+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Dear Debby and Alan, the rest of the extended
Lowery Family, Members of our Pilgrim Lutheran Church, and other gathered
friends,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and
from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
God our Father has been pleased to summon out of
this vale of tears to our eternal home the soul of our dear sister in Christ,
Sarah Jane Crockett Lowery, who departed this life this past Monday, at the age
of 82. Her earthly remains are before us. In the final ten months of her life
that I have been pastor of Pilgrim Lutheran Church, getting to know her a little
was my privilege and pleasure. Although she would not schedule a time for me to
visit her at her home, her repeated visits to the emergency
room, hospital, and the nursing home gave me other opportunities
to visit with her, on occasion hearing her confession and absolving her and
communing her. At those times, I welcomed her interest in the progress of our
sanctuary remodeling, and we are thankful for the designation of memorials in
her honor to that end. Yet, what I appreciated more about Sarah, as I got to
know her, was her care and concern for the members of our congregation
and for her own family. I think that care and concern are evident in her
choosing as the Bible text for this funeral sermon certain verses from the
sixth chapter of the Holy Gospel according to St. John.
The verses she chose
come after Jesus has fed more than five‑thousand people with only five
loaves and two fish, after He walked across the Sea of Galilee back to
Capernaum, and after a crowd found Him there and He began to speak to them
about His being the bread of life. Hear these words that He speaks both to
believers and to unbelievers.
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me
shall never thirst. 36 But
I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37
All that the Father gives
me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast
out. 38 For
I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of
him who sent me. 39 And
this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that
he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone
who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will
raise him up on the last day.”
For our meditation on that reading on this occasion, I have
chosen the theme “Coming to Jesus”.
The phrase “Coming to Jesus” can a have a somewhat
different meaning in popular culture. Especially the last twelve years
or so, people have labeled as a “come to Jesus” meeting those meetings where
someone has to face an unpleasant truth, such as being confronted
over negative behavior. Such meetings sometimes have specific ground
rules, such as nobody interrupting another or putting words in another’s
mouth. The meetings might even include ultimatums of decreasing
politeness that border on or cross over into being a threat. That popular‑culture
meaning of “come to Jesus” is only somewhat different from its apparent
origin in the 19th‑century Holiness Movement, where travelling preachers
called people to “come to Jesus” to repent or else be damned for eternity.
Sarah, our dear sister in Christ, knew what it
was to repent of her sin. As much as you love and think well of your momma,
na-na, aunt, or friend, we all must also acknowledge that she was a
sinner, as we all are sinners. God through St. Paul says that the wages
of sin are death. In the death we see before us, we see what is in store
for us on account of our sin. As is clear in the text that Sarah chose, some
see Jesus and do not repent and believe, or do not come to
Him, while others see Jesus and do repent and believe, or do come
to Him. As Jesus makes clear in the verses after the text, no one can come
to Jesus on his or her own, but God the Father draws them to Him, He grants
that they come to Jesus, or, as the text says, He gives them to Jesus.
God the Father from eternity gave Sarah
to Jesus in repentance and faith, and God the Father also wants to give you
and me to Jesus in faith. As Jesus made clear in the text, He came
in order to do the will of Him Who sent Him. That will is not for Jesus to
lose any of those sinners whom God the Father gave Him but to raise
them up on the Last Day. That will is not for Jesus to lose but to raise up Sarah,
you, and me. So, Jesus invited her, as He also invites us,
to come to Him
Jesus was and is true God, Who came down
from heaven and has taken on human flesh. (No one can come to God apart
from coming to the human flesh of Jesus.) In that human flesh, Jesus wrestled
with the will of Him Who sent Him; He was repeatedly tempted not to do that
will. The most vivid example of Jesus’s wrestling with that will is His
struggling in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying that if it were possible the cup
of suffering and death might pass from Him. Yet, in those same prayers, He
submitted to God the Father, praying “Not My will, but Yours be done.” Jesus
submitted to God the Father for us and for our salvation. Jesus died on
the cross and rose again from the grave for Sarah, for you, and for me, to save
us from our sin. Because of Jesus’s death on the cross and resurrection from
the grave, when Sarah repented and believed, when she came to Jesus, God the
Father forgave her sin, whatever her sin was. Likewise, when you and I repent
and believe, when we come to Jesus, God the Father forgives your sin and mine,
whatever our sin might be. God the Father gives us to Jesus and gives
us that forgiveness in the same specific ways.
A couple of the ladies at Pilgrim were sharing
with me their memories of Sarah always bringing food to congregational meals;
she clearly wanted people to be fed! In a much greater way, our Lord Jesus
wants to feed us physically and spiritually. Jesus identifies Himself in the
text as the bread of life, He Who gives life, and He says that whoever comes to
Him shall not hunger. Those who are baptized and believed come to Jesus present
in the Sacrament of the Altar with His body and His blood in bread and wine,
and from Him they receive forgiveness and eternal life.
In the text, Jesus describes God the Father’s will
in two ways: first, Jesus’s not losing but raising up on the Last Day all those
Whom the Father has given Him, and, second, everyone’s looking on the Son and
believing in Him and so having eternal life and being raised up on the Last
Day. Those who are so coming to Jesus are baptized and regularly partake of the
Sacrament of the Altar. Elsewhere Jesus says both that, unless one is
so born of water and the Spirit, one cannot enter the Kingdom of God, and
that, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood,
you have no life in you. But, Jesus says, whoever feeds on His flesh and drinks
His blood has eternal life and will be raised up on the Last Day.
In the text, Jesus rules out any possibility
that He will cast out someone so coming to Him. Yet, people can mistakenly
think they believe and are coming to Jesus when in fact they do not
believe and are not coming to Him. What Jesus says in the text and elsewhere is
true: no one can be snatched from the Father’s hand, but people can, as it
were, pry themselves out of His hand by their unfaithfulness. Being
baptized and regularly receiving the Sacrament of the Altar are ways we know
for sure we are saved. We look not to our faith and love but to God’s objective
promises of grace given for Christ’s sake.
By that grace of God, Sarah lived up to her and
others’ confirmation verse printed on the front of your service folder: she
was faithful unto death and has received her crown of life. She came
to Jesus. On the Last Day, He will raise up and glorify these remains, and she
will enjoy eternity in them. If you and I are coming to Jesus, we can be
comforted now, knowing both that on the Last Day we with our same eyes will see
her again and that we will spend eternity with her in God’s presence. If you are
not coming to Jesus, then let Sarah’s care and concern expressed in
choosing this text help make this occasion your “come to Jesus” moment. (Amen.)
The peace of God,
which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Amen.)
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +
