Cherrie, Carrie, Melanie, family and friends of Marlin:
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!
[Intro]
Why? Over the past few weeks many of us have asked this question and have prayed to the Triune God asking this question. I have even asked and prayed this very question. We all ask God “why”, believing that He will provide us an answer to satisfy our question.
But often, we do not get the answer we want. Sometimes, God appears to be silent. But if we are patient and remain in His Word, all our questions will one day be answered.
So, don’t give up on asking God questions. Questions and prayer are a way we mourn our loss, communicate our frustration, and express our thoughts.
Our questions are important to the Triune God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we find in God’s written Word many examples of people asking God questions. The Psalms of David are a prime example. David wrote many Psalms when he was facing brokenness, doubt, and fear. In those Psalms, he asked some painful and detailed questions. Sometimes, David received an answer from God. Other times, he only heard silence. But even when David’s questions were not answered, his faith in God was stronger than his need to know the answer.
Even though we may have many questions, we do have certainty this morning. David said in today’s Psalm: “I call upon You, for You will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words” (Psalm 17:6) and concluded saying: “As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness” (Psalm 17:15). Like David, Marlin, too, is completely satisfied as he has been declared righteous – and all due to Marlin’s faith and trust in Jesus Christ. By faith in Christ alone, Marlin has passed from death to life. Today, Marlin has joined the Church Triumphant in heaven with all the faithful.
[The Love of Others]
Throughout his earthly life, Marlin could be described as stubborn at times. He was the kind of guy who would never complain. Instead, he would move the conversation so he wouldn’t be the focus.
Back in April, I visited him at Abbott-Northwestern Hospital. He just learned that he would need his pinky toe removed, due to an infection. As I entered the room, I asked him what brought him into the hospital. He replied saying: “I’m doing just fine. I’ve got nothing to complain about. How is your daughter?”
This conversation included him talking about his grandkids: Connor – who he called ‘His Little Man’ – and Chloe. He certainly adored Connor and Chloe.
Eventually, we rounded back to why he was in the hospital, but he would rather talk about what was happening in my life – with the birth of my daughter – and what was happening in Connor and Chloe’s life. He loved being a grandfather.
Marlin certainly loved his family. He loved his wife, daughters, and grandchildren. He loved all the time he had with them playing the card game Sheepshead, shaking dice, listening to Polka music, and knocking down those pins at the bowling alley.
As much as we would all like to hear all about Marlin’s life, I bet he would want us to focus on why we are truly here today. We are here to celebrate Christ’s victory over death that we all receive by faith in Christ alone. Because of this fact, the most important thing to him was being a positive role model and passing on the Christian faith to his daughters Carrie and Melanie. His Christian faith was – and is – important to him. This is what kept him positive throughout all his life. This is what gave him hope for the future!
Even though we know Marlin is in the loving arms of the Good Shepherd. For us, on this side of heaven, we are separated from Marlin. Like any form of separation, grief is natural. So, don’t be ashamed to grieve. But unlike those who do not know Christ, Christians do know Christ. So, when we grieve, we grieve in the sure and certain hope that because Christ lives, all who die in Christ also live. We know that “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
So, be encouraged! For Jesus never leaves us or forsakes us. He is our Shepherd who keeps us in eternal life!
[Christ Gives Us Certain Encouragement]
In our Gospel lesson, Martha, like us, needed encouragement.
Her brother Lazarus had been dead for four days. So, Jesus came to console Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha.
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). You see, Martha believed that Jesus could have performed a miracle, but by now she believed it was too late.
But Jesus assures Martha that all who trust in Him, though they die physically, will live forever.
Death is the consequence of sin. God’s Word teaches us that “just as sin came into the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12) and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). So, death eventually takes everyone. No human being can overcome death.
Now, Martha would have known this. But she still believed that Jesus could have done something to prevent it.
Jesus then said to Martha, “Your brother will rise again” (John 11:23). To which Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (John 11:24). You see, she believed in the resurrection, but what Jesus said next is what she did not expect. He said: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though He die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).
Martha had only a small part of the resurrection truth. Jesus gave her the whole truth. Although the wages of sin is death, “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b).
The whole truth is that Jesus is the embodiment of resurrection and life. Apart from Jesus, there is no resurrection and no life. But by faith in Jesus, resurrection and life are present.
For everyone who dies in Christ, they lie down to sleep in death. This death is but a portal to “the resurrection,” the victory and triumph over death. Now, the “he shall live” does not mean merely: he shall come to life in the far distant last day. No, Marlin, and all who died in Christ, are living from the moment of death. For us, on this side of heaven, we see Marlin asleep in the Lord. But in heaven, Marlin has received the crown of victory over death.
Today, Marlin is wearing the very robe of righteousness that he received at his baptism that was made white in the blood of the Lamb – through Christ’s atoning suffering and death for all who trust in Him. In Christ’s care, he is no longer suffering. He hungers no more, neither thirsts anymore. He is completely satisfied (Revelation 7:9-17). He, along with his fellow saints, awaits Christ’s coming on the Last Day.
For us here today, Jesus poses us this question: “Do you believe this?” Do you believe that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life? Marlin certainly did. Marlin certainly does.
Jesus assures us: “I
am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet
shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John
11:25-26).
So, comfort one another in the sure and certain hope that even in the face of death, everyone in Christ possesses this sure promise of their own resurrection to everlasting life! Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
T SOLI DEO GLORIA T
Marlin Grack's Obituary: https://hantge.com/obituaries/marlin-h-grack/
No comments:
Post a Comment