Sharing in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus

Sharing in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus

Trinity 16 T Luke 7:11-17

October 2, 2022

 

INI

Several axioms attempt to bring comfort in the pain of death.

You hear them all the time –

“Death is just a part of life.”

“Grandpa Joe’s passing away is just a part of the circle of life.”

 

But is it?

Is death just a part of life?

Certainly, it seems that way from our perspective.

But our perspective is extremely limited.

 

But if that were the case, then why do people mourn at funerals?

Why would anyone weep for the dead if death is “natural”?

We don’t weep at other things that are natural –

like marriage between husband and wife,

or the birth of a child.

 

Unfortunately, saying that death is natural is intended to soften the pain of death.

But there’s little that could possibly soften the blow without lying.

The widow from the Gospel knew that well.

The only thing that could comfort her, was to have her son back.

 

The widow from Nain was in the middle of the funeral procession for her son.

As you could imagine, she was upset. Heartbroken.

Perhaps caught off guard by the death of her son.

She was in pain.

Because death isn’t just painful for the deceased as they approach it.

Death is perhaps even more painful for the living.

 

Jesus saw the widow in her pain and was compassionate to her.

Jesus entered the funeral procession,

Not to participate in it’s mourning and dirges.

He doesn’t enter the funeral procession to give false words of false comfort.

He came to raise the dead.

And he did.

He said: “young man, I say to you, arise.”

And Jesus reunited the mourning widow with her resurrected son.

 

Everything you need to know about Christian funerals can be found in this text.

Different traditions at Christian funerals attempt to mask the pain of death, in one way or another.

But it cannot be called a Christian funeral if Jesus’ own resurrection and power over death is not proclaimed.

For example, some preachers at funerals will talk about the good memories of the deceased – “Oh, Grandpa Joe was so kind. He was great with his grandkids. He’d never hurt a fly.”

 

But by talking this way about the deceased,

who are we trying to convince that they were good?

We don’t need to convince anyone in the room that they were good people.

Because that’s not really comforting anyway.

They’re just passed memories that never take away the sting of death.

 

And we don’t need to convince God of the goodness of the person.

Because no one is good but God alone.

We cannot justify our works before God in heaven,

Because we fall short of God’s glory.

To even think we can convince God of someone’s goodness is to believe in the religion of the Law, not in the religion of the Gospel.

 

So, what is there to do in the face of death?

I think the widow had it right – she cried. She was heartbroken, sad, and in pain.

Because death is our enemy.

 

Christians don’t have funerals to celebrate life.

Such celebrations of life tend to ignore the tragedy of death that just happened!

Death is often excused because well, “it’s all a part of life.”

 

But says who?

Certainly not the creator of life.

When the God of the universe created mankind,

He saw all he created and called it good.

God didn’t create death, because death isn’t good!

It’s a curse.

Due to sinful rebellion, all mankind shares this curse.

 

So, is celebration the proper response at funerals?

I don’t think so.

Because something terrible has happened.

Death isn’t natural.

We inherently know something is amiss.

 

Then what is the proper response?

Like the widow, we start with mourning.

We don’t mask the pain by offering platitudes about the deceased.

We first confess that death is real. It hurts.

That death is caused by our sins.

For we’ve sinned against God in though, word, and deed, by what we have done,

And by what we have left undone.

 

But then, we must confess that we, the living ones, are dying too.

And that unless Christ returns, we will all suffer physical death too.

At that time, we will all face judgment before God.

We will be judged as righteous, or as unrighteous.

We will either enter heaven and live eternally,

Or we will enter hell and endure everlasting punishment.

 

The Christian funeral must lead to this moment of judgment,

and comfort all with this:

The only way we can face this judgment and live,

is if Jesus has already faced it on our behalf.

 

Jesus entered this widow’s sons’ funeral procession,

to give life to the dead.

By this miracle, Jesus shows Himself as having power over death!

This is confirmed in Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead!

God entered death.

But of course, Jesus Himself is righteous.

So at that time of judgment upon Jesus’ death,

the Father couldn’t judge His son as unrighteous.

Because He is the spotless Lamb of God,

Even though He died, He was without sin.

Righteous and having salvation was He!

He didn’t deserve death!

Yet through his bloody death,

He won victory over death for the world!

 

Since Jesus unjustly died, He was raised back to life,

Showing that He indeed has power over death.

This is THE comforting doctrine of Christianity at funerals –

Not the good works and good memories we have about the dead,

But that Christ has power over death.

 

And he’s given to His people this power over death in baptism.

In the funeral liturgy,

the first thing the congregation recites together is Romans 6:3-4,

which says “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

 

Baptism connects us to Jesus’ own resurrection.

St. Paul continues, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

 

This is the hope and comfort that Jesus gives to those who mourn at funerals,

Just like He gave hope and comfort to the widow at Nain.

He has power over death.

And connected to Christ, you do not face judgment on your own.

You have the only begotten Son who was judged righteous.

 

And so, at funerals, we acknowledge that death has won the battle.

And that hurts.

But we also confess that death has lost the war.

We confess with St. Paul in Corinthians 15 – “O death where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?”

For in this confession,

we confess that Jesus entered the sting of death on our behalf,

to remove the sting of death from us!

 

God gives the promise of resurrection and new life–

Jesus says “I am the resurrection and the life.

Whoever believes in Me, though He dies, yet shall he live.”

We are included in the resurrection of Jesus by the faith we have which clings to His promise.

 

But that’s hard to keep in the forefront of our minds,

Because the promise of the resurrection has not been fully revealed yet.

Certainly, we have spiritual rebirth and new life by our baptismal faith –

This morning we just witnessed the spiritual death and resurrection that God performed on Jaxson.

He now has the promise of the resurrection!

But the resurrection of our flesh isn’t yet complete.

But don’t let your experiences betray you.

Christ’s resurrection is real. Your resurrection is real. And it is coming.

 

At funerals,

we commit our loved ones who have died in the faith to the ground,

With the expectation that we will see them again.

Not just as disembodied spirits in heaven,

But we will see these bodies we commit to the cemetery ground,

With a renewed and lively body, ready to enter the new earth.

 

The one thing meaningful and useful to speak about at funerals is Christ –

His victory and His power over death.

Anything else is a false comfort and promise that still leaves the dead, dead.

But there is true, eternal comfort in holding the resurrected Christ before our eyes.

Although we mourn those who’ve departed from this life,

we wait for that day when Jesus says to us, and to all in the household of faith –

“I say to you, Arise.”

 

INI