Travis Calander Funeral John 14:1-6 January 11, 2025
I know that my Redeemer lives. This is more than just a beautiful hymn of history, written in the 1700’s by the late Baptist pastor Samuel Medley. It is a hymn which sings of reality, that all who die in Christ live forever. The hymn is based on St. Job’s confession of faith, found in the Book of Job chapter 19.
Job was a man who suffered deeply from loss, pain, and health. The Lord allowed Satan to run him through the ringer, as it were, for the Lord wanted to show Satan that Job was a man a faith, even in the midst of suffering. And so, as his suffering began, a few of his closest friends would come to console him and give him direction. Only, the direction they give is anything but comforting. Job, a righteous and devout believer, a man who trusted in God for all things, is being told by his friends that he had sinned, that his sufferings are deserved punishments for something he had said, done, or even thought. But Job would have nothing of it.
But as they continue to harp on Job’s piety and trust in the Lord, and as the sufferings continue to linger and grow worse, Job grows weary and just for a moment, Job begins to doubt. But then another friend, a young boy named Elihu, a teenager probably, comes and speaks to Job and speaks in a different way. Elihu says that suffering has a purpose, that God is just, and that Job’s suffering shouldn’t cause Job or his friends or anyone to sulk or mourn, but to rejoice and give thanks to God. Elihu calls Job to repentance. And then the Lord finally comes and speaks to Job and sets everything straight. God calls Job to stand up and be a man and quit sulking, to repent of his “emo,” his overly emotional outbursts, and to trust that the Lord is more than capable of taking care of him in life, and even in death.
Yet in the midst of all these conversations, between Job and his three friends, Job and Elihu, Job and his wife, and of course, Job and the Lord, in the midst of it all there was still faith. Job was sure that on the last day he would see his Redeemer. Here’s what he says:
“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes-I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me.”
In the midst of the suffering and confusion and sulking, deep beneath it all, faith still spoke. I know that my Redeemer lives, and I will see him on the last day.
This is a great comfort for all who suffer in life. And all people suffer. No one escapes life without pain and discomfort, without the suffering of loss, without the struggle that comes from financial hardship, relationship hardship, job loss, when things we put our faith in such as homes and cars and technology fail us. This is life, and life is just not always pleasant. Sometimes we bring suffering to ourselves by making horrible decisions, in the moment, which lead to life-long pain. Sometimes others bring it on us when they tempt us or harm us in body or soul, or even mock us for what we believe.
It seems that, these days, it’s become a new idol to worship and to obsess over health and fitness. When I was younger it used to be an obsession, but it seems that it’s amplified a thousand-fold over the past 10 or 15 years. And don’t get me wrong, there is no sin to desire to be healthy. But the obsession over health and physique – well, let’s just say it keeps the non-prescription drug companies and protein and creatine powder companies’ coffers full.
As with anything, we can so easily make a god, an idol out of the things of creation, putting our hope and trust into them to prolong life, minimize suffering, make us wealthy, make us wise. But this creation is not designed to be our god and we are not designed to bend knee to creation and so nothing of this creation can ever do what we hope – it can never save us.
Teenagers spend countless hours on the field or on the court and getting involved in every athletic or fine arts or other extracurricular activity there is with the hope it will bring popularity or a good scholarship or something. I remember once, years ago, asking a friend of mine why he plays in three different sports, football, baseball, and hockey. His response was sort of sad: “It’s what everyone else does.” And all the while, those same teenagers, day by day, drift away from the one true Hope, the One who truly loves, spending less and less time before the one true God, His Word and Sacraments, and far, far too much time with the gods of this world, and naturally this world makes it normal and expected and it becomes habit; it becomes life.
And this brings great suffering too, self-imposed, but suffering none the less. We are designed, after all, to be with our Lord in worship, in prayer, before His Word and Sacraments. The Garden of Eden was made for man to worship the Lord and live by His Word, and feast on the first sacrament, the Tree of Life. But we gave it all up for a snow-balls chance at being our own gods and goddesses and it is now a chore to even commit an hour or two a week to time with the Lord. We have made everything in the world – our friends, our family, our leisure, our work, our athleticism, our academicism, our popularity, our health, our wealth, everything in the world more important than the God who created us and who gives us life and being and purpose, who coded our very DNA.
Sin has brought suffering, pain, loneliness, despair, even death to every man, woman, and child who lives in this world, and there’s no commitment or promise to do better or new years’ resolution that will fix what sin has devastated.
Job’s friends blamed Job for his downfall, and honestly it wouldn’t have made a bit a difference if it was Job’s fault. Job’s sulking and brooding over his predicament showed him to be a sinner. He could not save himself.
And this is why the living Redeemer, He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, who now prepares a place for His people in paradise, stands at the center of all things and shines like a beacon of light to the lost and draws sinners to repentance and faith.
There is only one way back to the heavenly Father who created us, and it is through Jesus. We all know that Jesus is God who has come to us by the virgin birth where He put on humble human flesh and made Himself nothing, a servant to all. And we all know that this Jesus made His way from the womb to the baptismal river, to the gates of Jerusalem, and finally to the hill of death where, on the cross, He suffered and died. We’ve heard the stories a thousand times, maybe more.
But what we may conveniently forget is that Jesus did all this, not for Himself, but for us. God has come to you because you could not get to Him. God has committed Himself to you, because you cannot commit yourself to Him in a way that really matters. God has chosen you because you could not choose Him. God has died for you so that you do not have to die apart from Him.
The word, “Redeemer” is a very important word. In Hebrew the word is go’el and refers to any person who secures the future and prosperity of another even at the person’s own expense. In Greek the word is ?????????, and refers to one who pays ransom for another’s freedom.
Jesus is our ?????????, our go’el, our Redeemer. He and He alone has saved us, set us free from our slavery, made us righteous and holy and presentable before the throne of heaven. By His shed blood, the righteous and perfect and holy gave Himself for the unrighteous and defiled and sinful. And by His death, we are healed.
Therefore, do not let your hearts be troubled. The Lord does not snuff out even the weakest of flames or the most bruised of weeds, because long before creation, He has already called His people by name.
In Holy Baptism, God inscribed His name on Travis and claimed him as His own and not sin, death, nor the devil could steal that away.
And so, in these last days, look to your baptisms and to the promise God made to you there. You are His holy and precious child, so precious that the very Son of God has given His life for you. He Is your redeemer, and on the last day you shall stand in your flesh and shall see for yourself that your Redeemer lives. May this eternal and unchangeable fact cause your heart to yearn and cry out to God in thanksgiving and hope. And may this thankfulness and peace you have draw you to a life, not characterized by worldliness, but a life of being in His presence before Word and Sacrament, a life of prayer and meditation, and a life of service to the neighbor, a life that, even in suffering and struggle, is full of joy and godliness mixed with contentment.
Amen.
