Dear friends in
Christ, baptism is an amazing thing. In
baptism, with simple water and word, death is destroyed, swallowed up
forever. In baptism, we die with Jesus,
and then are raised with him. Every
person who has been baptized has already died, and been raised into eternal
life. Because of baptism, while we
mourn, we know that death is not the end for those who believe in Jesus.
Why speak of this
today? Why bring up something that
happened to Paul 52 years ago when there have been so many things that have
happened since then? Why bring up
baptism before cancer, and pain?
Why? Because Paul’s baptism is important today,
when all our senses try to tell us that Paul is now gone. It is so important today as we are gathered
here with family and friends to mourn the loss of a father, a grandfather, a
son and a brother. It is important
because today we hurt deeply. Today we
mourn. Today we wonder what has happened
to Paul.
But I tell you the
truth, baptism has done an amazing thing for Paul – not just baptism, but the
One whom Paul was bound to in the waters of baptism. For Paul already had died, more than 50 years
ago. He died with Jesus, was buried with
Jesus, and as our text says, “if he died with Christ, we believe he also lives
with him.”
In water, in a
font at Trinity Lutheran Church Great Bend, Jesus grabbed ahold of Paul, and
carried him through death into life. In
Baptism, Jesus carried Paul through cancer, through suffering, through pain and
agony, and brought him safely into God’s eternal kingdom. There he will no longer thirst, nor will he
hunger, for the Lamb in the midst of the throne is his shepherd. There, Jesus wipes all tears away from his
eyes with nail marked hands.
Friends, one who
dies in Christ “has been set free from sin.”
One who dies in Christ, “walks forever in newness of life.” Baptism is that place where faithful
Christians like Paul, and like you, die with Christ. Baptism is that thing that gives us hope
today, hope that cancer is not the end, that in “death no longer has dominion”
over us.
I won’t lie to
you, these past few days have been difficult.
They have brought us pain, and they will not magically get better over
the coming weeks and months. Death
hurts. It makes us weep and mourn, and
long to be with the one who has departed.
But it is not the end for those who believe and are baptized into
Jesus. For Christ has destroyed death
and gives eternal life to all who believe in him.
Friends, because
Paul was baptized let not your hearts be troubled, even as you mourn. For Jesus has come and taken Paul unto
himself, to a place where they might be together, forever. It’s a place with many rooms, a place of
peace, a place of life. It’s a place of
living water, where God’s baptized people are raised to live with Jesus
forever. Do not let your hearts be
troubled, for if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall
certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
In baptism, Jesus
does an amazing thing. He brings you,
me, and yes our dear friend Paul through death into life. Because of baptism, while we mourn, we know
that death is not the end. In baptism,
in Jesus, death is destroyed forever.
Amen
