A sermon preached on the occasion of the Funeral of +Phyllis G. Bohlmann+, February 26, 2022 at St. Peter–Immanuel Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, on Isaiah 29:17-24. You may play the audio of the sermon here.
A transcript of the sermon follows the jump:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text today is from the prophet Isaiah, the 29th chapter:
Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest? In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. For the ruthless shall come to nothing and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off, who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right. Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale. For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction.”
Thus far the text.
Dear Mel, family, and my dear friends in Christ,
God, through the prophet Isaiah, was not pleased with His people, Israel. And still, He gives them hope. He tells them of the wonders He will do for them. But, most importantly, He gives them a picture of the world which is to come, a world that Phyllis had hope for, a world we have hope for, also. This world will be so thick with fruit for the picking that it will be as difficult to get through as a forest in the middle of the summer. Bodies will be healed; the dear will hear, the blind will see. Those too meek to speak for themselves will be lifted up above all and those who had too little will be given everything. It’s a beautiful picture Isaiah writes for us.
But the people had been far from God, honoring Him with their lips, but not their hearts. And so they feared the Lord. Phyllis had her feet in two camps. On one side, she was the sinner, the one who deserved the wrath of the Lord, but on the other, she had been made a saint in Christ, an inheritor of every good thing He promised her. Phyllis, the sweet, kind woman, who cared so much for everyone, who always had a pleasant word, who loved her husband so deeply, was a sinner in the eyes of God. We know this, for the promise of the Law to those who break it is death. And so, Phyllis, asleep in the Lord, was a sinner.
But, Phyllis is asleep. She is waiting. Her story is not done. She was made a saint in Christ. She was the ruthless one, the scoffer, the one who did evil, the offender before God, but she was taken from these things and brought into the marvelous light of the Lord. Phyllis knew the hope of Jesus Christ crucified and risen for her, thus she would no longer be ashamed before the face of God. She is not ashamed now, either, standing in the presence of her God, waiting for the day of resurrection. She stands vindicated before the Lord, knowing that her hope was not in vain, that her sin had been taken away from, that the Lord Jesus had given her His righteousness.
Phyllis is the work of the hands of God. From the dust He formed, shaped her, gave her breath, gave her life. And to the dust He called her again, but not forever. Phyllis sanctified the name of the Holy One of Jacob, the Holy One of Israel. She, by her life, by her witness, by her blessed death, and by the life which is to come blesses the name of God. We look at her and we see Christ crucified. We look at her and we see Christ risen. We look at her and we see Christ ascended. We look at her and we wait for Christ returned. We look at her and we see Jesus.
You see, our Lord blessed Phyllis so that He might be blessed. And so He is. He looks upon her and upon you with His love, and He promises her and He promises you the wonders of the world to come, the world in which all things are made new. It’s no secret that the last two years have been so hard for Phyllis and Mel, with the surgeries and the sicknesses and the COVID, and now death. But this is but a blip in the span of eternity. This is nowhere near the end of the joys that come to those who believe in Jesus.
Phyllis will be raised from death, never to need a surgery again, never to hunger again as she did in her last days. She will be made whole, she will be fed by the Lord, she will bless Him even as He brings her joy. And we shall be with her. Phyllis received the Lord’s body and blood in her last days. She prayed. She confessed the faith. She knew her end. She knew the Lord redeemed her from the pit, forgave her sins, and was welcoming her into His loving arms. And so it should be also for us, that we should share this same hope, keeping our eyes fixed on the day of our Lord’s coming, when we shall finally understand all things and live righteously even as He is righteous.
The Lord sees our sin, as He saw Phyllis’, but this did not stop the love He would show her by sending His Son to die for her. Jesus did this that God would love her forever and ever. And so He does. And so He loves you, that you would see Him also in faith, that you would be made whole, that you would live in a world gone right, that you will live with Phyllis and all who love Him forever and ever. 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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