Honoring the Deceased
Today we gather to honor the life of Maria Lujan.
She lived a full and wonderfully blessed life. She has many loving and caring family members. She saw many things in all her travels across this country and on her mission trips to Mexico.
She was a committed servant who deeply, genuinely, passionately loved her family and her neighbors as Jesus told us to love.
In visiting with the family I discovered that she was a loyal servant of the Lord in her teaching of several ages in Sunday School.
She taught the youth and worked in the nursery. She cooked for church dinners and gave faithfully to the work of the Lord.
She was truly a blessed and committed saint in the Lord.
As a saint we know that Ps. 116:15 “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”
He was with her and holding her and that is a comfort you can all have for your dearly loved Maria, Mother, Grandmother, Wife, Friend, Sister, Loved one.
Yesterday you all told me that she was committed to you, her family, in many areas.
She was committed to making you better and have an education so life could be easier and more enjoyable.
She was a fighter for you so you could receive the credits necessary for college and so you could receive a solid education.
Her passion for each of you was seen in her care she gave and her fighting for you. She was yours and you could depend on her in all these areas.
I want you all to know today that this verse from Psalm 116 says that the Lord made sure she got the best. He made sure she is right in the place she is supposed to be.
He has made a place for her and Maria is now in that place because Jesus fought for her on that cross. He fought for her to be there and now she is. Her death is precious to Him because He died for Her to live with Him forever. This she now is.
She is in the presence of the Lord and amongst some amazing gardens.
You told me Maria loved gardens. Just imagine the amazing roses, hibiscus, and many other flowers and plants she is amongst now.
She is with the amazing creator who blessed her with the passion and skills to quilt and crochet and cross stitch. Just think of the amazing beauty she made with that and then know it does not compare to what she is seeing now.
Listen to this from Revelation 4:3-6 “And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.”
Brilliant whiter than snow white robes, rubies, rainbows, emeralds, sea of glass, lightning and thunders. Crowns of pure gold and precious stones. This is beauty beyond description. This is the beauty that your dearly loved Maria is in now and forevermore.
She is now in the presence of the Lord as Paul said in 2 Cor. 5:8
8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:8 NKJV
She is with Him to never be separated from Him.
He will never no-show her like George Jones did that one time. No, the Lord was always with her as Christ told us in Heb. 13:5 that he will never leave us nor forsake us.
Now she is with the same Lord who said that because He never forsook her or left her. He was with Her in life and now in death.
I want to comfort you all with this same blessing. Jesus is with you now and He will always be with you.
If you are struggling or hurting allow Him to carry that load.
He tells us in Matt. 11:28-30 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
He promises to comfort and help us in times of need and weariness. And I can’t think of a greater time of need or weariness than right now for each of you.
He offers rest and ease of pain, I pray you all will take it because He is the good shepherd who did lay down His life for His sheep and as His sheep, you too can have this blessing and comfort.
Just Gone on a Trip
We can think of what Maria is doing as being on another trip. She has taken the most blessed trip of all, right into the loving arms of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. She is with Him in that wonderful mansion He went to prepare for her. Maria is seeing a mansion that disgrace a grace land. Her mansion is above and beyond the mansion of Elvis that she went and saw.
She is because she believed in our savior and Lord Jesus to give her everlasting life through the salvation that only He offers. She is with Him on this wonderful trip that all here can have and be with if you express the same faith and belief that Maria has.
I want to share one more narrative from Scripture that is fitting here today.
This is from 2 Sam. 12:16-23
16 David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17 And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18 On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” 20 Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”
2 Samuel 12:16–23 ESV
David had a child that was deathly ill. He prayed and fasted for seven days.
He refused to eat or drink or anything. He would lay on the ground begging the Lord to allow his child to live.
He faithfully day in and day out called out to God for the deliverance of His child.
But on the seventh day David saw his servants looking at him and talking amongst themselves afraid to tell him the child had died.
He noticed this and said 2 Sam. 12:19 “But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.”
From this he arose washed himself and changed clothes and worshipped the Lord, then he went and ate.
The servants were confused and exasperated at his behavior.
They could not understand why David could act this way.
So they went and asked him why he was behaving like this. His answer is one you can all cling to right now. David said,
2 Sam. 12:22-23 “He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”
“I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” That is the comfort you can have in this time.
You can go to Maria but she cannot return to us. We set our eyes on eternity and desire to go where she is to be with her forever. That is comfort to me.
I see this as one of the most comforting Scriptures in the Bible.
David knew his child was with the Lord and he knew he would be there too one day. That is comfort and joy. In this way you can look at Maria’s death as just an extended trip where she cannot call you but one day you too can be with her.
It is like this writing about death that I want to end with.
Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without a ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is well.
All is well. Maria is waiting for you and will be right there one day when it is your time to go on this same journey she is on.
But until then continue to laugh and enjoy this amazing creation the Lord has given us and go get a few antiques and collectibles. Enjoy the same things you always did with Maria and the Lord will bless you with wonderful blessed joyous memories that will make you smile even if there are tears.
Remember the Lord is with you and will never leave you nor forsake you. He is with you and will comfort and strengthen you.
