Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the Gospel according to John, the fourteenth chapter:
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me… Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Thus far the text.
Dear Tim, Jim, Dan, Kris, Cathy, Betty, and my dear friends in Christ,
There is little, of course, that can be said to ease the pain of the loss of Don from your lives. And that is not because there is no hope, but that in these times of uncertainty, the pain we feel often overtakes that which we know to be true. We feel loss rather than joy, heartbreak instead of confidence, and perhaps even fear instead of surety.
But, as I’ve been told time and time again, that is not what Don felt in these last days. And I’m not talking about the last days of his life, but rather these last days of this sinful and sin-filled world, the days that will come to an end when our Lord Jesus Christ returns from heaven to make all things new in him, including Don, and including all of us who are in Christ.
Don was a man of confidence. There was no fear for him, no doubt, regarding these last days. He knew, even in this life, that he was with his Lord, Jesus Christ, and soon Don would see Him face-to-face. This is the great joy of the Christian life: that one who abides in the shelter of the Most High God will always be with Jesus, now in this life through Word and Sacrament, then in heaven waiting for the Last Day, and finally in the Resurrection, when Jesus will raise all the dead out of their graves and make their bodies new in Him so that they will live forever with Him.
This was Don’s hope. This is our hope. And it is even what Jesus tells us to do today. Do not let your hearts be troubled. That doesn’t mean not to grieve. That doesn’t mean not to be sad. Grieving and sadness are part of this life when those we love are gone from us. Jesus instead is telling us that regarding the end, our end, we should have no fear. We should not be troubled. For if we see Jesus live, we will see Him die upon the cross. This happened. And if we see Jesus die, we will see Him resurrect Himself three days later. This happened. And if we see Jesus resurrected, then we will see Him ascend into heaven to be with His Father, preparing a place for us to go. This also has happened. And if we see Jesus ascend into heaven, we will see Jesus descend from heaven, bringing heaven with Him to dwell here with us for eternity. We are waiting anxiously for this day.
You see, this day will be glorious. Then, all the dead in Christ will rise and we shall all be together. You do not see Don as he was now, but soon you will see him as he will be, for he will be perfect, he will live forever more, and you will be with him and with Jesus forever. That is the Christian hope. We don’t just hope that we get to go to heaven and float around. We hope in the fact that Christ will redeem every hurtful and harmful thing from this life and will make good on His promise of restoration.
And thus, your father, your friend, our Christian brother in Christ, will be raised, restored, redeemed, not dead but living eternally in Christ. That’s the point of today’s Gospel reading. Jesus is the way, the truth, the life of this promise. You want to live forever? Jesus. You want to see those you love? Jesus. You want to have all evil things undone? Jesus. Jesus is the answer to our pain. Jesus is the answer to our loss. Jesus is the answer to our uncertainty. Jesus is the answer to our heartbreak. Jesus is the answer to our fear.
Jesus has undone these things in His resurrection, not because we don’t experience them, but because they cannot separate us from Him any longer. We have been bound up with Christ, as Don was, as we all are, through baptism. Paul says that our baptism baptizes us into Christ’s death, drowning our sins, but it also raises us into Christ’s resurrection, giving us His life. That is our Christian hope. We wonder if we’re saved? Baptism. We wonder if we’ll see our loved ones again? Baptism. We wonder if God is good? Baptism. We worry? Baptism. We fear? Baptism. We doubt? Baptism. Because Baptism is Jesus.
Our Lord has given to us, and He has given to Don, that wonderful gift, the down payment of the promise of the resurrection. That is why Don was not troubled in the these last days. He had a sure and certain promise. As sure as the water poured over Don’s head, as sure as the Word was spoken over him, Don will be raised from the dead. And we shall be with Don, for we have that same promise.
This is all that Jesus is talking about today in the Gospel text. For He is in the Father, the Father is in Him, and Christ is in us, on us, around us. This is great hope. And the greater works that Christ speaks of is that we would believe in the one who sent Jesus Christ into this world. We have to believe. We have not seen Jesus with our own two eyes. I wish I had, because sometimes my faith doesn’t seem strong enough, but Jesus tells us, essentially, not to worry, that if we cannot believe in God, in Christ, just outright, then believe in the works of the Church. Believe in what Christ has done. Believe in what Jesus says to do. Believe that your Baptism saves you, as Christ tells you it has. Believe that the Lord’s Supper is His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins as He promises. Believe that He will bring you to the Day of Resurrection, because He tells us He will do it. If we ask for anything in His name, He will do it.
And we ask it. We pray for it. We beg for it. All in Jesus’ name. And He will do it, for He is good, He is gracious, He is merciful, He is our Lord, and He is Don’s Lord, now and forever. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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