St. Luke 7:11-17
The Rev. BT Ball
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
You have seen the scene before, too often, perhaps you have not only seen it, you have experienced it; the death of a child. What could possibly tear the heart of a mother more than the death of her child, her only son? Or a father at the death of his only son? Some of you know. Some of you have seen. Great grief, pain, hurt, anguish. Our words try to get at what it is, but the words don’t always work. Some of you know, some of you have seen. But whether you have lost a child to early death or not, you all have lost someone and felt the sting of death. What an enemy it is, it robs, steals us of those we love and treasure and tears flow. Years go by and the pain of the moment which happened so long ago returns fresh and new as if it were the day of the funeral again.Imagine then to have someone walk up as the funeral procession is heading to the cemetery and getting in the way. After the funeral service there is the committal, the commending to the ground of the body of the one that is loved and lost. Imagine someone getting in the way, stopping things. And then opening his mouth and saying “Don’t cry.” Now while is voice would be full of compassion and care, it still would seem rude, so much that you might want to punch the guy in the face. The intrusion, uninvited, unexpected delay of the burial, would be a bit much. The burial being held up by a man with a bunch of followers who stops things and saying to a mourning mother, a widow at that, only son dead. Held up is right, the child stolen away by death, and now the burial procession stolen away by…who? By life.Jesus is life. And he has come to stop death. To put an end to it. To put an end to all funeral processions. To put an end all burials. He stopped the funeral that day, with his hand right on the coffin. He had compassion on the mother who lost her child, it moved him to act. He has compassion on you, whether you are mourning still, will mourn or whether someone will mourn over you. Because, don’t forget, someday, someone is going to carry you to the cemetery. You’ll be in a funeral procession, not as a mourning participant, but as the one dead in the box. And the wages of sin is death. Everyone who dies is a sinner, following Adam on down, boys and girls have died, old men and women have died because of the curse of sin. And even Jesus has died, taking on all the sin of boys and girls, little babies, old men and old women everyone. He took your sins and died for you. Jesus has come to put a stop to all the dying. He has come to put a stop to crying mothers and fathers. He has come to put a stop to mourning and weeping. He has done so as the only son of his Father, the first born son of the virgin, who went into death and died a perfect death, to destroy its power. He is life. He stops death cold, by rising. Jesus said, “young man, I say to you arise!” Would it not have been the same kind of words from God the Father’s mouth to His only begotten Son, “My Son, arise!” The only son of God, Jesus, he went in a procession too, Joseph, Nicodemus, John, his mother, the women. There was no stopping it on that day. But on the third day – then! He who suffered and died was raised to life again by his Father, destroying the power of sin and death, and he puts an end to the sting of death forever. Hebrews says, “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9). It is true, while our Lord Jesus has been crowned with glory, while he has destroyed death, while he is risen, we don’t see things how they really are. Death stings now, but God has visited his people, God in flesh has come down and he has tasted of death, the suffering of death and while we do not see the victory now, it is yours. Jesus tasted death, he felt it he knew it. He died. You taste life now, as Jesus is given to you to eat and to drink. He gives life to all who believe. And there will be a day, when he returns, where all the funerals will be done. There will be a day when there will be no more lives cut short. No more processions to the graveyard, no more burials, no more death. And in his compassion, Jesus will say to you “arise!” You will live. The ones you cry for will live. Raised, made alive, speaking of the glorious things of God who comes, in compassion to visit his people and save them from death. And there will be no more crying, no more weeping, no more sadness, there will be life. Amen.
