Trinity 25
Dear friends in Christ. One of the benefits of living in the Northern Hemisphere is that the seasons of the year parallel nicely that of the Church Year. For example, for us Easter is in the Spring and nature all around us is coming back to life after a long winter’s sleep/ death, a huge audio/ visual aid proclaiming to us the great miracle of Easter—Jesus’ resurrection. So also now the present Church Year is winding down and the readings at the end of the Church Year direct our attention to the end of the world, to the Last Day and the Final Judgment. And what do we see happening in nature around us? The daylight hours are getting shorter. There is more night/ darkness; there’s a sense of finality with that. What a marvelous preaching and reminder to us that things will not always remain the same, that there is an end coming. Even from nature, we hear God’s call to repent; we hear Jesus’ words echoed [Lk. 21.34]: Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.
The fact of the matter is that the Last Day is coming. That’s what we are reminded of now as the Church Year comes to an end. But the world around us is unaware of it. The people of the world carry on like the world will continue to thousands of years more—forever. But it won’t. It will come to an end. Even if in the Lord’s wisdom He preserves the world for 10,000 more years, for each person the world will “end” with his/ her death. There is an end and it’s coming. Let us be prepared.
Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel: Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Not only is this a call to be prepared for Jesus’ return at any moment by living a life of faith and repentance, it also implies something else—there will still be people living on the earth when Jesus comes; and because Jesus promised His Church would endure/ continue until the very end of the world [Mt. 16.18; 13.24-43], this implies what? –It means that there will still be Christians on the earth when Jesus returns.
1. This is similar to the situation that the Christians St. Paul wrote to in our text were struggling with. They had been brought to faith by the Holy Spirit in the word and Baptism. They looked with such fervent longing for Jesus’ return and they expected it to happen soon. But time passed and some of these Christians died before Jesus’ return; and that led the rest to think that those who had died would miss out on Jesus’ return. Yes, these people were Christians but what they believed was imperfect, at least on this subject. That’s why St. Paul writes them: But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. The point that the Blessed Apostle is making in our text is that those Christians who have died will not miss out on the return of Jesus; that death does not end all. In spite of death, we have hope.
Again, St. Paul writes: But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. Those Christians were true/ real Christians—but they died. Unless Jesus returns first, death will come to all of us. This is nothing other than the simple proclamation that we are all sinners; that because of and by our sin, we will die. The teaching of Scripture is clear [Rm. 3.23; 6.23]: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God[and] he wages of sin is death. Death is the result of sin and because we sin, we will all die. Having just celebrated All Saints’ Sunday last week, we are reminded that all these saints, all these holy ones, were also sinners—they died. So death is a fact. It is the result of sin. Our Christian faith does not spare us from death.
Not only does our Christian faith not spare us from death, it also does not spare us from being full of sorrow, grieving over a death of a fellow Christian. To sorrow and grieve over someone’s death is right and natural for a Christian. We are not robots/ machines; we are people with feelings and emotions. Even Jesus, the God-man, grieved the death of his friend Lazarus, as St. John records [Jn. 11.35]: Jesus wept. Notice what St. Paul is saying here: But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. He is not saying that a Christian does not grieve over those who have died. Mourning/ grieving is not a sin. Instead, he says that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
Yes, we grieve, but there’s a difference. As Christians, we mourn because we will miss the person. We mourn because we see that sin has done its worst and claimed another victim. We mourn over the havoc and pain that the devil is working in our life and in the lives of others. But we have hope! We do not grieve as others … who have no hope. Those who have no hope grieve in hopelessness. They bury their dead and they are gone—lingering for a while in the hearts and thoughts but within a few generations they are all but forgotten. When our fellow Christian dies, we have hope; we know and we look forward to a joyful reunion in heaven. We know that this life is not all that there is but a glorious eternity in heaven awaits. This hope and certainty is firm and solid because it is grounded in Jesus and His saving work—His life, death and resurrection.
Our hope is because the death of a Christian is different. How does St. Paul describe it? Those who are asleep. Asleep—this is not just some euphemism, a nice way to describe an unpleasant reality. Jesus tells us [Jn. 5.24]: I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. With death, the Christian goes from life here on earth to life in heaven. The Christian’s soul is right away with our Lord in heaven while the body rests in the ground. In the Revelation, St. John heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, and their works follow them.” The soul of the Christian is in heaven, resting in peace. Here is the true Sabbath rest that we have in Jesus. The Christian who dies is free from the struggles and trials and all the plagues of the devil, world and the old sinful nature; and his/her soul is in heaven in rest, rest[ing] from their labor; enjoying the fruits of Jesus’ forgiveness and holiness; enjoying His victory over sin, death and devil. Here is true rest.
Not only that, but a Christian is never dead, buried and forgotten. Instead, as St. Paul writes elsewhere [Rm. 14.8]: Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
The true death that a Christian dies is also different because we have already died—in baptism. Again St. Paul writes [Rm 6.3-4]: Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized in Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into His death... When Jesus died on the cross, He died the one cursed of God, loaded down with the sins of the world. He took on everything that makes death horrid and wretched—the wrath and punishment of God. So now baptized into Jesus we are baptized in His death, the death by which He endured—and overcame—what makes death truly terrible. So in baptism we have already died with Jesus and in Jesus endured it all. So now we cannot die twice; instead, when the Christian dies our souls go that true heavenly Sabbath rest Jesus won for us and our bodies go in the ground to await the resurrection.
2. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. What’s implied by being asleep? Waking up. And the same thing here: the Christians who died are described as those who have fallen asleep. And that implies “waking up” or resurrection. St. Paul puts it this way [2 Ti 2.11]: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him. Notice Jesus’ death/ His “sleep” is mixed together with our death/ sleep and His resurrection with our resurrection so that there is one sleep and one resurrection. That’s why for us mourning the death of our fellow Christians, we have hope.
These Christians in Thessalonica were troubled about, fearing their fellow Christians who died before Jesus’ return wouldn’t see the day of His return. But St. Paul gives them the most glorious comfort: God will bring with [Jesus] those who have fallen asleep. Here points them to the Last Day. Even though the dead seem to be lost and forgotten, they are far from being lost and forgotten by God. Instead, when Jesus comes on the Last Day, then their fellow Christians who had died and were gone will reappear, standing at Jesus’ side, illuminated by His glory. The dead Christians will not miss Jesus’ return but will come with Jesus, their souls being in heaven with Him. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. Those Christians who have died before Jesus’ return will not be disadvantaged at all; they will not “miss” Jesus’ return on the Last Day.
Now the blessed Apostle says the same thing, fleshing out the picture. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Jesus will return in all His glory with His holy angels and will employ His holy angels to carry out His will. With a cry of command, that is, by His almighty word, the very word that gives life, He will raise from their graves the Christians who had died: And the dead in Christ will rise first. This is what we confess in the Creed: the resurrection of the body. What Jesus had said earlier [Jn. 5.28-29]: for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation, St. Paul is directing/ applying in our text to the Christian dead. On the Last Day, then, Jesus will come in a most glorious entourage—all the holy angels and the souls of the blessed dead; their bodies will be raised. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. The Christians that are alive when Jesus comes on the Last Day, they will be caught up / “snatched up” together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. What a glorious day for those still living Christians—they will be snatched up from all suffering and strife on earth; all weakness, sin, death and devil will lie at their feet. Just as the blessed dead receive back their bodies, the body and soul reunited—it is the same body, but only glorified, rid of sin and its weaknesses and fit for heaven—the Lord Jesus Christ will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, the Apostle tells us [Ph. 3.21]; so also those who are still alive when Jesus comes—as they are caught up / “snatched up” their bodies are changed/ transformed into a glorified body. Again, St. Paul writes elsewhere [1 Cor. 15. 52-53]: For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. All will appear before Jesus at the same time—one group will not precede another.
And what is the result for the Christian on the Last Day? And so we will always be with the Lord. Jesus comes on the Last Day as our Savior and Brother.
When our fellow Christians die, yes, we will be saddened, but we have a firm and certain hope of a glorious reunion, of an eternity in heaven. Let this firm and certain hope in Christ console us. Therefore encourage one another with these words. INJ Amen.