Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
June 27^th, Year of Our + Lord 2021
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, SD
Into Death, for Life

   The newly ordained pastor, a whopping seven days into his ministry, had survived his first Sunday sermon and service.  No lightning bolts had torn through the sanctuary, and the congregation, relieved to have a new pastor after more than two years of vacancy, weren’t in a mood to pick nits about the new guy’s preaching and liturgy.  The pastor felt glad, and a bit relieved, as he greeted the members at the back of the nave.  And then Florence came up. 

    “Good morning, Pastor,” she said, introducing herself.  Over the top of his “very pleased to meet you” handshake, Florence continued: “My husband is in the hospice wing at the nursing home.  Can you please come see him?”   And so the Good Shepherd Jesus ensured that his new undershepherd would be exactly where the Lord wanted him to be, in the midst of death.  Instead of a leisurely dinner with his family and a nap, the pastor ate quickly, and headed to the nursing home to meet Florence’s husband, and bring him the Gospel, as his life drew to a close. 

    Death is wrong.  It is an affront to God’s good plan for His Creation.  This is one reason why the feeble attempts made by some Christian theologians to synthesize the Creator God of the Bible and the evolutionary theory of Darwin always fall flat.  In Darwin’s vision, death is a helpful friend, difficult for the individual organism, to be sure, but ultimately necessary and even good for the advancement of the various species.  For Darwin, the death of the weak makes the species stronger, somehow. 

     In God’s vision, death is the tragic consequence of our rebellion against the Source of Life, rebellion against Him, the LORD God Almighty.  In God’s vision, death, the consequence of human sin, must be resisted, and eventually reversed.  Trying to straddle the fence between Biblical Christianity and materialistic evolution will eventually result in you getting torn in two.  Theistic evolution is the name given to this foolish attempt to blend Darwin and the Bible.  Theistic evolution and the Gospel of Christ are essentially and radically opposed, because death is the enemy of the life God gives. 

    Death is an enemy, rightly feared by sinners.  The driving motivation of human life, from the baby’s first cry, is to live, to avoid death as long as possible.  And so it is a surprise to consider how this man Jesus runs to death.  He has come to defeat death, and not from afar, but rather up close and personal.  Normal people try to avoid death.  But Jesus again and again gets up close and personal with death and its prequels, like sickness, injury, birth defects, debauched living and demon possession.  We avoid, and teach our children to avoid, things that threaten their well-being.  But Jesus seeks them out, again and again.  

   “What’s that you say, there are dozens and dozens of sick people, trying to get in the house?  Bring ‘em in, even through the roof if you want.  Wow, there’s a demon-possessed man living out amongst the tombs, continually injuring himself and frightening the townspeople?  Let’s go talk to him.  Oh, there’s a prostitute who wants to see me while I’m attending this fancy dinner?  Please, have her come in and wash my f eet with her tears.”     

    Again today we see Jesus, rushing towards death.  Jairus, a bigwig at the local synagogue, was taking a risk, going to Jesus for help.  But a dying child makes for desperate parents. Jairus seeks out Jesus, falls at His feet and begs Him to come and save his daughter.  “Let’s go, says Jesus, that’s what I’m here for.”  On the way, another daughter of Israel approaches the Lord of life, trusting that if she could only touch the hem of his garment, she would be healed, her 12 years of suffering and loss and shame would be washed away in an instant, by the power of this Nazarene.  She wants to do it secretly, without attracting attention to herself, and that’s understandable. 

But Jesus will have none of that.  Even though Jesus is trying to keep His most spectacular miracles under wraps, her faith is too good not to celebrate.  “I felt that! cried out Jesus, who touched me? I need to bless the one whose faith made them so bold.”  And so He does, and so this woman goes away doubly blessed, with physical healing, and a personal benediction upon her faith from the very mouth of God. 

   Having dealt with one sign of death, Jesus continues on His pilgrimage to the bedside of the little girl, the daughter of Jairus.  But wait, death has arrived.  There’s no undoing that, so, no need to bother the Teacher any further.  Have you seen enough death in your life to imagine how Jairus felt, his heart crushed, his hope destroyed?  “Do not fear,” says Jesus, “just believe.”  How did that sound to Jairus?  Maybe like a cruel promise, setting him up for another fall?  Or was he bold to cling to Jesus’ words?  Hard to say.  But whether his daughter was living or dead, Jairus had to return home, he had to bear the yoke that had been placed upon him.  Besides, Jesus has taken over, he is leading the way now. 

   So Jairus continued on, with Jesus, into the valley of the shadow of death.  And there, in a cold room where all hope had died, the great faithfulness of the Lord was revealed. 

Flowing down from the hills of heaven, help came from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.  Jairus and his wife, heads helplessly bent down, lift up their eyes to see the steadfast love of the Lord revealed in the resurrection of their 12-year-old daughter.  

And so two daughters of Israel are rescued from death and dying.  One, at the cusp of womanhood, is returned to her parents, and to her life as young woman.  Another had been suffering for the entire 12 years of the little girl’s life, suffering from a disease which, among other curses, prevented her from bearing children.  But now she is healed.  All because Jesus runs into the midst of death, in order to give life. 

    Jesus runs into the midst of death, in order to give life.  Believe it.  That is the sum and total of Jesus’ ministry: The Lord, the fount and source of life, running into the midst of death, in order to give life to dying people.  Jesus did not prevent or reverse every physical death that threatened the people around him during His earthly ministry.  He healed and saved many, but not all, not physically.  Because that would have been an insufficient victory.  No, as wonderful as this earthly life can be, Jesus wants more for you.  He wants to give you and everyone an eternal life, spiritual and physical, with Himself, in His Father’s glory.  And so, at a certain point, Jesus stopped doing healing miracles, and instead performed His Dying Miracle of Forgiveness.  You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.  Well, we can say the same thing another way: You know the grace of Jesus, who, though he was the source of all Life, yet for your sake he became dead, so that you by his death might become truly alive. 

   As with the Christ, so also is patterned the life of Christians.  We who have been baptized into Jesus, but not yet called home, are in this world.  We are not of the world, and so we seek to avoid the many ways that people in our world continue their rebellion against God, sinning and being sinned against, choosing again and again things that draw one closer to death.  We are in this dying world, and yet we are not, for our true life is hidden with God in Christ.  Trusting in the great faithfulness of the Lord, we can enter into the midst of death, without fear.  We can sit down with a notorious sinner and seek to serve them, and to tell them about Jesus and His life-giving death.  We can do this, because we are sinners who know God’s forgiveness.  And by faith in Jesus, we are already residents of glory, simply waiting our call home. 

   Florence’s husband was named Marvin.  She had not exaggerated to her new pastor; Marvin was near the end.  One month after his first sermon as a pastor, he preached Marvin’s funeral.  Which was pretty easy, because it was a beautiful death. 

   There were only a few visits when Marvin was awake and communicative enough to meet and listen to his new minister.  Just one more Lord’s Supper.  Then there were regular visits with the family gathered around Marvin’s bed.  One afternoon, the new pastor entered a full room; Marvin’s breath was coming very raggedly.  A bit of liturgy, a reading, a few words, and then Pastor said: let us pray together the prayer our Lord has taught us.  Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come, ... There was a little pop, and Marvin stopped breathing.  As his family around him was praying for the coming of the kingdom of God, Marvin was welcomed into the nearer presence of His Savior.  There were a few seconds of silence, a bit of crying.  And then with one voice they continued, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven...

   Death is our enemy.  The gift of life the Lord has given us is ours to protect and enjoy and use for the benefit of others for as long as He allows us.  Death is our enemy, but it is a defeated enemy.  We can run into the midst of death, we can go to those who suffer from disease, we can meet with and speak about Jesus to those whose own sinful choices are destroying their lives.  We can do these things, not because we are so strong or holy or brave.  No, we can face death and its precursors, because Jesus has already faced them for us, and because He goes with every believer, every day, ready to do all the heavy lifting.       

   Seeing Jesus run into the midst of death, we discover the truth, that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is His faithfulness. It is good for us that the Man Jesus bore the yoke in his youth.  He sat alone in silence as our burden was laid upon him; He put his mouth in the dust, so that we may have hope; He gave His cheek to the one who strikes, and was filled with insults.   But the Lord did not cast him off forever.  Jesus suffered grief, in order to have compassion on us, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.  Jesus ran into the midst of death, so that you could have life.  Glory be to Jesus, Amen.