You Have a Place at Grace - 4/1/2026

“He will swallow up death forever; And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken” (Isaiah 25:8).

I’ve heard enough laments to understand Solomon’s admonition “remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, ‘I have no pleasure in them.’” Live long enough and difficult days come minus the pleasures of youth.  

An indispensable part of a Pastor’s job is visiting the sick, which often includes the elderly. The baptized often end their life barely able to walk, languishing on a hospice bed, struggling with broken bones, enduring frustrated children, losing sight, losing hearing, and reminiscing about the past because there is no future. The list is long, as many of you understand all too well.

What comfort do we have in these times? Forgiveness abounds, to be sure. That’s what Good Friday gets us—a Savior’s blood to redeem us from death. The sin ravaging a decrepit body has been atoned for in Jesus’ words “it is finished” (John 19:30). But forgiveness means also a resurrection of the body and eternal life on the Last Day at Jesus’ glorious return. Bodies are enlivened and renewed free from sin when we realize Job’s confession “in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:26). Jesus’ exit from the tomb with flesh restored is our lot, our inheritance as the Church who is the body of Christ. Aches, pains, tears, and difficulty in the latter days terminate before the God of life Who restores life on that Day we see our Redeemer face to face in bodies free from the ravages of sin. Such is the Church’s inheritance falling to the redeemed people of God living by faith when sight disappoints.

Jesus’ exit means death is swallowed up. Even on the hospital bed, Isaiah’s preaching finds its fulfillment in the living Christ Who promises and gives life beyond the tomb and preserves us in those trials demanding so much patience and endurance beyond our fragile flesh. And it is fragile, feeble, weak and sinful. But Good Friday took care of that. Sin has been paid for by blood. Now the tomb is empty and the Living One is the reason for our “alleluias!”

Tears are temporary dear child of God, so fear not. The end shall come and for the baptized it’s glorious.

-by Rev. Ryan J. Ogrodowicz, “You Have a Place at Grace,” April 1^st, 2026

Grace Lutheran Church - Brenham, Texas

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod