Sermon -- Christian Funeral for Nancy (nee: Prigge) Jumbeck

For the Funeral of Nancy (nee: Prigge) Jumbeck

(September 8, 1955 — September 17, 2026)

JOB 19:23-27

AS MY REDEEMER LIVES, SO SHALL I.

In the name + of Jesus.

      Nancy Jumbeck was a child of God.  She was baptized at St. John’s and confirmed here.  Although she moved to a new location, her heart remained focused on the Savior who was always with her.  Nancy turned to the word of God every day, and through that word, God blessed her and sustained her in the one, true faith.

     The final goal of every Christian is to enter the heavenly kingdom and to dwell with Jesus in eternal peace and glory.  We do not know when our Lord will transfer us from the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of glory.  It happens at God’s timing.  Although you may consider Nancy’s life to have been cut short in this world, it is not cut short in the kingdom of God.  Nancy has been delivered to the goal of her faith.  She lives with her Redeemer.

     The Patriarch Job made his confession about that Redeemer, too.  He said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the end of time he will stand over the dust.  Then, even after my skin has been destroyed, nevertheless, in my own flesh I will see God.  I myself will see him.  My own eyes will see him, and not as a stranger.  My emotions are in turmoil within me” (Job 19:25-27). 

     The Patriarch Job experienced more hardship than almost anyone in history.  In one day, he had lost all his flocks and herds, all his servants (except for the ones who had escaped to inform him), and all his ten children.  Shortly thereafter, Job suffered debilitating health, disease, and pain.  He went from a position of influence and respect to become an object of mockery and derision.  Yet, even though he was a mere shell of what he once was, he still confessed that he had a Redeemer.  He confessed that his Redeemer would deliver him to a resurrection of glory.  Though our bodies fail and die, the Redeemer will raise them up again to live forever.  Because my Redeemer lives, so shall I.

     No doubt, Nancy had better plans for herself.  She had served and fed many people, using her skills as a chef.  Ironically, this chef had an eating disorder.  As if that had not affected her body enough, she ended up with Parkinsons’ disease.  Although her sufferings were not as intense as Job’s, she knew hardship and pain.  But she also knew what Job knew: My Redeemer lives.  Because my Redeemer lives, so shall I.

     Nancy had a Redeemer; that means she needed to be redeemed.  I know you all loved her dearly, but our fondness for people is not what saves them.  Nancy was a sinner.  Maybe you remember times when that sinful nature revealed itself in sinful words or actions.  That is not how you choose to remember her, which is understandable.  Nevertheless, even if we overlook sins, the Lord does not.  He cannot.  “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23),  That is what brings us here.

     The Lord Jesus Christ did not overlook Nancy, either.  He is her Redeemer.  There was a cost to redeem her.  Jesus Christ came to take up all her sins, and he paid for them with his life.  The cost to win her a full pardon for all her sin—and yours, as well—was the life of the Son of God.  He gave himself in exchange for Nancy, for you, and for all.  When Nancy was baptized, she was washed clean of all sin.  The Lord wrapped her up in his own righteousness.  That is how God saw her all her life.  Jesus purchased and won her from sin, death, and the power of the devil. 

     As my Redeemer lives, so shall I!  The Redeemer declared Nancy Jumbeck to be a child of God.  Perhaps in these past years, she did not look like it.  Like Job, she was a shadow of her former self.  She suffered the effects of being a sinner in a sinful world.  Because of sin, bodies get frail, get diseased, and finally fail.  This is not how the Lord intended it to be.

     But the Lord Jesus has also addressed that.  The same Jesus who went into death to redeem Nancy Jumbeck has risen from his grave.  Jesus conquered death.  He lives and reigns forever.  And as Job confessed, so does every Christian: As my Redeemer lives, so shall I!  Listen again to Job's words: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the end of time he will stand over the dust.  Then, even after my skin has been destroyed, nevertheless, in my own flesh I will see God.  I myself will see him.  My own eyes will see him, and not as a stranger.  My emotions are in turmoil within me” (Job 19:25-27)  

     As my Redeemer lives, so shall I!  Like Job, Nancy is a child of the resurrection.  Jesus will not abandon us to our graves.  Death will hold us for a while, but Jesus will raise us up to live as he had always intended us to be.  He will raise Nancy from the dead—not someone like Nancy.  She will not become someone different.  God created her to be her.  God redeemed her to be her.  She will be Nancy, with a glorious, incorruptible flesh, with her personality and abilities not only restored, but perfected.  Jesus will raise her up with a body that will never get weak, tired, sick, or broken, nor will she ever sin or die.  That is what we all pray for.  That is what Jesus delivers.  As my Redeemer lives, so shall I! 

     The patriarch Job made this confession in his condition of disease, poverty, and misery.  He would not let the pain and sorrow of his life change his confession.  He wanted it permanently etched in stone.  There is no need for you to be any different.  Jesus, our Redeemer, lives, and he has the final word.  It is written in Jesus' blood, firmer than stone—because Jesus lives and reigns forever.  And as our Redeemer lives, so shall all who believe in him.  So Nancy's soul does now.  So her body will at the end.  And so shall it be forevermore.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.