A Joyful Funeral - Sermon for the 16th Sunday after Trinity

Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
October 2^nd, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
A Joyful Funeral

   That started out really awkward.  I was more than willing, honored really, to serve as a pallbearer for Gene’s funeral.  Sure, I’d be ritually unclean for a while, and I would need to go through the purification ritual.  But that’s o.k., the work had to be done.  Besides, Gene’s mom, the Widow of Nain, has always been kind to me.  And Gene was a good friend.  And Gene was the Widow’s only son.  First she lost her husband, now her son.  She was all alone in the world.  Really sad.  It was not fun, but it seemed good and right to serve as a pallbearer, to show respect for the Widow, and for Gene. 

   So when Jesus walked up, noisy crowd in tow, I was really ticked.  Have a little respect, right?  Who does that?  Wandering preachers are popular, and Jesus more than most.  In the moment, I certainly thought He was out of line, inserting Himself into our procession to the graveyard.  And who tells a grieving mother not to weep?  Since I was carrying the bier, the casket holding Gene’s body, I couldn’t do much about this rude intrusion, except glower at Jesus.  But I wanted to do more.  And then…  

   What started out awkward and infuriating turned strange and joyful really quickly.  What was strange?  Well, beyond His unheard-of interruption of the funeral procession and His seemingly cruel word to the Widow, “Don’t cry,” the Nazarene preacher reached out and touched the casket.  By this touch He joined Himself to the ritual uncleanness of all of us who had handled Gene’s body.  I wouldn’t think that a traveling preacher with healing power in His hands would want to do that.  But He did.  And then of course He preached at Gene.  He commanded my dead friend: “Young man, I say to you, ‘Arise.’”  And Gene did.  I can tell you, I’ve never been so startled, so unnerved, as when the dead body in the casket I was carrying sat up and began to speak. 

    And Gene’s words, what he said?  Well, that was…

 

   We don’t know what the only son of the Widow of Nain said.  Luke doesn’t record his words.  They weren’t essential to what the Evangelist needed to communicate to us.  I’d love to know what he said.   I’ve often wondered if at least in part he complained:  “Why’d you bring me back, Jesus?”  One moment, soul at rest in Abraham’s bosom, set free from the troubles of earthly life, and the next moment, thrust back into this life.  Certainly this was all joy for the Widow.  But for the son?  Was there at least a little regret? 

   I think it’s safe to say your faith and confidence in your place in God’s family would be strengthened by the experience of Jesus’ bringing you back to life.  Exclamations about the power and mercy of Jesus of Nazareth seem likely to have been part of this young man’s words.  But we don’t know for certain.  The Holy Spirit guiding St. Luke did not see fit to share this information with us. 

   We don’t know what the Widow’s son said at his funeral.  But you can make some choices about what you are going to proclaim at your funeral.  And this is a wonderful thing to do.  Now, I’m not predicting that the Lord will bring you back to life during your funeral, on the way to the cemetery, so you can proclaim His praises.  But your funeral is a last public opportunity for you to confess your faith, for you to join your voice to the chorus of Christian witnesses who, down through the centuries, have proclaimed that death is not the end of human existence.  Indeed, by your faith connection to Jesus Christ, God the Father’s only Son, you have a calling to proclaim a strange and wonderful message, even on your final procession out of this veil of tears.  To help you with this joyful task, after the service today you can pick up one of these packets, a funeral planning guide, to help you make choices that will support the proclamation of God’s Good News at the time of your funeral. 

   The Widow of Nain undoubtedly experienced great joy when she received her only son back, alive again.  But her joy pales in comparison with the joy of the whole Church.  For the body of believers, despite the power and seeming finality of death, has received back the Resurrected Son of God.  Jesus is alive, and He’s with His Church.  He is back from the dead, and is ready to share His victory with all of us dying sinners.  And so we Christians deal with death differently than the world. 

   This is the great irony of a Christian funeral.  We still suffer sadness, tears and struggles.  When death draws near to us, doubts try to creep in.  Satan tries to hurl turmoil and accusations at you and your family.  Despite all this, a Christian funeral is a victory celebration.  A good, faithful Christian burial boldly defies all that our eyes can see, proclaiming the victory that the followers of Jesus have been given, through the powerful Word of Christ. 

   We don’t ignore sadness.  Christ wept.  Jesus felt sadness and compassion when He saw the pain that separation from loved ones causes.  God has understood and been dealing with the terrible problem of human death since it began.  So Christians also feel and face the ugly realities of death.  But we can face this reality differently, because Jesus has already faced the reality of death, head-on, in our place.  For the reality of death is that sinners die, and there’s nothing we can do about it. 

   We can live respectable and healthy lives.   We can be good neighbors, and we can take advantage of modern medicine.  We can even try to hide our aging with plastic surgery, and move all signs of death off into nursing homes and hospitals.  But sin and death are two realities we can’t change.   We can try to hide it, but we are sinners, unable to stop sinning by our own power.  And we are headed toward death, because sin leads to death, the end of our physical life, the separation of our spirit from our body.     

   Sin leads to the first death, physical death.  But Jesus by His sinless death saves us from the second death, the far worse death: the eternal separation from the Source of Life, eternal condemnation and expulsion from God’s presence.  As bad as earthly death seems, this second, eternal death is our far greater problem.  But Jesus has solved both problems.  God the Father’s only Son, the eternal Good Son, has much in common with the Widow of Nain’s son, only much more so.  Jesus is the Only Son of God, the Son of hope and promise, who was taken from this life, too soon, unjustly, causing great sadness.  But on the Third Day, Jesus rose from the dead.  And, while we do not know what the Widow of Nain’s son spoke after he was raised from the dead, we do know what the Risen Jesus has to say. 

   Jesus says, “Peace be with you, your sins are forgiven.”  “Do not fear, I am with you always.”  “Death and sin, those implacable enemies, no longer have power over Me,” declares Jesus, “and so I am here to join myself to you, to share my victory and my new life, with you.”  “All who believe and are baptized will be saved, I promise.” “Do not fear death, do not fear your sins.  I have nailed them to my Cross and buried them in my Tomb.”  “You have died and risen with Me.”  “I have washed you clean, and I am happy to cleanse you again and again, as many times as you need, forgiving you all your sins daily.” 

   This victory message, the victory of Christ Jesus for sinners, is the message of a Christian funeral.  It can be proclaimed in a million different ways.  In some funerals, it is natural and easy to point to the ongoing work of Christ in the life of the dearly departed.  But in every case, whether the Christian walk of the deceased was a marvel, or whether it was pretty messy, we point to and focus on the work of Christ.  For in Him alone is a Christian marvelous.  In Christ alone are all our messes cleaned up and straightened out. 

    I will share this funeral planning guide with you, and I encourage you to prayerfully fill it out.  And maintain it, as the Lord grants you more years on earth.  Who knows, next year you may learn a new favorite hymn. 

   Some of the details are very mundane, like cemetery plot numbers or funeral meal preferences.  But handling these details clearly and ahead of time is a real gift to your family and friends.  Some of the details are theological, like Scripture and hymn choices, and I stand ready to help you arrange them in a faithful way.  But all the details are sanctified by the Work and Word of Jesus.  The goal of your funeral is to comfort the believers with the victory of Jesus, and also to reach out to any unbelievers present, with that same Good News, which is for you, and your loved ones, and for all. 

   One last thing.  As we plan a good Christ-proclaiming funeral for our last witness on this earth, it might begin to inform our daily lives, shaping our choices, and giving us words to say today, while we are still alive in this world.  Such words, the faithful confession of Christians in their daily lives, are used by the Holy Spirit to draw sinners to Jesus.  So we see that the joy of a Christian funeral is also the joy of Christian living.  And you are free to enjoy, and to share that joy, today, and every daya. 

   May God grant us all to know and share the joyous victory of Jesus, for us, Amen.