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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Jerome, Stephanie, Cher, Jerome Junior, Sallye’s other family, her friends, and Brothers and Sisters in Christ of Pilgrim Lutheran Church,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)
From the image that looks back at you from the bulletin cover, to the Concluding Collect, Sallye’s funeral service today is replete with imagery and references to the Lord as our Good Shepherd, a revelation of our Risen Lord that both would have been near and dear to Sallye from her praying of the Psalms and is near and dear to many people, especially at times like this. We heard some of Holy Scriptures’ Old and New Testament references to that figure of speech of Jesus as our Good Shepherd, and, of course, there are others, some of which I will mention as we this morning consider today’s Scriptures under the theme, “The Lord, our Good Shepherd, has gathered Sallye into His arms”.
That the Lord, our Good Shepherd, has gathered Sallye into His arms, was not welcome news for those of us here who already miss her: a wife of more than fifty years, a life-long mother and grandmother who maybe has always “been there” for you until now, a dear sister in Christ, a friend, and so forth. Humanly speaking, you might be understandably angry at God over Sallye’s earthly death, but, Divinely-speaking, you should not be. For, Sallye’s earthly death is a consequence of God’s righteous wrath both at the original sin that she inherited from her parents, Kenneth and Jo Ann, and at the actual sins that Sallye committed as a result of that original sin. And, no doubt that those of you who knew Sallye generally better than others knew her sin better than others, too.
But, of course, Sallye was not the only sinner, and so was not the only one at whose sin God was and is righteously angry. We all inherit original sin and commit actual sins, too. Those who know you generally better than others know your sin better than others, too, and God knows your sin best of all. As we heard the Old Testament Reading cry, all flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field; the grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. Later Isaiah says, all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and, Isaiah continues, the Lord has laid on Him—His Suffering servant, the Messiah—the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6).
One of my first memories of my really getting to know Sallye was when she first came to me for private Confession and individual Absolution. Sallye was keenly aware of her own sin—some might think that she was too aware of it, but we all should be so aware of our own sin! More than aware of her own sin, Sallye knew to find forgiveness for her sin from her once‑crucified‑but‑now‑resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, and she valued the means by which that Lord Jesus Christ appointed for her to receive that forgiveness, means such as individual Holy Absolution. As God called and enabled Sallye to repent, God certainly calls and is willing to enable us all to repent of our sin—to turn in sorrow from it, to trust God to forgive our sin, and to want to do better than to keep sinning. When we so repent, then God forgives our sin—all our sin, whatever our sin might be, for the sake of that once‑crucified‑but‑now‑resurrected Lord Jesus Christ!
Some people thought that Sallye uniquely had a direct “red line” right to that Lord Jesus Christ, but she certainly did not have one any more than any other Christian has one in prayer. Some people think, that, if Sallye could not get into heaven with her piety, then no one can get into heaven, and that is at least closer to the truth, in that no one can get into heaven on their own, but it misses the mark in that Sallye’s piety was not what got her into heaven but what got her into heaven was her God-given faith in God’s amazing grace for Jesus’s sake (Lutheran Service Book 744)—amazing grace that was not only available to Sallye but amazing grace that is available to all of us sinners. As the Epistle Reading reminded us, the God‑man Jesus Christ suffered outside the gate of Jerusalem to sanctify the people—that is, “to make us holy”—through His own blood, shed on the cross, not only for Sallye, but also for you and for me. In the Gospel Reading, we heard that Lord Jesus, our Good Shepherd, Himself say that He had the charge with authority from His Father both to lay down His life for us sheep—to redeem us—and to take His life up again. His laying down His life for us and His taking it back up again is what makes Him our Good Shepherd! He knows His own, and His own know Him; they listen to His voice! And, because He, our Redeemer, lives, those who believe in Him shall conquer death; He lives our mansions to prepare, and He lives to bring us safely there (LSB 461:7). Jesus is the resurrection and the life; He who believes in Him will live, even though she dies, and whoever lives until He returns will never die (John 11:25‑26).
Outside of the Good Shepherd’s flock—apart from His Church that gathers around His Means of Grace, His Word in all of its forms—or with a hireling, who leaves the sheep and flees—not with a the Good Shepherd via a faithful under-shepherd—there is danger from the wolf, who snatches the sheep and scatters them, which means certain destruction. Faithful under‑shepherds pay careful attention to themselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made them overseers, to care for (or, “pastor”) the Church of God, Which He obtained with His own blood (Acts 20:28). Sallye understood the importance of the Lord’s Body and Blood, with bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Altar, as she often came in order to receive it from me privately, when, for whatever reason, she did not get here on a Sunday in order to receive it with the congregation. Sallye gifted me with several spider plants that are thriving in my home, and Sallye cared for my Wandering Jew plant in my study here at church more than once. No doubt she well appreciated Jesus’s illustration about Himself as the Vine and us as the branches that need to abide (or “remain”) in Him—such as through His Means of Grace, His Word in all of its forms—in order to bear fruit (John 15:1-11).
I understand that this last Christmas was pretty special in the Key family, as, for the first time in some 20 years, nearly everyone was together. As special as that was, I think Sallye and all y’all would enjoy more your being together in heaven for eternity! If Sallye seemed to nag you or others about God, such as by calling you to “let you know” (as if you did not know) that “the Church meets on Sundays”, you know that she did so because she loved you as God loves you, you know that she did so because she cared about your eternal soul, and you know that she did so because she wanted you to be there for the blessed reunion in heaven. Such spiritual care and concern were good works that flowed from her faith in keeping with her vocations of wife, mother, grandmother, friend, and the like. No doubt her faith was manifest in good works in keeping with her other vocations that she had: as special-ed teacher, farmer, and long-haul truck‑driver (ten years of driving from 6-to-6 overnight?!). Here at Pilgrim, her good works were in keeping with her vocations that included singing in the choir; teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School; crocheting cross-marked crib blankets and lap afghans; and taking her turn, what we call, “slicking-up” the buildings (and singing hymns aloud while doing it—I miss that already!). What do we do without her? With daily repentance and faith, we live as she did in God’s forgiveness of sins, extending His forgiveness and our own forgiveness out to all those with whom God brings us into contact. We receive comfort from the Redeemer Who lives to silence all our fears, to wipe away our tears, to calm our troubled hearts, and all blessings to impart (LSB 461:5). As the Divinely‑inspired author of the Epistle Reading assured us, the God of peace, Who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, will equip us with everything good that we may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ.
As we heard from Isaiah in the Old Testament Reading, the Lord God tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms; He carries them in His bosom and gently leads those that are with young. “The Lord, our Good Shepherd, has gathered Sallye into His arms”. Why last Thursday and why the way that He did so? One answer is because it pleased Him to do it then and in that way, and, as Isaiah says even later, His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor our ways His ways, but His ways and thoughts are higher than our ways and thoughts as the heavens are higher than the earth (Isaiah 55:8-9). The Lord is not arbitrary or capricious but, in fact, then and in that way He fulfilled promises He made to Sallye in her Holy Baptism, as He offers to fulfill promises for you. Sallye has come through the valley of the shadow of death, comforted by the Lord our Good Shepherd’s rod and staff, His law and Gospel, and so you can be comforted and come through that valley, too. Partake of the feast that He has prepared before you in the presence of your enemies, and goodness and mercy surely shall follow you all the days of your life, and you can dwell forever—with Sallye and with all others who have come before and who will come after her in the faith—in the house of the Lord, with resurrected and glorified bodies, in the lasting city that is to come.
Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +