Fifth Sunday in Lent March 13, 2016
Fifth Sunday in Lent (Judica)
John 8:42-59
March 13, 2016
“Never See Death”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
You’ve seen a lot in your lifetime. All of you have. You’ve probably heard people say, “I’ve seen just about everything.” Maybe that’s a stretch. But we’ve seen a lot. We’ve seen all kinds of weather. Bitter cold and scorching heat. Seen snow and rain and storms and hail and wind and tornadoes. We’ve seen all kinds of land and country. Seen oceans and desert sands and snow-capped mountains and dense forests. We’ve seen all kinds of times. Times of peace and prosperity. Times of war and poverty. Good times and bad times. Happy times and sad times.
These old eyes that God has given us have seen a lot, right? Some of you older ones have seen a lot more than many of us. Some of you younger ones have a whole lot left to see.
Yet Jesus tells us all of something this morning that we will never see. Never, ever, ever. For you who believe in Jesus Christ and have been baptized into His name, there is one thing you will never, ever see—death. “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.” “But wait a minute”, you say, “I’ve seen death. I’ve seen cemeteries and I’ve seen caskets and I’ve been at funerals and I’ve been by bedsides of family or friends.”
Yes, we’ve seen all of that stuff of death from the outside. But those who believe in Jesus never truly see death. We will never experience it. We will never taste it. Because when we, and everyone else who believes in Jesus Christ, close our eyes to this life, we simply open our eyes to the life to come. We never experience death. Yes, we may experience the pangs of death. The suffering before death. And yes, that can be very difficult. But we will never see death itself. We go from life to life. So Jesus says, “If anyone keeps My Word, he will never see death.”
Now when the Jews there that day hear Jesus say this, they go crazy and say, “What?!” “Now we know you’ve got a demon!” they say. Jesus is crazy. He must be. After all, even Abraham died. Is Jesus greater than Abraham? Or all the prophets? They all died too. But Jesus says that if someone keeps His Word they won’t see death? Who does Jesus think He is? He thinks He’s greater than Abraham? That’s crazy, right?
Now let’s think about this a minute. Obviously Abraham died. And obviously, all the prophets died. No one’s really disputing that. But did Abraham see death? Did he experience death? Did he taste death? What about Isaiah? What about Jeremiah? Did they see death? Taste death? Or did they, in fact, go from life to life? Did they, in fact, receive eternal life and never truly die? Are their souls not, in fact, with God in heaven?
Remember the Transfiguration of Jesus? When Jesus shone in all His glory on the mountain? Who was there with Him? Moses and Elijah! They didn’t see death. They were living and talking with Jesus in glory. Now what about Abraham and all the prophets? Are they not also living in glory? Remember when Jesus told the story of Lazarus and the rich man. When poor man Lazarus died and the angels carried him to heaven—who was he taken to there in heaven? To Abraham! Abraham lives.
So at this point in the conversation, I imagine that maybe Jesus might have smiled a bit. Maybe laughed to Himself a little bit. A little smirk. Because they yell about how Abraham and the prophets are dead and yet He knows Abraham and all the prophets personally. He knows they’re very much living. Jesus says, “Abraham rejoiced that He would see my day.” Jesus knows Abraham and Abraham definitely didn’t see death.
So let’s talk about Abraham a bit. We hear about him and his son Isaac in the reading today from Genesis chapter 22. This is the time when Abraham is given this incredible test of faith. God tells him to take his only son Isaac and go to a mountain to sacrifice him there. To kill his son. We find the whole thing very hard to stomach and hard to believe. But there’s a reason Abraham trusted God.
Abraham didn’t see death. Hebrews tells us that Abraham believed that God was even able to raise his son from the dead. In other words, Abraham knew that God isn’t a God of death but the God of the living. So even if God were to take Isaac from him, Isaac would not see death. And neither would Abraham.
So even though Abraham certainly couldn’t understand this test of God and certainly was heartbroken by it, he believed God’s Word and kept it and knew that neither him nor his son would see death. And they didn’t. That day God rescued Isaac from death and provided a ram as a sacrifice in place of Isaac.
God has rescued you and I from death too. He has provided a sacrifice so that we will never see death. Jesus, God’s own Son, saw death for us. He suffered the bitter pains of death and laid down his life so that we would never have to see death.
So on Good Friday, on the cross, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, Jesus bowed His head and gave up His spirit. He saw death for us. God spared Abraham’s son, Isaac. But He didn’t spare His own Son. Jesus was the once for all sacrifice for our sins. The once for all sacrifice to see death and to end death. In the Epistle today, it talks of how Jesus appeared as a different high priest. A high priest who could offer good things to come—like life eternal. And He entered once for all into heaven before God the Father and offered His own blood to pay for our sins. No more sacrifices of lambs and bulls and goats. Jesus’ blood has purified us before God forever and we will never see death. On Easter morning Jesus rose so that we know that God has accepted His sacrifice. And we will never see death.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever keeps My Word will never see death. This gives us an opportunity today to talk again about what happens when a Christian dies. As Jesus hung on that cross on Good Friday, one of the criminals next to him said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And you remember Jesus answer? “Today you will be with Me in paradise.” When that man closed his eyes that day in death—he never saw death. He opened his eyes again to eternal life. From life to life.
When a Christian dies, his or her soul goes to Jesus. God sends His angels down to carry our soul to Jesus. We do not become angels. That would be like a demotion. Scriptures never talk about that. No, what the Scriptures say is that our soul, our spirit, leaves our body for a time and is taken to heaven. There we rest until the Final Day.
On that Final Day, our souls and bodies will be reunited. Our bodies, whether they are in a casket somewhere in a cemetery, or whether they are ashes, or whether our bodies are lost somewhere—it doesn’t matter. God will raise our bodies from the dead and they will be perfect bodies. Incorruptible and immortal. And our souls and bodies will be reunited and we will be like Jesus. Glorified. Just as you remember Jesus was after Easter morning.
This is why Jesus promises that we will never see death. Yes, our bodies will die and will rest and sleep in the ground. But we will never see death. Our souls will always be with Jesus and on the Last Day He will raise our bodies up again and we will be with Him forever in the new heavens and new earth.
If we keep Jesus’ word, this is our hope and our future. Notice in the Gospel reading that Jesus makes it very clear that you either keep His Word and believe it and have life—or you have the devil’s word. And the devil’s word is a word of death. Jesus says the devil is the father of all lies and he has been a murderer from the beginning. Death is always the work of the devil. And he lies about death constantly to keep people from believing Jesus’ Word.
Beware of the devil’s lies. He loves to kill. He loves war. He loves hatred and anger. That’s why, at the end of the Gospel, they pick up stones to throw at Jesus and kill Him. Because the devil loves death. That’s how the devil deals with the truth. He tries to kill it.
And that’s where the world’s evils come from. From the devil. The killing of radical Islam is from the devil. The killing of abortion is from the devil. The killing in assisted suicide is from the devil. Death is the devil’s business.
But not our business. Our business is life. Because our God is God of the living. Abraham lives and so will we. Isaac lives and so will we. Jesus lives and so will we. Our loves ones who have died in Jesus live and so will we. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My Word he will never see death. That’s Jesus’ promise to you. You will never, ever, ever see death. Only life. From life to life. Eternally. Forever and ever. Amen.