Funeral Questioning

 

I went to a funeral last Saturday.

The service was lovely—

A true tribute to an amazing woman—

And the friend whom I went to see spoke beautifully as she honored her mom.

Something happened at the funeral that I didn’t expect to happen, though—

And it wasn’t just a brass quintet 😊—

The minister delivered a message that moved me and made me think.

 

Let me see if I can summarize the message:

 

Sometimes life is hard.

And sometimes life isn’t fair.

Why my friend’s parents both had to suffer like they suffered is something we will never understand.  

Her father had Alzheimer’s.

Her mother had a debilitating stroke.

My friend, age 44, has been a caregiver for 20 years.

Sometimes, as my friend said, life sucks.

And sometimes life isn’t wrapped up with a nicely packaged bow like some brands of Christianity preach.

Life is a mystery.

Life is full of questions.

And Jesus himself was the master of questions.

Jesus was asked something like 300 questions in the New Testament.

He directly answered very few of them.

Jesus responded instead with a parable or question.

He asked something like 180 questions in the gospels,

And his parables often didn’t make much sense.

But what we know that makes sense is this:

Jesus, himself, grieved when his friend Lazarus died.

Jesus, himself, told the thief on the cross that he would be with him, that day, in paradise.

(Paul later explains a different version of when the dead will rise).

And Jesus, himself, said, “The greatest commandment is this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

 

So if we are followers of Jesus,

Then we,

In the midst all the other junk—

The questions, the doubts, the heartaches, the fears—

Should be a people who

Question,

Grieve,

Love, and

Believe.

 

That’s who my friend’s mom was.

That’s who my friend is.

May it be who we are, too.

Amen.