Rev. Charles Lehmann + Wyatt Bartholomew Frahm + Luke 1:39-56
In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
John, Jen, family and friends. Wyatt Bartholomew Frahm is come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
It has pleased Almighty God to call Wyatt to Himself, but it does not please us. We want to hold Wyatt. We want to see Him grow and mature into the man of God that we expected he would be. But the Lord has chosen another way, and we don't understand it. It makes us angry and confused. No answer seems sufficient. So we cry out to the Lord, "O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord--how long? Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer."
At moments like this we want to peer into the hidden counsels of God, but there is no comfort in the hidden God. That is not where the Lord directs us this morning.
We are directed instead to the God in Mary's womb. We are directed to our Savior. We are directed to the one who by his conception and birth has sanctified the wombs of all mothers. We are directed to the one who by his three day rest in the tomb has made holy the graves of all His saints. We are directed to Wyatt's Savior.
Elizabeth was a pastor's wife. From the moment that John the Baptist was conceived, we can have little doubt that Elizabeth spoke the word of God to him. John was prayed for at temple and synagogue. And even though Zechariah could not speak during the months that John was growing in his mother's womb, we can have little doubt that John's father prayed for him.
And John heard that word of God. Elizabeth's womb was no barrier for the Word of life. John heard and believed. And so when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, so did John, and by that miracle of faith John leaped for joy. His Savior was there! It was the greatest moment in his life to that point. God, still being knit together in Mary's womb, was going to stay with Elizabeth, Zechariah, and John for three months.
And so, even six months before the Lord's birth we can hear His words echoing in our ears. "Let the little children come to me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Jesus is for children, even before He is born. The faith of a little baby is real, precious, and confessed throughout the Scriptures. David prays, "On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God."
We sometimes have trouble believing these words. We like to think quite a lot of our reason, and we want to put intellectual prerequisites on faith in Christ.
But thanks be to God! He gives us no tests. There are no placement exams for Christian faith. Instead the Lord says, "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
The miracle of faith is for all who hear God's saving word of life, from the least of us to the greatest, and infant faith is not the exception. It is the norm. God attaches rich and great promises to the preaching of His Word and to prayer. And Wyatt even had one advantage in his earthly life that John the Baptist did not. Though both Wyatt and John both had faithful mothers who prayed for them, sang to them, and spoke God's Word to them, John the Baptist did not have the benefit of his father's preaching before he was born. Wyatt did. Wyatt for the thirty-seven weeks of his life was brought here, to this place, where his father preached the Gospel, the sure and certain words of eternal life without which none of us can live. From this very altar, Wyatt's father prayed for him. And from this very altar Wyatt's mother received Christ's body and blood in her mouth. And those prayers for Wyatt were carried out into the world by you, the saints of Gloria Christi.
Wyatt also had the faith sung to him by his faithful parents. John and Jen regularly sang the hymn "At the Lamb's High Feast We Sing" to Wyatt while he was still in the womb, and this past Sunday when Wyatt heard that hymn sung in the Divine Service, he, like John the Baptist before him, leaped for joy in his mother's womb. Wyatt spent the last day of his earthly life filled with the joy of Easter.
Easter triumph! Easter joy! This alone can sin destroy. From sin's power, Lord set us free. Newborn souls in you to be, "Alleluia!" Jesus Christ, in whom John and Wyatt rejoiced before they were even born, has gone to the cross, suffered, and died. He died for Wyatt. From the wood of the cross Jesus forgave Wyatt all his sins. And Jesus is not dead! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
And because Christ is risen, Wyatt too shall rise. And when the Lord returns on the clouds, we will certainly not precede this precious child. "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord."
Wyatt lives in perfect peace and perfect joy for all eternity. And when finally the Lord brings Wyatt's parents into heaven he will greet them with joy. Wyatt will say, "Come my beloved father and mother. Enter the joy that our Savior Jesus Christ has prepared for you for all eternity. I'm so glad that you are here."
But you don't have to wait for that last day to receive the perfect joy and peace that Wyatt now enjoys. We know that in the Lord's Supper we feast with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. There is but one congregation of the saints and it abides in heaven and on earth.
When the Words of our Lord are spoken at this altar, then heaven will descend to us. These walls will be filled with all the saints in heaven and on earth. Ten thousand times ten thousand will sing with us, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." And John and Jen, there is no doubt that Wyatt is among that myriad in heaven that sings "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain."
Jesus has offered His life for Wyatt's. All of your son's sin has been borne to the cross and destroyed there. And you know the wonderful truth about your Savior's tomb. It is empty. He is risen, and it is that apostolic word that has spoken life into Wyatt even in the womb.
Wyatt's Savior is faithful. He will not leave his dear child in the grave. Behold I tell you a mystery! We shall not all sleep, but we all shall be changed, and Wyatt will be raised incorruptible.
The souls of the saints are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die and their departure is taken for misery. But they are in peace. For the Lord has regard for His saints, and He shows mercy to His elect.
To Him be glory forever and ever.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
