INI   April 15, 2009   Funeral Sermon for David Graphenteen

Bible Text- John 13:7

Dear Shirley and Bryce, Carl and Linda, family and friends, and members of Cross of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church:

It was the first Maundy Thursday. Jesus was gathering with his disciples in the upper room to celebrate the Passover. On this night he would institute his Holy Supper. Jesus also washed the feet of his followers on this night before his death. He wanted to show the Twelve he had come not be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mt 20:28).

Jesus wrapped a towel around his waste, poured water into a basin and started to wash his disciples’ feet. When he got to Simon Peter, the fisherman said, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  (Jn 13:6). Jesus replied in the words of our text from John 13:7: “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

It was just a few days later on Easter Sunday morning. Jesus had died on the cross as the Substitute for the entire human race. He had carried our sin and guilt to Calvary and paid for it all there so we could be reconciled to God. After his death, his friends had buried him in a tomb cut out of rock. On Sunday morning when they heard from the women that Jesus’ tomb was empty, Peter and John ran to the grave and saw the evidences that Jesus had risen. We’re told: “they still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead” (Jn 19:9). They still did not understand.

Forty days later, after seeing the risen Jesus alive several times—after meeting with him, touching him, eating with him and speaking with him—the Lord took his disciples to the Mount of Olives where he would ascend back to heaven. Before he visibly left them, however, the disciples asked a rather silly question. They still did not understand completely why Jesus had to suffer, die and rise again. But they would understand and they would know after the Holy Spirit was poured out on them on Pentecost, just a few days later. It was then that they realized what Jesus had come to do. It was then that they understood his work as the Savior of the world. John then perfectly understood the gospel and described it in his first epistle, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn 2:2). The apostle Paul also perfectly understood and realized what the Savior’s work was all about as he wrote to the Corinthians, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Cor 5:19- Dave’s Confirmation Scripture Lesson).

It was on Thursday of this past week—on Maundy Thursday of this year’s Holy Week—that David Graphenteen was called out of this world at the age of 42. His departure was swift and totally unexpected. There wasn’t the opportunity to say our good-byes and to share our love with him, as is often the case when someone dies. We’re puzzled and perplexed. We wonder what God’s reasoning was in taking Dave so suddenly at a relatively young age. We may question God’s wisdom. We may even be angry and resentful. We ask the question, “Why?” There are so many unanswered questions we don’t even know where to begin asking. But Jesus comes to us in his Word—he approaches us in the holy Scriptures and he tells us today just as he told Peter on the first Maundy Thursday—“You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

The Holy Spirit created faith in Dave’s heart when he was baptized as a baby. His faith was nourished as he learned God’s Word. Dave confessed his faith publicly as a young man at the time of his Confirmation. Although Dave was not a member here at Cross of Christ, he confessed his trust in his Savior relatively recently to his wife Shirley. With that simple, child-like faith created in his heart by God the Holy Spirit through Word and sacrament, the blessings of forgiveness and salvation Jesus earned for all belonged to David personally. Dave is now praising his Savior in the courts of heaven.

“You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” As we try to comprehend why all of this has happened to the Graphenteen family, let’s remember some basic things God tells us in his Word. We know that God is love (1 Jn 4:16). Our first parents fell into sin in the Garden of Eden and ever since, human beings have been born in sin and guilt. Not only that, but we break God’s Ten Commandments innumerable times every day. Because of our natural disobedience to God’s unchanging laws, we deserve his eternal punishment in hell. But in his great love for a world lost in its sin, the Father sent his Son to be our Savior. What about the commandments we could never hope to keep? Jesus has kept them perfectly in our behalf. What about the sins we should have suffered forever for? Jesus suffered for our sins on the cross in our stead. Because of Christ and his work, God’s law has been kept, our sins have been paid for, and when the Holy Spirit brings us to faith as he brought Dave Graphenteen to faith, the wonderful blessings of forgiveness, peace with God and eternal life become our own personal possessions!

It’s only natural to weep and mourn when a loved one is called out of this world, especially someone who seemed to have so many more years of life on this earth remaining. But let’s not begrudge David of the fact that he reached his heavenly home before we did. I would hope that is the goal of every single one of us here today. The Bible tells us that as Christians who trust in Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, when we close our eyes in death, our body returns to the ground, but our soul returns to God who made us. Then on the Last Day, when Jesus returns to judge the world, our soul and body will be rejoined, and our Lord will raise us physically from our graves just as he rose physically on Easter Sunday. As God’s children through faith in Jesus, we don’t need to fear the judgment, since our sins have been washed away and we are covered with the righteousness of Christ. We will then live with our Savior forever in heaven in glorified bodies, where he will wipe every tear from our eyes, and where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Rv. 21:4).

I fall asleep in Jesus’ wounds;

There pardon for my sin abounds.

Yea, Jesus’ blood and righteousness

My beauty are, my glorious dress.

In these before my God I’ll stand

When I shall reach the heavenly land.  (CW 608, v. 1)

But now the question is: What about you and what about me? When someone leaves us as early and as quickly as Dave did, it’s almost like we’re getting wacked on the side of the head with the realization we’re not going to be here forever. If God calls us out of this world tonight or tomorrow or next week, are we ready? And where will we wake up?

The Old Testament king David wrote in one of the Psalms, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Ps 90:12). We don’t know how long we have on this earth, but God knows, since our times are in his hands (Ps 31:15). May we confess our sins to him and trust in his forgiveness—forgiveness he earned for us on the first Good Friday. And then may we look ahead in anticipation to the day when we will rise from our graves just as Jesus did on Easter—and we will see Dave again, and we will live with our Savior forever.

“You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

In Jesus’ name. Amen.