Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text that serves as the basis for this morning’s sermon is from the One-Hunded-Thirty-Ninth Psalm:
O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
Thus far the text.
Dear family of Rose and all my dear friends in Christ,
For the last one hundred years, our dear friend Rose has been the recipient of God’s grace. For all the changes in the world, the two World Wars, the rise of technology, the life she lived with her husband, Rose has been on the receiving end of God’s grace. That’s not to say that for that reason specifically she lived to such a ripe old age, but that she was baptized into her Lord Jesus Christ, and she then died in Him as well.
You see, Rose knew very well who she was in Jesus Christ. As I had been ministering to her, she was always hungry to hear a good word from Christ. That word, that thing she was always looking for, was, “I forgive you.” This word Jesus spoke to her in her Baptism. This word Jesus spoke to her in the holy Absolution. And this word Jesus spoke to her in the Lord’s Supper. She was always anxious to receive our Lord’s true body and blood. And why?
Because she knew, as the Psalmist knew, that she was a sinner. The proof of Rose’s sinful state lies before us today. Paul, the Apostle, tells us that the wages of sin is death, and so we know that whoever dies has sin. Rose knew this and she was yet unafraid. For she had a Lord greater than her sin.
She had a Lord Jesus who had searched her, showed her to be a sinner, declared her to be a saint in Him, and loved her through it all. She had a Jesus who was with her in her youth, in her adulthood. She had a Jesus who was with her in her home. She had a Jesus who knew her decline in health. She had a Jesus who knew all things about Rose and loved her regardless.
I say had. She had a Jesus. That’s not quite true. That’s not quite right. Rose has a Jesus. You see, though Rose is here with us in her body today, though this body decay, though it turn to dust, Rose is yet with her Lord even now. While death is an awful payment for sin, yet Rose was rescued, her soul taken to be with Jesus for a little while in heaven. But that is not where she shall remain. No, while her body, even while my body decays in this sin-filled world, Rose has a promise from her Lord, as do you, that our Lord will return, bodily, to this world, and shall call Rose’s body out of the grave that we shall put her in today, and He shall make her new. He shall restore to her everything that death took away, and in that Resurrection, she shall be with her Lord forever.
This is what our Jesus knows about Rose. There is nowhere in this life that she went without this promise. It could have happened in her infancy, that she had died. Or as a child. Or as a young married woman. It could have happened when her dear husband Elmer died. But, our Lord saw fit to give our dear Rose one hundred years in this life, showing to her great mercy. And He continues and is continuing to show her great mercy, for He is protecting her until that Last Day when He returns.
I went and visited Rose often during her last week. And when I saw her, when she heard me, and I asked how she was feeling, how she was doing, she gave me the same response as when I first met her. She was more aware two years ago, more vibrant, responding and interacting more. But in the last week, she was weak in her flesh, but strong in her faith. And when I asked how she was, it was and has been the same response: “Wonderful.”
This psalm today reminds us why Rose said wonderful. It isn’t because she was the prime example of health. It’s not because everything was easy in her life. It’s not because she didn’t fear death. It’s not because everything she saw and breathed and heard was wonderful. It’s because of her Lord. It’s because she knew her Lord was hers always. And she knew He would be coming to her in that moment. He would hear her sins, forgive them, and give her Himself to eat and to drink.
She would hear that she had been Baptized in Jesus’ blood. She would hear the Triune name of God declared over her. She would hear His wonderful Word as it was given to her. She would hear of His love for her. She would hear His forgiveness proclaimed to her. She would hear the prayers for her. She would hear the gift given to her in her ability to pray the Lord’s Prayer. She would hear the confession of faith in the Creed. And she would hear of the Lord’s institution of His Supper, giving to her His true body and His true blood for the forgiveness of her sins and the strengthening of her faith.
This is truly wonderful. And Rose had it all. No wonder she always declared that she was doing wonderfully, having been given all these gifts. It’s not because she had lived a hundred years, it’s because, for her whole life, she had a faithful Lord Jesus who gave to her all that she needed in this life, and all that she would need for the next.
And now look, though she is dead, yet shall she live. For Jesus has given to her the promise of everlasting life, and this promise is for you, and it is for your children. Jesus has brought Rose to be with Himself forever. And so she is. And so she shall be returned to us, those who rise in Christ, unto everlasting life. She is not lost. She is not gone. She is only sleeping for a little while, and yet we shall regain her and her presence with us.
Rose clung to her Lord’s hand, even until the end. And she is still clinging to Him, worshipping Him even now in spirit and in truth. And so she shall do throughout all of eternity, for the Lord is wonderful, and He gave Rose wonderful gifts. May we all be found wonderful, full of Jesus’ gifts when He takes us to be with Him. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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