In the name of Jesus. Amen.
The obituary read, ?Richard ?Dick? Amon, 75, passed away on Wednesday December 5th 2007, at Maine General Medical Center in Waterville following a long illness. He was born in Boston on June 2nd, 1932 to William F. and Esther H. (Rautenberg) Amon. Dick graduated from Roxbury Memorial High School and earned a Bachelor of Civil Engineering Degree from Northeastern University in Boston. Dick was a U.S. Army veteran, serving with the Signal Corps in Germany during the Korean War. Sylvia joined him there.?
The obituary goes on to report, extensive traveling throughout the world; a move to Maine in 1963; a career in road construction for Tilcon, Maine of which he was president for 10 years. He was active in the affairs of the community, serving in various capacities. He was a charter member of this congregation and a member of the board of the Waterville Area Humane Society. He was a son, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a brother, and uncle.
These may be the things that defined Dick?s life from the day he was born until just last Wednesday when he died, but these things no longer define his life. The Psalmist says, ?As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.? (Psalm 103:15-16). Dick led a flourishing life by most anyone?s standards. But now the wind has passed over it and its place knows it no more. Or as the obituary put it, he ?passed away.?
There is an idea that has been circulating around for a while now that this is all there is to a person?s life. The idea is, you?re born, you live, you die, you pass away, and you cease to exist. Death is the end of life. This idea comes from watching the grass and the flowers. If the life cycle of grass and flowers is the way of all living things, then death is just the natural, normal end that all life comes to. For some, it takes 75 years, for some it takes longer, for others it comes sooner.
There is another idea out there however. It?s an idea that has also been around for a while. The idea is that human life has a beginning but has no end. We are conceived, born, live, die and pass away to an eternal life in either heaven or hell. This idea comes not from watching the grass and the flowers but from watching Jesus Christ. He was conceived, born, lived, died and was buried. But three days later, He rose again from the dead. Death was not the end of his life. He was not just a great man who lived a flourishing life but who, in the end, passed away. He lives. Before the women and His disciples could write His obituary and put together a proper funeral service, He walked right through the doors where they were gathered, shook their hands and said, ?peace be with you.?
The things we watch inform the things we believe. ?Fix your eyes on Jesus,? not the grass and flowers. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.
Dick was not united to the grass and flowers when he was baptized. He was united to Jesus Christ through Holy Baptism shortly after he was born to William and Esther. United to Christ, he goes the way, not of grass and flowers but of Him who has united Dick to Himself. ?For don?t you know, that all of us who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.? To walk in newness of life is the exact opposite of ?passing away.? ?For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like His.? (Romans 6:2-5).
Dick has not ?passed away.? He lives. What can be said with complete confidence about Jesus Christ, can be said with complete confidence about Dick Amon. He is risen. Not because Dick he died, but just because Jesus died for Him.
Our sin condemns us. No matter how flourishing a life we may have lived, we all have sinned against God and deserve nothing but death. But Jesus has ?taken away the reproach of His people? by becoming a reproach for us. (Is.25:8). He has ?swallowed up death forever? by being swallowed up by death on the cross. But after three days, death had to vomit Him up again because it couldn?t keep Him down. Death has no more hold on those who are united to Jesus than it did on Jesus Himself.
By Jesus? death, all Dick?s guilt was atoned for, all His sins were paid off, in full, ?not with gold or silver but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.? (1 Peter 1:18). Because Jesus died in our place and rose from the dead, death no longer has the final say in life.
Just because you can?t see it doesn?t mean you can?t believe it. He has demonstrated before your very eyes that death is not the end of life. And He has promised before your very ears, ?I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.? ?Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God.? Believe also in His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life.
Jesus has made all things right with God the Father for your husband, your father, your grandfather, your brother, your uncle, your friend.
Sylvia, for all of the traveling to the wonderful and exotic destinations that you and Dick have done together, never has he traveled to anything like the destination he has come to now. He has gone to heaven, to the Father?s house where Jesus has prepared a place for him. And what a place it is.
The moment that he closed his eyes and breathed his last in the hospital last Wednesday, he opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by a great multitude of men and women wearing white robes, holding palm branches in their hands, crying out in a loud voice, ?Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!? And he is one of them. Suddenly the veil was lifted, and he saw that as wonderful as Africa and Hawaii and wherever else you have been are, they are nothing, less than nothing, a miserable slum, compared to the indescribably glorious and all-surpassing joy of heaven.
Dick has come out of this ?great tribulation? and entered that heavenly joy which has no end. It never ?passes away.? His joy is without end, but it is not yet complete. Even though ?God has wiped away every tear from his eyes,? and he has been relieved from every sickness and all sorrow, even though he no longer needs our prayers, his joy is not yet complete because you are not yet there.
Where Dick has gone, you cannot go. Not yet. Your time has not yet come. Nevertheless, you know where he has gone. And the way to where he has gone you also know. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. Amen.