Intro

Last night, our church was filled to overflowing with people remembering Markie Boswell.  It was probably among the top three attendances in my 20 years as pastor here.  Not only was the parking lot filled with cars, but the back lawn as well.  It was also our first fully multimedia memorial service, as it included a PowerPoint slideshow about Markie, a U-Tube video by Carmen called The Third Heaven, song words projected on the screen, and in between, a background picture of Markie.  He was a very special young man– by some standards extremely handicapped, unable to speak, hunchbacked, with the stature of an older child.  But he had done so much more than the doctor said he would.  When he was born, doctors told his parents he would not live a year and urged them to sign him over to a research institute.  But his father’s reply was, “Give me my son. We will put him in God’s hands and trust in the Lord.”   Markie learned to sit up, crawl, stand up, walk, and even run.  Though he could not talk he learn to communicate with sign language. He advanced way beyond the doctors’ expectations.  All of us here at church, and judging by the attendance at his memorial service, so many more people as well have grown to love Markie.  We looked beyond his handicaps, and saw so much more.  What follows are the devotional thoughts from the message I brought at his memorial service.   I hope they help us to have a better perspective on people like Markie.

My children are signs

Eva told me that years ago she felt God had applied to her heart for her children the words of a prophecy of Isaiah. 

Isa 8:18  Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion. NKJV 

The more I thought about this passage, the more I thought it was a good one for us all to reflect on.   In order to begin to unpack the meaning of this verse we have to ask ourselves what Isaiah meant in his own time.   King Ahaz of Judah (Southern Israel) had been fearful of two neighboring kings who were attacking him.  The prophet Isaiah had requested that King Ahaz ask God for a sign but Ahaz had refused to do so, probably because he did not like listening to Isaiah anyway, and wanted to go his own way rather than the way that God was pointing through Isaiah.   One of Isaiah’s most famous prophecies was given in reply to that situation.  “The Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel… Before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.”   As with many Old Testament prophecies this one had more than one fulfillment.  Its long-term fulfillment was the coming of the Christ child.  But its short-term fulfillment was the child of Isaiah that is described in chapter 8 and of which the prophet speaks in the verse that Eva was talking about.   Isaiah wrote about this child.

Isa 8:3-4   Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 4 Before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.   NIV  

The boy’s growth would be a sign to King Ahaz that God’s word was true and reliable; that the prophet Isaiah’s word could be depended upon; and that Israel should put their trust in God.  

In what sense can we apply the verse about children being a sign to Markie?   Perhaps we can all think of our own ways, for there are many.  I would briefly highlight just one.

I  don’t know exactly how to put it– but I believe knowing Markie is a sign to all of us of the value– the essential humanness, that God has built into every human being, whether handicapped or what the rest of us call normal.   The huge attendance this evening, the stories that have been told about how Markie touched lives and made them better, the warm memories we have shared of the human connections between us and Markie; all of these witness to the vital human relationship we shared and the value of Markie to all of us.  We are unfortunately entering an age again where the lives of the handicapped are devalued.   But a man like Markie is a sign to all of us of how wrong this attitude is.  If we would listen to what God is telling us through a life like Markie’s, we would value greatly every life that he creates, whether other people label it normal or not.  We would look for what God is teaching us, we would look for the gifts that God is giving us through that person’s life.

A Cheerful Heart

Another verse that comes to my mind and I think to many of your minds as well when you think of Markie would be Prov. 15:15,   “A cheerful heart has a continual feast.”       Most of the time Markie seemed to have an inner joke going on.   He had a big smile and he wanted to make people smile.  He loved practical jokes.   A girl who was helping with him in high school wrote about the time he took off her shoe as they entered an elevator, tossed it out of the elevator door before quickly closing the door and pressing the down button.  Here at church he loved to pull the pew in front of him back so that it would fall back down into place with a thud.  It would help the rest of us if we could learn from Markie and be a little more cheerful, wouldn’t it.   The Bible encourages cheerfulness in us.      “A cheerful heart is good medicine” (Proverbs 17:22  NIV)    Markie has provided a lesson for us; to remember the joys of life, to laugh, to smile.  Good character and good humor do go together very well.  Markie’s sense of humor is a lesson to us all to lighten up a little, laugh and smile.   

Wise in our hearts to love God

Mt 13:15-16 (Bible in Basic English)

For the heart of this people has become fat and their ears are slow in hearing and their eyes are shut; for fear that they might see with their eyes and give hearing with their ears and become wise in their hearts and be turned again to me, so that I might make them well.   But a blessing be on your eyes, because they see; and on your ears, because they are open.

This is another passage that God pointed out to Eva about Markie.  The important reason for pointing out this passage is the description of how it is that we turn toward God; how it is that our spiritual lives are changed.   Is it because our heads are full of the right things?   Many people know all the right answers but never change for the better.  Other people know very few of the facts, but seem to be transformed in amazing ways when they learn about Jesus.  They seem to have hearts of gold.   What is the difference?   The verse points out that the key is becoming wise in our hearts.   In the English Standard Version this is translated,  “understand with their heart.”    Heart is a term for the center of our decision-making it involves our will and our emotions and our spirit.   

Markie’s knowledge was limited; his ability to communicate with extremely limited; but he could respond in his heart.    You could tell that by how he responded to people.  

The spiritual lesson for us his plain.  Far too often, we are like the Israelites described. The distractions of our world, the wealth we have, and ease that we enjoy, all the worldly wisdom we think we have– all these keep us away from matters of the heart.   So we don’t respond to God.  In fact we don’t even think about spiritual things.

We need to notice that Jesus concluded this conversation with a blessing of the disciples because they saw and heard with their heart what he was saying and they followed him.  That would be a source of blessing to us too.  May we also be wise in our hearts; wise enough to turn from our sins and follow Jesus.   “For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:16-17 NIV).

The Redemption we wait for

 The verses that God brought to my mind almost immediately after Markie’s passing are in Romans 8:18-25.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.  We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently (NIV).  

I was reading on the Internet that hurricane Lee did such tremendous damage in the flooding in the southern tier of New York State and in Pennsylvania that it is probably going to be the 11th billion-dollar natural disaster in 2011 in the United States. That’s a record. Why do we have this kind of trouble?   Why are children born with severe handicaps like Markie’s.   This passage helps us to begin to understand the brokenness of our world.  The Bible teaches us that creation as we see it is not perfect.  It is malfunctioning.  That is one of the big reasons we suffer.  The passage also described so much of Markie’s journey.  His illness, the limitations of his body, his inability to communicate like you and I, all these are part of the groanings, the brokenness that afflicts the creation. 

But there’s good news in the passage too!  The good news is that this brokenness is not permanent!   Creation too is waiting for something!   It is anticipating what God is yet to do! It is waiting for the completion of that which Jesus began with his suffering, his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead!   Creation is waiting for its perfection that is yet to be revealed.  Someday God will re-create it, complete it, renew it! We have glimpses of how it will happen in Scripture in the pictures of the new heaven and the new earth.

In Markie’s life this waiting for healing has been more obvious than in most of our lives, though it is true of every one of us.    But what came to me as I thought about Markie’s passing, is that now he has received that redemption of the body for which we all wait.    From Scripture, we learn about what will happen to a Christian’s body after death.   They will receive the renewal that Jesus body received when he rose from the dead.   We will get a new body.  As Paul put it in 2 Co 5:1 “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”    I was talking to someone about the book “Heaven is for Real,” which I can hardly wait to read.   He was telling me about the little boy’s description of people in heaven and no one is old. This matches with what the Bible tells us that there is no brokenness, no disease, no sorrow in the place that God is preparing for those who love him.  Markie’s body is healed now.  He is more whole that we are.   Since he was not shy, I imagine him talking incessantly to everyone he meets. 

I think of the words of Jesus:  “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”  Jn 14:1-3 NIV   Notice who is in line for this coming healing -  Romans 8 – those who have the firstfruits of the Spirit –  Those who have opened their heart to Christ – “who received Him” in the words of John’s Gospel. 

In John 14 – Jesus continued the dialogue, “You know the way to the place where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Handicapped persons who cannot understand and decide are innocent as children are and God accepts them all to himself.   The rest of us he asks to accept, to respond to his invitation. “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Rv 22:17 NIV).    If we refuse to respond, we are left with the brokenness we have, a brokenness that keeps getting worse.   We cut ourselves off from the future healing and wholeness that God has planned through Jesus Christ our Lord.  But if we knowledge him, Jesus’ resurrection guarantees our own.  Jesus spoke one time to his disciples of the time in the future when they would be with him.  He called that time, “the renewal of all things (Mt. 19:28).”  Markie already knows part of what that renewal is all about.  All of us who follow Christ will one day know as well.