Funeral: "Safe in the arms of Jesus" (Mark 10:14,16)

FUNERAL MEDITATION: "SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS" (Mark 10:14,16)

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Dr. Paul Manuel—2001

Where below you read "the deceased" Pastor Manuel

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There is much about life we do not understand, much about life we cannot explain. When things go wrong, we try to find the cause, perhaps even someone or something to blame. Occasionally, we can identify the reason for an accident or an illness...often we cannot. Ultimately, such things happen because we live in a fallen universe, in a world that has been broken, because sin has introduced serious flaws into God's perfect design. We can make certain repairs, temporary fixes that keep things and us running, but we cannot resolve the basic problem. Only God can do that.

 

It is curious that God did not erase it all, that after our repeated and persistent defying of His will, He did not just destroy us or abandon us. Instead, He offered us a remedy that would not only fix the problem, it would improve our situation by drawing us close to Him. This He did by sending His Son Jesus to pay the ultimate penalty for our sin. The cure is not automatic. It requires conscious and deliberate action on our part: a turning from our sinful past and a commitment to serving God. When we take that decisive step, we must still live in this fallen universe, but God gives us purpose, direction, and hope for a life with Him that will never end.

 

What about those who are unable to take that step, those who cannot understand the problem, let alone the solution? Does God make provision for people who pass from this life while they are very young? The biblical writers suggest that He does, and Jesus, before his own death, confirms God's concern for children. When parents wanted Jesus to ask God's blessing on their children, he said to his disciples:

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them...." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them, and blessed them. (Mark 10: 14b, 16)

At other times and on several occasions, Jesus makes clear that he represents the Father, that Jesus' words and works are precisely what God the Father would say and do. Jesus said:

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14:9b)

Jesus does not mean that he physically resembles the Father but that he represents the Father, speaking and acting on His behalf. So, Jesus' attitude toward children here reflects God's attitude toward them. In these verses, we see that...

• He welcomes children.

Jesus was both busy and tired, so the disciples wanted to turn them away, but he would not have it. When Jesus welcomed the children, he showed that God the Father welcomes them too. Unlike us, God is never too busy or too tired or too distracted. He always has time for people, including children. We also see that...

• He embraces children.

Jesus could have kept them at a distance, not wanting them to play with his beard or drool on his robe. Instead, he took them in his arms and blessed them. Likewise, God is not standoffish. When children come to Him, He brings them into the embrace of His love and care.

 

In such situations as these, the question that often arises is: Why would God allow someone so young to die. It is a question we cannot answer.

• Was it to spare her parents from some even greater heartache in the future?
• Was it to keep her from making a costly mistake, one that would lead her away from God?

Perhaps God was not the cause at all. It was rather a tragic consequence of entering a fallen world. Whatever the reason, the most important thing to realize is God's role in the end, that He did not reject the deceased but did indeed take her, in the best sense of that word. God has welcomed the deceased. God has brought her into the embrace of His love and care.

 

Where does that leave us who remain here? When King David experienced a similar tragedy with the death of his infant son, the Bible records that he worshipped God and said, 'My son will not return to me, but I will go to him' (2 Sam 12:23c). We have the same opportunity. While the deceased will not return to us, we can go to her. As adults, though, we must take conscious and deliberate action: turning from our sinful past and committing ourselves to serving God.

 

There is a hymn that describes the deceased's condition:

Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe on his gentle breast, There by his love o'er shadowed, Sweetly my soul shall rest....

Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe from corroding care, Safe from the world's temptation, Sin cannot harm me there....

Jesus, my heart's dear refuge, Jesus [who] died for me; Firm on the rock of ages, Ever my trust shall be....

  

The deceased is now Safe in the Arms of Jesus.

 

For a pdf see here.