Life is not for wimps. A talk at a funeral
Life is hard, especially as we grow older. It is not for wimps. It takes courage. And S had courage in abundance. But with her courage she also had hope and, I am pretty sure of this, a sense of the risen Jesus walking beside her. One of the last books she was reading was about the Jesus prayer.
It is appropriate, given S was a quite literal home maker, both our readings (John 14:1-6, Revelation 21.2-7) speak about our ultimate home – not here, but in heaven, in the new Jerusalem.
Revelation: ‘See the home of God is among mortals’.
Estate agents sometimes speak of ‘your forever home’ (I struggle with that phrase!) Well, this is the real ‘forever home’, where there will be no more pain and weeping, no more death and mourning.
And Jesus says that he is going to prepare a place for us.
He did that by his death for us on the cross.
And when he has done that he will return and ‘take you to be with me so that where I am you may be also’.
Again, it is the language of presence.
I don’t think this is Jesus just talking about how he will come back to his followers in his resurrection.
He is also speaking about how he will come back to us – here and now 2000 years later – with his Holy Spirit, to guide us and be with us while we walk through ‘this troublous life’
S did not have an easy death, although mercifully it was short, and she was able to have time with her family. But our hope is that Jesus was with her as she went through death, and that he has taken her with him to his Father’s house.
And she will be able to walk through those gates in confidence and peace not because she was perfect – but because he is with her.
That is what it means when Jesus says, 'I am the way, the truth and the life'.
Is this wishful thinking?
It is appropriate, given S was a quite literal home maker, both our readings (John 14:1-6, Revelation 21.2-7) speak about our ultimate home – not here, but in heaven, in the new Jerusalem.
Revelation: ‘See the home of God is among mortals’.
Estate agents sometimes speak of ‘your forever home’ (I struggle with that phrase!) Well, this is the real ‘forever home’, where there will be no more pain and weeping, no more death and mourning.
Of course we cannot speak of it because it is bigger than space and time, beyond space and time as we know it – and we can only use picture language. And the language that is used here is of a radiant city - like a bride - coming down from heaven.
But the key thing about this picture language is that it speaks of presence. The God who we know by faith now, who can be so hidden and yet who we often encounter, we will know with certainty then: ‘God will dwell with them, they will be his peoples.’ ‘I will be their God and they will be my children’.
And in our reading from John, Jesus also speaks of his Father’s home: ‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places’, ‘mansions’, in another translation.
But the key thing about this picture language is that it speaks of presence. The God who we know by faith now, who can be so hidden and yet who we often encounter, we will know with certainty then: ‘God will dwell with them, they will be his peoples.’ ‘I will be their God and they will be my children’.
And in our reading from John, Jesus also speaks of his Father’s home: ‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places’, ‘mansions’, in another translation.
And Jesus says that he is going to prepare a place for us.
He did that by his death for us on the cross.
And when he has done that he will return and ‘take you to be with me so that where I am you may be also’.
Again, it is the language of presence.
I don’t think this is Jesus just talking about how he will come back to his followers in his resurrection.
He is also speaking about how he will come back to us – here and now 2000 years later – with his Holy Spirit, to guide us and be with us while we walk through ‘this troublous life’
S did not have an easy death, although mercifully it was short, and she was able to have time with her family. But our hope is that Jesus was with her as she went through death, and that he has taken her with him to his Father’s house.
And she will be able to walk through those gates in confidence and peace not because she was perfect – but because he is with her.
That is what it means when Jesus says, 'I am the way, the truth and the life'.
Is this wishful thinking?
It could be, but for the actual resurrection of Jesus, and the conviction of the first believers that they saw him, touched him, ate with him, listened to him.
They were so convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead that they gave up everything for him and were prepared to die for him, proclaiming that he had risen from the dead.
Many over the last 2000 years have met with the risen Jesus. A few dramatically – but for most of us in terms of a conviction about his word, an inner peace, occasional remarkable answers to prayer and a sense of his presence.
And that was S’s experience
So we entrust her into his hands as he takes her to her new home to be with him.
And we entrust each other into the hands of the Jesus who is with us. Grief is very hard and it will not be easy. We need each other. We need courage. But we also have hope. We are not on our own.
They were so convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead that they gave up everything for him and were prepared to die for him, proclaiming that he had risen from the dead.
Many over the last 2000 years have met with the risen Jesus. A few dramatically – but for most of us in terms of a conviction about his word, an inner peace, occasional remarkable answers to prayer and a sense of his presence.
And that was S’s experience
So we entrust her into his hands as he takes her to her new home to be with him.
And we entrust each other into the hands of the Jesus who is with us. Grief is very hard and it will not be easy. We need each other. We need courage. But we also have hope. We are not on our own.
Comments
Post a Comment