1. Grace to you and peace from God our Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Dear friends in Christ, especially Allan, David, Laurie, Sandra, Jeff, Chris, Julie, and Donna. Our hearts break for you. We pray that the God of all comfort would give you His help as you trust in His precious promises in Jesus Christ our Lord through His death on the cross for us and His resurrection from the dead.
2. Before Gertie was called home to heavenly rest, she spoke about how she hated to be confined to her room during these long days of the Covid-19 pandemic. She said that she felt like a prisoner at times because of it. That reminds me of a Portals of Prayer devotion I read years ago that spoke about the effects of life in a sinful, broken world as being like solitary confinement, it said: “Sin turns us into prisoners who have only ourselves to look at or talk to: no God, no neighbors, no others to whom we can relate” (Paul Gregory Alms, Portals of Prayer, devotion for April 25, 2006). Yes, sin very much is like solitary confinement—and the loneliness that this pandemic has caused has exacerbated that problem.
3. I realize that loneliness isn’t because there’s been no one to offer themselves to you. By now I’m sure more people have offered you condolences than you can count. But I’m just as sure that for all the words that have been spoken, none of them has taken away your grief. For all of our words are powerless words. They can’t change what’s happened.
4. We have a lot of nice words to speak of Gertie. It’s what the word eulogy means, “a good word.” Gertie was a United States Navy veteran during the Korean War. She retired from the Milwaukee Court Systems in 1985 after 30 years of faithful service. Gertie loved to paint, complete puzzles, and travel all over the world. Her travels took her to Italy, Spain, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Gertie also loved theater and musicals. She was a member of Grace Lutheran Church in Oak Creek, WI. And we must not forget the Good Word that was spoken over Gertie to make her a child of God. Gertie was baptized into the Christian faith through water and the Word of God on March 11th, 1930 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI. On April 18th, 1943 she confirmed the Christian faith that she received in her baptism at Trinity Lutheran Church in Milwaukee.
5. But as many nice words that we can say in regard to Gertie, they can’t take away your grief over her death. All our words express no more than the fact that all we can do as your family, friends, and fellow church members is to stand off to the side and tell you how sad we are that this has happened, and how much we know you’ve lost a good woman, because she was good to us too. But, our words can’t take away your grief. It’s because, in the end, our words are so weak in the face of death.
6. Even the Bible understands this. St. Paul, thinking of the great tragedies of human life, had to ask, “What then shall we say to these things?” (Rom 8:31). There’s a Word that’s stronger than all of our human words, thoughts, and sentiments. It’s a stronger Word because it isn’t just talk. It’s a person: the Word who was made flesh—Jesus Christ. He is, in himself, the very Word of God, not only spoken, but lived, for the entire world.
7. Do you remember the story of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead in John 11? It tells of how Jesus came to the funeral of his friend Lazarus. There, at the grave, were Mary and Martha, Lazarus’s two sisters. When Jesus saw Mary’s tears, he also cried. You probably know that’s the shortest verse in the Bible, those two words, “Jesus wept” (v 35). But it’s also one of the more important verses in the Bible, for it reminds us that the one who is the Word made flesh—our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, the almighty Son of the Father—was also able to share on the very deepest level our emotion. He who has the ability to know all things uses that ability, not to know those things that profit him, but the things that profit us. He knows the full depths of our grief.
8. Yes, I don’t fully understand your heartbreak, but Jesus does. The Word made flesh does understand how deeply you’re hurting. It’s why he’s your best friend in this time. He’s ready to listen to your tears and groans, your anger and hurt, your fears and despair. And he’ll be ready to listen when you’re able to speak. Don’t forget the one who weeps with us. This Jesus who stood there weeping with Mary and Martha at the death of Lazarus is the one who would himself suffer death, and do so voluntarily. Think of that. We will all die, but our deaths are involuntary. Most of us fight death tooth and nail as long as we can before we’re finally forced to submit to it. And the heroes who are willing to sacrifice themselves for others do so still wanting to avoid death themselves. Our dying is always involuntary. But this mighty Jesus, with a voice that can raise the dead, died willingly, without complaint, so that death might not be the end of us. He willingly died for our sins, and so defeated death. That is how much he loves us. That is how great is his compassion.
9. But remember something else. He not only has a deeper compassion than any of us, but this Word made flesh also has a Word of power, unlike our own words. Jesus said at the tomb of his friend, “Lazarus, come out” (v 43). And that Word of God is so strong that Lazarus arose from death. That’s a Word far different from our words. It’s different because of the one who speaks it. This Jesus is the one whom the Father would raise from death by a mighty Word, and this Jesus is the one whose resurrection is the final sign of his having conquered death, but not for himself alone. This Jesus has spoken a mighty Word to all who trust in him: “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25)
10. The one who weeps with you has a Word that’s more powerful than death. That’s why St. Paul, after he first wondered what he might say about all the tragedies of life went on to speak triumphantly about the fact that while those tragedies can separate us from one another for a time, they can’t ever separate us from Christ and his love.
11. The living Word of God, Jesus Christ, has already spoken a powerful Word over Gertie. When Gertie was baptized, the Word of God declared that she now belonged to God. Even if Gertie didn’t know that, the Word of God said it—and it was so. Each time Gertie prayed, she could do so with confidence because the Word of God assured her that she was talking to none less than her Heavenly Father. Each time Gertie heard the Word of God, she knew it was a Word with power to change things—a Word that created the world and also created Gertie into the woman she was! Each time Gertie confessed her sins and came to receive the Word made flesh in Holy Communion, that Word assured her of forgiveness, of the bodily presence of Christ for her, and the enduring promise of God’s love for her. Gertie, like all of us, was a sinner: she needed that Word of forgiveness like every one of us. And the forgiving Word was spoken—again and again, and always with truth and power.
12. And now Gertie has heard another powerful Word: Jesus’ own “Gertie, come forth.” Jesus, the Word of God, who assures us of life and salvation, assured a thief who was hanging on a cross next to him that “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Lk 23:43). No less a promise belongs to Gertie. Jesus, the Word made flesh, promises each one of us who trusts in him something sure and certain: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (Jn 14:3). That Is a Word That Does Change Everything. Everything—for it means this truly is only a temporary farewell, not a permanent loss, for all who share Gertie’s faith.
13. Nothing can take away the loss you are feeling now, for Gertie is not here in this life any longer. You have no choice but to grieve, and your grief does her honor. But yours can be a different kind of grief—not a hopeless grief, but a grieving in confidence—because there is something more than death for Gertie. Gertie is not dead; she is with Jesus. Because she is with Jesus, she is with all those who have died in faith. And because she is in Jesus, you can see her again.
14. The same devotion that spoke of loneliness also included this reminder: “[Jesus] opens the doors of our jail and frees us from sin’s solitary confinement” (Portals of Prayer, April 25, 2006). Yes, though our sin would have made death the end of everything, Jesus has spoken a “Lazarus, come forth” and a “Gertie, come forth,” even as he wishes to speak the same word to each of us. It’s a word that calls us forth into forgiveness, into life, and into eternal salvation. That word, from Jesus the Word made flesh, is stronger than death and able to bring peace, even to broken hearts. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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