Seeing What Is Priceless :: 1 Corinthians 6:20, Luke 2:29-32 :: Funeral of Ruby Marie Stotmeister
You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Cor 6:20).
And ...
Now release your servant, O Master, according to your word in peace because my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light into [the] revelation of the nations, and [the] glory of your people Israel (Lk 2:29-32).
Dear friends in Christ ... especially you, Kim, Bryan, and Carla: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, who has brought salvation to light in your lives, through your dear mother, and our dear sister, Ruby Marie Stotmeister.
The words of our text were often sung by Ruby. They are part of the extraordinary liturgy of the Divine Service we use here at Zion. Ruby and I sang these words every time we celebrated the Lord’s Supper. Even as tired as she was last Friday, she still found a way to sing. Even with all these beautiful hymns she chose for this day, I’d say Simeon’s Song was her song.
Simeon first spoke these words ... actually, I imagine he sung them, too ... right after Mary and Joseph presented our Lord Jesus in the temple, as was prescribed in the Law of Moses. Simeon was a devout man, like Ruby. He had been awaiting the consolation of the Lord (v 25), just like she had been for the past month, in particular. And here that glorious consolation came. No sooner that Simeon saw Jesus with his own eyes God in the flesh, he believed in him ... and sang out ...
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant, depart in peace, according to thy word;
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples
These words of Simeon are the words of every Christian, and were especially true of Ruby.
As we sing these words that My eyes have seen your salvation (v 30) ... (we will say them together in just a little while) ... like Simeon and Ruby, we confess by the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus is the fulfillment of every promise in scripture. ... God is faithful, always faithful. And he has delivered that salvation in Christ.
In Christ, we confess that God came in the flesh to be seen so that you will believe ... In Christ, we confess God rescues his people eternally by doing the unthinkable, shedding his own precious blood for each of you ... paying the ultimate price for all of you ... the devastating price of his own life. Jesus was born to carry your sins to the cross, to die on the cross ... so that in his resurrection you will have life. He has bought all those who believe, like Ruby, with a price.
It’s amazing that Simeon was able to recognize this truth when Mary and Joseph presented Jesus to the Lord in the temple. Jesus was only forty days old at the time. The extreme majority of our world around us refuse to believe in Jesus. That makes it all the more amazing and wonderful that you ... like Ruby ... recognize this truth.
(You do confess this truth like Ruby, don’t you? It is what she prayed for).
Here, our eyes see the salvation of the Lord. God is making his people whole, free from the cancers of life that destroy our bodies. God is making his people whole, setting them apart to be nourished by him. Simeon at least had the advantage of actually seeing Jesus in the flesh with his own eyes. But blessed are those who have not seen yet believe.
That certainly describes Ruby. She was blessed with a bold faith in her Lord Jesus beginning with her baptism on December 31, 1933 ... just two months after she took her first breath of life. She quickly began hearing her Savior’s voice through the preaching of the Word and the hymnody of the church. Though she had not seen him with her own eyes, she believed in him, confessing this truth on May 25, 1947, that she had been bought with a price, her confirmation verse from 1 Corinthians 6:20. She confessed it all of her life. And she lived that life, delighting to see her salvation every chance she could in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, in these means of grace God nourished Ruby and strengthened her faith. For as often as she ate this bread and drank this cup she proclaimed the Lord’s death of how he bought her with a price. Rest knowing this truth. She is now standing on this truth. God promised.
Intuitively, all people know that when they die they will have to stand before their Creator. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:31). Unbelievers should fear that day. Because the wages of sin is death. But once we begin seeing salvation, like Ruby, we know in faith we can stand before our Lord with confidence, confirming like Samuel that we have heard the Good News (1 Sam 3:10) that we have been bought with a price too and can now live in righteousness and holiness ... the lives that God has prepared for each of us.
Because of her faith in Jesus, like Simeon, Ruby could say I am ready to serve too ... not because of the good things I have done ... not because of the good life I lived ... (and she did live a great life) ... but because her eyes have seen the salvation of our God (v 30) and it filled her with the glorious and inexpressible joy of a life in Christ while awaiting the outcome of their faith, the salvation of her soul (1 Pt 1:8-9).
Is it any wonder she served 65 years through the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, ensuring all of those future pastors that served here were cared for? The Lord truly was her shepherd.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, if we could hear Ruby speaking to us now as one of those in the great cloud of witnesses who have finished the race described in Hebrews 12, she would without question ... from the vantage of her seat in the stadium of eternal joy and glory ... to you, dear children, grandchildren, friends, and fellow church members ... fix [your] eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2).
He will show you his salvation ... the forgiveness of sins in his means of grace.
He has searched you and known you (Ps 139:1) and he knows that through the eyes of the Gospel you too can keep your eyes on Jesus, and continue to hear and learn the Word of God, coming to the Lord’s Table to receive his eternal blessings, the forgiveness of your sins.
This hope ... a living hope in the living God, I might add ... was built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. ...