Jesus told a parable to those who thought they had sealed the deal with God. They didn’t need to repent–they were God’s people. So Jesus told them a parable, a story to make a point.
But in that parable, Jesus also makes a point for us. But what is that point? Ah, Jesus sneaked it in at the tail end of the parable. And you can easily miss it, not even knowing that you missed it! It’s this: “There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need to repent.”
So, Joan is now in heaven. That’s what happens when someone dies, someone whom God has brought into a holy covenant with Him through baptism (Colossians 2:11-13). But what is Joan doing in heaven, right now? What’s heaven like?
Sometimes, we think that heaven with God is playing a harp on a cloud for all eternity. But that’s not true. And if it were, wouldn’t heaven be an appallingly boring place?
Joan is part of that great gathering of heavenly saints who rejoice when a sinner repents. That means that when you turn from sin back to Christ, she is filled with joy!
And did you notice what Jesus didn’t say? He didn’t say that our sin and rebellion against God causes the heavenly saints to be sad. No, they only experience joy. And you even help join in that joy when you repent and return to live in your baptism.
So, although Joan is removed from our eyesight, we are not completely removed from hers. Otherwise, how could joy fill her soul with delight when you or I repent? Somehow, God has worked things for the saints in eternity that they know, at least in part, what is happening in our lives. And because of that, Joan can rejoice in eternity when God works to strengthen our faith here in time.
And so it’s good to know that we can help bring joy to Joan’s soul. But what about us? We’re grieving, not her. What do we have that makes living life worth the bother?
Did you hear what the Apostle Paul said about the gloom of darkness enshrouding us, when the death of someone we love brings us to tears? He wasn’t just talking about the pains and sorrows of someone’s life being no more, which is the case for Joan right now. That’s what life is like when your soul is in heaven. Joan has no pain or sorrow–and for that we rejoice.
No, Paul points us to something even beyond that. Paul points you and me to something that can give us hope in our sadness. He points us to the Last Day. That’s when Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead, as we confess every week in the Creed. That day will be such an astounding event that it even shapes how we live now–and grieve now. Did you catch that?
The Apostle Paul said that when someone we love has died in the faith, we “don’t grieve like others.” Oh, we still grieve. You are grieving right now in some way, whether inwardly or outwardly. And the difference in grief is not in how much you grieve, or how deeply you may or may not feel the loss.
The grief of the Christian is different. Why? It’s different because we have hope! We know that God will fully restore what sin has taken away. That future reality, even right now, shines a light that beams into the darkness of death and our depression.
As you age, you begin to experience, all the more, your body betraying you, bit by bit. You wake up and your joints begin to creak. Your mind isn’t as sharp as it used to be. Your heart doesn’t pump blood with vigor as it did when you were a strapping youth in your prime. That’s what happened to Joan. Her heart finally gave out.
But your body–as it is right now–does not define you. What defines you is what you will be, specifically, what you will be on the Last Day, when Jesus returns. When Jesus returns, He will restore our bodies–then incorruptible, sinless, and perfect–when He calls them forth from the grave, just like Jesus rose from the grave of death. Jesus will restore what Joan’s failing body had taken away from her in a new, sinless, “upgraded,” and perfect body.
That’s why we treat the body of someone who has died with respect. It’s not because of what the body is right now, even if it is but cremated ashes. We treat the body with respect because of what it will one day be when Christ returns in all His glory.
In Christ Jesus, the future that awaits us even impacts the present, giving us the ability to rejoice in our sadness. Death doesn’t define you, just as death doesn’t define Joan, even as she awaits her body when Christ comes to restore all.
That’s why Paul could say, “Encourage, comfort, one another with these words,” with what will take place when Jesus returns. Scripture doesn’t tell us to comfort someone who has lost a loved one, by saying: “Well, she’s in a better place. She’s no longer suffering.” Now, that’s all true–and we’ve all said those words, not knowing what to say. But Scripture doesn’t tell us to console others that way. Instead, it tells us to comfort others with the promise of the resurrection.
Now, why is that? It’s because the resurrection of the body is the promise of salvation in all its fullness. Why did Jesus bodily rise from the dead? It was so we also would rise bodily from the dead. That’s the point of Easter!
Jesus became incarnate, a person with a body and soul, to save you in body and soul. If Jesus wanted your salvation to be a soul floating in heaven for all eternity, then He wouldn’t have needed to become human. But Jesus was born with a body. For your sins, He died with a body. And He rose from the grave with a body. And so Jesus will save you, all of you, not just your soul, but even your body.
That’s what encourages us. That’s how we encourage and comfort others. Remember His resurrection. Remember your resurrection to come when Jesus returns. Reassure and comfort one another with those words. For when Christ returns, He will resurrect your body from this fallen creation, bringing to you the fullness His salvation. He will restore what sin has taken.
But what about right now? We still grieve. Sadness has seeped into the marrow of our bones. We miss Joan. So, what about right now?
Right now, Joan is in heaven. And for this we rejoice, even amid our tears. All who trust in Christ and continue to live in their baptisms will rejoin Joan in a family reunion beyond all recognition. And that family reunion will be a good one, without sin and family dysfunction robbing us of our joy. And so for those of us who have had to endure family dysfunction, that gives us even more reason to rejoice amid our tears.
And as Joan is rejoicing in heaven, still awaiting her body, she is worshipping God in eternity. But she’s also doing more than that. Oh, she is worshiping God and delighting in that. But the book of Hebrews also tells us that the saints in eternity are all around us. Oh, we can’t see them, for that eternal reality is beyond our fallen senses. But the book of Hebrews tells us that such a great a cloud of witnesses, the saints in eternity, are surrounding us (Hebrews 12:1).
So, why does that even matter when I’m sad? It matters because, even now, Joan is encouraging you to press on and run the race of faith that God has given you in this life. For the book of Hebrews continues: “Let us then throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and run with endurance the race that lies before us” (Hebrews 12:1).
So Jesus’s words that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents is true, after all. Jesus said what He meant and meant what He said. Joan is now part of that great cloud of witnesses, cheering you on to run the race of faith and not give up. Throw off that which takes you away from Jesus. Turn from the sins that ensnare you and turn back to Christ.
Keep wearing the robe of Christ’s righteousness that God gave you in your baptism (Galatians 3:27). Don’t throw it way. And keep it white by receiving Jesus in His Supper when it’s offered for the forgiveness of your sins (Matthew 26:28). Joan wants to see you in eternity in the greatest of all family reunions. That’s what Joan wants for you, right now. And right now, she is pointing you to the hope that you have in Christ Jesus. And every time you live in that coming reality, her soul leaps with joy.
When we die in Christ, all pain and sorrow will be gone, replaced by joy and bliss. And as good as that is, that’s not the half of it. Jesus will fulfill what awaits you on that glorious Day when you’ll be what God originally created you to be. You’ll be sinless and perfect, in both body and soul.
And so, encourage and comfort one another with those words. Joan was so important that Jesus became human to save her in both body and soul. You are so important that Jesus became human to save you in both body and soul.
Every day as your body betrays you more and more, remember Joan and the reunion you will have with her. As your body betrays you, remember the resurrection of the body. Then, all will be perfect and complete, and your body will be beyond your imagining, in the image of Christ’s glorious and risen body (Philippians 3:21).
Remember the resurrection. Let that reality pull you forward through the darkest of times, even if they are right now, into the joy you have in Jesus. Amen.
Terrific! I sometimes think of the analogy (or metaphor – not sure) of the Potter and his creations. The Potter or Maker – creates these little ‘creatures’ made of clay. The ‘creatures’ rebel – but they somehow know that they are infected and ‘on their own’. I think of this sometimes when I put myself in the ‘body’ of the little clay creations ‘doing my own thing’ – and what a spectacular joy it would be to actually be, again, in fellowship with my Maker! I am a little ‘clay’ creation – but the One who formed me and molded me and ordained all my days – breaks through to me – and now I can cry and rest and be well because my actual Maker KNOWs me – it’s hard to explain sometimes – actually, I’ve never attempted to explain the concept – but, even though we rebel – when truth hits us in the face – I can actually Commune with He that formed me – JOY. I think of the little clay figurine – looking up and seeing my Maker – and reaching up and longing for that Peace and fellowship and protection and connection. My Maker!! There you are. I love you. Be with me. That’s pretty cool! Great sermon my flat one!
thom