(Funeral for a stillborn held at the church building)
During the viewing time I had an opportunity to talk with the mother (of the stillborn’s) son. He’s about 4 years old and was playing at reading a Bible in the back pew. I asked him if he knew what book he was “reading”. “Yeah,” he replied.
“Do you know what that book is called?” I asked.
(Pause) “No.”
“It’s called the Bible. It tells us everything we know about God.”
“Really!” he said.
“Yeah,” I replied. “And it has some really neat stories in it. Have you ever heard to the one about the man who was thrown into a lion’s den?”
“NO!” his eyes got wide.
We talked a little more and I said “Yeah, it has lots of great stories. It tells about a worldwide flood and a talking snake…”
“A talking snake? Was it real?”
“Oh yeah, that one was.”
The Bible is filled with powerful and intriguing stories… but perhaps the most powerful of those stories have to do with Jesus. And one of the most touching of those stories has to do with the time some parents “were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them.
But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.’
And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.” Mark 10:13-16
OPEN: A woman had gotten a cartoon DVD for her grandson that told Bible stories. A couple of days later she got a call from the boy’s mom. "You have to get over here and talk to Tray!"
The grandmother asked “What's wrong?”
The mom replied “It’s that DVD you got him! He doesn't understand why Jesus had to die and he's asking all these questions about death and I don't know what to tell him!!
So she went over to have a conversation with Tray. He's only 4, so she tried to think of a very simplistic way to explain death. She told him “we love God and live for Him. Then after we die we get to go to heaven and live with him.”
Tray said, "But I thought Jesus lives in our hearts".
Oh my, she thought. But trying to keep it simple, she was going to say, "Well, before we die, He lives in our hearts and AFTER we die, we go to live with him in heaven" but I didn't get to finish her sentence. She started out “Well before we die, He lives in our hearts, and AFTER we die...”
And Tray interrupted saying, "Then we go to live in God's heart??"
And the grandmother said, "Yes, honey. That’s exactly right"
That little boy didn’t understand about death. He had questions that were hard to answer, but he trusted God so much that he KNEW there had to be an answer. And I think that’s one of the reasons that Jesus loved children so much. They trust God. They have faith that He will supply the answers they need.
So, when the disciples (thinking they were protecting Him from being bothered), when they tried to turn the parents away it says: JESUS WAS INDIGNANT. He was angry. He was furious. He insisted the parents be allowed to bring their children to Him… and then He took them in his arms, and He blessed them.
Why would Jesus do such a thing? Why would He insist on having those children brought to Him? Well, because children are precious to Jesus. Jesus loves kids. And because He loves kids, He understands how painful this moment is for you.
There’s something inside us that says – this just isn’t right. If we were having the funeral for a 70 or 80 year old person we could understand that. But a baby… a child… it’s just not right.
ILLUS: Years ago I had a funeral for 12 year boy. Brian was the sweetest kid. He loved Jesus and we baptized him into Christ and he ended up playing guitar with me at our Sunday night youth groups. But then one day, as he was carrying his niece down the stairs of his home in his stocking feet – he slipped. And he did the one thing a great kid like him would have done. He tried to protect his niece from getting hurt. But in so doing he fell and broke his neck… and he died.
At the viewing, someone commented: He died so young! He missed out on so much life. And it occurred to me that he was basically saying: “This just wasn’t right.” Brian was way too young to die. But then I realized how much God loved Brian. Brian was not just boy, he was a child of God. He belonged to God. And then I thought – Brian DID die young, but he hasn’t missed out on anything. He’s gone to heaven… and He’s with God.
During the viewing time today, there was a poem that was put up on the screen that said (in part) you’re bouncing from cloud to cloud and flying through the sky. And that’s a great thought. There’s only one thing that troubles me about that image though – it seems to indicate that heaven is somehow “unreal” and “otherworldly”. In reality, heaven is more real than the world we live in. And the Bible tells us that when Christians like Brian die, they go immediately to be with God. Now, if you were God, and a child had died and gone to be with you, what would you do for them? I know what I’d do – I’d make sure he got to do some of the most fun and entertaining things I could think of… and if I were God, I could think of quite a bit for them to do. Any joyful experience you can think of on this earth pales in comparison to what God could do for us in heaven.
Psalm 103 speaks of God as being our Father, and it says “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on US for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are just dust.” He has compassion on us. He cares for us. And He truly cares for this little baby. So don’t worry about this child. She’s in the hands of God … and He’ll take good care of her.
The problem is – we still have to face life without her. How can we deal with that.
ILLUS: Years ago Kathryn Foust (now deceased) shared a story with me about her childhood. It seems that her younger sister had died. They had the funeral and took the little casket out to the cemetery and laid it in the ground. And at the ceremony her father wept inconsolably. And every year on her sister’s birthday, her dad would take flowers out the grave and lay them on the spot where she was buried… and he’d weep, and he’d weep and he’d weep. He did this year, after year.
Then one day, as her father and mother were seated at the dining table, her mom said to him “You know Dad, if we ever want to see our little girl again, we need to make ourselves right with God.” And so they started going to church and eventually they were baptized into Christ. Kathryn said, that from that time on, her father still went out to the graveyard and would lay flowers on her sister’s grave… but he never cried again.
Jesus said "Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does NOT receive the kingdom of God like a child shall NOT enter it."
But if you approach God with the faith of a little child… if you put your trust in Him, repent of your sins, confess Jesus as Lord and allow yourself to be buried in the waters of baptism, THEN you will enter the kingdom… and you will see this child again.
