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“Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.”
᛭ INI ᛭
Alleluia! Jesus Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
That’s the Christian confession, that the eternal Son of God, IHS Christ, died for our trespasses and came back to life for our innocent verdict before His heavenly Father. He was crucified for us. He was raised for us. He died, but now He is dead no longer, He will never die again, death no longer has dominion over Him. This is the heart and soul of each and every Christian Creed: The Apostles’, the Nicene, and even the Athanasian.
Christ’s saving death and His victorious resurrection is what Christians confess before men. We confess it before men when we tell them what God has done for us in Christ. We confess it before men, as we pass along God’s mercy in Christ, paying it forward, as it were. “We love [others] because [God] first loved us.”
That IHS Christ, the eternal Son of God, died and was raised is the Christian confession, and Christ promises: “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.” But where can you find such men to confess Christ in this way? To confess Christ and His love not only in Word but “also in deed and in truth”? Well, Ken was such a man. But how is such a thing possible? How can we on the day of Ken’s funeral rejoice in the comfort that Christ really has confessed Ken before His Father?
Well, it doesn’t come down to Ken, unassuming as he was. It’s true that whoever confesses Christ, him Christ will confess, but our comfort doesn’t rest in Ken’s confession, his kind words, his peaceful, kind nature. The question we must ask is how is it that Ken, or any one of us for that matter, actually ends up confessing Christ through what we say and do? The answer to that question is abounding in comfort for you Karen, Lyle, Donna, and Kurtis, and everyone else who mourns Ken’s death.
How is it that we end up with people like Ken? Patient and kind, full of love and joy and peace? How is it that people confess Christ, so that Christ turns around and confesses them? That Christ confesses them means, He announces their name before God the Father, saying, “Dad, this one is one of My sheep. Welcome them into the eternal sheepfold.”
St. Paul’s Words give the answer to this question. St. Paul’s words allow us to take a step back and see what kind of person confesses Christ. Paul’s inspired words are this: “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)
The risen IHS dwells within the heart of the one who trusts in Him. Christ enlivens that believer. Christ gives him strength and life and hope. Christ puts His Words into that believer. He even gives that believer the Gift of the Holy Spirit to that believer. And so when the time for bear the fruit of Good Works toward others, the believer becomes and instrument of Christ and the Spirit. When it comes time for Words to confess Christ, the Spirit works that, too! As Christ promises: “It is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.”
It’s a hard to handle the death of someone you love. But for you Karen, and Lyle and Donna and Kurtis and everyone else, there’s a peace to it. You don’t have to like it but you can tolerate it a bit. But that’s only because Christ IHS Himself, the Prince of Life, doesn’t like death and wouldn’t tolerate it either! He wanted to put a stop to the whole thing, and so He came down from heaven and “suffered for us under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.” He went into death to destroy it from the inside out. He came back to life, and now death is not the end! “Where, O death, is your victory?” Christ lives and death is defeated!
He delivers His victory to us. He promises to lead is in a victory parade where we will dance over death’s grave forever! He made us His own in Holy Baptism. He continually shepherds us through this life with His Word. He feeds us with His body and blood through the bread and wine of His Supper so that we’d not only have the forgiveness of all our sins, but that we would receive from Him, greatest of all Physicians, the medicine of eternal life. For Communion is the antidote to death, that we would not die but rather live forever with Christ. This is what Christ promises to those who receive the Sacrament with true and living faith: “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will resurrect him on the Last Day.” A medicine Ken also recently had unto his eternal blessing.
Christ’s promise in Matthew 10:32, which is Ken’s confirmation verse, rings true for Ken and forever: ““Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.” True and faithful words, they are true for Ken. Christ confesses all those who are His before His Father. “Dad this one’s mine.” So is Ken. So are you. But this is only because of Christ making you such a person who believes in Him and who then confesses Him in what you say and do.
“It is no longer you who live but Christ lives in you, and the life you now live in the flesh you live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave Himself for you.” With a Savior like that you will certainly confess Him, as Ken did. Even with Confession: “This too shall pass.” Not a bad confession on the day of his funeral. “This too shall pass.” Because
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