Faith in the Face of Death and Dying
Pastor Mathew Magera – 11/5/17 – Sermon 251
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
We hear a lot about All
Saints Day but we don't do very much with All Souls Day. In fact, you won't
find All Souls Day in our Lutheran Calendar in our LBW. Not to be confused with
All Saints Day on November 1st, All Souls Day, November 2nd,
came about back in the Middle Ages and it was connected with the idea of
Purgatory. People would gather for a special mass, offering prayers on behalf
of loved ones who had died that they might be released from Purgatory and
allowed into heaven. But, during the time of the Reformation, when the belief
in indulgences and Purgatory were abolished, All Souls Day fell into the abyss along
with them but All Saints remained.
In most modern Lutheran
Churches, ours included, we have absorbed the function of All Souls Day into
our All Saints worship by providing an opportunity to remember the faithful
departed and light candles in remembrance of their lives in Christ. We must not
forget or let this overshadow the true meaning of All Saints Day as a day to
remember the heroes of the faith, those in whom we get our best examples of
living a faithful life like Abraham, Moses, Elijah and others. Just read
Hebrews 11 to get a few examples. By fusing these two days together, we have opportunity
to remember those whom we love who have died in the Lord but when those
feelings of sadness well up within us, we have yet another opportunity to
remember and celebrate those saints of the Bible and throughout history that
have imitated Christ for us. They are the fingers that point to Christ, much
like Jesus pointing Peter to the Father in the mural above the altar. The
saints are the fingers that point us to Jesus and this is important to us
because, like it or not, we come to worship on All Saints Day, each of us
knowing someone we love who has died this past year and the questions begin to
flood our minds once again. Where is my loved one right now? Is my loved one in
heaven? Someone is on your mind right now and you know you have thought about
this. Maybe they made bad choices during their life, maybe choices God didn't
approve of. Maybe you just aren't sure and you are questioning your own faith
in God. How do you know where they are? These are real questions. They are
powerful questions. They are debilitating questions.
These questions will not get
us anywhere. They will take us down a rabbit hole that we do not want to go
down. When we get into a downward spiral like this, it is time to ask a
different question. The question we need to ask is not, “where are they and how
do I know?” Instead, we should be asking, “Who does God call and how do I know?”
Who does God call to himself? Who does God set free? Who does God choose?
Fortunately, for this day,
we have a fantastic answer to this question in the beatitudes of Jesus' Sermon
on the Mount in Matthew 5. In these few verses, Jesus gives us a glimpse into
judgment day, a glimpse of those he has come to save. Nine times does Jesus
offer a blessing, nine times does Jesus show us who is being called. Nine times
does Jesus reassure us in our faith about our loved ones and ourselves. These
blessings can be divided in a number of ways, but today, I want to divide them
into three categories. Three categories into which Jesus shows who God has
called into his care.
Jesus Calls
Those Who Lack
The first four can be
grouped together. In these we are shown that Jesus calls those who lack. He calls
the ones who are without hope, those who are without God, those who are lacking
in some way.
First he says, "Blessed
are the poor in spirit." These people aren't virtuous by any means. They
are not the ones that grab life by the horns and conquer it. They have no hope.
But, what do they get? They get the kingdom. Jesus sees their lack and he not
only fills it back up with hope but he goes above and beyond and gives them the
kingdom itself. They have lost everything but Jesus gives them more than they
lost.
Jesus says, "Blessed
are those who mourn." There is no shortage of mourning in our world today.
Violence, death, disease, loss. We mourn. Yet, in the places where mourning
takes from us, where mourning takes our joy, Jesus comforts us. When we grieve,
our sure way out of grief is to be driven by faith. Grief must yield to faith
and when it does, we see there is the comfort of Jesus. Jesus provides what is
missing and then some.
Jesus says, "Blessed
are the meek." Those who think little of themselves. The one who is
standing in the corner while everyone else is competing. The ones who think
they are guilty of something even when they are not. The ones who are so stuck
in guilt they can't even move. Only Jesus would reach out to someone like this.
And he does. The ones who don't have the initiative to take anything much less
participate. This is the one Jesus calls and look what they get. The get the
whole earth. The ones that lack so much are receiving the world. The ones that lack
value and self-worth are getting the worth of the world. To the one who says
I'm not worth it, Jesus says yes you are.
Jesus says, "Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." Jesus calls those who
are looking for something more, those who lack it, those who feel hungry for
something. Jesus looks at the ones who are looking at themselves, who are
looking at their lives and see nothing but oceans of sin. All the way through
the expanse and to the horizon is nothing but failure. They are hungry for more
and they are blessed. They are blessed because even when they look at
themselves and see that ocean of sin, when they look at Jesus, they see nothing
but blessing. Nothing but grace. He pours it out, blessings running rampant all
over the place. They are satisfied.
So, in these first four
beatitudes, Jesus calls out to those who lack, those who do not have, and he
blesses them with more than they could ever imagine, he blesses them with
quality and quantity of blessings. Maybe one of these describes you. Maybe it
describes someone you know. If it does, remember that Jesus calls those who are
lacking and he fills them to the point where they overflow.
Jesus Calls
Those Who Are Excessive
In these next three of Jesus’
beatitudes Jesus is going to offer blessing to those who are excessive. Jesus
is going to offer blessing to those who have gotten carried away with that
Gospel message. Those who are so confident in the power of the Gospel that they
see nothing but good even though they live in a world in which evil surrounds
them on multiple levels. In all of this, Jesus blesses the excessive.
First off, Jesus says,
"Blessed are the merciful." This isn't normal for us. This is a
foreign language for our world. In our world, the blessed are the ones who get
even. In our world, the blessed are the ones who meditate on their neighbor's
shortcomings. It is certainly not the merciful who get blessed. In our everyday
world, when we live for retaliation at any level, it takes over who we are and
we become nothing but that. So, Jesus turns it around on us and he blesses
those who are already doing the right thing. Jesus says blessed are those who
are not obsessed with their neighbor's lack but rather obsessed with the
goodness of God. They show mercy. They overflow with it. Even in the face of
someone doing something less than intelligent, they abound in mercy. So, their
reward, rightly so, is that they are shown mercy.
Jesus says, "Blessed
are the pure in heart." This is almost natural. The ones who spend the day
not worried about what other people are doing. They are the ones who are called
by Jesus, gathered by him and blessed. They are already doing the right thing.
They shall see God, Jesus says, because, well, they are already taking that
upon themselves.
Lastly, Jesus says,
"Blessed are the peacemakers." These are the optimists. The ones who
always have a vision of peace in the world. They are convinced there is a way
and they will work their butts off to get it. They are convinced that Jesus
wills peace for the world. They live in faith. They live for faith and they
will endure all the world throws at them but they will go to bed with their
head still held high. Jesus promises them to be called children of God. Why is
that? Because that is what they look like from the perspective of another. If
you knew or know someone who embodies this, wouldn't you say they look like
Christ? The peacemakers are blessed and they will be called children of God.
In all three of these, Jesus
blesses those who are already doing the work of the Gospel and he gives them
even more. Perhaps one of these describe you or someone you know. For either
one, Jesus still continues to bless those who do the good work of the Gospel.
Jesus Calls
Those Who Are Persecuted
Now, we have two final
blessings for those who are persecuted. The truth in the matter of our faith is
that we serve a crucified Lord. When we read of his life in the Gospels, there
is evidence of the crucified Lord from beginning to end. There are signs of suffering
from birth to death. Jesus is counter-cultural, he's off-putting, he's
offensive, he's garbage, he's rejected and he's put away. That's who he is.
Yet, he is also the resurrection and the life. These truths are all over his
story too. He rose again. He didn't stay in hell. He rose again. While we find
suffering in his life, we also find life in the words he brings us.
So, Jesus says,
"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness."
These receive blessing in that God is protecting them. They'll get the promise.
They certainly don't experience the promise in how they are treated but that
promise is coming for them and when it comes they'll know it. We are servants
of a God who bore a cross and as his servants we also bear crosses. We
certainly don't have to go looking for that cross either. It finds us. If it
hasn't found you yet, don't worry, it will. We serve a suffering servant and we
will suffer because of him. Yet, the promise is still there. As Jesus says,
those who are persecuted will receive that kingdom. That promise is coming.
Then finally, in Jesus'
blessings comes this. Jesus says, "Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of
me." We can find this all over. We don't seek it out. It's not a joyride
to go out and looking for someone to insult us. We certainly don't want it but
it finds us. If we hang with Jesus, we get identified in such a way. But, the
good news is that we will go down with the sign of the cross marking us as none
other than Christ’s. Resurrection is coming. We will go down to the grave with
the sign of the cross on our forehead so that when we are awakened at the time
of the resurrection it will be Jesus who wakes us up. Jesus says, "Rejoice
and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven."
Jesus blesses those who are
persecuted because of him. Jesus calls to him those who are persecuted for his
name's sake. Jesus gathers those who suffer for him. Maybe you suffer because
of him, or somebody you know does. The promise for these is that Jesus will
never let them down.
* * *
Bring us back to All Saints
Day. When we have those questions on our mind of our loved ones and where they
are and how we might know. When we are worried about their past. When we are
worried about our own faith after they are gone, these nine offerings from
Jesus in the beatitudes remind us who God calls his own. They remind us of God's
promise of salvation for those who are lacking, for those who are excessive,
and for those who suffer for Jesus. I don't think there is any question on the
number of different people in different situations Jesus calls to himself.
Still, within that list is each one of us. Maybe not in one category, maybe in
multiple categories or in changing categories, but we are there. So, also, are
those who have died in the Lord. They are there too. They have not been left
out or forgotten.
This promise is what we need
to remember when we have those questions because this promise is what we can
rely on when we are spiraling out of control because God does not go back on
his promises. God does not neglect those who are lacking, those who are
excessive, and those who suffer for Jesus. We cannot underestimate the power of
God's grace. In the face of death and dying, we cannot lose sight of the
promise that God gives to those who he wraps into his arms at their last breath
and we cannot lose sight of the promise that God gives to us who go on to live
another day. Rely on the Lord, rely on Christ who died so that we may live.
Look to the heroes of the faith who point to Christ and point to Christ
yourself that you might be a reflection of this promise for others. To God be
the glory, now and always. Amen.