Let Your Servant Depart in Peace

Grace, mercy and peace be to you all from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

LaScala Family, our Lord Jesus reaches out to you this day to give you abundant peace and strength as we mourn and celebrate the life that Christ has given to Mavis, a devout woman of faith, faithful wife, mother, grand-mother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt and beloved sister in Christ.

LaScala Family, our Lord Jesus reaches out to you this day to give you abundant peace and strength as we morn and celebrate the life that Christ has given to Mavis, a devout woman of faith, faithful wife, mother, grand-mother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt and beloved sister in Christ.

The text that we consider on a day like today is from the Gospel of St Luke. the infant Jesus is brought into the temple, His own house, to keep the Law of Moses, Mary and Joseph sacrificing “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons”, in the rite of purification.

As we read, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon. As the Gospel account says, he “was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” (vv 25b-26).

Mavis, the past eight and a half years, has been waiting patiently also for the consolation of Israel; she has been waiting patiently for her own consolation; for her Lord to come and take her home. She, like Simeon, has lived a good long life, faithful to God’s call on her life.

Mavis was a people person. She loved visiting with others. She loved to share the gospel of Christ with those she came in contact with. Sometimes even that devotion to other people had some negative consequences for her children. What we do know from Isaiah is that “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” (, ESV).

Even Mavis, although she seemed very saintly, was still a sinner. Even all her righteous deeds were as filthy rags. This is the curse of the Law that we are all under. As Paul says in first half of , “For the wages of sin is death,.” And here is the curse of the Law staring us in the face. Mavis succumbed to Eve’s temptation in the garden. And that is all I have to say on that topic, for this is only one aspect of Mavis’ life.

There is far more to the story of our lives as Baptized and redeemed children of God. Paul goes on to say in , but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That is where we pick up this message to you all today. “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” (, ESV) We are here today because of the abundant hope we have, the radical Gospel of Christ that Mavis was baptized into.

Our Old Testament text for today, Isaiah rightly prophesies of what is coming in the end of all time for those who hold tight to the faith. As Mark in his Gospel account record’s Jesus saying, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved...” (16:16). Mavis was indeed baptized into Christ’s death and raised together with Him in His resurrection (). And in that baptism, our Lord took Mavis and made her His own. Her sins were washed clean, every one of them, and she was adopted as His daughter, kept safe in faith through the Holy Spirit as Titus tells us, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (, ESV).

Through Baptism, our Lord brings the dead to life. He takes us, even Mavis, who were once adversaries of God, and spiritually dead, and crucifies us with Christ and raises us together with Him in His resurrection. That is where our new life in Christ begins. It is true for Mavis, and for all who have been baptized. Even after years of turning away from Him and His gifts He brings to us in our new life through Baptism and the Gospel, the Holy Spirit still is working in us. Sometimes true faith comes years later, 10, 20, 30 or more years later, the Holy Spirit can still work that faith in us through the spoken Word of God, especially His Gospel.

Speaking of Gospel, that is the one thing that Mavis loved to hear, and one thing that she loved to share with others. She even wrote a small little book about it, for you, her family. She wanted you all to read and know this wonderful life changing thing, this Gospel. The Gospel is simply this, that we, are born with this ugly disease of original sin. That sin that came through Satan tempting Eve in the Garden of Eden which led to her and Adam eating the forbidden fruit. So now, everyone born since then has inherited this disease, the promise of the Serpent, who tricked Adam and Eve into rejecting the word of God that said that if they ate of its fruit, they would surely die. Satan basically told them that God was lying to them and holding back from them. That the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would open their eyes and they would BE LIKE GOD.

This is something that we all struggle with, being our own god. Thinking we know what is good and right for us, and living our lives doing what is right in our own eyes. God grieved that day, and every day since. But in the wake of that permanent disaster, God first gave a ray of sunshine. He gave them the promise of a redeemer. One who would crush the head of the serpent who would bruise His heel. In the right time, God sent forth His Son, born of a virgin, born under the Law. Jesus alone kept God’s Law perfectly, which you and I cannot do because of this inherited disease. He was falsely accused, arrested, condemned, tortured and finally nailed on the cross. There on that cross, is where Jesus took all of our sin, the sin of the entire world, from Adam and Eve, to Mavis, you all, her children and family, and all the sin of every person ever to be born, and there He died with it. In that one afternoon, Jesus conquered two of our worst enemies, sin and the power of Satan.

But that is not the end of the story, Jesus was raised from the tomb, conquering death itself, our last enemy. All who believe in Jesus have forgiveness of sins, and even though they die, yet shall they live.

Right before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He spoke with Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters. These two ladies were, understandably so, upset with Jesus because He had not come sooner and healed Lazarus before he died. “Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”” (, ESV)

Mavis’ question to you all, throughout your lives has been this same question, “Do you believe this?” and so I ask you all again today, “Do you believe this?” For right after Jesus asked this question of her, He was taken to the tomb where Lazarus laid. Jesus went there with Mary and Martha, and a whole crowd who had been there mourning his death and asked that the stone be removed from the opening of the tomb. Jesus simply called Lazarus by name, “Lazarus, come out.” And immediately, Lazarus rose from death and walked out of his grave.

In the end, that same thing will happen to all who believe. Jesus is returning, and with the sound of the trumpets and the shout of command, all the dead will be raised. That which was perishable will be raised imperishable. This body, Mavis, herself, will come out of this coffin and will be rejoined with her soul, which at present time is asleep in Jesus, and she, and all who believe will enter eternal life.

One passage I love to end messages like this is from the book of Revelation. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”” (21:1–4, ESV).

This is the culmination of the Gospel. Right now we have this promise. Mavis awaits this with all who have died in the faith. The day is coming when Jesus returns that sin is no longer a part of our lives. And as sin is no longer in our lives there will nor more death, nor more times like this where we mourn, no crying, no pain, because this will no longer be a part of our lives. And Jesus Himself will walk up to each and every one of us and wipe every tear from our eyes. Imagine that, Jesus walking up to you, welcoming you into His paradise, and tenderly placing His nail scared hands on your cheeks and with a swipe of His thumbs, wiping those tears off our eyes, that will never cry again.

Simeon trusted in the promise of his Messiah, the redeemer of the world. He got to hold that little infant in his arms and he praised God and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to Your Word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel.” He believed it. Mary and Martha believed it. Do you believe it?

In the name of Jesus and for His eternal glory. Amen.