Sunday, March 2, 2014

Lift Up Your Eyes! A Funeral Sermong for J.A.



Psalm 121 The text for our meditation on God’s Holy Word is the psalm chosen for this day that we read responsively earlier in our service.  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ and especially you, Bernice and J.A.’s family, I bring you grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.
            Over the course of our lives there is much that weighs heavy upon us, much that fills our eyes with tears, much that casts our vision to the ground.  The diagnosis of a terrible disease.  The pain and indignity of a body that begins to fail.  The specter of our own death.  The loss of those we love. 
All of these and more are part and parcel of living in this broken world—all of these and more are a sad reminder that as much as we love our earthly life- as much as God blesses us in our earthly life, we are still a pilgrim people journeying—and sometimes trudging along-- to our true and lasting home. 
That is why we need the reminder that we have today in God’s Word:  I lift up my eyes to the hills.  From where does my help come?  My help comes from the LORD!  My help comes from the LORD!
J.A. believed that!  He knew that God was his helper—beginning with salvation Jesus won for him on the cross-- and extending to every part of his life.  He built his life upon it.
These words of Psalm 121 were special to J.A.  He wanted them heard by those who gathered here today to mourn his passing so that we too would know and believe that we have in the LORD a God who loves us and watches over us and helps us in all our need. 
The 121st Psalm was J.A. and Bernice’s wedding text.  Pastor Kaestner chose these words wisely.  He knew that there would be many blessings in their life’s journey—and there have been:  the blessing of children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren—the blessings of adventures shared in a wonderful marriage—the blessings of a life lived in service to the church. 
But Pastor Kaestner also knew that there would be times when the hardships and sorrows and the pain of life in a broken world would weigh them down and make it difficult to put one foot in front of the other and fill their eyes with tears:  when they lost their grandson—when they heard the word “cancer”—when they learned that there was no longer any medical hope. 
In choosing this psalm for their wedding Pastor Kaestner wanted them to know that no matter what trouble they faced, no matter how difficult the journey, they had a helper in the LORD.  The LORD would watch over them—the LORD would sustain them—the LORD would keep them from all evil. 
So it is today!  Tears fill our eyes.  Our gaze is directed downward in sorrow.  Our shoulders sag under the burden of our loss, but this invitation from the LORD is heard once again:  Lift up your eyes to the Lord!  Your help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth!  Lift up your eyes to the LORD!
As we accept that gracious invitation to fix our eyes on the Lord we will find:  a ready help in our time of need, strength to meet the days ahead, and comfort in our sorrow.  The psalmist writes:  I lift up my eyes to the hills.  From where does my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 
If you look at this psalm in an English bible you will see a heading calling this a “song of ascents.”  Pilgrims who were traveling up to the temple in Jerusalem would sing this song that God gave them to encourage one another on their journey.
That pilgrimage was up-hill all the way. It was hot and dusty.  The road was rocky and treacherous. Evil men preyed upon the travelers.  But onward and upward they traveled because they kept their eyes of faith fixed on the LORD.  They knew that no hardship they endured and no enemy they faced would be greater or more powerful than the God who was their -- and that gave them to the strength to go on despite the difficulties of the journey.
J.A. knew and believed the same—that the LORD, the God who made the heavens and the earth was his helper throughout his earthly pilgrimage. 
From the very beginning of his life that was true.  Just a few days after his parents Carl and Lydia welcomed a baby boy into their family, God welcomed J.A. into his family.  He was brought to the waters of Holy Baptism at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Vernon, Texas.  Pastor Birnbaum poured water on his little head in the name of the Triune God and in those moments the saving benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection became his own and the LORD who made the heaven and the earth became his heavenly Father.
Throughout J.A.’s life his heavenly Father blessed him.  He blessed him with a godly family who loved him and raised him in the church.  He blessed him with a strong body and mind that allowed him to excel in school and in his work.  He blessed him with a faithful Christian wife and family he loved.  He blessed him with opportunities to serve others. 
The words of the Bible given to him as his confirmation text were proved true in his life again and again.  God promised him: 
“The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.”  These words were prophetic of J.A.’s life. 
That day he was confirmed, J.A. promised God that he would suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from his church and his confession of faith.  That is an enormous promise to make for a thirteen year old boy to make but he was able to keep that promise because he had in the LORD a God who would help him remain faithful every step of the way.  The psalmist writes:
The LORD will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.  Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.  The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.  The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 
            Jesus once said that gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. But the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.  J.A. knew that the way that leads to eternal life is Jesus. 
Throughout his life J.A. believed what Jesus told his disciples, the Jesus was the way and the truth and the life and that no one could come to God except by him.  The LORD graciously kept J.A.’s eyes fixed on Jesus and his feet on that narrow way that has led to the eternal life he is enjoying right now in the Lord’s presence.
            By God’s gracious help, J.A. was a faithful child of God for his entire life.  Each Lord’s Day he was present in worship—hearing God’s Word, studying God’s Word, and receiving God’s gracious forgiveness in Holy Absolution and Holy Communion. 
His Christian faith was lived out in service to the Lord and his church.  He served our congregation in virtually every office we have.  He served the church at large as a member of the board of directors of our district and in the Lutheran Laymen’s League. 
According to God’s own promise, the LORD did not let J.A.’s foot be moved from the way that leads to eternal life even as his own earthly life began to draw to a close.  The psalmist writes:
The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.  The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
            When we think about the last several years and months and weeks of J.A.’s life it may be hard to see how the LORD kept him from all evil.  Sickness, and frailty, and death are indeed part of a world that is broken by sin.  But for those who love Jesus, for those who are called according to his purpose, for J.A.—all things must work for our good.  And not just the pleasant and easy things—all things work for our good—even tribulation and distress. 
            None of us are immune to the judgment of God that the wages of sin is death.  But that is not the last word about us.  There is more.  The wages of sin is death-- but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Eternal life won for us all by his death on the cross and glorious resurrection.
Jesus is the one who keeps us from all the evil that can destroy us eternally.  He is the one who keeps our life safe and secure in his almighty, nail-scared hands.  He is the one who watches over us from the beginning of our life until the end.
Even in the very difficult last weeks and days and hours of J.A.’s life we saw how true this was.  He continued to hear God’s Word and receive Holy Communion and confess his faith in Jesus.  The last moments of his life were filled with the prayers and songs of his Christian family and at the moment of his passing he lifted up his eyes to the glory that awaited him in the presence of the LORD who had been his helper all his life. 
The LORD most certainly kept him from all evil when he delivered him safely from this valley of death, wiped every tear from his eyes, and brought him into the eternal home Jesus had prepared for him. 
J.A.’s earthly pilgrimage is over.  The dangers and hardships of that journey are no longer a burden for him.  He kept his eyes on the LORD who created the heavens and the earth.  He depended on his help.  And his going out-- was a coming home.  May God grant that to us all!
Lift up your eyes to the Lord!  Your help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth!  Lift up your eyes to the LORD!  Amen!

And now may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.

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