Kiri's message from Jonathan's service

Memorial Service Message
Rev. Kirianne Weaver,
on Matthew 6:19-21

I wanted to read one last scripture, even though it is a little unusual for a service like this. Actually, I've never read it at one before; but I have a hunch that Jonathan wouldn't mind something a little unusual, or a little off the beaten path. He'd approve.

There are several reasons why this scripture has come back to me so often. It talks about earthly treasures--and there were a lot of earthly treasures that Jonathan stored up. A week before my brother died, Jonathan and Meredith were visiting me in Northville, New York. We talked about a lot of things: social issues, the geology of Vermont, Northville's lack of a nightlife, the water in Michigan, what we were about to order for breakfast... and houses. Meredith, patting Jonathan's back lovingly, said she had just "de-Jonathanized" the front froom, which basically meant moving boxes of never-unpacked things from the front room into the back room or the basement. There is no doubt that Jonathan stored up some unusual treasures on earth, and it's going to take someone years to make it through the shed. There was amazing stuff in his world: his phone, that would do absolutely anything, at any time, and was connected to everywhere, always. The knives in his kitchen aren't stainless steel like we normal people's knives are: they're ceramic, and as hard and sharp as the day they were bought. There are ordinary household items made from Chemistry lab materials... (I think there was nothing more compelling for Jonathan to purchase than a newly discovered polymer.) There are duplicates and triplicates of strange and enticing chef's weapons; microchips and concept equipment and unidentifiable hardware encased in black boxes with power cords; books on languages, field guides to medicinal plants, every kind of theology, and tomes on war--probably all of which he had read. Probably most of which he could have written.

But he didn't care about all that stuff. He might pretend, for the sake of fun and zest in life, to care about that stuff; but he didn't.

Matthew 6:19-21

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy, and where thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Here are some of the things for which Jonathan woudl have given up everything he possessed:

• For the sake of doing the right thing, Jonathan would give up anything. If it mattered enough, he would have given up his life. It was Jonathan, after all, who said to David: "What do you want of me? Ask me, and I will give it." 1 Samuel 20.
• For the sake of love, Jonathan would give up his heart and soul. He would give them otu of love, and hand them over completely. He was not beneath doing anything that showed his love.
• For Meredith, he would do or give or lose anything.
• To ease someone else's fears, he would give up his own pride. To help others relax and feel at home, he would offer up his own dignity for their sake.
• To reach out and help others, he would give his time. He would give his strength, his abilities, his talents, and his pain. He would give his money, his passion, and his energy. He would give his thoughtfulness and his respect. He would give up his own needs. He did not expect a return. He loved with open hands.

What is Christ offering, to a man like that? When Jesus says that treasures are to be stored in heaven, or that the things here on earth pale in their comparison, or that things that are stored in heaven will not pass away--What is Jesus granting a man like Jonathan with these words?

I believe that whatever we are able to offer God in our lives, God accepts. By this I do not mean that living a faithful life is very easy, nor that God is happy with the crumbs of our desires, nor that it all boils down to a simple exchange. But I mean that if we can offer our entire selves, all these earthly things: our possessions, our gadgets, and our toys... and also our abilities, our talents, our minds and intellects, our very lives if they are needed for the effort--if we can offer these to God's service and to the cause of Christ's goodness and love--whatever we are able to offer to God, God accepts. When Jesus, so long ago to his disciples and again to us today, speaks the words: "Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy, and where thieves cannot break in and steal"--he is offering us a chance to take the treasure that is our lives, and make it beautiful forever. If we store it up in heaven, if we are able to give it all up, when it matters, nothing can ever harm it. There is no harm there.

I am a good enough minister, though (just barely) to know that this service is not for him, but to praise God and to comfort us. Jonathan has already lived this out. He has done it. He has run this race. He has made us all more proud than we can say, and we are filled with admiration for it, and awe, and tenderness, too... and we sometimes sum all these ideas up by saying that we have been blessed. But what shall these words mean for us, and what is this scripture--a living word, spoken by a living God and resurrected Son--what is it to say to us, while we are living, now?

Here is the reason I needed to use this scripture, even though I have never heard it read at a time like this before. I have become obsessed with this idea, and I want to share it:

Jonathan is now our treasure, stored in heaven. Because the things we saw in him that were of Christ's power and love are the treasure that is connecting us to heaven these days. When we think about him, we are happy, and are filled with a sense of his nobleness and goodness. The things that we saw in Jonathan that were from Christ are there now--and we have become linked to him, and linked to heaven, in a way that I know I never have been before! Christ made a path, a Way, a link for our hearts and minds between this world and the next, and when we have treasured loves on that other side, our hearts start pulling upwards towards them, up that Jacob's ladder... making it easier for us to love it and want it for our own selves. For where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also.

Now, we have a new treasure there, stored in heaven: a new, precious link between our daily lives and God's promise. Our treasure is there! He is there. Christ is there.

We look around, and this world can seem pale in comparison. but then, we look up, and lift our eyes. And the glory of the Lord shines upon us. And our hearts reach out, and are filled: not by what we have lost in this world, but by what we have gained in the next.

Amen.