Psalm 121 The text for our meditation on God’s Holy
Word is the psalm chosen for this day that we read responsively earlier in our
service. Dear brothers and sisters in
Christ and especially you, Bernice and J.A.’s family, I bring you grace, mercy,
and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Over the course of
our lives there is much that weighs heavy upon us, much that fills our eyes
with tears, much that casts our vision to the ground. The diagnosis of a terrible disease. The pain and indignity of a body that begins
to fail. The specter of our own
death. The loss of those we love.
All of these and more are part and parcel of
living in this broken world—all of these and more are a sad reminder that as
much as we love our earthly life- as much as God blesses us in our earthly
life, we are still a pilgrim people journeying—and sometimes trudging along--
to our true and lasting home.
That is why we need the reminder that we
have today in God’s Word: I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD! My help comes from the LORD!
J.A. believed that! He knew that God was his helper—beginning
with salvation Jesus won for him on the cross-- and extending to every part of
his life. He built his life upon it.
These words of Psalm 121 were special to
J.A. He wanted them heard by those who
gathered here today to mourn his passing so that we too would know and believe
that we have in the LORD a God who loves us and watches over us and helps us in
all our need.
The 121st Psalm was J.A. and
Bernice’s wedding text. Pastor Kaestner
chose these words wisely. He knew that
there would be many blessings in their life’s journey—and there have been: the blessing of children and grandchildren
and great-grandchildren—the blessings of adventures shared in a wonderful
marriage—the blessings of a life lived in service to the church.
But Pastor Kaestner also knew that there
would be times when the hardships and sorrows and the pain of life in a broken world
would weigh them down and make it difficult to put one foot in front of the
other and fill their eyes with tears:
when they lost their grandson—when they heard the word “cancer”—when
they learned that there was no longer any medical hope.
In choosing this psalm for their wedding Pastor
Kaestner wanted them to know that no matter what trouble they faced, no matter
how difficult the journey, they had a helper in the LORD. The LORD would watch over them—the LORD would
sustain them—the LORD would keep them from all evil.
So it is today! Tears fill our eyes. Our gaze is directed downward in sorrow. Our shoulders
sag under the burden of our loss, but this invitation from the LORD is heard
once again: Lift up your eyes to the Lord!
Your help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth! Lift
up your eyes to the LORD!
As we accept that gracious invitation to fix
our eyes on the Lord we will find: a ready help in our time of need, strength to
meet the days ahead, and comfort in our sorrow.
The psalmist writes: I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
If you look at this psalm in an English
bible you will see a heading calling this a “song of ascents.” Pilgrims who were traveling up to the temple
in Jerusalem would sing this song that God gave them to encourage one another
on their journey.
That pilgrimage was up-hill all the way. It
was hot and dusty. The road was rocky
and treacherous. Evil men preyed upon the travelers. But onward and upward they traveled because
they kept their eyes of faith fixed on the LORD. They knew that no hardship they endured and
no enemy they faced would be greater or more powerful than the God who was
their -- and that gave them to the strength to go on despite the difficulties
of the journey.
J.A. knew and believed the same—that the
LORD, the God who made the heavens and the earth was his helper throughout his
earthly pilgrimage.
From the very beginning of his life that was
true. Just a few days after his parents
Carl and Lydia welcomed a baby boy into their family, God welcomed J.A. into
his family. He was brought to the waters
of Holy Baptism at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Vernon, Texas. Pastor Birnbaum poured water on his little
head in the name of the Triune God and in those moments the saving benefits of
Christ’s death and resurrection became his own and the LORD who made the heaven
and the earth became his heavenly Father.
Throughout J.A.’s life his heavenly Father
blessed him. He blessed him with a godly
family who loved him and raised him in the church. He blessed him with a strong body and mind
that allowed him to excel in school and in his work. He blessed him with a faithful Christian wife
and family he loved. He blessed him with
opportunities to serve others.
The words of the Bible given to him as his
confirmation text were proved true in his life again and again. God promised him:
“The mountains shall depart, and the hills
be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall
the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on
thee.” These words were prophetic of
J.A.’s life.
That day he was confirmed, J.A. promised God
that he would suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from his church and
his confession of faith. That is an
enormous promise to make for a thirteen year old boy to make but he was able to
keep that promise because he had in the LORD a God who would help him remain
faithful every step of the way. The
psalmist writes:
The LORD will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
Jesus once said that gate is
wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it
are many. But the gate is narrow and the way is hard
that leads to life, and those who find it are few. J.A. knew that the way that leads to eternal life
is Jesus.
Throughout his life J.A. believed what Jesus
told his disciples, the Jesus was the
way and the truth and the life and that no one could come to God except by him. The LORD graciously kept J.A.’s eyes fixed on
Jesus and his feet on that narrow way that has led to the eternal life he is
enjoying right now in the Lord’s presence.
By God’s gracious
help, J.A. was a faithful child of God for his entire life. Each Lord’s Day he was present in
worship—hearing God’s Word, studying God’s Word, and receiving God’s gracious
forgiveness in Holy Absolution and Holy Communion.
His Christian faith was lived out in service
to the Lord and his church. He served
our congregation in virtually every office we have. He served the church at large as a member of
the board of directors of our district and in the Lutheran Laymen’s
League.
According to God’s own promise, the LORD did
not let J.A.’s foot be moved from the way that leads to eternal life even as
his own earthly life began to draw to a close.
The psalmist writes:
The Lord will keep you from all evil; he
will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and
forevermore.
When we think about the last several
years and months and weeks of J.A.’s life it may be hard to see how the LORD
kept him from all evil. Sickness, and
frailty, and death are indeed part of a world that is broken by sin. But for those who love Jesus, for those who
are called according to his purpose, for J.A.—all things must work for our
good. And not just the pleasant and easy
things—all things work for our good—even tribulation and distress.
None of us are immune to the
judgment of God that the wages of sin is death.
But that is not the last word about us.
There is more. The wages of sin
is death-- but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Eternal life won for us all by his death on
the cross and glorious resurrection.
Jesus is the one who keeps us from all the evil that can
destroy us eternally. He is the one who
keeps our life safe and secure in his almighty, nail-scared hands. He is the one who watches over us from the
beginning of our life until the end.
Even in the very difficult last weeks and days and hours of
J.A.’s life we saw how true this was. He
continued to hear God’s Word and receive Holy Communion and confess his faith
in Jesus. The last moments of his life
were filled with the prayers and songs of his Christian family and at the
moment of his passing he lifted up his eyes to the glory that awaited him in
the presence of the LORD who had been his helper all his life.
The LORD most certainly kept him from all evil when he
delivered him safely from this valley of death, wiped every tear from his eyes,
and brought him into the eternal home Jesus had prepared for him.
J.A.’s earthly pilgrimage is over. The dangers and hardships of that journey are
no longer a burden for him. He kept his
eyes on the LORD who created the heavens and the earth. He depended on his help. And his going out-- was a coming home. May God grant that to us all!
Lift up your eyes to the Lord! Your help comes from the Lord, the maker of
heaven and earth! Lift up your eyes to the LORD! Amen!
And now may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
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