Sermon - Kathy Cornish Funeral

The Burial, Carl Bloch, 1873

Dear family and friends of Kathy, may God’s peace be upon you today as you grieve and mourn the death of a dear woman. King David sang in the 23rd Psalm: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.” Even though we are today walking through the dark valley shrouded in death, the Lord is with us, and this evil of death needn’t frighten us. Our Good Shepherd’s rod and staff, His cross upon which He was crucified, guards us against the wolfish devil’s threat of death growling at us. Like king David, Kathy shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever, and no evil thing will ever harm her again.

It was just over a year ago that we gathered here for Wayne’s funeral, laying him to rest and await the resurrection of the dead. His death weighed heavily on Kathy the past year. We often talked about him and her desire to be with him again.

Over the past number of months since Kathy had been in the hospital so many times with different complications and heart issues and you name it, she was frequently reminded of her mortality. When I last visited her in the hospital for this most recent infection, even though her mind wasn’t very clear on account of the infection, she was still clear minded enough to express her faith and hope in Jesus Christ. She told me that she knows the Lord is with her every passing hour, He is preserving her and guiding her through every trial, and she was very ready to dwell with Him in His nearer presence. 

I’ve only known Kathy for a year and half, but with all of the hospital visits she needed I spent quite a bit of time with her, and I think it’s safe to say she was such a tender hearted and compassionate woman. She was always so gentle and soft-spoken, a woman of great humility and great faith. She’s the kind of woman it’s hard not to love. 

For that reason it’s hard to understand why Kathy would die. It’s easy to understand why criminals and mean people die, because we think those people deserve it! But Kathy? How could she deserve it? St. Paul wrote: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly… God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.” Death comes to us not because any of us are righteous and worthy, but because all of us are by birth His enemies. Because we have been conceived in sin, all of us are numbered among the ungodly and deserving of His wrath and damnation. Yes, even sweet Kathy was a sinner deserving of death, and so here we are today.

That Kathy was a sinner was no shocker to her. She knew the state of her soul, and she knew what she deserved on account of her sins. This is why her entire hope was in Christ and not in herself. In a way her recent health complications were a strong reminder that her only hope is in the Lord. Just as her body couldn’t recover on its own, nor could it even recover with the help of many doctors and nurses, neither is her soul capable of everlasting life apart from the merits of Christ.

Jesus Christ shed His blood for Kathy, justifying her by His blood. Through the death of Jesus, Kathy was declared righteous. Through the blood of Jesus Christ she has been reconciled to God and her sins are remembered by the Lord no more. By the blood of Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven, you are declared righteous, and the Lord is reconciled to you through Jesus’ death. 

How incredible it is that our heavenly Father loves us with such sacrifice! God loves Kathy and all of us and He shows us this love in that the Father gave His only Son unto death, and the Son gave His own life. God does not hate us, even when suffering for many days as Kathy did, the Lord continued to love her. For that reason Kathy had peace in the midst of her sorrows. “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith in this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” 

I always find it incredible to minister to saints, such as Kathy, who are suffering so much, and still have peace! Kathy was filled with this peace and hope because she had faith in the Lord. That faith given her by the Holy Spirit is a gift of inestimable worth! That she could face such illness and death unafraid is far more valuable than any worldly riches could ever buy. Not only did Kathy have hope and peace in her sorrows, but she even rejoiced. “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” 

Through Jesus Christ even all of Kathy’s sufferings had value. Perhaps we think it’s all just pointless suffering, but it’s not. Because the Lord has conquered sin and death, therefore the suffering of the Christian has a higher purpose in that God uses it in order to produce spiritual endurance, character, and hope. Every surgery, infection, and illness God used to build up Kathy and strengthen her faith so that she would endure all of Satan’s vile temptations and in the end of her life receive the crown of life! 

This is fantastic! God uses death in order to bring life, and death therefore is no longer death but instead a portal that leads us to life through Jesus. Your Lord suffered the agony of the cross in order to die in your stead, so that when you die, your death is no more than a slumber. Kathy’s soul is already rejoicing in the nearer presence of God. Kathy is laying in this casket, yes, but she’s only going to rest in it for a brief time. Jesus is coming soon, and when He does He promises to wake the dead. Then, on that day, like Job, Kathy and all the faithful shall look upon the face of Jesus with her own eyes. “For I know that my redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold.” 

Kathy departed this life in peace and joy, rejoicing in the hope of the resurrection and certain assurance that she shall dwell in the kingdom of God for all her days. Look to Kathy as a faithful example of Christian living. When she could, she was in church to hear the word of the Lord and receive the sacrament of the altar so that her faith in Christ would be strengthened such that she would face death with boldness and hope. Over the past year when her health prohibited her from attendance, she made sure to call me up and let me know so that she could receive the gifts of God even when she wasn’t at church. When she was in the hospital this most recent time she called me, not because I’m anything special, but because like she told me the last time I saw her: “I need to hear God’s Word today.” Let that be our motto and ever on our lips! I need to hear God’s Word today. Indeed we do, for the Lord is our Shepherd and with His Word He restores our souls.