Matthew 5:1-12
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Death affects us all, and the pain of separation remains very real to us. Each of these loved ones had lives that were memorable in many ways. They had families and friends like you who loved them and cared for them. And many, we hope, if not all of them, were faithful, baptized Christians who received the saving gifts of God in faith. But despite how much you may have loved or cared for them, try applying the words of our Gospel text directly to them. “Peacemakers.” “Hunger and thirst for righteousness.” “Persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” “Merciful.” We may have seen hints of these traits in them, portions of their personalities that reflected in our Lord’s words. But if you add them all together, they don’t add up. They were not fully any of these things. They were sinners, one and all, just as you and I are sinners.
And yet, isn’t that precisely how our culture tries to deal with death? We speak many pious words over those who have died. “Oh, she is bound to be in heaven, because she was such a nice person.” Such things are troubling, and I know they are troubling to many of you, because you have come to me and told me about funerals you have attended where much is said about the supposed goodness of the deceased but little, if any, is said about the goodness of God in sending His dear Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die for the wretched sinners of this world—you and me and all our neighbors—who are dying daily.
We all seem to have a desire, as soon as someone has died, to make them into a saintly character no one in this world would have recognized. We don’t want anyone to remember their blemishes and faults. We certainly don’t want anyone to know of their sins, the deep dark secrets that lie in the heart and soul of every son and daughter of Adam and Eve. And so, we sanitize. We scrub their life clean. We paint over it and give it a new look so that, by the time we are done, you can hardly recognize them at all. But sin can only stay in the dark for so long. Whether we are talking about the trials and faults of the deceased, or the darkness that lives within our own hearts, it will all come to light eventually under the unblinking eye of God’s Law.
When we, as Christians, deal with death, especially the death of ones close to us, those whom we have loved dearly, it is important for us to remember that we don’t have to whitewash anything. We don’t have to put on airs of perfection, to make sure that every piece is in place, that every bit of their life, and ours, is just as it should be. Nor do we need to go the cheap route of saying that everyone sins; that they weren’t perfect, but they were good enough to get in. That would be a mockery of Christ’s death on the cross. Jesus did not die for people who were basically good enough on their own. Jesus died for sinners, whose only hope is in His death on the cross.
And this, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is where the Gospel shines the brightest. The Gospel shines the brightest when the darkness of death would swallow us up; it shines brightest when we are overcome by fear and despair. It is in the midst of sin and even death itself that our Lord’s words of life and forgiveness truly bring hope.
You and I cannot stand in His holy presence by our own merits. But by His mercy, you may stand before the throne of grace with your spouse, with your parents and grandparents, with your children and grandchildren. You may stand before God’s almighty seat of judgment and hear Him call you “blessed.” How can this be? After all, we are still sinners. But you are blessed because you have been marked in Baptism by the One who made peace with God by His death at the cross. By faith, you are marked by the One who showed mercy, the One who was persecuted beyond anything you could ever endure, the One who mourned over the sin that would separate you from Him, the One whose hunger for your righteousness caused him to endure the forty days temptation in the wilderness and the torture of the cross. By the gift of faith you have received through the Holy Spirit, you are blessed.
By that same faith, you can face death without fear, for death does nothing but move you from this world of trouble and affliction to that place where there is no longer any suffering for the consequences of your sins. You can also face the memory of your loved ones who have died in the faith without any pretensions or silly notions of perfection. They were sinners, one and all. They had warts, blemishes, spots, and even worse—just like you. But the righteousness of Christ has covered it all! You are, indeed, blessed! In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.
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