In the eight decades of this congregations' existence there have been many funeral processions that started from these doors. Dozens and dozens of people, people you knew, people you loved, have been carried from here in coffins, and laid to rest. Some of these people died in old age. Others died as a result of war, or accidents. Some died quite young. Each death brought sorrow and pain to those left behind here in this world.

How we deal with death says much about what we really believe. Some people try to ignore death, avoiding it when a friend or relative dies. Others never get over a death, being affected by it for the rest of their lives as they grieve with no hope. Others try to make light of it, or treat it as something natural, and therefore something that one shouldn't get too worked up over – after all, it will happen to us all sooner or later.

However, death must be dealt with. How do we do that?

It begins with knowing the "why" of death. Death is a consequence of sin – not of "a" sin, necessarily, but of "sin." In other words, death usually cannot be traced to a specific thing you did wrong in your life with death as your punishment. We cannot say things like: "that old farmer had a heart attack and died because he coveted those 80 acres and cheated to get them." Nevertheless, we die because of sin, the sin inherited from Adam. We die from the fact that we are conceived and born with original sin, a sin we cannot undo on our own.

If we fail to see sin as the reason for death, then our seeking for help against death will never work. It will never work because we will not be seeking in the right place for the right help.

In Luke 7, the funeral procession of the young man met the crowd with Jesus. Death and Life collided at the town of Nain. It was as Luther wrote in his wonderful Easter hymn:

It was a strange and dreadful strife
When life and death contended
The victory remained with life,
The reign of death was ended;
Holy Scripture plainly saith
That death is swallowed up by death,
In vain it rages o'er us. Alleluia! (ELH 343:4)

As we read this story in Luke, we do not detect much of a struggle. It is simply Jesus speaking the word, "arise," and death goes away from the young man. Yet we must not forget why it is that Jesus causes death to leave. It is due to the fact of His own suffering and death with our sin upon Him.

Jesus has power over death because He is the Lord of Life. But to keep death away forever, to keep our sins from bringing their dreadful consequence upon us, Jesus had to deal with sin once for all. This miracle at the town of Nain is a preview of the work of Jesus that culminated in His death on Good Friday, and the announcement of His victory on that first glorious Easter morning when He rose from the dead. The suffering and death of Jesus included the full weight of God's wrath against sin, even to the point of Jesus suffering hell and being forsaken by His Father. The victory over death was not easy or cheap. To think so is to diminish and scorn the life of Jesus, who was burdened with your sin and shame, who went through humiliation and torture, and died – all for you and me.

Jesus, true God and true Man, has power over death. And He desired to achieve and win this victory over death because of His great love for this created world. We must not pass over lightly the truth that Jesus "had compassion" for the mother of this young man. His compassion, His deep, sacrificial love for this woman, her son, and for us all is what moved the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to bring salvation to the world. Salvation coming by means of the forgiveness of sins, and life coming to us as we believe that great news.

This truth impacts how we view death and deal with it, whether in our own life, or in the lives of our neighbors, friends, and family. First, we see that death is not natural for us. It is not what we were created to do. It is natural for us to fight death, to struggle against it as best we can. We choose life because that is what comes naturally for us. We do not willingly choose death unless we have succumbed to the lies of those who deny the resurrection of Jesus and all that it means for us. We do not choose death for children in the womb. We do not choose death for the sick and call it "euthanasia." We do not choose to kill helpless human life, not even at the embryo stage, in order to bring benefits to others. We do not force sacrifices on those who have no voice, but we protect them. This is what it means to know Jesus as the Life of the world.

Second, we see that death is not the end. It does end life in this sin-filled world. It does end our struggle with our own sinful flesh. But death does not end true life for the Christian. In fact, death has been changed by the death and resurrection of Jesus into a way to bring us out of these bodies of decay into bodies that never die, into the glories of eternal life in heaven. This affects our view of death when one of our loved one dies, or when we ourselves face death in a closer way than we ever imagined.

If death is only "the end," and there is nothing after it, then of course one can understand the helpless grief and hopelessness of those who think that. However, since death is not such a final end, but only a time of change for the Christian, we learn to accept that, even though it does mean a separation from the ones we care for and love. But that separation is not permanent, nor will it be so long. It is such confidence and Christian hope that allowed another hymn writer to sing of death in this way:

Farewell, I now must leave you;
The grief this day doth give you
Soon others, too, shall bear.
Be ye to God commended;
In heav'n all woe is ended,
And we shall meet in glory there. (ELH 475:8)

This is not a mindless or ignorant or blind hope. But it is a hope built on the work of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the One who meets death with the word of resurrection. He is the one who told this young man: Arise. Death could not do anything except go away when Jesus said that. Death could not argue, it could not cling on, it could not pretend to leave – it had to leave and it did, leaving the young man alive, reunited with his mother.

This same power and compassion will bring the trumpet call of resurrection to all believers in Christ at the Last Day. God has promised that Jesus and His resurrection are the firstfruits of all those who believe in Him. This means that as Jesus rose, so shall we, shall all our loved ones who die in the Lord. We need not fear for them; we need not fear for ourselves. We cannot and need not depend on ourselves in the fight against death, but we rely on Jesus. He is our Life, our Salvation. He is the One against whom neither death nor sin nor Satan can prevail.

Times come in our lives when this hope in Christ is all that we have. Our strength is gone, the skill of the best doctors fail, the courage of the emergency crews cannot bring us back, but still hope lives. For we are connected to Life, even in the midst of times of death. Jesus is our Life. God keep you confident in the work of Your Savior, the work at the cross, and the resurrection on Easter morning. In Jesus' name. Amen.