R.I.P.

Requiescat in pace. It is a Latin phrase most of you know without knowing it. Since the English language has deep roots in Latin, the abbreviation is the same—R.I.P.—Rest in Peace. Have any of you ever actually seen that on a tombstone? You see it in movies and TV shows all the time, but I have only seen it a few times on real tombstones.

This phrase and/or its abbreviation has found its way onto tombstones for over 1,500 years! It is the prayer of those left behind that their dead loved one may rest in the peace of God in heaven.

In 2020 we’ve seen a great deal of the lack of peace. Death is with us every year, every month, every day. But in these last months death has taken on a new mask—COVID-19. This lack of peace has left people terrified. Terrified by a virus. Terrified by society. Terrified by government. Terrified by violence. Terrified by isolation. The list can go on and on and each one of us can find ourselves in one or all of these things to one degree or another. 

How much of you is rock solid, and how much is veneer? How much of you is at peace, and how much is being tossed by the waves? Where does your trust lie? Is it in medical experts? Politicians? The Constitution? Big-Pharma scientists? The like-minded? Law-enforcement? Revolutionists? Your own thinking and ability? The machines and tools at your disposal?

How is it that now grim death terrifies us when in reality it has pursued us every day as we walk in danger all the way? Isn’t it because all this has revealed our own misplaced trust and our own lack of trust that God’s promise of R.I.P. really is true? How we struggle to Rest In Peace!

The beloved hymn, Abide with Me, closes with this phrase: In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me! (CW 588) This isn’t a prayer of iffy human hope, but of the Christian’s confidence! Your Savior, Jesus is with you not only in your death, but also in every moment of your life! Yes, you will rest in eternal peace in heaven, but R.I.P. is yours right now too! 

This peace for your life right here, right now, and always, is not found in the ivory towers of human ingenuity, or on the pages of human philosophy, or in the classrooms of human creativity. Jesus tells you as he prayed to our heavenly Father: “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children” (Mt. 11:25).

These “things” which Jesus has made known to you since you were a little child are things beyond all understanding. It is the gospel, so beautifully and all-inclusively spoken by Jesus: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28).

Has life in this world made you weary? Is your sin burdening your soul? Jesus has the rest you need. Jesus is the only one who has the rest you need, both now in this life and forever in heaven. Jesus gives you peace because he came to free you from the burden of carrying your sin by putting it on his own back! He was the Lamb lead to the slaughter, proving how gentle and humble of heart he was by not once lashing out at his enemies, those who crucified him, even the criminals who mocked him! No, Jesus prayed for them and forgave them! He lost the perfect peace of being united with his heavenly Father in perfect love as he took all your sins and mine and called them his own. He cried out with a heart bound in hell to the God who had forsaken him! But when it was all done, he declared the work was finished, the payment was made in full, and then he gave up his spirit and rested in peace for three short days until his glorious resurrection. And his resurrection is the proof that Jesus has earned the right to give you his rest and peace!

Almost hidden in a secluded corner of a New York cemetery is a small gravestone, polished smooth by the wind and weather of many years. The stone bears no name, nor is any date inscribed on it. To the stranger passing by it tells nothing about the man, woman, or child whose final resting place it marks. Nothing except one thing. Still legible on the face of the fading stone, in letters that neither wind nor weather has been able to erase, is a single word—“FORGIVEN.” (paragraph adapted from By the Way with Paul Devantier)

Because you are a forgiven child of God, you Rest In Peace, both now and forever. Nothing in this world can rob you of this peace. Rest in Jesus and his unbreakable promises.

Pastor Benjamin Enstad, St. John Evangelical Lutheran in Valmy