In Memoriam - Linda Dyson: "The Traveler"

 + In Memoriam – Linda Dyson + 

September 24^th, 1947 – November 28^th, 2021

John 14:1-6

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

 

I go to prepare a place for you. In these words, Jesus gives us comfort in our grief. Promise in the midst of sorrow. Hope and life in the midst of death. Jesus also gives us his word for our journey through life. Jesus’ words are traveling words.

 

And that’s something I think Linda, and you who know her, would appreciate. Linda loved to travel.

 

She traveled through hospitals and maternity wards delivering babies and witnessing the miracle of life. 

 

In more recent years she traveled anywhere there was warm water and a place to splash down in scuba gear.

 

Linda spent time with family and friends traveling the Scriptures together, reading, studying, inwardly digesting God’s promises to us in Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life. 

 

And through it all, our Lord Jesus travelled with her, his grace and mercy, her constant companion. There is no greater journey than to walk in our Lord’s ways and in His word. For Linda, that journey began on the day of her baptism, where our Lord washed and cleansed her from all sin; where He clothed her in Christ’s righteousness; where he transported her from the kingdom of darkness to his marvelous light; where He poured out His Holy Spirit to dwell with her, not for a short day-trip, but for her whole life, and even to eternity. 

 

This is what our Lord Jesus does for you and all who are baptized and believe in Him. Jesus the Good Shepherd walks through this valley of the shadow of death with you, as he did with Linda. Not only that, Jesus Christ the great traveler walked into the valley of the shadow death for Linda, and for you.

 

Jesus’ words to his disciples, and to us, here in John 14, remind us that Jesus himself is a traveler. Jesus’ journey to the cross began in the Virgin Mary’s womb and at his birth in Bethlehem for you. Jesus sojourned into the wilderness to be baptized in the Jordan River and then to overcome Satan’s temptations for you. Jesus walked throughout the Judean countryside, preached the good news of his coming to save, healed the sick, and raised the dead. And through it all he set his face towards Jerusalem. After three years of teaching, preaching, healing, and revealing who he was and what he came to do, Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem. Jesus walked to a hill outside the city walls carrying his own cross, and with that cross he was crucified with Linda’s sin, your sin, my sin; Jesus died Linda’s death, your death, my death. 

 

But the cross was not the end of Jesus’ journey. Not yet. Jesus traveled the paths of the dead. He was crucified, died, and buried. Many have traveled that road, but only Christ Jesus has journeyed through death and the grave, and he did that for Linda and for you. Jesus died in our place, and rose again three days later so that for Linda and for you, death would not be the end of our journey either. Jesus rose from the grave so that one day, he will call us forth from our graves and raise us from the dead in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.

 

So it is for Linda and for all who believe in Christ our Lord. Death and the grave do not get the last word. The grave is not the final destination. Linda’s travels do not end in the grave. Her body, and our bodies will rest for a time, until our Lord returns on the Last Day. And then the journey with our Lord continues in a glorious, real, bodily resurrection from the dead. 

 

This is what Jesus declares to us today as he did for Mary and Martha at the death of their brother Lazarus…

 

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. 

 

By God’s grace and mercy, Linda’s hope and faith was in those words and promises of Jesus. Words and promises that traveled with her, her whole life through. Before GPS and smartphones, travelers used to use a compass or the stars on their journey. Find true north and you’d find your way. For Linda Christ crucified and risen was her true north. It was Christ’s grace and promise that led her, followed her, and carried her every step of the way. 

 

May it be so for each of you as well. On your journey, in all your travels, trust in Christ who journeyed to the cross, through the grave, and out again three days later to for Linda and for you.

 

The Lord bless your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

 

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.