A funeral sermon for a young husband and father.
Names have been changed as an expression of care for the family.
Jesus was informed that a friend
of his called Lazarus from a village called Bethany had fallen seriously ill.
His sisters Martha and Mary sent a message to Jesus asking him to hurry on
ahead in the hope that he would heal him before it was too late. But Jesus
delayed and didn’t get back in time. And then the Bible says this:
On
his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four
days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from [the city of]
Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in
the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she
went out to meet him...
‘Lord,’
Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have
died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.’ Jesus
said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha answered, ‘I know he
will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’
Jesus
said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in
me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me
will never die. Do you believe this?’
‘Yes,
Lord,’ she replied, ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who has
come into the world.’
Some of you here today have the
same belief that Pastor Steve and I share that death is not the end. It doesn't
have to be.
Christians
have at all times believed that there is always hope, not just in life, but
also in death and that there is new life in Christ even beyond the grave.
I
expect others among us probably don’t believe that (and you are welcome here
whatever you believe or don't believe). You might think that after death it’s
all over, that’s all there is to it and that's the end of the matter. I respect
that point of view – and it used to be my own belief but I changed my mind.
Some
years ago, two distinguished lawyers (both sceptics) named George Lyttelton and
Gilbert West decided to try and discredit the Christian faith by each writing a
book.
George
Lyttelton said he’d show that the conversion of St Paul never happened and
Gilbert West set out to prove that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead was
an ancient myth.
Each
dedicated twelve months of their lives to painstaking study. Gilbert West’s
research into the resurrection was so thorough and scholarly that the
University of Oxford awarded him a higher doctorate for it.
When
they had completed their studies they met up to find out how they had got on.
Lyttelton said “I have studied all the evidence from a legal standpoint,
[and] I have become convinced that [Paul] was converted in
just the way described in Acts.”
And
West, having sifted the data for the resurrection most carefully and
painstakingly, became satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Jesus did rise
from the dead just as the Gospels claim.
Both
men became Christians in the course of their research.
I
say all this because if Jesus really did rise from the dead, then death is not
the end for anyone.
But
beyond academia, some of my friends just say "Yeah, yeah, great - but I
don't see that it has any relevance to me in my life."
If
I saw that nobody's life changed after coming to Christ, I would close my Bible
for good and never mention Christianity again.
But
I personally know, in this church, for example, a reformed fraudster, several
healed alcoholics and one formerly suicidal woman now completely well in her
own skin and mother of a lovely family.
Lives
transformed by Christ. Millions of people all over the world share the
conviction, through personal experience, that Jesus is alive.
In
our reading from John’s Gospel, Jesus said to a woman grieving a close
relative: “All who believe in me will live, even though they die.” And then he
asked her a direct question. “Do you believe this?”
“Yes,
Lord,” she said, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who has
come into the world.”
You
may remember the film Chariots
of Fire about Eric Liddell –
a Christian Olympic runner. After his athletics career finished he went to the
Far East to serve as a missionary. He was imprisoned there when the second
world war broke out and he suffered greatly.
At
one point he was offered his freedom in a prisoner exchange but he chose to
stay so a pregnant woman could be released in his place.
I
mention Eric Liddell because, like Colin, Eric suffered from an inoperable
brain tumour.
Like
Colin, Liddell died in his prime - a little younger actually, he was just 43.
But
Liddell believed all his life that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who
came into the world. I believe that Colin opened his heart to Christ in his
last days too when Pastor Steve visited him and prayed with him.
And
as I was thinking about Colin and Teresa this week I was reminded of something
Liddell once said - and I just want to leave you with this in the hope it
speaks to you in your sorrow and loss.
He
said, “Circumstances may appear to wreck our lives, but God is not helpless
among the ruins.”
Every
life, including yours, including Colin's, is precious. Precious to those who
love you, precious to God. Today I give thanks for the years of Colin's life,
all too brief though they were, and I give thanks to the God who give him
breath.
His
power, I am convinced, will keep all those who turn to him - not just in this
life but also in the next.
Address given at All Saints'
Preston on Tees, 18 July 2014
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