It’s easy for us to grieve like those who have no hope, especially for those of you who loved Gene and knew him well. It’s normal for us fallen beings to place our trust in what we see and feel. For that’s what experience teaches us to believe is real, even if it’s not. And so we are naturally inclined to walk by sight–what we feel and see–and not by faith as God tells us to do.
And what do we see today? Today, we see an urn holding a man whom we love, his body reduced to ashes, lifeless before us. And so we are sad. Gene’s death has caused us to ache within and lose our bearings in this world. We feel helpless and hopeless. And we think that’s real. For what could be a more-stark reality than a person who is no more, who is but dust and ashes? Who can deny that?
Yet even more, we have another feeling stirring restlessly, deep within us. It’s a feeling so deep that it predates the lives of all who are here this day. And yet this feeling still clamors within us, a remaining echo from a time long past. It is a gut instinct that rebels and says that dying is not natural. It is a primordial cry that death should never be.
This ancient outcry against death hails back to a day when death did not exist. That’s because death is not natural. Death does not complete some cycle as if we were but leaves on a tree. God never created us to die.
We die because of the chaos unleashed by our first parents at the dawn of time. We die because of our sinful lusting to make ourselves a god in the place of the real God. And since then, death has been the resulting reality and chaos, leaving no one unscathed or untouched.
Although our first parents sent us spiraling downward into the chaos of sin, we cannot undo the trajectory of sin’s downward spiral. No matter what we do, we still spin, unstoppable toward the grave. We cannot contain what sin has unleashed. So serious is the effects of sin. So grave are the effects that even now people still die, including Gene.
And when we think of Gene, and what he endured in this life, we weep even more. We know a man who has suffered, not just a weak and easily cured cancer, but an unrelenting onslaught of cancer. Gene fought that cancer for years. And on last Friday, he was weary to the bone, weary beyond all knowing, and needed to rest in God’s eternal arms.
It’s a bit ironic. Gene was a counselor. His skills helped bring order to other peoples’ lives amid the confusion of their fallen world. And so I’m sure that Gene even used his own counseling skills to point himself to the reality that he, too, needed a “higher power” to handle all that this fallen world threw his way.
Gene talked that way, referring to a “higher power.” Now, as a pastor, I don’t care for such a vague references to God. I like to call the “higher power” by what He likes to call Himself: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Yet, to those who knew Gene, they knew that all his talk about a “higher power” always referred to the one, true God. This was the God into whom Gene was baptized while still a baby in Nebraska. God gave Gene the gift of faith, which he tried to live out by helping others, wherever he would find himself.
Yet, as good of a man as people saw that Gene was, death still had its way with him. For after the Fall into sin, God would not allow us live forever in this fallen world, with our bodies decaying and becoming decrepit. If that were the case, then our existence here would surely be like a living hell.
You see, our creaking joints, our heartburn, our sicknesses, even our colds, are all reminders of our mortality. God wants you to see them as reminders that this fallen world is not your true home. God wants you to prepare for what awaits after death.
And so this day I tell you of a greater reality than death, of an empty tomb, and of a resurrected God in the flesh. This day, I tell you a mystery. Those who trust in this resurrected God, in Christ Jesus, those who have been washed clean in the waters of holy baptism, who have found life in His blessed death and resurrection, they do not die. Oh, they physically die–but even their body’s death is but a temporary reality. For their graves will not hold their remains forever. Their graves will one day be as empty as the tomb of Jesus.
For Christ Jesus, true God, born of the Father in eternity and true Man, born of the Virgin Mary, has died in our place. He has done what we could not do. For you, He has suffered for your fallen nature, your mess-ups and sins, and met the holy and righteous demands of a holy and righteous God.
Yes, this God, Jesus Christ, also died–but He is not dead. He lives! And He who is Life Himself lives to love and raise us up again to a life that never ends. That’s why Gene still lives–oh, not here–but with God in eternity.
As sad as it is for you today, especially for you Gloria, Heather, and Noel, through faith, we know that even Gene’s death is God’s mercy for him. We know this is for the best, although, truth be told, on this side of heaven we may never fully understand how that can be.
For those whom God brings into the true faith, see death, not just as the end of troubles, but also as the beginning of true life. And so we don’t just say that Gene’s struggles and sufferings have passed away and are no more. Oh, that’s true. But through the eyes of faith, we see even a greater reality!
For God has mercifully used the events in Gene’s life–even his death–for greater blessings than we can ever imagine. For we have a God who brings life out of death. That’s why He has changed Gene’s struggles into blessings. And that’s why we know that He can change our sorrow to joy–all in His own time and way.
And that is also why we can have true hope–the assurance of eternal life. For all who trust in Jesus are those who believe that He died and rose again. And so we know that God will bring with Him those who have died in Jesus, like Gene, whose body He will reawaken on the Last Day.
And so it is that these ashes of Gene, even his molecules, will rest on this earth until the last, great, and final Day. God will bring forth, even from these dust and ashes, Gene’s perfected and sinless body. It will be without blemish or weakness and be reunited with his soul.
Already now, by the grace of God in Christ Jesus, Gene knows perfect peace and joy. His soul has gone before his body to that place prepared for him even before the foundations of the world. The God who counted every hair on Gene’s head, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who took up our flesh and sacrificed Himself to save us has welcomed Gene to his proper place.
Gene is now home. And so, this day, we do not weep like those who have no hope. Gene doesn’t need our tears, even though sadness may fill our hearts. For he is not sad, not anymore. Our tears now flow because we miss him. Our tears are because our throats and insides ache in his absence.
Yes, we are sad this day. We cry, and we cry out in our prayers. But in our sadness, take comfort knowing that this separation from Gene is not forever. You can see Gene again. For Gene is not gone, but gone ahead, where we, too, will follow. For those who trust in Jesus Christ for their eternal good will pass through death into life. That’s why, even amid our sadness, we may have and know real peace, joy, and hope.
Know this: God will not abandon Gene to the grave. Neither will He abandon you. Thanks be to God! For He is a God who does everything well. Amen.
