be alleviated by trite slogans. There are no quick fixes. Like recovery from severe trauma, the whole of our being must suffer the process of healing. Sue cannot be replaced. She will not be. Every child of God is a unique creation. Grief can cast a long, dark shadow. But the Holy Spirit will steadily pull back that shadow like the lifting of a dark shroud as the light of more powerful forces penetrates the blackness. Deep frowns can be turned to gentle smiles, tears of sorrow to episodes of joy as we reflect on the magnitude of the blessing that was that person, that spouse, that mother, that child- God’s gift to us, on loan for a short while. In this transition the darkness of past despair begins to fade and the light of future reunion begins to command our eager anticipation.
Grief cannot prevail because death could not hold Christ in the tomb. There will be a resurrection. Were His promises untrue this entire existence would have already collapsed long ago. There will be a complete restoration of every Christian in the image of Christ. Sue will be part of it. Thanks be to God!
+ In nomine Jesu +
Christian Burial of Susanna Mary Kruschel
12 August, 2016
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Hebrews 10:23
2 John 3:16
3 Romans 10:9
4 John 11:25-26
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