Ecclesiastes 12:1-7/Romans 1:16-20; St Matthew 27:45-54; 28:1-6
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Pete, Pat, Michael, Mark, Matthew, family and loved ones of Joe, dear friends in Christ from St Peter’s: Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Amen.
He asked me to bury him, for Edna’s sake. But there was a problem. As he lay in the hospital bed, recovering from an emergency surgery for a sudden attack of diverticulitis, the pain dulled by heavy narcotics, Joe confessed to me that he rejected God; nearly hated the thought of a Divine Creator. But he pleaded with me, “If I should die before Edna, you need to bury me from the church for her sake.” I attributed his anti-Christian remarks to the morphine and delirium and told him we’d talk later. After all, Joe had spent nearly 40 years in the pews at St Peter’s, nearly every Sunday, faithfully brining and sitting with Edna and Pete.
By our Lord’s grace he recovered. And a week or two later, one afternoon, standing in the hallway outside the church office, Joe relayed to me our conversation with complete clarity. “Nope, I don’t believe in Jesus.” It wasn’t the morphine. It was something much worse. Sin; hardened, obstinate unbelief.
The Preacher of Ecclesiastes, the aged King Solomon, cautions Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them” Elsewhere it is written, Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it (Prov 22:6). In love, his parents had done so, but somewhere along the way Joe departed from the Word of the Lord; he had wandered from Christ, His Church, and even from what St Paul called “God’s invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, which have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in things that have been made.
Whether is was the difficult years of adolescence, the horrors and unspeakable atrocities of the war, or general hard-heartedness, Joe rejected the mercy and love of Christ. He denied the Gospel. And he was without excuse.
But by the grace of God, Joe met Edna - a lovely woman with a vibrant and steadfast faith. One grounded in the assurance of the Father’s love for her in Christ Jesus, the forgiveness of sins by His shed blood. And in a marriage that exemplified the best of Christian love between a husband and a wife, Joe and Edna loved and served one another. Over the years he sacrificed for her, loving her as Christ loved the Church, though he still denied and rejected Christ and the Church. Yet for her sake, he came. He listened patiently. He worked tirelessly. He volunteered whenever and wherever he was needed.
Yet he was still an unbeliever. And it was not for lack of trying. Don Christensen, Walt Eiwigleben, Don Alexander, Deuser, Heintzelman, Landgraf. He named them all to me that afternoon in the office hallway. They all tried over the years, he said, “To get me to join the church. I supposed, Pastor, now you’re going to try to get me to join the church.” “No, Joe, I’m not going to try to get you to join the church . . . I’m going to tell you about Jesus.”
Thus began a four year conversation that had merely built on a forty year conversation that had simply been an extension of Edna’s own conversations with him. Every time I visited her, whether at home, hospital, or hospice our conversation would turn to Joe and his unbelief. And then our conversation would turn to prayer for Joe. Everytime.
I believe that it was finally Edna’s own suffering and dying that became a catalyst for Joe’s conversion. It was indeed our Lord’s own doing that He brought them together in marriage, joined them as one flesh, and blessed them with a child. Christ gave him to her for life And in caring for her during her final years and last days, he was given to see the profound courage with which she faced death - in the certainty of the forgiveness of sins and Christ Jesus’ promise of the resurrection.
In the days after Edna’s death Joe was practically unresponsive. Pete was here for awhile. We put her remains in the earth and once more proclaimed the joy of the resurrection of the body and life everlasting with Christ. I would visit him often. We’d usually drink a beer on the back patio, eat some tomatoes and just sit. I’d assure him that his beloved wife was now with her Beloved. Edna once gave me a picture of a needlepoint she had hanging in the house: das Kreuz Christi ist meine Liebe. The Cross of Christ is My Love.
Weeks went by. Then one day Joe asked me, “Pastor, Where’s Edna?” “She’s with Jesus in heaven, Joe. He died for her. She believed that.” A few moments passed. “Pastor, how can I get there?”
And just like that, after years of preaching, the Gospel penetrated that obstinate sinner’s heart. It is written, As the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth, says the Lord; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it (Is 55:10-11). The Word did the work. The Lord sent it. He sent it through the men named before. He sent it through pastors before me. He sent it through Edna. But the Word did the work. Not them, not me. The Word.
For this is the Gospel: the proclamation of the free forgiveness of sins through the death and resurrection of the God-Man Jesus Christ; and it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. By our Lord’s will and grace, God the Holy Spirit created faith in Joe’s heart by the hearing of the Word of Christ, where and when it pleased Him. By faith in Christ, Joe is righteous. And he is not ashamed.
In due time, after a period of instruction, at age 86, Joe, the former atheist, received Holy Baptism. Holy Scripture does not know of “infant baptism,” or “adult baptism” or “believer’s baptism.” It speaks only of “baptism.” The washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit through water and the Word. Even at 86 years old, Joe was brought forth as a helpless child to receive this great gift of God which granted to him the forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and eternal life according to the Word and promises of God.
The temple curtain was torn in Christ’s death. And in Joe’s baptism, it was as if the veil was lifted from before his eyes. He now saw clearly with the eyes of faith to behold the Cross of Christ and exclaim, Truly this is the Son of God. Being declared righteous with Christ’s own righteousness, Joe now lives by faith.
For behold I tell you a mystery: our dear brother in Christ, Joe Halas, is not dead. He lives. As the angel told the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. He is risen, as He said. So has He said that those who live and believe in Him shall never die. And so Edna is not dead. Joe is not dead. Both are alive together in Christ Jesus their Lord.
This is comfort for you, dear friends. This is joy in the midst of sorrow, peace and hope in the midst of sadness and death. Christ has conquered death by His own death. He has brought life and immortality to light. He opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. By His Word, according to His good and gracious will, He called Joe to repentance and faith. Not according to our time, or even Edna’s, but according to His own time and will.
And this is the call of Solomon in Ecclesiastes, the preaching of Paul to the Romans, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ - repent and believe. Do not deny the Holy Spirit and the Word of Christ, do not reject His grace. As St Paul says to the Corinthians, We appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6:1-2).
For that which finally brought comfort to Joe in the face of Edna’s death is what now brings comfort to you in Joe’s death; in the midst of your suffering and sorrow of age, of life in this world, of the terrors of conscience: the power of the Gospel unto salvation in Christ, which is the promise of the free forgiveness of sins by faith in His shed blood for you, the hope of the resurrection of the body and the joy of life everlasting.
For all of this it is my privilege and my joy to fulfill for Joe his request those years ago: give him a Christian burial. But now not for his wife’s sake, but by virtue of the gift of faith given Him through the Word of Christ that he believes and has now gone to his eternal home.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Pete, Pat, Michael, Mark, Matthew, family and loved ones of Joe, dear friends in Christ from St Peter’s: Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Amen.
He asked me to bury him, for Edna’s sake. But there was a problem. As he lay in the hospital bed, recovering from an emergency surgery for a sudden attack of diverticulitis, the pain dulled by heavy narcotics, Joe confessed to me that he rejected God; nearly hated the thought of a Divine Creator. But he pleaded with me, “If I should die before Edna, you need to bury me from the church for her sake.” I attributed his anti-Christian remarks to the morphine and delirium and told him we’d talk later. After all, Joe had spent nearly 40 years in the pews at St Peter’s, nearly every Sunday, faithfully brining and sitting with Edna and Pete.
By our Lord’s grace he recovered. And a week or two later, one afternoon, standing in the hallway outside the church office, Joe relayed to me our conversation with complete clarity. “Nope, I don’t believe in Jesus.” It wasn’t the morphine. It was something much worse. Sin; hardened, obstinate unbelief.
The Preacher of Ecclesiastes, the aged King Solomon, cautions Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them” Elsewhere it is written, Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it (Prov 22:6). In love, his parents had done so, but somewhere along the way Joe departed from the Word of the Lord; he had wandered from Christ, His Church, and even from what St Paul called “God’s invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, which have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in things that have been made.
Whether is was the difficult years of adolescence, the horrors and unspeakable atrocities of the war, or general hard-heartedness, Joe rejected the mercy and love of Christ. He denied the Gospel. And he was without excuse.
But by the grace of God, Joe met Edna - a lovely woman with a vibrant and steadfast faith. One grounded in the assurance of the Father’s love for her in Christ Jesus, the forgiveness of sins by His shed blood. And in a marriage that exemplified the best of Christian love between a husband and a wife, Joe and Edna loved and served one another. Over the years he sacrificed for her, loving her as Christ loved the Church, though he still denied and rejected Christ and the Church. Yet for her sake, he came. He listened patiently. He worked tirelessly. He volunteered whenever and wherever he was needed.
Yet he was still an unbeliever. And it was not for lack of trying. Don Christensen, Walt Eiwigleben, Don Alexander, Deuser, Heintzelman, Landgraf. He named them all to me that afternoon in the office hallway. They all tried over the years, he said, “To get me to join the church. I supposed, Pastor, now you’re going to try to get me to join the church.” “No, Joe, I’m not going to try to get you to join the church . . . I’m going to tell you about Jesus.”
Thus began a four year conversation that had merely built on a forty year conversation that had simply been an extension of Edna’s own conversations with him. Every time I visited her, whether at home, hospital, or hospice our conversation would turn to Joe and his unbelief. And then our conversation would turn to prayer for Joe. Everytime.
I believe that it was finally Edna’s own suffering and dying that became a catalyst for Joe’s conversion. It was indeed our Lord’s own doing that He brought them together in marriage, joined them as one flesh, and blessed them with a child. Christ gave him to her for life And in caring for her during her final years and last days, he was given to see the profound courage with which she faced death - in the certainty of the forgiveness of sins and Christ Jesus’ promise of the resurrection.
In the days after Edna’s death Joe was practically unresponsive. Pete was here for awhile. We put her remains in the earth and once more proclaimed the joy of the resurrection of the body and life everlasting with Christ. I would visit him often. We’d usually drink a beer on the back patio, eat some tomatoes and just sit. I’d assure him that his beloved wife was now with her Beloved. Edna once gave me a picture of a needlepoint she had hanging in the house: das Kreuz Christi ist meine Liebe. The Cross of Christ is My Love.
Weeks went by. Then one day Joe asked me, “Pastor, Where’s Edna?” “She’s with Jesus in heaven, Joe. He died for her. She believed that.” A few moments passed. “Pastor, how can I get there?”
And just like that, after years of preaching, the Gospel penetrated that obstinate sinner’s heart. It is written, As the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth, says the Lord; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it (Is 55:10-11). The Word did the work. The Lord sent it. He sent it through the men named before. He sent it through pastors before me. He sent it through Edna. But the Word did the work. Not them, not me. The Word.
For this is the Gospel: the proclamation of the free forgiveness of sins through the death and resurrection of the God-Man Jesus Christ; and it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. By our Lord’s will and grace, God the Holy Spirit created faith in Joe’s heart by the hearing of the Word of Christ, where and when it pleased Him. By faith in Christ, Joe is righteous. And he is not ashamed.
In due time, after a period of instruction, at age 86, Joe, the former atheist, received Holy Baptism. Holy Scripture does not know of “infant baptism,” or “adult baptism” or “believer’s baptism.” It speaks only of “baptism.” The washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit through water and the Word. Even at 86 years old, Joe was brought forth as a helpless child to receive this great gift of God which granted to him the forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and eternal life according to the Word and promises of God.
The temple curtain was torn in Christ’s death. And in Joe’s baptism, it was as if the veil was lifted from before his eyes. He now saw clearly with the eyes of faith to behold the Cross of Christ and exclaim, Truly this is the Son of God. Being declared righteous with Christ’s own righteousness, Joe now lives by faith.
For behold I tell you a mystery: our dear brother in Christ, Joe Halas, is not dead. He lives. As the angel told the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. He is risen, as He said. So has He said that those who live and believe in Him shall never die. And so Edna is not dead. Joe is not dead. Both are alive together in Christ Jesus their Lord.
This is comfort for you, dear friends. This is joy in the midst of sorrow, peace and hope in the midst of sadness and death. Christ has conquered death by His own death. He has brought life and immortality to light. He opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. By His Word, according to His good and gracious will, He called Joe to repentance and faith. Not according to our time, or even Edna’s, but according to His own time and will.
And this is the call of Solomon in Ecclesiastes, the preaching of Paul to the Romans, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ - repent and believe. Do not deny the Holy Spirit and the Word of Christ, do not reject His grace. As St Paul says to the Corinthians, We appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6:1-2).
For that which finally brought comfort to Joe in the face of Edna’s death is what now brings comfort to you in Joe’s death; in the midst of your suffering and sorrow of age, of life in this world, of the terrors of conscience: the power of the Gospel unto salvation in Christ, which is the promise of the free forgiveness of sins by faith in His shed blood for you, the hope of the resurrection of the body and the joy of life everlasting.
For all of this it is my privilege and my joy to fulfill for Joe his request those years ago: give him a Christian burial. But now not for his wife’s sake, but by virtue of the gift of faith given Him through the Word of Christ that he believes and has now gone to his eternal home.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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