Posted on 08/29/2008 2:54:15 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson
“Remembering Edna” (Isaiah 43:1-3a, 25; Psalm 25:6-7; Hebrews 10:12-23; Luke 23:33-34a, 39-46; 24:1-8)
It’s funny, sometimes, what we remember--and what we don’t remember. Oftentimes that’s the case with how we remember someone who has just died. Because the events leading up to that person’s death are so recent and so vivid, that may be what we tend to focus on. Or we think about that person only as they were in their last few months or their last couple of years. But really, there’s a whole lifetime of memories of that person we can be thinking about.
Take our dear friend and sister, Edna, for example. Because the circumstances that led to her death were so dramatic and traumatic and draining, we might be thinking now of Edna as she was in those last six weeks. But that’s not all there was to her, not by a long stretch. Or maybe we only knew Edna over the last few years, so that’s how we remember her. But I was thinking about this yesterday: Edna was just as much Edna at 27 and 47 as she was at 77. There’s that whole life there to remember. It was interesting and revealing last night to look at that wonderful photo display the kids put together, seeing Edna at all those various stages of her life. And people who knew her over the years, some more at one stage of her life than another--they would go up and point to a certain photo of Edna and say, “That’s how I will remember her.”
How do we remember Edna? As our friend here at St. Matthew’s? So faithful here in church and Bible class, seemingly attached to Leland’s arm, as they came here together. As Edna the world traveler, going on tours and traveling to Texas and Colorado, and even going skiing into her seventies? As our neighbor in Terre du Lac, with her garden and her cat and her dancing? Maybe we remember her from her Affton days, when she was a member of Reformation. Edna the beautician, Edna the quilting supply lady. There’s so much to remember. Leland, you have 55 years of memories, wonderful memories, that will stay with you and you can look back on. Eileen and Jeff and Lisa, you will remember a loving mother who raised you and looked after you. Grandchilden, likewise, cherish those memories of your grandmother.
How do we remember Edna? What do we remember and not remember? Today the most important thing I have to tell you is how God has remembered Edna, what God remembers and what he doesn’t remember. This is the only thing that will give you hope and real lasting comfort, and it will do just that. What does God remember? And what does God not remember? And what does that have to do with Edna and with us?
The fact that God does not remember something sounds a little startling to us. How can God not remember? But that’s what God’s word tells us. God has something of a “selective memory”--and that’s good for us. In our Old Testament reading from Isaiah, the Lord God says, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” “I will not remember your sins.” That’s good news, isn’t it? Because if God were to remember our sins, all of them, we’d be in a whole heap of trouble. There would be a whole lifetime of sins to remember, for each one of us, and there wouldn’t be enough gigabytes of memory to hold them all. All the unkind words, all the selfishness, all the lack of consideration and love for both God and neighbor--this is what would weigh us down and condemn us to death, eternal death and damnation. But God says, astoundingly, “And I will not remember your sins.”
How can this be? But it is. We hear it again in the Epistle, from Hebrews, where the author quotes a passage from Jeremiah about the new covenant. Again God promises, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” There is that same promise of selective memory when it comes to our sins. And then the writer to the Hebrews adds, “Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.” Now we’re getting at it. In order for there to be forgiveness of our sins--remission of our sins, removal of them, so that God does not remember them anymore or hold them against us--in order for there to be forgiveness, there had to be an offering that would cover them and atone for them. And you and I, there is nothing we can offer God that can make up for our sins. All our good works, all our best efforts, everything we think makes us a good person, or at least better than others--none of this amounts to a hill of beans in God’s sight. There is nothing in us that merits forgiveness. Another offering must be found.
That’s where Jesus Christ comes in. Jesus, our Savior, Edna’s Savior and yours. He it is who makes the one, once-and-for-all, effective and eternal sacrifice for sin. He removes it, so that God no longer remembers it. Christ Jesus, the one and only Son of God come from heaven, he alone is able to make a holy and acceptable offering that will atone for all our sins. This is what he did on the cross. “This man has done nothing wrong,” the thief on the cross recognized. Indeed, Jesus did everything right! He is the righteous one, suffering unjustly, carrying in his body the condemnation of all our sins, so that God now can declare us not guilty, justified and righteous for Christ’s sake.
This is the great good news! This is the gospel that Edna believed, that she staked her life on. This is the gospel into which she was baptized, her heart “sprinkled clean from an evil conscience” and her body “washed with pure water.” This is the gospel Edna received into her mouth, every time she partook of the Lord’s life-giving body and blood, doing this in remembrance of him, that is, by faith in him. Edna’s faith, her trust, in life and in death, was in Christ Jesus her Savior, who took away her sins and gave her hope for the future, an eternal future in the bliss of heaven.
Think of that thief on the cross. Recognizing Jesus as the promised Messiah, he says to him, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” “Remember me.” Yes, remember me too, Lord Jesus. Remember not my sins. Remember me in mercy, O Lord. “According to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.”
“Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And right then, Jesus says to the man, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” Because on that day, by dying on that cross, Christ Jesus was establishing his kingdom and opening the gates of Paradise to all believers. It all hinges on the forgiveness of sins won for us by Christ on the cross. This is what opens heaven, Paradise, to us.
Today Edna is with her Lord in Paradise. Her soul is with the Lord, at rest, at peace. No more suffering, no more pain, only peace in Paradise. And on the Last Day, when Jesus comes again, he will raise up her body, too, in a new and glorified state, then to enjoy the blessings of heaven, in both body and soul, for eternity. This is our hope, the sure hope Christ’s own resurrection gives us.
How do we remember Edna? Yes, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, neighbor, and friend. Yes to all of those wonderful memories. But more than that, I want you to remember Edna the way that God has remembered her: As God’s own baptized child, forgiven and righteous for Christ’s sake, now enjoying the peace of Paradise with her Lord forever. And I want you to remember how God remembers all of us--both by what he does not remember and by what he does. He does not remember our sins--Christ took care of that on the cross. He does remember his covenant of promise, sealed with the blood of Christ. God remembers us in mercy and according to his steadfast love. He remembers us all the days of our life. He remembers us in our dying hour. God remembers us when he welcomes us into the joy of heaven. Therefore, dear friends, “let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
Ping.
Well done, good and faithful Servant of the Word.
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