Funeral sermon for Clifford R. Kanetzke
John 10:27-30 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and
they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never
perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has
given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my
Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
There are a great deal of sounds that are associated
with the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are the coins clinking in
Judas’ money purse after he betrayed Jesus. There is the rooster crowing
signaling Peter’s denial. There are the sounds of the soldiers’ tramping feet
as they carry Jesus toward the cross.
In the upper room we hear the humble sound of water
splashing as Jesus washes His disciples’ dirty feet. On Friday afternoon, we
hear the disturbing sound of a hammer pounding nails through Jesus’ divine
flesh and blood.
Perhaps the most chilling sound of the entire Holy
Week is heard all day Saturday. Silence. For the Son of God is still dead. He
has not moved. His corpse is in the grave.
But everything changes at dawn on Sunday morning! That’s
when we hear the sound of the angel rolling the stone away from Jesus’ garden
tomb. The tomb is open for the women, the disciples, and the whole world to
look into. The grave is empty. Jesus is gone. He is alive!
These are the sounds that are associated with Jesus’
passion, crucifixion and resurrection.
There are also a great deal of sounds that are
associated with the life of the Christian. By God’s grace, Cliff heard these
sounds throughout His life. On May 2, 1926 , Cliff heard the splashing of water over his head as he was baptized into
God’s family. The Lord heard Cliff’s voice as Cliff before this altar on May 12, 1940 , as he made his confirmation vows that he would
remain faithful to the Lord until death. Nine years later, Cliff once again
stood before this same altar as his and Lois’ voices joined together in making
their marriage vows on September 10, 1949 .
If you knew Cliff well, you knew that he was always
busy. Always working. Always involved in something. Whether it was raising his
children. Or caring for his huge garden or serving in the army in World War II
or working 41 years at Modine Manufacturing. Then, after he retired, he kept
himself busy volunteering at Racine Lutheran High
School , our
Wisconsin Lutheran grade school and Shoreland Lutheran High
School
where his granddaughters attended, or the serving at the All Saints Cancer
Center.
Cliff threw himself into everything he did. What is
amazing is that though Cliff was never very talkative, he was often voted president
of the organizations he joined. Serving on the board at Racine Lutheran;
serving as Church Council president here at Epiphany, etc.
What made Cliff a wonderful father and grandfather, a
hard worker, a dedicated volunteer, and a true leader is that he was a great
listener.
What truly made Cliff everything that he was as a
father, grandfather, worker, volunteer, and leader was that He listened to
Jesus Christ, His Good Shepherd. For 88 of his 89 years, Cliff was here at
Epiphany. He listened closely as the voice of Jesus came through the mouth of
Cliff’s pastor. That voice reminded Cliff on a weekly basis that he was a
sinner who deserved God’s wrath. As wonderful as Cliff was, he knew deep in his
heart the sins that made him a deplorable and damnable sinner before His holy
God. He heard his pastor’s voice asking him to confess his sins to God our
Father. Then Cliff joined his voice with all the other sinner/saints at
Epiphany to confess: “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
When Cliff was no longer able to come to church for
worship, I visited with him for devotions and Holy Communion in his condo.
After confessing his sins, Cliff’s eyes watered just slightly as he then heard
the voice of his Shepherd through his pastor announcing forgiveness: “God our
heavenly Father, has been merciful to us and has given his only Son to be the
atoning sacrifice for our sins. Therefore, as a called servant of Christ and by
his authority, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Those slight tears were tears of repentance combined
with tears of joy. Cliff knew from little on that his forgiveness and salvation
were tied to his Savior’s death and resurrection. He loved hearing his Savior’s
voice confronting him with God’s harsh Law and comforting him with God’s sweet
Gospel.
Cliff was here every Sunday for worship – for decades,
sitting in the sixth pew from the front on the west side of the church. Then
coming up for communion – Bob and Sally receiving the common cup, Jill
receiving individual cup, and Cliff receiving the common cup. Then the family
returning to the sixth pew to kneel in prayer. Cliff’s favorite thing was to be
in church. In fact, when he moved into the Primrose Retirement Community, he
was asked what his favorite thing to do was – Bingo, cards, movies, etc. Cliff
said, “Attend church.”
It is here in church where Cliff was reminded that
because of Adam and Eve’s original sin in the Garden of Eden, the punishment of
sin and death had been brought upon countless generations of their children.
God spoke His curse upon His once immortal humanity: “For dust you and to dust
you will return.”
All of us as Christians hope to die as Cliff died – in
his sleep. However, he still died. We are left feeling the effects of God’s
curse upon our father, grandfather, and friend. For the family that was
gathered in Cliff’s room on Thursday morning, we didn’t really notice, but
Cliff had stopped breathing and his heart had stopped beating. Then the
machines were turned off and there was silence.
It was just silence … but it was unpleasant. It was
unsettling. It was upsetting.
That’s what Jesus’ disciples and followers felt as
they heard the stone being rolled in front of Jesus’ tomb on that dark Friday
afternoon 2,000 years ago. Their friend was crucified. Their rabbi had been
killed. Their Savior was dead. It was all so final. There was no hope any more.
It must have seemed as if death had won. As if the devil had defeated Jesus. As
if God’s curse was stronger than God’s promise.
In their fear and dread, none of them were really
listening. For Jesus had told them numerous times that He had to go to Jerusalem to be betrayed, crucified, and resurrected. If they
had really been listening, they would have been at the tomb at sunrise on
Sunday morning. Then they would have heard the superlative sound of the rolling
stone. The angel rolled back the stone – not to let the Lord of life out, but
to show the women, the disciples, and the world that the Lord was already gone.
The sound of the rolling
stone has echoed through the ages! That is the sound of victory! The sound of
life resurrected! The grave is open. It is empty. Listen to the sound of the
angel’s voice assure you of exactly what happened: “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking
for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here.”
Death used to be in control. But no longer. Jesus’
death means that death has died. The curse of death upon the first Adam has
been removed by fulfilling promise in the second Adam. God’s promise is greater
than His curse. Christ’s victory has extracted the venom from the ancient
serpent’s sting.
The rolling away of the stone revealing the empty tomb
has changed everything. By taking upon Himself the curse of sin and the sting
of death, the dying process loses its fear for us. Now the comforting words of
the Twenty-third Psalm and the Lord’s Prayer were on Cliff’s dying lips. Now
the tears that are shed for Cliff are tears of sorrow, but not tears of
despair. For we know that after Cliff took his last breath on earth on Thursday
morning, he took his first breath of heaven the very next moment. We believe
with all confidence that Cliff fell asleep in the Lord so he could wake up in
glory everlasting.
Not because Cliff was a good leader or wonderful
parent or great example … but because he believed in his crucified and resurrected
Savior.
Because you and I share this same resurrection faith,
we can rejoice this evening in defiance against our mourning. Because that
garden tombstone was rolled away, we can have the same confidence that Cliff
had when we lay down our head upon our deathbed. Because we believe in Christ’s
promise, “Because I live, you also will live,” we know that we will one day be
gathered with Cliff and Lois and all the living saints around God’s throne in
heaven.
When we Christians bury our dead, it is as if we are
laying a baby down to sleep and the casket becomes nothing more than a second
cradle. This dying in Christ is the joy reserved only for the Christian!
Christians are blessed to hear the sounds of faith
throughout our lives. Cliff could hear the sound of God’s “Amazing Grace,”
every time he walked into his church. He could hear the sound of being a
Christian soldier marching on to war on the battlefield, at home or at work.
Last Thursday, Cliff heard the sound of being welcomed home, for he was no longer
a stranger here, heaven had become his new home.
This all became possible because for 89 years, Cliff
was blessed to be listening to the sound of the Good Shepherd’s voice.
As you and I continue to listen to the Good Shepherd’s
voice, we know that the sounds of death are replaced with the sounds of life.
The sound of the sirens on the freeway will be replaced by the sound of the
angels’ trumpet call. The sound of silence in the room will be replaced with
the song of the saints. The sound of mourning at the graveside will be replaced
with the sound of eternal laughter. For the sound of the stone rolling away
from the Easter tomb has reverberated through time and eternity. It not only
opened the entrance to the tomb of Jesus, but also opened the gates to God’s
heaven. Amen.
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