Sermon - Irene Frederiksen Funeral - 1 Peter 1:3-9

 Beloved in the Lord, siblings and children, relatives and friends of Irene. God’s peace be with you. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us [that’s Irene and that’s you] to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” 

That is the reason we gather here in this sanctuary today; because we have living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. If Christ has been raised from the dead, then we too shall rise from the dead with Him! We shall live because Christ lives! Christ has earned for us an inheritance beyond any treasure and kingdom in this world.

Houses crumble and burn down, fields are flattened by the wind, heirlooms decay and rust, and the markets crash without notice. But our inheritance received from God is eternal and everlasting; it does not end. Irene is an heir of that heavenly inheritance and has received that for which we still endeavor. While we may weep today, we do not weep without rejoicing with Irene, since she is forever praising God with the angels.

Irene was ready for this. When I asked her if she was ready to die and prepared to meet her heavenly Father, she answered with a resounding (if not a bit exasperated): yes, yes, most definitely! She was ready for death because she knew what lay ahead and her faith gave her hope in the resurrection. She was also ready because of the various tribulations she had been enduring. 

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Irene did also endure trials in this life. Most recently, she’d been put through the gauntlet: a heart attack, Covid, Pneumonia, and finally a stroke. But it wasn’t just recently, for years now her sight had been quite poor. More or less, she was functionally blind.

It wasn’t just her physical ailments which tested her in this life, but she was plagued additionally by sin. We are very quick in our world to become singularly focused upon our physical health and physical danger. But there’s another disease far more dangerous with eternal ramifications: sin. Irene was a sinner. She did wicked things, she failed in her vocations, and was weak against temptation. Because of her sin, she’s now in this casket. Not only was she physically blind, but spiritually blind.

Yet, in spite of her blindness, she still had sight. Not just sight to see her loved ones, as great as that would be, but an even greater sight, namely a sight we call faith. According to God’s great mercy, Irene had been born again through the waters of Holy Baptism. In that birth her sins were cleansed from her and she received sight, she received faith! “By God’s power [she was] being guarded through faith for salvation.” Irene could now see! She believed! 

Some of the last words I spoke to Irene were those of our Gospel reading. I read her the nunc dimittis, the song of old Simeon, who had been promised that he would see the Messiah before he died. Indeed, this old priest beheld the Christ being carried into the temple by Joseph and Mary. Simeon beheld the Christ in his own arms, before his very eyes, and sang: “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.”

Irene experienced the same thing! When I visited her I brought with me the Word of God, and she beheld her Savior in faith. I would deliver to her the sacrament of the altar, and there upon her tongue lay the Word made flesh, the body and blood of Jesus poured out for her. Before her eyes of faith she saw her Savior come unto her and impart life to her sinful dying body. Because God has caused Irene to be born again through baptism, filled her with His Word, and has made Himself visible to her by the eyes of faith through the Lord’s Supper, Irene lives even though she’s died.

It’s incredible, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Even though Irene was both physically and spiritually blind in this life as a result of her sin, she still loved her Lord and believed in Him, rejoicing that her sins had been forgiven by Christ! She has now obtained the outcome of her faith, she has received the salvation of her soul!

This is what I sang to her in one of the last hymns I sang at her bedside: “Lord, let at last Thine Angels come, to Abraham's bosom bear me home, that I may die unfearing; and in its narrow chamber keep my body safe in peaceful sleep until Thy reappearing. And then from Death awaken me, that these mine eyes with joy may see, O Son of God, Thy glorious face, My Savior and my fount of Grace.”

Irene has fallen asleep with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Her soul is already in paradise rejoicing with the angels, while her body is sleeping her in peace until Christ returns. And when our Savior comes her soul and body shall be reunited for all eternity, and on that day and forevermore, she will behold the face of God in the flesh. This is her hope because the eyes of Irene’s faith were firmly fixed on Jesus who shed His blood for the forgiveness of her sins. 

Jesus is Irene’s only hope of salvation. Jesus is your only hope of salvation. Like Irene, you are a sinner and suffering the effects of your sin. You too will one day die and be laid in a casket. So look to the example of Irene, and firmly fix your eyes of faith on Jesus who was crucified to forgive you too. See that He suffered on your behalf, gaining for you an imperishable inheritance reserved in heaven. If you share that faith of saints Simeon and Irene, then you too will obtain the outcome of your faith: the salvation of your souls.