Funeral of Clarence Joppich (4 December 2018)

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

Text: John 11:25
Theme: The Resurrection and the Life

Dear family, friends, and loved ones of Clarrie; Christine, Lynn, Paul, Denise, Elizabethand especially you, Melva

Words, even human words, can be powerful. They can be devastating (“I’m sorry, your cancer is terminal”), or they can be revitalizing (Congratulations, you have a healthy baby girl!”). Still, human words are a medium with limited facility. Divine words, however, have the capacity to command and create what they convey. And those are the words we are interested in at this hour. Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.”1 That’s exactly what the Saviour said to Clarrie last Tuesday. Clarrie is at peace. He has been crowned with life. Jesus also said, “My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”2 And Clarrie will be there too, at the bodily resurrection on that spectacular final day. Thanks be to God for His immeasurable love!

As we reflect on Clarrie’s call to glory its fitting that we reflect on our own mortality. To do that constructively requires considering our own status before God. Words of confession are also powerful when they correspond to truth. Only particular words will prove true. When it comes to being worthy to live in God’s presence all of us must say, “I am not,” otherwise we are arrogant, naïve, or in denial. I am not sinless. I am not faithful. I am not flawless. I am not blameless. I’m not a model husband. I’m not a perfect mother. I’m not a devoted friend. I do not, and cannot, and will not ever meet the standard of holiness necessary to impress the Almighty. That cold hard truth doesn’t leave us in a comfortable position before God. Clarrie was also one of the “am nots”. He understood. Sin is no trivial or temporary predicament.

But there was One, and One only, who is not included among the “am nots”. Jesus said, “I am.” I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”3 “I am the living bread that come down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever.”4 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”5 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”6 “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.”7

Clarrie Joppich believed those words of the Saviour. Clarrie had determination. (Some might use even stronger descriptions) Anyone who didn’t know that didn’t know him very well. He wasn’t afraid to voice his opinion. He had a passion to share God’s word, recording many worship services and other seminars and distributing them. He was a faithful attender in God’s house right up until the end. In his daily prayers Clarrie regularly offered to the Father in heaven those words given to us by the Son, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”8. God’s will has now come to fulfillment. It was not His desire that Clarrie spend another Christmas here. It was His will that Clarrie begin his eternal celebration of Easter. Like all of us, Clarrie was challenged by God’s will many times in his life. No one loses a daughter at the tender age of ten and isn’t gutted by grief.

Melva, Clarrie’s remains will be laid to rest not far from here. Undoubtedly his gravesite will become a focal point of your grieving. Legitimately so. Yet, as members of Him who is the God of the living, not of the dead9, you can be no nearer to Clarrie than when you partake of Holy Communion. In the mystery of that blessing believers share in the holy things of God unhindered by time and space. The sacrament is a meal that gives us a foretaste of eternity. It takes us to the boundary of earth and heaven. When we kneel before the altar we intrude on the easement of Christ’s kingdom. Yet, we are not trespassing, we are honoured guests, more than that, we are heirs. Clarrie was promised a baptismal inheritance. God will not disappoint him.

Dear friends, it’s often coldest right before dawn. The length of night takes its toll on the warmth of the day, draining it of its strength. Yet when the sun breaks over the horizon, the fear of night is quickly dispelled. And so, it is in our journey in this life. The shadows of our mortality lengthen, the darkness encroaches, our vitality is spent. Yet, in an instant the Son of righteousness shines upon us. The Spirit says, “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperisahble.”10 And then He who is the resurrection and the life will animate us with peace and joy beyond imagination. Our resurrected bodies won’t be unfamiliar to us, but our capacity to appreciate the Holy Trinity will be profound.

I had the privilege of speaking the Word of God to Clarrie shortly before he drew his last breath. Some might say that’s the moment of truth, the end of the journey when mortality is faced with no strength or capacity to stave it off any longer. Confession, conviction, hope, fear, mystery; all are validated or eviscerated. But it’s not necessary to collapse all the drama into that point. Yes, Satan is busy casting shadows of darkness and doubt, but God doesn’t forsake His beloved in the hour of need. “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”11 It isn’t necessary to collapse all the drama into that moment, because faithful Christians build immunity to the threats of Satan right throughout their baptismal live. It’s part and parcel with the Spirit’s work.

The Son of God shed His blood on the cross for Clarence Joppich, for you, for me, for every person. He cancelled our debt of sin. He rested a short time in the grave before rising to life. Believers need not fear closing their eyes the final time. In a moment we are in the brightness of the eternal day. Weakness is turned to strength, sorrow is turned to joy, sickness is replaced by health. Fear of what may lie beyond disappears in the experience of comfort and peace. In the presence of the Saviour we will be utterly in awe but completely at ease. In the presence of the Trinity we will be enthralled beyond description, but we will be fully relaxed. All paradoxes will be resolved, and all mysteries will be revealed. Let us rejoice that the Lord has called Clarrie home! Amen.

+ In nomine Jesu +

Christian Burial of Clarence Martin Joppich
4 December 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Luke 23:43 2 John 6:40
3 John 10:11 4 John 6:51
5 John 8:12 6 John 14:6
7 John 11:25-26 8 Matthew 6:10
9 See Mark 12:27 10 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
11 John 1:5