Luke 1:26-38, Job 42:1-5, and Corinthians 15:51-55 – Part of the Christmas Story Retold for a Funeral
Caitlin Trussell on December 11, 2014 for Kelli
Job 42:1-5 Then Job answered the Lord: 2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 “Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4 “Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ 5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.”
1 Corinthians 15:51-55 Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die,* but we will all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
55 ‘Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?’
Luke 1:26-38 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
When I spoke with David and Linda this week, I heard many things about Kelli that could easily get overshadowed by her paralysis from the car accident years ago and the last few months of being hospitalized – her independence, her love of people, her love of dogs, her sense of adventure, and so much more. These are gifts that Kelli brought to people throughout her life as she got down to the business of living her life. Concerts, plays, reading, travelling were all part of Kelli’s “wild and precious life.”[1] In the last several years, her electric chair allowed for even greater independence to get around and she thoroughly enjoyed the freedom.
In the last few days, as the family has been dealing with the details of things, David was asked to fill out a paper that included Kelli’s profession. He filled that line in as “homemaker.” Not able to use a sewing machine pedal, she hand-sewed many a blanket over the years for people and herself, including the one on the bed where she died.
When I listened to Kelli’s story both from herself as we visited in the hospital these last few months and from David and Linda, I encountered the good, the bad, and the ugly, much of which you already know. You also know that Kelli’s death at such a young age comes after months of fighting to live. And you know that it is not okay to have happened.
Kelli spent the last few months reading the book of Job. She and I talked about hope and fear and God – she taught me about faithfulness and I taught her about faithfully questioning God in the face of what she was going through. We talked about her dilemma to keep on fighting or to let go and her deep desire to hear from God in the middle of it all. We talked about her father, Chuck, and her brother, David. All that the two of them, and many of you, have done for her over the years so that she could do all the things she did “with her wild and precious life.”[2]
And we talked about her mother, Paula, and Kelli’s wish that she could know what her mother thought about whether to fight or let go. In Kelli’s last days, it was her mother who showed up in a dream and told Kelli it was time. The next morning, Kelli wrote on her white board, “I’m at peace.” Whenever someone asked her how she was doing she would point at that board… “I’m at peace.”
Kelli’s fighting spirit, in part, meant that she was able to get off that ventilator and make it home before she died. My last visit with Kelli was in her room at home. She was breathing on her own, with family and friends there for her. She died peacefully a few hours later – heading into the final adventure of her “wild and precious life.”[3]
When thinking about scripture for today, Mary’s story in becoming the mother of Jesus came to mind. Mary came to mind, in part, because of her confusion and her conversation with an angel that includes the question, “How can this be…?”[4] Mary came to mind because of her strength and hope to do God’s will, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”[5] Mary came to mind because she became the Christ-bearer. The one who birthed God into skin and solidarity among us.
After all, how might God go about getting our attention? What are all the ways in which that may have been possible? God, at some point, needs to grab us in a way that we might have some shot at understanding. God needs to speak in human terms. So, through Mary the Christ-bearer, God shows up. After all, who can resist a baby? A baby whose life and death ultimately changes everything.
The gospels insist, time and again, that God and Jesus are one. Jesus is God and God is Jesus. And Jesus is focused on the goal of bringing people back into relationship with God. The self-sacrificing love of God, given fully on the cross, draws us back into relationship with God. [6] Jesus as “the way, the truth, and the life,” means that he has already opened up whatever we perceive the barrier to be between us and God. So to the question about whether God’s love is big enough to include even Kelli, whether God’s love is big enough to include even you, the answer is a simple and resounding, “YES!” So, through the cross, Kelli and you and I become Christ-bearers too.
In the twinkling of an eye, God moved through Mary to become human – the direction of movement being from God to us. In the twinkling of an eye, God receives Kelli into a holy rest – the direction of movement being from God to Kelli. And because it is God’s movement to us, God’s movement to Kelli, God gives us a future with hope as God also brings Kelli into a future with God. Kelli IS at peace. Thanks be to God.
[1] Mary Oliver’s poem “The Summer Day.” http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/133.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Luke 1:34
[5] Luke 1:38
[6] Koester, course notes, 12/1/2010. For further study see: Craig R. Koester, The Word of Life: A Theology of John’s Gospel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008).