St John 10:11-16/Isaiah 49:13-16/2 Corinthians 4:5-12, 16-18
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Dear saints in Christ, friends and family of Jean, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her three daughters, Nancy, Diana, Pam, and their husbands, and her beloved companion, her confidant, her husband, Dutch: Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead and brought life and immortality to light, and who gives life to our mortals bodies.
You all have your cherished memories of Jean. Dutch, meeting her in New York on your way back from Germany; the week you two spent traveling and enjoying one another’s company. Her girls, riding around in the old army Jeep, your “convertible,” it filling up with water in the rain. Her friends from Westview Hospital could likely share a few stories; the ladies from St Peter could too. You all have them. Dear dreams. Faded memories.
During her last months those memories drifted far away from Jean. In the end she could hardly remember who she was. It was painful. Not only for her, but for you, her own flesh and blood, when she forgot your names, your faces, the memories you shared. Can a woman forget her nursing child?, asks Isaiah. So sadly, yes.
Even though these may forget, says our Lord, yet I will not forget you. behold I have engraved you on the palms of My hands! Our Lord will never forget His own. They are as dear to Him as His own flesh and blood. He has compassion on His people and comforts His afflicted. Our Lord sought out Jean, His own dear little lamb, His precious sheep.
For her our Lord took up the frailty of flesh and blood. For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” Himself entered into the darkness of our world. He who is the Light of the world, came into the world. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
He became her Good Shepherd. Indeed He is, and was, and always will be her Good Shepherd. And for whatever else Jean may have forgotten, she knew His Voice, she abided in His Word, for she is His own.
Yet it is so contrary to reason. For this dear woman progressed to the stage during this mortal life, where she could not “give her heart to Jesus,” where she could not “make a decision for Him,” where she could not “surrender to His love.” But that doesn’t matter. Jesus gave His heart to her. I am the Good Shepherd, says Jesus, I know My own and My own know Me; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
For all your reason and strength, you cannot do these things either; not really. Even at the peak of her health, Jean knew this. She knew herself to be a sinner. And she confessed it, saying, “I, a poor miserable sinner, confess unto You, almighty God, merciful Father, all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You.” She did not proclaim herself. She knew what she needed – a Savior, a Kinsmen Redeemer, an Atoning Sacrifice.
This is the way of faith, the way of Christianity. Not you to God, but God to you. God for you. God for Jean. I am the Good Shepherd, Jesus says. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. She trusts His Word. She believes His promise. She received His absolution. She lives in Christ.
But this too seems unreasonable. Shepherds don’t die for their sheep. They raise them for slaughter. Not so the Good Shepherd. In unfathomable love for Jean, in unbounded mercy for you, Jesus Christ laid down His life. He is not your example. He is your Atoning Sacrifice. He takes what was due you – slaughter and sacrifice, death and punishment – and He gives you what is His – forgiveness and mercy, life and salvation. This is the great exchange of Christianity. And this is precisely how Jesus is the Good Shepherd: He lays down His life for the sheep.
In this life slaves are branded with their master’s initials and sheep die for shepherds. But these are things that are seen. They are transient. Look to the things that are unseen, for they are eternal. Our Lord came not be be served, but to serve, to give His life as a ransom for you. He has engraved you on the palms of His hands. Christ, the Good Shepherd, laid down His life for the sheep.
He died for Jean. He took her place. The hand through which the nail pierced is engraved with her name. It is lifted before the throne of Father on her behalf. And there, in His shed blood, Jean has found comfort and peace and the forgiveness of all her sins. For He bore her iniquities; by His wounds she is healed. He laid down His life for her and He took it up again. Jesus is not dead, but lives. So too Jean is not dead, but lives. For she is baptized into His death and resurrection for her. Her death was His, now His life is hers, for all eternity.
Do not lose heart. Though she was afflicted, she is not crushed; though perplexed, not driven to despair; though persecuted, not forsaken. She carried in her body the death of Jesus. So too she shall share in His resurrection. On account of her Baptism, His goodness and mercy followed her and surrounded her and covered her all the days of her life. The staff of His Cross guided her and went on before her. She shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Today we will carefully place this mortal body into the earth. But on the Last Day it shall be raised immortal. Today this body is corruptible, at the Last it shall be incorruptible; today imperfect, then perfect.
Even now, beloved, her affliction has given way to eternal glory beyond all comparison. And we await the resurrection of the dead, when our Good Shepherd shall gather us together with her and all the faithful into one flock.
Until then, remember Jean, share your memories with one another. Yet more blessed, more joyous, more comforting than our memories of Jean could ever be is that Christ her Lord never forgot her. It is okay to mourn and grieve with each other. But we do not do so as those who have no hope. Comfort one another with the Word of Christ, with His forgiveness. We believe that Jesus died and He rose again. And through Jesus, God will bring to Himself those who have died in the Lord.
Jean has not been forgotten, she is not dead. She lives. She has been gathered into the arms of her Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus, and taken home.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Dear saints in Christ, friends and family of Jean, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her three daughters, Nancy, Diana, Pam, and their husbands, and her beloved companion, her confidant, her husband, Dutch: Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead and brought life and immortality to light, and who gives life to our mortals bodies.
You all have your cherished memories of Jean. Dutch, meeting her in New York on your way back from Germany; the week you two spent traveling and enjoying one another’s company. Her girls, riding around in the old army Jeep, your “convertible,” it filling up with water in the rain. Her friends from Westview Hospital could likely share a few stories; the ladies from St Peter could too. You all have them. Dear dreams. Faded memories.
During her last months those memories drifted far away from Jean. In the end she could hardly remember who she was. It was painful. Not only for her, but for you, her own flesh and blood, when she forgot your names, your faces, the memories you shared. Can a woman forget her nursing child?, asks Isaiah. So sadly, yes.
Even though these may forget, says our Lord, yet I will not forget you. behold I have engraved you on the palms of My hands! Our Lord will never forget His own. They are as dear to Him as His own flesh and blood. He has compassion on His people and comforts His afflicted. Our Lord sought out Jean, His own dear little lamb, His precious sheep.
For her our Lord took up the frailty of flesh and blood. For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” Himself entered into the darkness of our world. He who is the Light of the world, came into the world. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
He became her Good Shepherd. Indeed He is, and was, and always will be her Good Shepherd. And for whatever else Jean may have forgotten, she knew His Voice, she abided in His Word, for she is His own.
Yet it is so contrary to reason. For this dear woman progressed to the stage during this mortal life, where she could not “give her heart to Jesus,” where she could not “make a decision for Him,” where she could not “surrender to His love.” But that doesn’t matter. Jesus gave His heart to her. I am the Good Shepherd, says Jesus, I know My own and My own know Me; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
For all your reason and strength, you cannot do these things either; not really. Even at the peak of her health, Jean knew this. She knew herself to be a sinner. And she confessed it, saying, “I, a poor miserable sinner, confess unto You, almighty God, merciful Father, all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You.” She did not proclaim herself. She knew what she needed – a Savior, a Kinsmen Redeemer, an Atoning Sacrifice.
This is the way of faith, the way of Christianity. Not you to God, but God to you. God for you. God for Jean. I am the Good Shepherd, Jesus says. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. She trusts His Word. She believes His promise. She received His absolution. She lives in Christ.
But this too seems unreasonable. Shepherds don’t die for their sheep. They raise them for slaughter. Not so the Good Shepherd. In unfathomable love for Jean, in unbounded mercy for you, Jesus Christ laid down His life. He is not your example. He is your Atoning Sacrifice. He takes what was due you – slaughter and sacrifice, death and punishment – and He gives you what is His – forgiveness and mercy, life and salvation. This is the great exchange of Christianity. And this is precisely how Jesus is the Good Shepherd: He lays down His life for the sheep.
In this life slaves are branded with their master’s initials and sheep die for shepherds. But these are things that are seen. They are transient. Look to the things that are unseen, for they are eternal. Our Lord came not be be served, but to serve, to give His life as a ransom for you. He has engraved you on the palms of His hands. Christ, the Good Shepherd, laid down His life for the sheep.
He died for Jean. He took her place. The hand through which the nail pierced is engraved with her name. It is lifted before the throne of Father on her behalf. And there, in His shed blood, Jean has found comfort and peace and the forgiveness of all her sins. For He bore her iniquities; by His wounds she is healed. He laid down His life for her and He took it up again. Jesus is not dead, but lives. So too Jean is not dead, but lives. For she is baptized into His death and resurrection for her. Her death was His, now His life is hers, for all eternity.
Do not lose heart. Though she was afflicted, she is not crushed; though perplexed, not driven to despair; though persecuted, not forsaken. She carried in her body the death of Jesus. So too she shall share in His resurrection. On account of her Baptism, His goodness and mercy followed her and surrounded her and covered her all the days of her life. The staff of His Cross guided her and went on before her. She shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Today we will carefully place this mortal body into the earth. But on the Last Day it shall be raised immortal. Today this body is corruptible, at the Last it shall be incorruptible; today imperfect, then perfect.
Even now, beloved, her affliction has given way to eternal glory beyond all comparison. And we await the resurrection of the dead, when our Good Shepherd shall gather us together with her and all the faithful into one flock.
Until then, remember Jean, share your memories with one another. Yet more blessed, more joyous, more comforting than our memories of Jean could ever be is that Christ her Lord never forgot her. It is okay to mourn and grieve with each other. But we do not do so as those who have no hope. Comfort one another with the Word of Christ, with His forgiveness. We believe that Jesus died and He rose again. And through Jesus, God will bring to Himself those who have died in the Lord.
Jean has not been forgotten, she is not dead. She lives. She has been gathered into the arms of her Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus, and taken home.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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