1.
Grace, mercy, and
peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word today, as we
mourn the death of Don Brey, a beloved Father, Grandfather, Brother, Uncle, and
Friend, is taken from John 10:11, 14-15, and 27-29. It’s entitled, “The Good Shepherd Takes
Another Lamb to Heaven,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
The body of Don
Brey lying here is exactly the reason a man named Jesus was sent into the
world. Death needed a cure. Death needed an enemy. Death needed a victor. And
death got one. It was Jesus, the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd goes
to battle against death. You can’t defeat death. Only Jesus can.
3.
You see, the
founder of all science, God the Father, determined, from the foundation of the
world, that science couldn’t cure death. No amount of technology. No drugs. No
vaccinations. The Creator of all mysteries in the universe, God the Father,
determined, from the foundation of the world, that no cryptic formula, no
alignment of stars could cure death. The maker of all emotions, God the Father,
determined, from the foundation of the world, that neither passionate human
love nor personal sincerity nor Olympic-like individual effort could cure
death.
4.
Only One could
cure death. Only One could make right that horrible first death in the Old
Testament Book of Genesis, righteous Abel, and every death in between, right
down to this one before us. The Good Shepherd, Jesus, laid down his life to
defeat death.
5.
It’s written,
though little believed in the world, that God the Father said to the very first
human beings, Adam & Eve, “In the day that you eat of [the fruit] you
shall surely die” (Gen 2:17). And it’s written, and less believed by the
world, that God the Father’s cure for death came from “the Seed of the woman,”
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Gen. 3:15).
6.
And so it was,
that the cure for death was born of the Virgin Mary, as we celebrate at
Christmas, and then he, Jesus, laid down his life on a cross. His death defeats
death. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. That’s how death was
defeated. That’s how Don gains eternal life. That’s how Don never
perishes. That’s how Don can’t be snatched from the hand of Jesus, His
Good Shepherd.
7.
He who has no
faith in Jesus, the Good Shepherd, could look at this body, these family
members with their tears and sorrows and ask, “Who is your Good Shepherd who
knows you and leaves you in such a state? Who is your Good Shepherd from whom
you believe that you will have eternal life? Who is your Good Shepherd in whom
you believe that you shall never perish?”
8.
You answer
simply, but boldly: Jesus. For, there is no other name given under
heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Not Allah. Not Buddha. Not
Medicare. Not the United States of America. Only Jesus. The Father has put all
things under Jesus’ feet (Ephesians 1:22). That includes death. Death is now a
footstool to Jesus. But then, why the reality of what we see here? This lifeless body?
9.
Sin. Sin still
ravages the body. Sin still has its teeth in our flesh. But, you must not put
your eyes on your sin. Put them on Jesus. Hate your sin, detest your sin, curse
your sin, but fix your eyes on, “Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our
faith” (Heb 12:2). He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the
world, as John the Baptist proclaimed (John 1:29). How? By becoming sin for
you. St. Paul writes in 2 Cor. 5:21, “God
made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God.” Jesus, your Good Shepherd, took on your punishment
for your sins. By dying your death. A death that didn’t have dominion over
Jesus. A death that could not hold Jesus in the grave. Three days after Jesus
laid down his life, the Father vindicated the Son. He was raised from the dead.
10.
St. Paul writes
in Romans chapter 6: “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will
never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died
he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God” (Rom
6:9–10). That’s why St. Paul says here
in Romans 6, “that we were buried with Christ by baptism into death in order
that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,
we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4).
This is why Don’s parents, Clarence & Gertrude, took him to
Emmaus Lutheran Church in Poy Sippi on July 28th, 1940 to be
baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection.
On that day God got Don’s death over with and he was raised to newness
of life in Jesus Christ His Lord. And,
years later God led Don to confess with his mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of the Father, when he was confirmed in his Christian faith at Emmaus
Poy Sippi on Palm Sunday April 11th, 1954.
11.
I personally
didn’t know Don, but I do know that Jesus His Good Shepherd knew Him,
and He gave up His life on the cross for Him to give Don the promise of
eternal life, to prepare a heavenly home for him (John 14:3). You and I must still live in the flesh. Don
has put his off. On Thursday December 5th, the Lord Jesus said to Don,
“Today you are with med in paradise” (cf. Lk 23:43). His soul is with
all the saints, awaiting the resurrection of his body when it will be fashioned
like the Lord Jesus’ glorious body (Phil 3:21). Since Don believed in
the forgiveness of his sin in this life, he now has new life, eternal life,
Jesus’ life. Don Has New Life because
of Jesus, His Good Shepherd.
12.
“Now may 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, equip you with everything
good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his
sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Heb 13:20–21).
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