Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

What a perfectly horrific scene we’re told about in our First Reading today [Acts 7:51-60]. This is one of those Bible texts which most early teenage boys love to hear because it’s all about gore and blood and violence, but it’s a text most of us could probably do without. An early follower of Jesus Christ is stoned to death in a very public setting with lots of people watching. Now remember that Stephen was not convicted of anything. All Stephen happened to do was open his mouth and speak about Jesus and state the truth that it was the leaders of the Jewish people – the very ones who should be setting an example for others – who had the blood of Jesus covering their own hands. That truth didn’t set too well with the Jewish leaders. In fact, Scripture tells us that they basically stuck their fingers in their ears, yelling “We don’t want to hear this” while they charged at Stephen. Soon they would also have the blood of Stephen on their hands as well.

Fortunately for us followers of Jesus Christ living in 21st Century North America, the stakes are not quite so high as we practice our faith. Today if people don’t want to hear about Jesus – and, trust me, there are plenty who don’t – they simply excuse themselves and walk away. There are no stones. There is no blood. There is no death.

But there is one topic today that does seem to often escalate to a scene similar to that seen in our First Reading today and that’s the topic boldly brought up by Jesus Himself in our Gospel today, the topic of death and everything associated with it.

You might remember a few years ago there was a series of radio commercials sponsored by a local cemetery where a parent was trying to communicate final arrangements with an adult child. The adult child wanted nothing to do with that discussion. In fact, you could almost visualize that adult child sticking fingers in the ears and shouting “I don’t want to hear this.” The commercial ended with the parent simply saying something like, “Well, when that time comes, all you have to do is call the cemetery. Everything is taken care of.”

Now I can understand the hesitancy of the great majority of people in this world not wanting to speak about death. As I often tell people during funerals, death is the one unknown in this world. It cannot be tested out in advance so it is inherently scary. It is also not something pleasant to go through as a bystander because death hurts those who are left behind. And since there is nothing that can be done to prevent death or to escape death, rendering people utterly powerless, the usual preference of the great majority of people in this world is just to avoid any mention of death and hope to avoid its effects in life as long as possible. I get that.

What I don’t understand is the tendency of a lot of us Christians to act in exactly the same way.

All of you who know me well know that a week cannot pass in my life during which some conversation about or some reading about Key West, Florida doesn’t take place. I often talk about events in Key West. I often talk about friends in Key West. I listen to a Key West radio station. I receive the daily Key West paper. I am constantly searching Amazon.com for any books even indirectly linked to Key West. Why is that? Because Key West is probably my singular favorite place on earth. I can’t tell you why. I can only tell you it is. And anything that is that important to us is something we talk about – and talk about often.

But that perspective doesn’t seem to apply when it comes to issues of death and dying and Heaven.

I find it interesting that the disciples didn’t bring up this topic to Jesus as they had done with other topics that were of interest to them. No, Jesus brought this topic to His disciples, almost as if He said, “All right, boys, sit down because now we’re going to talk about this whether you like it or not.” And Jesus must have seen their immediate discomfort – He must have seen them rolling their eyes, shaking their heads, even putting their fingers in their ears – because He starts by saying, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Isn’t that precisely why most people in this world don’t like to talk about death, because it’s a fearful topic, because it’s a topic we can’t control.

But to us also, Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Put away your fear! Take it off your “forbidden topic list.” “Do not let your hearts be troubled. With Me doing the talking and you doing the listening, there is nothing to worry about.”

Then listen to what Jesus goes on to say: “In My Father’s House are many rooms.” There’s not a “No Vacancy” sign hanging on the pearly gates of Heaven, no “Maximum Occupancy” sign. That’s one thing I think a lot of people fear about death, that there won’t be room in Heaven for them, that there’s a maximum occupancy that’s already been met and exceeded, that Heaven is reserved only for the best of the best.

Then listen to what Jesus goes on to say: “In My Father’s House are many rooms ... I am going there to prepare a place for you.” It’s like the most attentive nurse following surgery, making sure everything is right – the pillows fluffed properly; enough blankets; your favorite food being kept warm under that plastic domed lid; the television at the right volume; the pain medication button within reach. Everything perfect. Everything prepared specifically for us.

But He’s not done yet: “In My Father’s House are many rooms ... and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come back and take you to be with Me so that where I am there you also will be.” Death is not promise broken (“Why didn’t Jesus hear my prayer and heal my loved one?”), but death is promise kept, promise fulfilled (“Your room is perfectly ready, just as I promised.”) Death also ushers in an “abiding,” a spending-time together that is not limited by earthly limitations like busy schedules or full agendas.

Sounds like a pretty wonderful place! Jesus would later go on to describe Heaven as the place where there is no sickness, no death, no hunger, no thirst, no heat, no cold, no tears, no fear [Revelation 7:16-17].

To His disciples then – and to each of us today – “You know the way to the place where I am going ... for I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in Me.”

You and I should be talking about death because talking about death means talking about Heaven and talking about Heaven means talking about Jesus, talking about His death and Resurrection, talking about how He’s watching and waiting even for you and for – as He did for Stephen [Acts 7:56] – to welcome us into the place He has prepared for us, to the place to which He leads us.


In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena