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“[Jesus] died for all, so that those who live no longer live for themselves but for Him who died and rose for them.”

᛭ INI ᛭

Jesus died and rose. That’s the historical fact that undergirds the entire Christian faith. He was dead. Died at Calvary. Buried in a tomb. Then He wasn’t dead anymore. He came back to life. Just as surely as you and I are living and breathing right here, right now. That’s Jesus right now. Just like we end all our churchy prayers: “Through Jesus Christ who lives and reigns…now and forever.”

Jesus died and rose for all. All that He did, He did for all people everywhere. His death for them. His coming back to life for them, for all. For you. Each of you. All of you. Harold. Lynn. Daniel. Lori. Becky. All of you. Loretta, too.

It’s all written down for you. Sometimes detailed. Sometimes not. But the history’s all there. “Oh, that my Words were written,” Job says. They were. So were Jesus’. What He did, too. That’s the Gospels. All the Bible in many and various ways telling us all that Jesus said and did. His history. His life. Even His genealogy’s in there!

That’s one thing, Loretta, did well. Now, she did many other things, too. That’s all written down, summarized for us, in her obituary. Her life written down. Her actions. Even her pie crust recipe! But you know all the details that are written on your hearts and lives.

What she did, she did for you. She lived her life that way because that’s what the Lord Jesus did for her, through her, in her, with her. “[Jesus] died for all, so that those who live no longer live for themselves but for Him who died and rose for them.” He died and rose for Loretta, so that she would live.

That life was given to her in the waters of Holy Baptism. As Paul says elsewhere, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2) Or as you heard earlier in the service, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Rom 6)

She received that gift of life through faith in Jesus. That, too, a gift from her Savior who died and rose for her. “I live by faith in the Son of God.” God the Father “made us alive with Christ…For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Eph 2) Life in the Word—only Jesus has “the words of eternal life.”

You live from the same things. His Font. His Word. Jesus wants you to live, too. He wants you to live from Him, by faith in Him. “For from him and through him and to him are all things.” (Rom 11) He wants you to live a Christ-died-for me life. He wants you to live a Jesus’-grave-is-empty sort of life.

It really is! And that’s the sort of life He really wants for you. For all of you. Harold. Lynn. Daniel. Lori. Becky. All of you. Loretta, too. “He died and rose for all.” He wants all to die and rise in Him, by faith in Him and what He’s done for them.

You hate death. Today of all days you hate death. We don’t like talking about dying, thinking about death. But when it comes home to roost, it’s really clear how much we hate death. But the reality is, Jesus hates death, too. You can see that in our Gospel reading today. Jesus was always grieved by grief of others. Jesus even wept for Lazarus, even though He knew He was going to raise Him. Jesus hates death and what it does to people, not just those who die, but the survivors, too.

And this why He did what He did! “He died and rose for all.” He came to destroy death. He went into death to blow it apart, to come back to life. He won coming back to life for all. He delivers the promise that He will bring you out of the grave. Just like He rose after three days. Just like He raised Lazarus after four. He’ll raise Jan, Jon, Larry, and Loretta. He’ll raise you. He has to. After all,

JESUS DIED AND ROSE SO THAT YOU WOULD LIVE.

Jesus died and rose. That’s the historical fact that undergirds the entire Christian faith. He was dead. Died at Calvary. Buried in a tomb. Then He wasn’t dead anymore. He came back to life. Just as surely as you and I are living and breathing right here, right now. That’s Jesus right now. Just like we end all our churchy prayers: “Through Jesus Christ who lives and reigns…now and forever.”

HE DIED AND ROSE SO THAT YOU WOULD LIVE.

Not just live for other in this life. But live forever. Come back to life forever. He will do it. Just as surely as your living and breathing here. Loretta will again forever. You will again, too. Just like Jesus did.

He makes those promises: in Baptism, in His Word. We trust His promises. He keeps us trusting in His promises: in His Word, in His Supper. He promises His Spirit to work on you in these things. So, that you’d have “a blessed end, and graciously [be taken] from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.” That’s Loretta right now. You, too, someday.

But one day, the Last Day, you’ll live forever, body and soul with Him. You’ll be raised. All will be. Those with faith in Jesus to eternal life with Him. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God [the Father] will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus…Thus we shall always be with the Lord.” The Holy Spirit will come and do it. “On the Last Day [the Holy Spirit] will raise me and all the dead and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.”

JESUS DIED AND ROSE SO THAT YOU WOULD LIVE.

“This is most certainly true.”

᛭ INI ᛭