+ In Memoriam – Mark Zurschmiede +
December 9th, 2023
Isaiah 41:8-13; 1 John 5:1-12; John 6:35-40
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Milton, WA
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
The prophet Isaiah zeroes in on one of our most basic, common fears. Of being alone. That doesn’t mean that we don’t all value time to ourselves, and for each of us that varies. Some of us are more extroverted, some more introverted. The kind of loneliness Isaiah points to is different; it’s that feeling of being totally Isolated. No one to help in time of need. No one to turn to. Nowhere to find comfort.
When God called the prophet Isaiah to speak these words to his people Israel, he was preparing them for the days when they would be captured by the Babylonian empire, taken from their homeland, and sent off into exile. They would be alone because of their enemies. And alone because of their sin. They would feel isolated. Abandoned. Without hope. So God sent them his word through his prophet Isaiah. God sent his word to remind Israel that they were not alone. That God was with them.
Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Sin and death and grief often have a similar effect on us as well, leaving us feeling alone, or abandoned, or without hope. Grief can feel like a dark room without doors or windows. Death can seem like an unbeatable enemy.
This is why so God is constantly speaking his word of comfort throughout the Bible. So that throughout our life, just as he did in the lives of is people, just as he did for Mark, we would continue to hear his promise.
Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Today, as he did for Abraham, God promises… Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go
Today, as he did for Israel in the Exodus, God reminds you, you are not abandoned or alone. ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.
Today, as he did for his disciples, he does for you. Jesus promises and gives hope, even in the midst of grief; he gives you life, even as we mourn Mark’s death. I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
This is what our Lord did throughout Mark’s life as well. On the day he was baptized, water was poured over his head. The word of God was spoken and declared over Mark. The sign of the cross was made on his forehead and over his heart. And the Lord spoke.
fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
When Mark went through confirmation class and as he confessed his faith there and throughout his life, the Lord was with him. Mark’s life – and your life – is in Jesus the Son of God. When you feel helpless or hopeless…Fear not. You are not alone. Christ the crucified and risen one is with you.
As Mark worked at Boeing, spent time with family, went to church, went about his daily, ordinary tasks of life…the Lord was with him. Even in death, the Lord was with Mark.
All of this is true because of what our Lord Jesus did for Mark and for you. Mark is with Jesus now and for all eternity – just as all believers in Christ are and will be – because when Jesus was on the cross, he was there for Mark and for you. When Jesus lived perfectly and kept the Father’s word and obeyed his will, he did that for Mark and for you. When Jesus was crucified, he was abandoned and left alone to bear our sin, to die in our place, and to be forsaken, so that Mark, and you, and me would never be alone, never be abandoned and never be without hope. Our Lord Jesus was crucified and risen so that whenever we do feel that way, whenever sin and death and grief cause us to feel alone, Christ’s word and promise would break into the darkness and declare a word of comfort.
fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
This is the faith that Mark lived in, confessed, died in, and will rise again in. Because of Christ, death the last enemy does not get the last word. Jesus does. Jesus conquered the grave for Mark and for you so that you will never be abandoned or left alone. So that you will be with Christ forever. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
Jesus was buried in the tomb and rose again so that one day, when he returns, Christ will raise Mark and all of us, from our graves with his righteous right hand. He will strengthen us again in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. He will speak his word and call us forth from our graves. Fear not. For I am with you.
Fear not. I am the one who helps you.
Fear not. I am with you always.
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