The text this afternoon is from the Gospel according to John, the fifth chapter:
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
Thus far the text.
Dear Michelle, Danielle, and Alexandria, and my dear friends in Christ,
Your dear beloved Ron isn’t dead. He is. But he’s not. I don’t know the last time someone told you such a thing, but it’s true. Your husband, your father, your grandfather, your friend is not dead, but he is only sleeping. This is Jesus’ promise to you. “Whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life.” And Jesus doesn’t lie.
So, if Jesus doesn’t lie and Ron believes in Jesus how can he be dead if he has eternal life? He can’t. He is with his Lord and he is safe. Now, of course, we know that Ron isn’t among us right now. We can’t see him, we can’t hold him, we can’t hear him. But that doesn’t mean he’s gone.
Perhaps Ron would be laughing at me right now in my attempts to explain this; I don’t know. The world thinks of people who pass to be with their Lord in a ghostly way, like Ron is still around, haunting us, making things happen, touching us, whispering to us. But that’s not what our Lord says happens. It is appointed to man once to die and then the judgment. Ron is not here as we knew him. His body is here, his ashes are here. They’re right there. And that is indeed Ron. But something has happened to him that never was supposed to happen. He died.
You see, Ron was a sinner, as are we all. We know that. We know that because he died, and the wages of sin is death. Those who die are sinners, they must be. And in that death, because of sin, something happened to Ron that was never supposed to occur. God created Adam and Eve, soul and body. They aren’t souls who had bodies, they were people who are both soul and body and because of sin, when death occurs, the soul is taken away from the body, the soul is separated from the body. But that’s what’s not supposed to happen. We’re supposed to always be together. But we’re not.
In a very real sense then, we can look at Ron’s urn today and say, yes, that is him. He’s dead. But, we also know that it isn’t the whole story, and that his body rests here, and his soul is cared for in the arms of Christ. Ron is both dead on the earth and alive in Christ. It’s called a paradox, how two things can be true and contradictory. Ron is dead, Ron is alive and asleep in Christ.
Now, I say all that to say this: be comforted in this knowledge, Ron is with Jesus in heaven and he is awaiting you. He’s not here on the earth, he’s not wandering around like a spirit with no hope. Ron is awaiting you and he’s awaiting the day of the great Resurrection from the dead, when all those who have faith in Christ will hear His cry of command and will come out of their graves, never to die again. Ron’s body is here, awaiting the voice of Christ from the heavens to come back and live once more. And so he will.
This is the sure and certain hope that Ron has in his Lord, Jesus Christ. He had this hope through his life on this earth, and he has it even more fully now. That’s what a funeral is all about. It’s to remind the living of the great hope that we also have in Jesus Christ, that we, who believe in Christ’s word of forgiveness, life, and salvation, shall be raised from the dead with Ron and all who believe in Jesus.
Faith in Christ isn’t just some kind of comfort food. It’s the heart of life, it’s the lifeblood of living. It’s necessary, and only when it is in Christ, only when it is focused on Him, does it deliver the sure and certain promise that we have: Ron is not dead, but asleep, and awaits the wakeup call of Christ. And through Ron’s life, through his education, through his family, this is where his eyes were focused, on his Lord. And the reason for that is hope. Hope for a future forever. Hope for life forever. Hope to be with his family forever.
Ron’s faith, given to him by Jesus Christ Himself, propelled him to the arms of His Lord, and there he is safely kept until His return. Though we may grieve now, we do not grieve as those who have no hope, but as those who trust in Christ’s return to raise the living and the dead. We have this great and certain hope, and it is especially in our eyes now as we begin to look forward to our Easter season. If Christ is raised from the dead, then all His promises are true. And indeed, He is raised, and so shall be Ron, and so shall you be. 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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