Funeral for +Glen Carl Warmbier+

In Memoriam +Glen Carl Warmbier+

July 29, 2022

Text: John 10:11-16

            Jesus says, “I know my own and my own know me” (John 10:14; ESV).  As the Good Shepherd, Jesus knows every last one of His sheep.  As any good shepherd would, he knows each sheep by name.  He knows each sheep’s peculiar characteristics, unique physical traits, and personality quirks.  And He knows their individual needs.  He knows when a sheep is prone to wander.  He knows which sheep needs a touch of the shepherd’s staff, or a disciplinary snarl from the sheep dog from time to time, to keep that sheep in the safety of the flock and under the Good Shepherd’s watchful eye.  He knows when His sheep are ill or injured.  He knows their suffering.  And He loves them.  And He lays down His life for them.  That is what makes Him good.  When the predator arrives to gobble up the sheep, Jesus stands in between.  He places Himself into the predator’s jaws.  He gives Himself up to Satan, and into the death on the cross.  Why?  So that His sheep go free and live.  Because he knows His sheep, and He loves His sheep.  And that, beloved, is the story of Glen Warmbier’s life. 

            Jesus knew Glen from all eternity, from before the foundation of the world.  He planned for Glen’s life, and for his salvation.  As the Psalmist, King David, prays, “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (Ps. 139:15-16).  Jesus knew Glen in the womb.  He knew the day of Glen’s birth and the moment of Glen’s death.  Again, the Psalmist, “My times are in your hand” (Ps. 31:15).  Jesus knew Glen and loved Glen.

            He knew Glen in the water of the font, on that August day in 1935 when Glen was immersed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  He was clothed with Christ.  God put His own Name on Glen, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and declared Glen His own beloved son, with whom He is well pleased on account of Christ, and upon Glen He poured out His Holy Spirit.  Jesus gave Glen Christian parents, and pastors, and other Christians to nourish and nurture his faith.    

            Jesus knew Glen as he grew in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.  He knew him, and nursed him on His Word in Church, and in Sunday School, and in Catechism classes.  Jesus knew Glen as the Spirit gave Glen to make his good confession at his Confirmation, and as he joined the unending Feast of the Lord’s own body and blood here in the Lord’s Supper. 

            Jesus knew Glen in good times and hard times, in poverty and in prosperity.  In work and at school, He surrounded Glen with His holy angels, to protect him in body and soul.  Jesus knew Glen when He brought another of God’s children into Glen’s life, sweet Ellie Buss, and joined them in Holy Matrimony.  He knew and loved Glen in military service, and when he came home.  He knew him in the birth of his children, Michael and Sandy, and as Glen and Ellie raised them in the faith.  He knew him as a grandfather, and a great-grandfather, as a brother, and an uncle, and in all his relationships.  And think about this for a minute: How many of you believe in Christ and live in Christ because Glen Warmbier believed in Christ and lived in Christ?  Jesus knew Glen in his career, and in his personal life.  He knew him in all his service to the Church and the community.  Jesus knew him, and Jesus redeemed Glen’s whole life, and sanctified it by His Word and Spirit. 

            Jesus knew Glen’s suffering.  Every time Glen called out from the depths (Ps. 130), Jesus knew, and He heard, and He answered.  Jesus knew Glen’s sins.  That is why He laid down His life for His dear sheep Glen.  To atone for those sins.  To win Glen’s forgiveness.  “With you there is forgiveness” (Ps. 130:4).  To pull Glen out of the depths.  That is what Jesus did on the cross.  He went into the depths for Glen.  He paid for Glen’s sins, and for the sins of the whole world.  And that means your sins, beloved.  All forgiven.  All covered by Jesus’ blood.

            Jesus knew Glen.  And because Jesus knew Glen, Glen knew Jesus.  Jesus provided for that.  He made sure of it.  He caused Glen to be born again into a living hope (1 Peter 1:3).  Baptism.  Word.  Supper.  Parents.  Pastors.  Sunday School teachers.  And we must add, a devout and pious wife.  Throughout his life.  The Spirit, active in those Means, and through those people, bringing Glen to faith in Christ, sustaining and strengthening Glen’s faith in Christ, so that he persevered to the very end.  All by God’s grace alone.  The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases.  His mercies never come to an end.  They are new every morning.  Great is our Lord’s faithfulness (Lam. 3:22-23). 

            Jesus knew Glen.  And Jesus knows Glen.  And Glen knows Jesus.  Right now.  Because, in Christ, though Glen has died, he really has not died.  Jesus laid down His life for Glen, but Jesus did not stay dead.  He is risen!  He lives.  And because He lives, Glen lives.  In Him.  Glen even now beholds the Lord Jesus and rejoices in His presence.  And what we know only by faith, Glen now knows by sight.  Jesus knows Glen.  And Glen knows Jesus… The risen Jesus.  And because Jesus is risen from the dead, bodily, we can say with absolute certainty about our brother Glen: This body will rise from the dead!

            We will see Glen again.  Not just in heaven, though that is also true.  But bodily.  Risen from the dead.  And made whole.  In a way that none of us have ever yet been whole.  In the way that the risen Jesus is whole.  Because that is where our Good Shepherd is leading us.  The 23^rd Psalm gives this away.  In this life, the Good Shepherd leads His sheep into green pastures and beside still waters.  Here we can think of the Lord’s Word and Sacraments, which restore our souls and lead us in the paths of righteousness, as they give us all the benefits of the Lord’s own death and resurrection, the forgiveness of sins, and justification.  And then where does He lead us?  Through the valley of the shadow of death.  Not into.  Through.  And that is to say, we don’t stay in the valley, we don’t stay dead.  We come out the other side.  Alive.  Even as our Shepherd went through the valley for us, and came out the other side alive.      

            I think we were all surprised… to be surprised… by Glen’s death.  After all that he suffered, all the illnesses and episodes and hospitalizations, all the times we had prepared ourselves for this very thing… well, he always miraculously recovered.  But this time, we had no warning, no time to prepare, although one wonders if Glen did.  Maybe it was on some unconscious level, but the Lord sure did give Glen and those he loved a great gift in his last hours.  A number of you over the past couple weeks have said to me, something to the effect, “Glen died the way he lived.  He did it his way.”  It was as though he orchestrated the whole thing.  One last trip with Ellie.  One last visit with as many loved ones as possible.  A beautiful family picture.  One last drive back to the hotel.  Even a minute to take off his shoes.  And then, all at once, he was Home.  With Christ.  We were surprised.  But Christ was not.  Jesus knew.  And He was there.  At every point in Glen’s life.  And in the moment of Glen’s death.  As Glen’s Good Shepherd.  And now Glen is there, with Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  And he is eagerly awaiting you.  And he is eagerly awaiting the resurrection of his body.

            Now we grieve.  Because we miss Glen.  We can’t see him now, as we did before.  We can’t hear his voice, shake his hand, hug him.  We do rejoice with him.  We rejoice that he is with Jesus.  And we laugh at all the stories and all the good memories.  We do not grieve as others do, who have no hope.  Still, we shed our tears and our hearts ache. 

            But you know what you do when you want to be with Glen?  And I mean really with him, not just in your imagination, or in your heart, or looking for some sign in your life or in nature that he still thinks about you and cares for you.  You know what you do when you want to be in Glen’s real presence?  You go where Jesus is really present, for you.  You go to Church.  You go where Glen is rooted in the baptismal waters.  Where he even still rejoices to hear the Gospel.  Where he joins us at the altar, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.  Glen was pretty blunt with people about this, including the poor guy in the next hospital room during his last stay at Gritman here in Moscow.  He said to him, “the only thing keeping you from going to Church is you.  You’d better get to Church.”  I said, “Preach it, Glen.”  Well, that’s what he would tell you today.  Because all the things Jesus did for Glen, He does for you.  He is your Good Shepherd, too.  The Church is His sheepfold.  He wants to bring you into it, too.  Here, where you can listen to His voice, and be one flock, with one Shepherd.  And with Glen.  Whom we haven’t lost.  Glen is not a lost sheep just because he died.  Jesus is a better Shepherd than that!  Glen is now safe here in the fold forever.  And he wants you with him.

            And Jesus wants you with Him.  He knows you.  He laid down His life for you.  He is risen for you.  “I am the good shepherd,” Jesus says.  “I know my own and my own know me” (John 10:11).  Jesus knows Glen, and Glen knows Jesus.  Jesus loves Glen, and Glen is baptized into Jesus.  And because Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, we can take comfort in this absolute certainty: We will see Glen again, and this body will rise.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.