In Memoriam +Donley
Dale Kubasch+
July 28, 2025
Text: Eph. 2:4-10
Don
is baptized into Christ. He is united to
Christ, immersed in Christ, covered in Christ.
And that is to say, Christ’s death became Don’s death at the font. And so, Christ’s life became Don’s life at
the font. Don lives, in Christ Jesus,
who is risen, and lives. Where Christ
is, Don is. And as Christ is, so
Don will be on that Day when all things come to their fulfillment. Don will rise from the dead. Bodily. And you, beloved, will rise from the
dead. Bodily. And for you, who are likewise in Christ
Jesus, you will see Don again. With your
very eyes. You will talk with Don
again. You will embrace Don again. You will live with Don again. In Christ.
With Christ. In the presence of
Christ, who loves you, and whom you love.
Because you, too, are united to Christ, immersed in Christ, covered in
Christ. Because you are baptized into
Christ.
That
is what St. Paul is getting at in our text, the epistle lesson from Ephesians 2. Hear this, now, again: “But God, being
rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we
were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you
have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6; ESV). God made us alive together with Christ. That is what He does for us in Holy Baptism,
when He unites us to His beloved Son.
Now, it is all God’s work.
Baptism is not our work for God, it is God’s work
for us. Faith is not our
work for God, it is God’s work in us.
Union with Christ is not our work for God, it is Christ’s taking us
into Himself. So, Paul stresses, it
is all by grace. By grace you have
been saved. Because God is rich in mercy
toward you. Because He loves you with a
great love. Even when you were dead in
your trespasses and sins, which is precisely what you were apart from
Christ… dead. Spiritually dead,
even as you walked around in the flesh. Incapable
of coming to faith in Christ, of uniting yourself to Christ. If you are to be in Christ, God must do it. His work. Grace alone.
So, that’s what He does.
It’s
easy to see in infants who are brought to Baptism, as Don was by his parents, a
mere 20 days after his birth into this world (with Pr. Ernst, at St. John
Lutheran Church in Hollywood, Minnesota).
What does an infant do at a Baptism?
He doesn’t decide to be baptized.
He doesn’t walk on his own two feet up to the font. He can’t even confess the faith for
himself. His parents and sponsors have
to do that. If anything, the infant does
some rather unbaptismal things.
Probably cries. Possibly screams. Certainly squirms. Maybe spits up, or… other things. He doesn’t exhibit spiritual life in himself.
Actually, that’s why he’s there. Because spiritual life has to come from outside
of him. From God. By grace. Grace alone. By grace you have been saved. God does it by uniting the precious infant to
His beloved Son by water and the Word.
New birth. Adoption into God’s
Family. God’s Name written on the little
one, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
You
can see how that has to be by grace, apart from the infant’s
work. The same is actually true, though,
for adults who come to Christ, and to Holy Baptism, if only we had eyes to see
it. Adults often think they made
their own decision to come to Christ, and walked up on their own
two legs to be baptized into Him, as though it’s some great work they’ve done for
God. But the truth is, God still did
it all in them. Before you can decide
to be in Christ, God has already worked faith in you by His Word. Before you can walk up on your own two
legs to Holy Baptism, the Spirit has already done His work of
converting you by His Word. So, by grace. Grace alone. God’s rich mercy. His great love. Uniting you to Christ.
Dead
to self, because, as we heard from St. Paul at the beginning of the
Service, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:3). So, Don got his death over with at the
font, as a 20-day-old, when he was joined to Christ’s crucifixion. That really rips the teeth out of physical
death, doesn’t it? And then what? “We were buried therefore with him by
baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (v. 4). So, raised a new creation in Christ. You don’t even have to wait for heaven
for that, because, when Don was a 20-day-old, he was joined to Christ’s
resurrection. His whole earthly life
long, Don walked in Christ.
Immersed in Christ. Covered in
Christ. Faith in Christ. Baptized into Christ. Newness of life.
That
is what Paul is saying in our text, as well.
God raised us up with Christ, who is risen from the dead. And what else? Christ ascended into heaven and is seated
at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. So, by virtue of our baptismal union with
Christ, we are seated with Him in the heavenly places. So, get this… For us, who are baptized into
Christ… for Don… death is not so much a leaving here for… somewhere,
wherever heaven is. I suppose there is
a sense in which we can say that, so, fine.
But really, our physical death is an unveiling of what has been
the reality ever since we were joined to Christ Jesus. It is the curing of our fleshly
blindness. What we once knew only by faith,
we now know by sight. There is
Jesus. We see Him! With the Father and the Holy Spirit. There are the holy angels and the whole
heavenly host. There are our loved ones
who died in Christ, yet live in Him. Oh,
and the things we hear! The
New Song. The Song of Triumph. The Song of Christ’s Victory over sin, death,
and the devil. You should read about it
sometime in the coming days, in Revelation 4 & 5, and take great comfort in
the fact that Don now sees this, and hears this. And soon, you will, too.
But
that’s not all. “(S)o that in the
coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7).
You know what that is, that showing of immeasurable riches
that will happen in the coming ages? It
is the resurrection of the body, and the New Creation, the
life of the world to come. Again, this
body will rise. Don will rise
from the dead. And so will you. And all who are in Christ will live together
in the resurrection world. You should
read about that sometime in the coming days, in Revelation 21 & 22.
Now,
we don’t deserve this. Not even
Don. Yes, not even sweet, noble,
courageous, loyal, self-giving, self-sacrificing Don. That’s not how it works. We’re sinners. Even the best of us (and Don is one of
the best of us, humanly speaking). We
still fall far short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). We don’t deserve this salvation
and eternal life with God. But Christ
does. Don is baptized into Christ. And so, what Paul here writes is true for
Don, and it’s true for you: “by grace you have been saved through faith. And
this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so
that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
Christ gives His deserving to Don, and to you, as a free gift, by
grace, received through faith in Christ.
And even that is not your doing.
It is God’s. No boasting,
except in what God has done. What
He has done for Don. What He has
done for you.
Well,
that’s great. But what about
Don’s good works? He did have them,
after all. Devoted husband, and father,
grandfather. A career of sacrificial
service to his nation in the Navy. Loyal
citizen and revered veterinarian in the community of Moscow. Etc., etc.
(And, of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention what a gift he has
been to his Church.) Those, actually,
are also gifts of God’s grace… to Don (it is a great gift to be
able to do them)… and through Don, to us. They are God working in Don. Listen to Paul: “For we are [God’s]
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them” (v. 10). God is the Workman. We (including Don) are the instruments
of God’s work. And He has
prepared the very works we do from eternity.
He prepared for Don, all those great good works our dear friend
did for us. He prepared for us, all
the great good works we are given to do.
And (note this… this is very important), we don’t do these good works in
order to be saved and go to heaven when we die. That’s not how it works. We do them because we are saved. By Jesus Christ. By His life, death and resurrection. His work. Which is to say, by grace alone.
Don
is baptized into Christ. And so he is
with Christ. He is safe, and happy…
enraptured by the beatific vision of his Savior, the Lamb on the throne. That is your comfort. You want to be with Don, there, in the
royal court of Christ? Be with him here,
in His Church. Baptized into
Christ. Listening for, and heeding the
voice of your Good Shepherd. Gathering
around the Altar where the Lamb is with His true body and blood, for you, for
your forgiveness, life, and salvation.
Gathering with angels and archangels and… what?... All the company of
heaven. That means Don. Lauding and magnifying Christ’s holy Name…
singing the Song! Heaven comes down,
here, in Christ’s Church. Someday,
the veil will be removed from your eyes, and you’ll see it. But until then, it is just as true. Where Christ is, there is Don. Because Don is baptized into Christ. Beloved, you be there, too. God grant it, by grace, for Jesus’ sake. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.