Isaiah 26:14, 1 Corinthians 15:51-17, and John 14:3
Today, while we mourn the loss of Viola, that’s not the only reason we are here. Although we want to celebrate the life of Viola, that’s not the only reason we are here. We are feeling many emotions, but even they aren’t the only reasons we are here. And it’s true that we do need support from others, as humans, as we make our way through this valley of death. But that’s not the only reason we are here either.
We aren’t here just to say good words about Viola. Although it’s true that she was good person, as the world would see her. It’s also true that she usually put the best construction on what took place around her. In that regard, she lived out the meaning of the eighth commandment in a good way.
And as a pastor, if God had given me the power to sprinkle pixie dust on our sadness, so only good thoughts would fill you today, I would be tempted to do that. But that, if it were even possible, would still offer no lasting comfort.
And so we are here today to hear what God has to say. That’s what we do as God’s people. We gather where He promises to come to us. And so we hear His Word, both read and preached, because that’s the only answer we’ll get that makes sense from an eternal perspective. And so, that’s the only answer that’s going to offer real comfort–comfort that transcends emotion, comfort even when our emotions are but sadness and grief. That’s because only Jesus Christ can heal the wound caused by the death of someone we love.
We’re here today because God promises forgiveness, life, and salvation to those who trust in what His Son, Jesus, does for them. That’s what Viola believed. That’s what Viola lived. And that life-giving forgiveness that Jesus gives is even now animating Viola’s soul in heaven, allowing her to delight in God’s full and glorious presence.
And so, we aren’t here to celebrate the life that WAS for Viola. No; we’re here to celebrate the life that IS for Viola. And this life is not some wispy, unknowable vapor floating in the ether. It’s not being one with the cosmos. It’s not climbing to a higher spiritual plain. No, it’s true life–the life we confess every week in the creed: “the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come.”
As likeable as Viola was, we’re here to remember that she was a sinner, just like you, just like me. And if you were to ask Viola if she was a sinner a week ago, she would have told you “yes.” She would have said “yes” in her old-world styled accent, even though she was born and raised here in America. (I think she got that from her mother’s side of the family, but I’m just guessing.)
When Viola was healthy, she would drag her two sons, Verl and Bob, to church with her almost every week. And without skipping a beat, she would confess that she was “a poor, miserable sinner.” But she also knew that God loved her–and that God did not leave her in her sin. She also knew that, no matter how many good deeds she had done, she knew they were never good enough. But most importantly, she knew that what Jesus did for her WAS good enough.
God wanted to save Viola, so He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. It was Christ’s incarnation that made salvation possible. Here we are, a few days before Christmas, getting ready to celebrate the life we have because Jesus was born as a baby. Viola is experiencing that life right now–but not in all its fullness. She is, right now, without sin and sorrow, but also without her body. We’ll get to that in a moment.
So, what did Jesus do for Viola after He was born? He lived for her, and He died for her. And when He died, He took all her sins with Him. On a cross of death, Jesus paid the price for all her sins, and gave her the gift of life. It wasn’t life as the world sees it, but a new and glorious life, and a promise of life unending, life eternal.
Jesus paid for her sins with His holy and precious blood, and His innocent suffering and death. Viola believed that. She announced that every time she received that body and blood, here at this altar. Every Divine Service, she confessed, through word and action, the promises of God, through His Son Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, received by God-given faith. She saw the bread and wine, but she heard the words spoken: “Take, eat; this is My Body, which is given for you. This do, in remembrance of Me.” She heard, “Drink of it, all of you, this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
Then believing that Jesus said what He meant and meant what He said, she received the body and blood of Jesus, and her sins were washed away. She was made right with God once more, no longer a “poor, miserable sinner,” but a righteous child of God, washed in the blood of the lamb, given the white robe of righteousness.
Viola would take her Lord’s body and blood, and be joined to His death. Five days before this fallen, sinful world had done its worst, five days before God took the evil of death and worked it for her eternal good, Viola feasted on that heavenly banquet. She–with Verl, Bob, and me–tasted of the foretaste of the feast to come. None of us then realized how soon she would be celebrating that banquet in eternity. To me, Viola seemed stable, with several months of life still in her.
Viola also heard the words of Simeon after He had held the Christ-child in His arms. After holding Jesus, Simeon was content, for He had received God in the flesh. He was now ready for eternity. That’s why we sing Simeon’s Song, the Nunc Dimittis, after receiving the Lord’s Supper. For after we also have received Jesus, we also are ready for eternity.
We will speak those words of Simeon in a few minutes. When Viola heard me speak those words, they weren’t just an empty prayer. It was a prayer that our Lord would take her out of this life, and bring her into His glory in eternity. For she had seen and touched her salvation, just like Simeon. She had seen Christ in His body and blood, seen through the eyes of faith, which are the only eyes that can see Jesus on this side of heaven.
Now, Viola is the blessed one. She is the one who has been given the glorious riches of our heavenly Father. Just like our Lord has promised, he has taken her from of this vale of tears, and brought her into that place where there is no more death, sadness, or pain, for the old has passed away.
All of that is a joy to know, that Viola only knows joy. And yet, as beautiful as that is, that’s only half the story. Did you catch how our Old-Testament reading ended? It ended with these words, “Those who lie in the dust will arise and shout for joy!” Viola still awaits that day–as do we. Our Epistle reading had these words: “When what is decaying is clothed with what cannot decay, and what is mortal is clothed with immortality, then the written word will be fulfilled: ‘Death has been swallowed up by victory!’”
The victory over death for Viola has not yet happened. Now why is that? It’s because she is still lacking her body. When God created us, He created with a body and a soul. Right now, Viola only has a soul. She is still incomplete. So, although all the bad has been removed from her, she still awaits more of the good from God.
Even our Lord told Thomas, His disciple who had stopped trusting and believing in Him for a time: “Since I am going away to prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you also may be.” When does Jesus come back to do that? It’s on the Last Day, when He resurrects our bodies.
Earlier, I said that we weren’t here only to remember. And that’s true–we aren’t here only to remember how wonderful Viola was, how quietly and patiently she lived out the faith. But we are all here to remember the promises of God. And those promises don’t just involve taking away our pain, but restoring what sin has stolen from us. And that restoration doesn’t happen until God reunites our bodies and souls and we are living in the new heaven and the new earth, in a creation untainted by sin.
That truth to come, made real by Jesus Christ–the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life–eases our sorrow in this darkened valley of death. But it doesn’t remove it. For our journeys are not yet complete.
We do not know everything, for now we see dimly as in a hazy mirror. But on the Last Day, then we will see our Lord face to face. What we do know, even now, is that God the Father shines His mercy on us through His Son, as the Holy Spirit brings us Jesus through Word and Sacrament.
If you believe in God, believe also in Jesus. If you believe in Jesus, receive how He comes to you in Word and Sacrament. For until that Day when He returns to restore your fallen flesh, that is how Jesus comes to you on this side of heaven.
Rejoice in God’s victory over death through Christ Jesus. Rejoice, even amid your sadness and grief, for the relief of pain, the release of sorrows, and the joys that are now Viola’s in heaven. Rejoice that these dismal days of separation will not last forever. A new day will dawn. The dead will rise. Death will die, having been swallowed up by victory, and life will live.
Indeed, our Lord does all things well. And for this we can rejoice, even amid our sadness. Amen.
