Funeral of Joan Davis

Funeral of Joan Davis
Ecclesiastes 3:19-21
1 Corinthians 15:20-28
August 11, 2010

There is nothing good about death.

We may give thanks when death comes to a person, an individual, who has long suffered the effects of a serious chronic illness – as in Joan’s case with diabetes.
But for death itself as it relentlessly takes all living things, no, we do not give thanks.
Death is no friend to us.

Death happens early, or late, or from illness, or accident, or war.
And if we do manage to live out a normal life while avoiding the hazards that might kill us early, well, then, there is age, and the implacable decline toward infirmity, with all the progressive losses that accompany it, and death at the end.

So, no, there is nothing good about death.

St. Paul says death is the enemy.
He says it is the final enemy.

An enemy?
An enemy of whom?

Of God.

Death is the enemy of God.

There are other things which are enemies of God, sin being one, the devil another.
But St. Paul goes out of his way to name death, the final enemy.

An enemy seemingly victorious.

“Man’s fate is like that of the animals,” says the Bible in the Book of Ecclesiastes.
“The same fate awaits them both; as one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animals.”

But Ecclesiastes is wrong.
Human beings do have an advantage.

It is the advantage God gives in Jesus Christ.

Animals live in innocence.
They do not live lives of self-awareness.
We have interior conversations with our selves because we are self aware.
Self-awareness means we are aware of our sin, our failures, and our misdeeds.
Animals do not have this awareness.
A dog bites someone but nobody complains the dog is being “un-doglike.”
But we humans know too well the word inhumane.
We know we act contrary to our own humanity.
This is self-awareness.
We are aware when we behave badly.
Self-awareness also means being aware of our end . . . the animals don’t know that.
We do.
From about the age of three we are aware that death is the end of life.
There we find the final enemy.

But here we have the advantage.
We know Jesus Christ.
That’s the advantage.

Back to the Book of Ecclesiastes.
Remember, he has said man has no advantage over the animal in death?
He questions. “Who knows if the spirit of man rises up and if the spirit of the animal goes down?”
Who knows?

But we have an advantage.
We know Jesus Christ.
More importantly, Jesus Christ knows us.

Christ is the weapon God uses against death.

God is on a rescue mission.
He is out to save creation.
He is out to save you.

St. Paul once more, Letter to the Romans:
“For I am convinced there is nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus.”

Our faith and the report of scripture tell us we do not die into nothing – as Ecclesiastes has it.
We die into God, who rescues us from sin, the devil, and death.

This is the basic Christian faith for basic Christians like us.
And with this faith we may trust God.
And to God we may entrust everything.
And everyone.
And everyone includes our friend, Joan Davis.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.