Lora Caroline Hartje - A Sheep of the Good Shepherd

TEXT: John 10:27-28 
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Dearest nephews, nieces, other family members, friends, and fellow saints of Zion congregation…
Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

This morning you gather together for two primary purposes. First you come together as those who mourn the death of an aunt, a friend and fellow coworker in the Lord’s Church. You have come to this service to hear the Gospel. This morning you will sing the Gospel in hymns, speak it in the liturgy, and hear it proclaimed from the pulpit. I suppose there are other things that you could do to try to ease the hurt, but none of them compare to the comfort given to us in the Gospel of our dear Savior, Jesus.

The second purpose for which you gather is to properly care for the earthly remains of Lora. And how is it that you do this properly? It is done with the resurrection in mind. Because the Scriptures teach that at the End of the Age there will be a resurrection of the dead, you bury Lora’s body knowing that it will rest until Christ comes on the Last Day.

The text chosen is John 10, where Jesus says, “27My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” This was Lora’s confirmation verse.

Jesus tells us that He is the Good Shepherd. A Shepherd was a farmer who kept sheep. Shepherds had chores to do every day (feeding and watering and cleaning up after them). Shepherds cared for the sick sheep; they protected them from wild animals; they kept them from straying away from the flock into any kind of danger.

So it was and is with Jesus. Except His sheep is not the four-legged kind with wool. Jesus’ sheep are those whom He has called by name in Baptism. To those whom Jesus has given faith; those are Jesus’ sheep.

To those of us who know Jesus as our Good Shepherd, He is the One who does the chores to take care of us. The Good Shepherd sends undershepherds (pastors) to feed His Sheep with the Word of God and the Sacrament (His Body and Blood). When we are week in either body our soul, He is our great Physician. And He is forever preaching both His Law and Gospel so that we might not stray away from His flock, the Church, into any kind of danger.

Lora Caroline Hartje was a lady who may have lived a seemingly private life, yet her life was full and plentiful. Last evening at visitation the family remembered one story after another about Lora. One of them was about how she would call the cats to come and eat. When other family members would try to call them, the cats wouldn’t listen at all. But when Lora called they always ran to the feed pan.

What a beautiful picture this is of Jesus the Good Shepherd. When Jesus speaks, His sheep hear His voice. They know Him. They follow Him. When we hear His Word rightly taught we know that we have not simply heard the opinion of a preacher or mother or father or even an aunt. When they speak Christ’s Word, we hear Christ. When they teach that Jesus lived a perfect life for sinners, we hear Jesus. When we are taught that Jesus also died for our sins and rose again defeating sin, death and the devil, we hear Jesus. That is the very definition of the Good Shepherd… The One Who lays down His life for His Sheep. We don’t hear fairy tales or wild imaginations. Those stories are true because they are the Good Shepherd’s story.

The 23rd Psalm is a Psalm that gives us another picture of the Good Shepherd. “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside still waters.” The psalm brings to mind Lora’s weed-free garden. It’s a psalm of thanksgiving to God for keeping us on the right way, comforting and protecting us in every danger through His Holy Word. God protects us from the weeds, from the problems in this world through the Gospel. He leads us into fresh grass and cool waters. In other words, He daily drowns the Old sinful Adam in each of us though remembrance of our baptism; through confession and absolution.

Lora was known as the “automatic yard light,” (because she was always there to greet a family or friend day or night or middle of the night when they pulled up to the house by turning on the yard light) so our Good Shepherd is also an “automatic yard light.” He loves to hear our prayers. We can call upon Him day or night with the most urgent petitions or even the most insignificant ones. He is always more ready to listen than we are to pray.

Lora was no doubt a pious Christian woman. She lived her entire life always serving others. She cared for Dale, Glen, and Gary as if they were her own children. She was a nanny to others as well. She was faithful unto death and gladly heard the Word of God Sunday after Sunday. She treasured family and was known for her kind ways of serving through preparing lunches for the boys in the field and caring for children in such a way that the boys would say that their “bottom never hit the ground.”

But Lora was also quick to confess that she was by nature sinful and unclean. That she had sinned in thought, word and deed. Her good and kind deeds did not earn her heaven… no, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, did that… but her good works were certainly evidence that she had and retained baptismal faith and that she was and is a sheep of her Good Shepherd. She loved to receive the Lord’s Body and Blood. During her last communion in the hospital she said every word of the communion liturgy and sang every canticle. Lora in her Christian life exemplified the Psalmist words, “I rejoiced when they said to me let us now go unto the house of the Lord.”
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, said of His sheep, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” Lora Caroline Hartje is a sheep who has been given eternal life. Not even the Jehovah’s Witness who would frequent her house could pluck her out of His hand.

Lora has fought the good fight. She has received the crown of glory. She has a new residence in heaven and sits on the porch of her Heavenly Mansion. She is there with her parents, her brothers and sisters, and all the saints who have gone on before us. She is blessed to see her Good Shepherd face-to face forever and ever.

And make no mistake. This lady whom you love is alive and well in heaven. And while we bury her body today, you will see her again at the Resurrection. It will be cancer free. It will be a glorious body that will live forever and ever.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.