Funeral for Timothy Marcotte, December 19th,
2015
In the Name of Christ Jesus our Advent King, Amen
Kris, Sarah and Jacob, Andrew and Sara, Matthew,
friends and family of our brother in Christ Jesus Tim, Grace, mercy,
and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Well, this isn't a day any of us were expecting. At
least not yet. Maybe this day would have come 30, 40 years down the
road. At least that's the way we think it is supposed to work. As a
culture we've told ourselves that death is just a natural part of
life – but today feels wrong. And it should, not because Tim was
too young, but because the truth of it is that death, all death, is
wrong. Even if today were decades down the road, it would still be
wrong then. We were not created by God to die – And God
formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
God's own breath, a living creature. That's what we were created to
be. And then the fall, then sin enters the world, then death, and
then we are stuck with lousy mornings like today that are just flat
out wrong, that just aren't the way things should be.
God knows this. God, the Creator of the world, indeed,
Tim's Creator knows far better than we do just how wrong today is.
Which is why He has done something about it. Which is why the Father
sent Christ Jesus into this world, had Him be born of a virgin.
Which is why there's a Christmas. We don't have Christmas to boost
the economy or have a reason to go Target – we have Christmas
because Jesus saw this day, even from eternity, and He would not let
this day stand, not let this day be the end. And so Jesus became
Man, was born of a virgin mother, and lived perfectly, lived without
sin – and yet, Jesus Himself faced down death. And He did so for
His Tim. Hear again what our Lord says of Tim in John 10 - “My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
Tim heard the voice of His shepherd, loved to hear it, heard the Word
preached all the time, and Christ Jesus most certainly knows His
Tim... and Tim follows Jesus. Christ Jesus our Lord came down into
this world, came into a life like ours precisely so that Tim, so that
we here, would follow Him. And Jesus Christ, for Tim's sake, went to
the Cross and died Himself, and then He rose. And while this day is
wrong, Christ is setting it right. Tim's death is now Tim following
Christ into death, and Tim has followed Christ to heaven, and Tim
shall follow Christ to everlasting life, to the resurrection of the
body, to the life of the world to come. “I give them eternal
life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of
My hand.” Do you hear how defiant Christ Jesus is, how He
looks at the wrongness of this day, all days like this, and He shouts
death down. No, death, you don't get to keep Tim, you don't get to
keep any of My sheep, you don't get the final world. I give Tim
eternal life, and Tim will not perish, rather he will live.
This day is hard – it would be foolish to try to
pretend otherwise. But over and against this day stands the even
greater truth that Christ Jesus is Tim's Lord and Savior, who claimed
Tim in the waters of Holy Baptism, who daily and richly forgave all
Tim's sin, who gave Tim His own Body and Blood for the remission of
all of Tim's sins – and as such, Tim is with His Lord, the sheep
has followed the Shepherd, even having walked through the valley of
the shadow of death, and he did it without fear, for Christ Tim's
Good Shepherd was with him, and even now Tim dwells with Christ
Jesus, and when Jesus comes again, Tim will be coming with Jesus.
That's the truth. Doesn't mean we don't have sorrow, that we don't
see the wrongness of this day – but it means that we also see
beyond it.
Which is why St. Paul writes to us, “Rejoice in
the Lord, always; again I will say rejoice.” Because even
on days like this, the Lord reigns. Because even as we face our own
sorrows, we know that Tim beholds the joys of heaven and waits the
resurrection. This is the very peace of God that surpasses all human
understanding – it is too big and wondrous for us to wrap our minds
around, though we confess it, we sing it. Therefore with angels and
archangels, with Tim and all the company of heaven, we laud and
magnify Thy glorious name, ever more praising, that is rejoicing in
the Lord always... and the peace of the Lord be with you always. The
wonders of Christ's love for Tim, for us – we know it – but Tim
knows it now, knows it better than us. We see in the mirror
dimly, Tim sees face to face.
And so my friends in Christ – we are free to mourn
this day – today is not how we'd want it to be. But Christ Jesus
will and does make things right – and Tim is well taken care off,
far better off right now than any of us. But you too belong to
Christ, and you, like Tim, have been forgiven, and when Christ and
Tim come back, we will all be raised together, and that's going to be
something. As we so often say in Advent, come quickly, Lord Jesus.
In the Name of Christ Jesus, our Advent King +
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