Funeral Sermon for Betty Lubcke

Revelation 21:1-7

March 16, 2020

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Hear again the words of the Revelation to St. John chapter 21, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall their be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 

Now, we are here with tears in our eyes. A wonderful woman has died, and it is sad for us. We feel a great loss.  What a wonderful comfort, and what a wonderful message we hear from God today. God makes His dwelling place with us. This is talking about the fact that Jesus, the Son of God, became man. But it’s not just about what happened 2000 years ago, it’s also about what is happening now, and what will happen.

What we see here is God who cares for and comforts His people. This is no absentee God. He breaks into His own creation, He makes His dwelling place with men as a man so that He might bring eternal life to all who hear His word and believe in Him.  That was Betty’s hope. That is Betty’s life. This fact shaped her whole identity. It’s no secret that Betty loved books and that she loved the Good Book. It was more than a love of reading and learning. She read these books and talked about them and led Bible studies, she was involved in all kinds of church activities, she raised a family, that she may know you here in order that she may know you there.  She believed Jesus’ words to His disciples that these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in His name. She was not perfect, she knew it. She confessed throughout her life that she was a poor miserable sinner who was forgiven for Jesus’ sake solely out of His grace. She loved the Lord because He loved her.  And she wanted her family and her friends to know this, to believe this, to trust in the same promise of God. 

God has made a promise. This promise was confirmed through the death of His own Son. The Father promised Jesus, His only begotten Son, that anyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life and be raised up bodily on the Last Day. Jesus came into the world for that purpose – to restore our eternal relationship with God. Because Jesus came, because God made His dwelling place with man, everyone who believes in Him will be raised. 

Jesus faced many troubles and struggles in His life. He saw the sickness, decay, and death in the world. He saw hatred and deception, the hated and the deceived. He watched children and loved ones die.  When Jesus’ friend Lazarus died, Jesus wept. Think about that for a moment. Jesus, the Lord of life, who was able to call Lazarus out of the tomb to life again, wept. He cried over death because it is not how we were created to be. Death is not a part of life. Yet, even Jesus died, betrayed, abandoned, alone. 

But we are not here to shed a tear for Jesus.  Nor are we here to shed a tear for Betty. Our tears are for ourselves, for our loss and sadness. We are here to have our tears wiped away by the nailed pierced; living hands of God in the flesh, of Jesus. For Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, alleluia! In Christ, God made His home with man unto death. And in Christ, God makes a home for man unto life. Jesus lives, risen from the dead, the defeater sin and death itself. A time is coming, it is coming soon, when there will be more tears or mourning or pain because the cause of these things is gone, the former things passed away. We’ll see Betty there, it was her prayer that she see you as well. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.