John 14.2-3
an exposition for the funeral of
Elizabeth (Bette) Hunter
Saturday, March 15, 2008
'…Let not your hearts be troubled”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you all from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
2: In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would
have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
3: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take
you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
Last Saturday (March 8, 2008) in sunny Sarasota Florida, physical
death came to Bette Hunter and she was taken from our world. Yet,
because she was a child of God, born again by baptism, she did not
have to face what the Bible calls “the second death” spiritual and
eternal death, but rather only the first death – physical death.
For God gives such grace to His children that physical death need be
the only death they experience. And even physical death, daunting
though it undoubtedly is, is effectively reduced (for God’s children)
to merely being a doorway to the immediate presence of God, His saints
and angels.
I find it fascinating to consider that we humans were created
differently with regard to death than both animals and angels were.
Animals, with no immortal souls, were created with only one death that
awaited them – namely physical death.
Angels, although created to be immortal, could still face death if
they sinned and that one death would be, although not physical,
nevertheless final and eternal. God’s word tells us that God created
eternal hell for the devil and his angels – that is their one and only
death.[1]
Yet when God created humans, unique among all His creatures, He
created us with the option of not one, but two deaths. These two
deaths that humans can die, both physical death and eternal death each
have a certain respective finality, yet they are still not the same
and it is mercifully possible to experience the one, but not the other.
Hence the comforting statement from Jesus to all human beings – “Let
not your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
2: In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would
have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
3: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take
you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
You see the option of two deaths, that humans have, gives us a built-
in advantage that is not only advantageous to us, but also to God, who
planned to use our physical death as the centrepiece of a grand
demonstration of His love from the very creation of our world.
As you can see, as we come to the culmination of the season of Lent, I
have the crucifixion of Christ on my mind. For God demonstrated His
love for us in this way – that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us”[2]
Had humans been like the angels, with only a single kind of death that
was possible for us (the eternal kind), then for Christ to demonstrate
His love for us by sparing us the punishment that we deserved and
substituting Himself instead under the judgement of God, God’s Son
would have to endure eternal death and be permanently separated from
His Father – separating the persons of the Holy Trinity forever –
hardly a practical option! But, as we humans are capable of being
punished for sin with two kinds of death, Jesus could experience one
of them (physical death) and His demonstration would still serve its
purpose.
Because Christ’s death successfully demonstrated that God was loving
and merciful enough to redeem sinners at tremendous cost, both humans
and angels benefited enormously and God is glorified eternally as a
direct result.
Humans benefit, because we can be forgiven our sins and be spared from
eternal death (a priceless benefit!).
Angels benefit, because only in our redemption could the they observe
God, their creator, showing mercy and forgiveness toward sinners
without compromising His perfect justice – something they could never
have seen had humans never been created, fallen into sin and been
redeemed through the atoning sacrifice of God’s Son.
And, finally God benefits, so to speak, because, as the result of what
the crucified and risen Christ has done, both humans and angels join
together to give Him endless praise for the perfect combination of
righteousness and grace that the redemption of humanity displays.
St. Paul wrote, 'All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came
by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement through
faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because
in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand
unpunished - He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time,
so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in
Jesus' (ROMANS 3.23-26).
So – do you have faith in Jesus? Then, “let not your heart be
troubled”. Even though we face physical death, we fear not, for
Christ has saved us from that which is far worse - eternal death.
Now, when things are going well, there is a tendency it seems (for
most people) not to think about going to heaven. We may think about
it when we are at a funeral, like this one this morning, but most of
the time we don’t think about it at all – in fact, we live in a world
where most of us don’t even want to talk about it. Why? Because we are
afraid.
But, as we gather as Christians this morning, on the threshold of Holy
Week and Easter, if only more of us appreciated that Jesus Christ,
crucified and risen again conquered sin, death, and the devil, Jesus'
victory would have the impact on all aspects of our lives that it
deserves to have!
For a start, we would come to Jesus regularly to receive forgiveness
for our sins, and for help in other times of trouble – such as our
bereavement at the departure of a much-loved great-grandmother,
grandmother and mother.
We would come to Jesus and find that our hearts were not troubled, as
they would be without Him.
And let's not lose sight of the other benefits that Jesus brings, who
says to us 'let not your hearts be troubled'. Eternal life, is not
something which is only our hope at the end of life. Eternal life is
that life now which acknowledges Jesus as Saviour and that trusts in
Him in our day-to-day living.
Jesus words in John 14, although He speaks about something that is yet
to come, talks about it as something that has impact today.
We who believe that Jesus is preparing a place for us in the
unforeseeable future, will regularly, as a matter of routine come to
that same Jesus for the grace we need and the peace of conscience that
only He can give. We will do this because even though we have faith,
even though we remember our baptismal identity as God’s holy children,
even though we daily try to repress and drown the old sinful nature
those baptismal waters, – that old sinful side of us keeps offending
God necessitating that we apologize anew to Him and seek His
forgiveness.
We try to resist temptation – we know God wants us to keep the
commandments, but sin keeps coming back. Yet with His forgiveness to
all who repent and say sorry to Him, Jesus Christ is preparing a place
for us in His Father's house.
And that is part of the reason why we are to long for eternal life –
to long for that time when the new life begun in Christ, and prepared
for us by Him, will finally be brought to completion, and we take up
permanent residence in our Father's house.
For that reason alone it is good for us to talk about death and the
resurrection – and to sing songs, such as "Be Still, My Soul" to
remind us that we are waiting for the work that faith began in us to
be brought to completion, and for us to reach perfection.
St.Paul said we should live as aliens on this planet. He wrote:
'Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to
abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such
good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing
wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he
visits us'.
With the passing of dear Bette from this world, we again hold before
our eyes Jesus' wonderful words, 'let not your hearts be troubled'.
But sometimes we find it hard to recall the blessed words of Jesus:
'Let not your hearts be troubled'. There is much that transpires from
the time that we are brought to faith to the time that we encounter
the end that the Lord has intended for us.
We face many trials, temptations, and causes for suffering. We face
disappointments, pain, and grief. We face the afflictions of
heartache, mental and emotional anguish, physical infirmities and
illnesses, and all kinds of trouble. When faced with these things it
is easy for us to lose sight of those words: 'Let not your hearts be
troubled'.
What can any of us say, except that into our troubled minds we should
add the life-giving words of Christ, 'Let not your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God; trust also in me.
2: In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would
have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
3: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take
you to be with me that you also may be where I am'.
Trusting in the unchanging and eternal word of God, specifically
Christ's words about not letting one's heart be troubled, permits the
believer to live without doubting the goodness of God. It grants the
believer the ability to go forward through life in peace.
With His word and the Sacraments of His Church, Christ applies to us
that love of God of which He speaks. In this way God applied His love
to Bette. She was first given that love at her baptism, and it never
left her, although, like all of us, she occasionally lost sight of it.
With the help of God, who gives us His Word and Sacraments, true faith
produces a quiet trust in the Lord in all things. In connection with
faith, one is enabled to wait while the Lord accomplishes the end that
He intends. Faith allows one to see that the Lord is compassionate and
merciful, even when things would seem to indicate otherwise.
Faith remembers that God's Son also died, carrying away our sins upon
His shoulders, that we might able to face God free from sin and
guilt. He was crucified to pay for our pardon and raised from the
dead for our justification before God. By doing that for us, God was
demonstrating that He is both loving and faithful beyond question
toward us.
May God move each one of us to trust Him so that our hearts be not
troubled. May He enliven and strengthen such faith in you and me,
that we may live by His grace, knowing His wonderful compassion and
mercy, resting in His love and peace, making use of His gracious gifts
that are supplied through the Church for all who are the children of
God. Amen.
The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus forever. Amen.
[1] Matthew 25.41
[2] Romans 5.8
A combination of a funeral tomorrow and the culmination of the Lenten
season has got me blogging again. This time the intriguing question
is "Why did God make humans capable of a double death?"
see www.engelein.blogspot.com for the answer.
"Let not your heart be troubled"
in Christ,
JCN
The Revd Dr Jonathan Naumann,
Pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church & School
1261 Pennsylvania Avenue,
Oakmont, PA 15139-1195
Internet site:
www.redeemer-oakmont.org
e-mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tel. (412) 828-9323 Ext. 10
Cell. (412) 983-9922
Home: (412) 826-8833
The Manse
407 W 4th Street,
Pittsburgh, PA 15238
Informal blog:
http://engelein.blogspot.com
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