The Son of Man Lifted Up for You

Marvin, Kendra, Eisenbeiss family and friends, brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, May the Cross of Jesus and the empty tomb three days later, bring you much strength, peace and comfort today as we grieve the loss of Delores.

The text that I chose for today’s meditation is from the Gospel of John which was read just a few moments ago. I chose this text for today for a couple of reasons. First off, is Delores’ favorite Bible verse. Secondly, and most importantly, as Delores’ Pastor, and the officiant of this funeral, it is my sole duty to bring to you all objective comfort and hope…and I can only do that by relating to you all only one aspect of Delores’ life, her faith in Jesus Christ.

Objective comfort and hope and peace can only be found in the objective declaration of the Gospel. Most of you may know that is practically every Christian’s favorite verse. Most of you probably memorized that verse in Sunday school, or you were taught it by your parents. is what we call the ‘Gospel in a nutshell’. Let’s see if we can all recite it together: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Very Good! Don’t ever forget those words. These words of Jesus are your very life vest in this life until Jesus comes again to complete the work that He has begun, namely, your eternal salvation.

There seems to be a theme woven through the texts today. Moses lifts up a bronze serpent on a pole so that anyone who was bitten by a viper would be healed just by looking up to it. The Psalmist lifts his eyes up to the hills because all his help comes from the Lord. The Epistle reading we are taken up into heaven with John as he receives the revelation of what is to come for all who believe. And finally our Gospel text, Jesus instructs Nicodemus to look up to Jesus, the Son of Man, so that he and all who look up to Jesus can be eternally saved from sin and death, solely out of the Divine Fatherly love God has for the whole world.

So, our Gospel text this morning we see part of a conversation between Jesus and a Pharisee named Nicodemus during a strange nocturnal encounter. The meeting is secretive. It happens under the cover of night. Nicodemus is worried about what his peers would think of him if he begins to follow Jesus publically. It would end his career as a Pharisee. He would lose his honor, his seat in the synagogue and the Jewish Council. It may even mean being ostracized by his family and community.

So it is with the people who believe in Jesus. Nicodemus is seeking the truth. He knows there is more to Jesus than what meets the eye. He understands that Jesus has divine power, being able to heal the sick, make the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the blind to see and the mute to rejoice. He has even heard the news of Jesus raising the dead son of the widow at Nain. Only a man sent from God can do such things.

So Jesus tries to reveal to Nicodemus who He really is. “No one has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” He tells Nicodemus point blank that the man he is speaking with has descended from heaven. Then Jesus pulls in a parallel of Moses and what God had him do when the Lord sent the plague of vipers into Israel because of their lack of faith and constant complaining about Moses and God Himself. The Lord instructed Moses to craft a bronze serpent and hang it on a pole. Everyone who was bitten by a viper could simply look up at that bronze serpent on the pole and be healed of the venom. Their life was spared. They lived! And all it took was the faith simple enough to trust the promise behind the action. Moses instructed the Israelites of this new miracle of the Lord and if they believed it, they acted accordingly by looking up at the serpent on a pole. And just like that, they were miraculously healed from the certain deadly bite.

So Jesus parallels what is going to happen to Himself, that would have similar but everlasting results. He doesn’t paint Nicodemus a picture, but does use Moses’ serpent as a great illustration of His own being lifted up on the cross where He would battle and win the war over sin and that first serpent, Satan.

This is the Christianity in a nutshell. This is the religion of Christ. This is the Gospel in its simplest and most succinct narrative. It is really that simple. This is Delores’ faith. I say ‘is’ because she is living it right this moment.

You see. we have this issue with serpents. It was a serpent that deceived Adam and Eve to rebel against the Word of their Creator and God. In that act of rebellion, in their determining on their own that it was far better to become their own little gods than be left out of the loop by a God who the serpent suggested was holding back from them. This act of rebellion brought sin into all the world. Every human being since then has been born with this deadly disease. You see, God told Adam and Eve that when they ate of the fruit of that tree they would surly die.

Sin is what severed the personal daily interaction with God in the Garden. Sin is what created that great chasm between that loving God who created everything for us and our lives here. Sin is what has affected all of creation, as God cursed to ultimate destruction all that He created.

It was sin that caused the Israelites to grumble and complain in faithlessness to God who had just redeemed them from slavery in Egypt with divine plagues and extraordinary miracles of parting the Red Sea and delivering them out of the hands of their captors once and for all as they drown in the waters that retreated. It was sin and faithlessness that drove them that day to redouble their efforts to return to slavery rather than entering a new country where they could live free and very well provided for. It was their faithlessness and sin that caused God to send the plague of fiery serpents amongst the people He redeemed and many people of Israel died.

Finally, it is sin that caused God to create the solution for the plague of the fiery serpent’s venom that infects each and everyone of us. The remedy for this plague took something that cannot be found on this planet. It took the priceless blood of a perfect living being whom sin has never infected. It took the life force of perfection incarnate.

God assumed human flesh for you. He was born of a virgin named Mary for you. He fulfilled all of God’s Law perfectly in thought, word and deed for you. Jesus was arrested on trumped up charges and found guilty by a late night mock trial for you. Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, was taken before the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate who was so spineless he gave into the rioting crowd and sentenced Jesus, a man Pilate himself found innocent, to be beaten, mocked and wiped until almost dead for you. Jesus was nailed to a cross, where He gave His innocent life in death for you! As Jesus cried out His final words that death darkened day, “It is finished” and He bowed His head and breathed His last, crushing the head of Satan, that evil and wicked fiery serpent for you.

The price to redeem corrupted man is too high for anyone to pay. God set the price that high so that man cannot save himself. Where is the love of God who seemingly sets up His creation to fail if He makes His creation work off something they have no control over.

Delores heard the purity of this Gospel and she believed. In her baptism she was joined to Christ in His death and raised together with Him in His resurrection. Delores became a new creation. The old is drowned. The new has come. The Holy Spirit filled her that day and enlightened her with His gifts and held her tight in the faith of Jesus until He called her home.

This is how great our Savior, Jesus, is. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” Many people think that God us just some angry judge, waiting for someone to screw up so that He can blast them with a lightening bolt or something. But, He is not. Sure, our Lord can definitely hold His own, and He is not afraid to do so. However, God loves His creation. The sun, moon and stars, the earth and everything on it. He loves it. He loves you. He loves you so much that He gave His only begotten Son to be lifted up on the cross for for you. Jesus’ shed blood has paid the price for each and everyone of your sins, even the ones you have not committed yet. It is finished, the price is paid, and your salvation is complete. God loves you all so much that He sent Jesus to pay the price we could never pay. Jesus was sent to save people, not to condemn.

For this to be yours, all you need to do is allow Jesus to give you His free gift. Thank Him for all that He has done for you by dying for you and rising again. If you do not know Jesus, He is really wanting to know you. God loves you so much, that He even knows how many hairs are on the top of your head. He has richly and daily provided for your needs, food, shelter, clothing and love. He gives these fatherly gifts to all people, the righteous as well as the wicked. But, your salvation, your eternal life, only comes through Jesus. You can only obtain eternal life in paradise through faith in Him. Luke writes in Acts, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (, ESV)

It was only through looking up to the bronze snake on a pole that was lifted up for Israel to be saved. It is only through Jesus being lifted up that you and I can be saved. There is no work to do. There are no fees to be paid. The work is already done, you can be saved now, as Delores is. You can be the co-heir of all the benefits of eternal life with Jesus…look up to Him and Him only.

The benefits of Jesus’ work on the cross and empty tomb is what Delores is beginning to enjoy. At this very moment, Delores is resting in heaven with Jesus. And when He returns with trumpets playing, riding the clouds, Jesus will raise this body. Delores will be lifted up, out of her grave, with new muscle, new organs, new blood coursing through her veins, new and fresh air being taken in and exhaled by new lungs. Delores will be whole. Jesus will reunite her soul that is with Him right now, to her new resurrected body, and she will be a totally new creation, ready for the new heavens and new earth. Only thing is she will be lacking one thing, as will all those who have died in the faith. Sin will no longer be a part of who we are, for sin will be no more.

This brings us to the last text I wish to highlight this morning…this is the pay out for all who die trusting in Jesus’ work on the cross and in the empty tomb. In Revelation we are privy to what the Apostle John was shown when the Holy Spirit took him into heaven. We see the throne room of God. All of those who die trusting in Jesus are gathered before the throne of God and they are dressed in white robes and they have palm branches in their hands. And they cry out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” They are there because they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. In Baptism, they are washed. Their old, tattered, robes of sinfulness have been washed in Jesus’ blood. And now, they are clothed in His righteousness. In Baptism, Delores was baptized into Christ Jesus. As Paul says, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (). Jesus clothes us with Himself. So, now, all who have been baptized into Christ Jesus are now clothed in Him. God the Father looks at us and sees the perfection of His Son. He no longer sees the sin of the person. For He has adopted us as His sons and daughters. Through faith and trust in Jesus, all that Jesus has done, has been credited to you. All His work and the benefits of that are now yours.

So, now, in death, as a child of God, sin is no longer a part of who we are. In death, as sin is no longer in the picture, all the consequences of that will never affect us again. The saints in the throne room of God will never hunger any more, we will no longer get thirsty. The sun will no longer be a problem, no more 110 degree days where it is just too hot to do anything, no more scorching heat. Jesus Himself will be our shepherd. The relationship between God and man is no longer severed. We will enjoy a Garden of Eden for all eternity. Jesus will lead us to springs of living water, and He, Himself, will walk up to each and every one of those who are welcomed into God’s paradise, and He will ever so gently place His nail scarred hands against our cheeks and gently wipe away every tear from our eyes. We will never cry again. Because when sin is no longer a factor in our lives, there will be no more sickness, no more disease, no more dementia or Alzheimer disorder. All of these things pass away with sin in God’s final judgement. As there is no more sin, there will never again be death, sorrow and grief. Because even death itself has been judged and has been condemned and executed.

So now in death,

This is what Delores is beginning to enjoy. This is what we all get to look forward to when Jesus returns. Question is, are you ready? Have you received the gift of salvation and the forgiveness of sins through Jesus? Do you believe? If not, there is no better time than now to seek Him. Just as all good gifts and free offers, it won’t be available when it is too late. Not one of us has the foreknowledge of when God will require our soul from us. His free gift of Jesus is ready and waiting for you now. Don’t die without it. Because God loves you dearly, just as He loves Delores. God wants you to be with Him for all eternity, and I am certain that Delores wants to be with you all too for all eternity…and that is a very long time.

In the name of the one who was lifted up on the cross for us, Jesus, and for His eternal glory. Amen.