Psalm 103 tells us “God shows compassion on us like a Father shows compassion on his children. He knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
Life is fragile… and sometimes Life is way too short. We have this idea that people should live 80 or 90 years, but lots of folks don’t get that much. And somehow that doesn’t seem quite fair. Lives are cut short that we believed should have last longer… but they don’t.
Keara was one of those. Her life was cut short. She was a young mother, a daughter, a sister, a cousin. She was smart, talented, caring and loving. She was a woman who loved giving herself to others when they were in need. She helped her mother understand computers. Helped her half-sister when there was struggling with a medical problem. She tutored students - just for the joy of teaching them, and she could explain things in ways you could understand.
As her half-sister told me “Keira was loved by everyone whose life she touched.”
Ron (her dad) told me how much she’d meant to him. She was the light of his life. She’d go to concerts with him, to Komet games. and to church with him. He said that one time, she’d become a Christian.
But now… she’s gone. And it doesn’t seem right. It’s not fair. It’s not how things should have turned out.
And the Bible agrees. We were created to live forever, but because we live in a fallen world that is engulfed in sin, that’s what we face. We will all one day die. And that’s why funerals are so sad.
Even Jesus wept at a funeral. He wept at the grave of one His best friends - a man named Lazarus. But somehow that doesn’t make any sense. Just a few moments later, Jesus cried out Lazarus’ name and called him out of the grave. So, why did Jesus weep? I mean, when Jesus called his name, Lazarus rose from the dead, his family embraced him and everybody went home rejoicing. So why would Jesus weep?
Well, Jesus wept because Lazarus had to DIE again. True, Lazarus lived a few more years, but eventually he went through it all again. Lazarus had to die… again.
But Jesus came that we wouldn’t have to die a 2nd time. You see, Jesus came to earth to fix that which was broken, and death was the main thing He came to fix. Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us that Jesus became like us so that “through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”
They tell me that death is the one thing that everyone fears. In fact, I was teaching a mid-week Elementary class at one night and told them the story of the day Jairus, the rabbi of the local synagogue, came to ask Jesus to heal his dying daughter. As Jesus is on his way to the rabbi’s home however, a servant comes to Jairus and says “Don’t bother the teacher anymore… your little girl is dead.” And I stopped there.
The kids in the class looked up at me in shock.
NO! That’s not the way that story is supposed to end. That’s not right! The story should have ended by telling us Jesus came to the home and touched the child and healed her. But no, the girl died and that part of the story shook every child in the class.
I went on to explain that Jesus went on to Jairus’ home and took the hand of the dead child and brought her back to life. Jesus didn’t perform funerals. Whenever Jesus came, the dead rose and the funeral was over.
But then I asked the class (they were about 10 and 11 years old) if they were afraid of death… and they all nodded. Even these children feared death. But Jesus came so that we wouldn’t have that fear. Jesus came to conquer death. He died and rose from the dead to show us what He could do for us, and God drove that home by making baptism the way we become Christians.
Romans 6:3-5 tells us “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 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.”
ILLUS: When I was 5 years old my grandfather died. My mom later told me what happened the day they buried him. She explained that I was the apple of his eye, and my eyes lit up every time he was in the room. As a 5 year old, his death was hard to understand. In those days, funerals were different than they are now. There weren’t a lot of funeral homes at the time, and most visitations were held in the home of the deceased. Friends and family would go into the living room and pay their respects at the casket and then retire to the kitchen for food. And the funeral message was given in the living room. When the body was taken to the cemetery, things were different there as well. The grave was a 6 foot hole in the ground that you could look directly down into. When we came to the grave, I looked down into that hole. And I looked up at my mother, and then back down into the grave. I looked back to my mother and she told me I asked “How’s grandpa ever going to get out of there?”
My mom was a good Christian and she explained that he wouldn’t be down there forever. She told me that when Jesus came again, we would all rise up from the grave. Why? Because Jesus came to defeat the power of death in our lives.
But Jesus also came to give us comfort when we’ve lost those we’ve loved. Jesus said “Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Peter wrote “Cast all your cares upon him; because He cares for you.”
Hebrews tells us God promises “I will never leave you; I’ll never forsake you.”
Or as Psalm 103 tells us - As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”
We’re fragile. We’re easily broken. We need his comfort.
I think that’s why Keira’s favorite poem was this one: “One night I had a dream. I was walking along the beach with my Lord and across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and one to my Lord. When the last scene of my life shot before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand – and there was only one set footprints. I realized that this was at the lowest and saddest times of my life. This bothered me and I questioned the Lord about it: ‘Lord, you told me - when I decided to follow you – you would walk and talk with me all the way. But I’m aware that during the most troublesome times of my life there is only one set of footprints. I just don’t understand why, when I needed you most, you’d leave me.’ He whispered, ‘My precious child, I love you and will never leave you. Never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then … that I carried you.’”
