A Short Sermon Mocking Death
Given at the funeral of my grandmother, Verona
Isaiah 25:6–9, 26:19a; 1 Corinthians 15:1–4, 20–27a, 50–57
Welcome to all in Jesus’ name, etc. Grandma, the humble and shy servant of all, but above all of Jesus Christ. Her wish that I proclaim not her, but Him.
Of our great enemies, Sin and Death, neither is “natural.” Death entered into the world through Adam’s rebellion against God. All Adam’s lost orphaned sons and daughters are enslaved by them, conquered by them, defeated by them. Death is not natural, it is not a part of life, it is not good. It is the enemy—it is literally our mortal enemy. All flesh is grass, and no false god, however powerful, not even “Science,” can overcome and cast off the veil of Death that is cast over all peoples. But what especially aggravates and intensifies the horror of Death is its “sting”: Sin. We did not have to die: we chose to drink the cup of the poison that has and is still killing us, Sin. Together, Sin and Death, our enemies totally overwhelm and destroy us. They won the victory over Adam and they hold the field against us. And cruelly and proudly, they mock us. “I have won the victory,” says Sin, “I have poisoned you!” “Ha, Sin has poisoned you, son of Adam,” says Death; “therefore, I will swallow you up—and there is no escape!” This two-headed monster is like a great and invincible Goliath mocking us, defying the army of Israel and telling us again and again: there is no hope for you! No escape! No deliverance from death! No triumph over sin! We have the victory: we have swallowed you up forever.
That is where things stand for “flesh and blood.” No sin-stung son of Adam, sentenced to death, can inherit the Kingdom of God.
The Gospel is the good news that there is a true Son of David who entered into battle with this ugly twin-headed giant with his own bare hands, defeated him and cut off his head, and saved Israel from all her enemies forever. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and of Mary. He is the true and Last Adam, who became obedient unto death on the tree of the cross where Adam had become disobedient unto death at the tree in the Garden. And by his obedience the many will be made righteous. For after bearing our sins in his body on the tree, the Righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, Christ rose again and trampled down death beneath his nail-pierced feet. He abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.
First he entered into battle with death’s “sting,” with sin. Sin is what makes death sting, what makes it hurt and wound and kill, what makes it really deadly and painful and horrible. Christ plucked the sting out of death by taking our place and taking it into himself. In our place condemned he stood. The LORD laid upon him the iniquity of us all, and destroyed it, once for all. He took our place; he said said ‘Yes’ to the cup we deserved to drink, the cup of God’s wrath, the cup filled with the terrible poison and sting of sin. He took that cup away from us. He drained the poison out of us and drank it down to the dregs. He dislodged the sting from our flesh by taking it into himself.
In doing so He stripped the Law of its power, knocked the Law’s teeth out of its mouth, bound it hand and foot and took it far away from us. He took the debt sheet from our midst when he nailed it to the cross. Sin is death’s sting, and the Law is sin’s power. The Law is what makes sin powerful: it is what exposes and shows up and condemns sin, what brings wrath and works death in the ungodly. But where there is no Law, there is no transgression. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming accursed for us when he hung on the tree of the cross. He satisfied all its demands. The Law said: “Adam and his sons stand condemned. They must die.” Thus the Law made sin powerful against us poor sinners. So the Lord Jesus said: “Alright Law: what you say is true. Adam’s sons do indeed stand condemned. So I will take their place. Do to me what you would do to them.” And on the cross the Lord Jesus took all our sins into his body, and God condemned sin in the holy and innocent flesh of his own Son. The Law gave full vent to its fury, and exhausted its power. If God is for us, who is to condemn? It is true, the sinner must die: but Christ Jesus, the Righteous One, is the One who died! More than that, who was raised, and who even now stands victorious at God’s right hand. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The Law condemned and executed and carried out its sentence fully and without delay: upon Christ! It can no longer condemn us. Christ died for our sins and rose for our justification: he is the end of the Law, the end of its power, for righteousness to all who believe in him.
So he holds the field victorious. Death and its sting, sin, and the Law that made the sting so sharp and deadly and powerful, have been overcome once and all. God’s dear Son has satisfied the Law by dying for our sins in our place: so the Law’s power is brought to nothing and sin’s sting is taken away. And this great Victory is not earned or achieved or merited but given by God to all who believe in His Son, all who belong to Christ Jesus and wait eagerly for his appearing. Our beloved Verona was such a one: she trusted in the Lord Jesus with all her heart. God gave her the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
But what about Death? Does it not still seem victorious? Doesn’t it still overpower us, the holy Christian people, and swallow us up? Does it not mock us still? If you believe in Christ, then this is what you must do: look death right in the eye and mock it back. For Christ must reign until all his enemies have been put beneath his feet, and the last enemy to be destroyed is Death. He is still allowed a time. But he has been disarmed: for his sting has been taken away from all who believe. If you trust in the Christ who died for you, then in the strictest sense you do not die: you only fall asleep in Christ. And soon, very soon, the Root and Offspring of David, the Bright Morning Star, will come again with healing in his wings to wake you up. He has already taken away the reproach of his people. That he did, once for all, when he became God’s Lamb and took away our sins. The day is coming when he will swallow up death forever. And he will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things will pass away. Death itself will die! And on that Day, on the great and awesome Last Day, when the dead will live and their bodies rise and those who dwell in the dust will awake and sing for joy. We will stand upon the new earth with our Redeemer, and in our risen flesh we will see God face to face. We will stand up, for the first time, as the men we were created to be, and we will look our God straight in the eye. And then, when faith has at last become sight, we will say: “Behold, look, this is our God! The one we have waited for all along, that he might save us. And he has! This is the LORD! Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
But that day is not yet come. We look for it in hope. In the meantime, so long as we continue to wait and to suffer and to “fall asleep in the Lord,” this is what we do: we take up the shield of faith and go ourselves, little Davids all, into battle with the little deaths that we suffer. We look death in the eye, we who soon shall look God in the eye, and say to him: “You little Death, you go ahead and mock all you like. By faith I will mock you right back. You can no longer sing your song of victory over me. For my Jesus has crushed you beneath his feet. You have no power over me. Do what you will: I belong body and soul to the One named the Resurrection and the Life.”
That is what we are here to do today: to look death in the eye by faith and defy it, and in patient hope to proclaim this good news, that Verona Lood, whom we will bury in the earth this morning, our sister, has fallen asleep in the Lord. But soon, very soon, her Jesus is going to come and wake her up and summon her, body and soul, to the Great Wedding Feast of the Lamb, to share his great feast of rich food and well-aged wine, to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the Paradise of God. He will invite her to join the great dance of the redeemed from sin and death, and to sing forever and ever the praises of the One who sits upon the Throne and of Christ the Lamb, the great Lion of the Tribe of Judah, who loved her and gave himself for her.
The LORD has spoken: He will surely do it. Amen, Come Lord Jesus!
Phil Anderas (Pastor, North American Lutheran Church; PhD, Marquette) is a missionary theologian with operations based in Milwaukee. He is the author of Renovatio, a book about Martin Luther, St Augustine, and the way God makes forgiven sinners holy. Phil is a member of the St. Basil Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
