A prepared table
Funeral for Helen Kachichian
Psalm 23:1 A
psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3
he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's
sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they
comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my
enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely
goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in
the house of the LORD forever.
There is a saying that goes, “Life
is short. Eat dessert first.” I wonder if that was a motto that Helen liked to
live by. She seemed to really like her sweets – cookies, doughnuts, ice cream
that is available every day at Primrose.
We have a 60-year-old member at
Epiphany who is dying of mouth cancer. She can’t eat any solid food anymore.
When I visited her last in her home, she told me that her two sons had just
gone to get big hamburgers and fries at Dairy Queen the day before. She was
stuck eating a milk shake. She said to me, “If heaven doesn’t have bacon double
cheeseburgers, then I’m in the wrong place.”
My four daughters and I try to go
running together. Not the kind of running like the Millers as they train for a
half marathon. We just do a few miles. To be honest, I really dislike running.
My motto is: “I run so I can eat.”
Food seems to be an integral part
of our lives. But food isn’t just important to us. It is also important to God.
At least twice in the 23rd Psalm, the author, King David, mentions
food.
The first time is when David
writes, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down
in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters.” Green grass and quiet
waters doesn’t seem like very tasty food – unless you are a sheep. … But if you
are a Christian, that’s exactly what the Bible calls you! A sheep.
Helen became a lamb in her Good
Shepherd’s flock at her baptism on December 3, 1933. That is when the pastor –
who is the under-shepherd to the Good Shepherd – poured water and God’s Word
over Helen’s head. In those baptismal waters, Helen’s sins were washed away,
she was reclaimed from the devil and brought under the protective care of the
rod and staff of the Good Shepherd.
In our church sanctuary at
Epiphany, we have a large stained glass window above the altar. The window
portrays Jesus as the Good Shepherd. He is carrying a lamb in each arm with a
flock of a dozen sheep around His feet.
On May 20, 1945, Helen stood
before the altar at Epiphany to make her confirmation vows. God had promised to
be faithful to Helen in her baptism. Now it was Helen’s opportunity to promise
to be faithful to God following her confirmation. Though she, like the rest of
us, was a sheep who liked to wander and stray, Jesus is the Good Shepherd who
always goes out to seek and find His lost and straying sheep.
Throughout her life, the Good
Shepherd provided for Helen’s every need – clothing and shoes, food and drink,
property and home, spouse and children – everything she needed to keep her body
and life. More importantly, throughout her life, the Good Shepherd provided for
Helen’s every spiritual need. He had redeemed her, a lost and condemned
creature, purchased and won her from all sins, from death, and from the power
of the devil. He did this, not with gold or silver but with His holy precious
blood and His innocent suffering and death.
The Good Shepherd fed Helen
weekly with His holy Word which Jesus describes as the Bread of Life. From her
confirmation until her death, the Good Shepherd nourished Helen’s faith
regularly with the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus fed her with His own
body and blood.
As Jesus nourished Helen with
Word and Sacrament, He then gave her the spiritual gifts that you came to know
and love in her. These spiritual gifts are love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Even though
Helen dealt with so many health problems later on in her life, she dealt with
that adversity very well. She always seemed to have a smile and a positive
attitude. She displayed the gift of Christian joy to all who knew her.
She demonstrated patience and
kindness in first taking care of her mom as she got older and then taking care
of her husband as his health failed. She was very good at taking care of
others. She didn’t seem to demonstrate the same patience as her health got worse
and others had to take care of her. Yet, she had passed on her spiritual gifts
of goodness and kindness to her children and grandchildren, as they took on the
role of care-giver.
Helen’s sarcasm, sass, and
one-liners was definitely a gift. I don’t know if it was necessarily a “spiritual
gift.” I think that’s a gift she passed on to her children and grandchildren,
as well.
Helen had a strong resurrection
faith. That is a faith that she definitely passed on to her children and
grandchildren. On Friday, Rich emailed me to say that Helen had been called
home. I asked if the family wanted me to come over. His exact words were: “Thanks
for the offer, Pastor, but Jenny is doing well. Faith is a great comfort and
[Jenny] knows [her mom] is in a better place.”
That’s awesome! How can we have
this kind of calm, confident faith, even in the face of death? Because we know
our Savior who faced death for us and then was raised to life. Because we know
our Savior/Shepherd doesn’t leave us in the dark valley of death but walks us
safely to the other side. This is our comfort: “Even though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your
rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
The Lord does more than take care
of our needs for this life – He promises to bring us to everlasting life. The
picture changes from God’s earthly care to the eternal blessedness awaiting all
believers in heaven. The picture changes
from being sheep being fed in grassy meadows to guests being fed in a banquet
hall. The picture changes from Jesus being a shepherd to being a king. Ancient
kings were often called the shepherds of their people; they were to use their
power and resources to protect the people of their kingdom from enemies and
provide for their people’s needs.
“You
prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head
with oil; my cup overflows.” The Lord is
our Shepherd-King. He defeated the devil and all his demons. He destroyed the
power that sin had over you when He took all sin upon Himself on the cross on
Good Friday. He overcame death when He rose from the grave on Easter morning.
By faith in our
Shepherd-King, we are the privileged people of His kingdom. God’s undeserved
love is lavished on us like an abundant banquet. This feast is set right in
front of our enemies … and they can do nothing about it. That’s because they
are crushed, defeated, and overcome. Neither temptations, sorrow, suffering,
the devil, not even death can touch us anymore when we are at the banquet feast
of our Shepherd-King. These enemies are outside the gates of heaven looking in.
They cannot touch us anymore.
In ancient times, guests
were anointed with oil as a symbol of honor and joy of being in the royal
court. Oil is poured upon the heads of Christ’s saints to heal and refresh. That
oil poured over our heads at the end of our lives of faith are like the
baptismal waters poured over our heads at the beginning of our lives as
Christians. This oil marks God’s saints as His chosen ones.
While God’s saints are
seated at the table, their cups have so many of God’s blessings poured into
them that the cups overflow. God’s saints are now in the house of the Lord.
They will dwell there for an eternity.
God promises that heaven for
those who believe in His Son as their Shepherd, Savior, and King will be a very
special place. It is a place that our Good Shepherd won for us by laying down
His life for us.
There are a lot of
descriptions of heaven. We will be in the New Jerusalem, the city of God. It
will be filled with green pastures and quiet waters. We will be in the house of
the Lord forever. God’s saints will be gathered around the throne singing their
Savior’s praises.
It will also be a place
where there is a prepared table. I don’t know if there is going to be a table
filled with double cheeseburgers and lots of deserts. But I do know that Helen
is sitting down to eat right now. She is seated in the place of honor … right
next to her Good Shepherd. Amen.
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