Much has been said about this passage, and it’s a very interesting one.  Throughout the book of Mark, indeed throughout most of the gospels, you see that the disciples – the ones who were the closest to Jesus – don’t really get him.  They often seem perplexed as they follow Jesus around on his mission and ministry.  When Jesus calms the stormy sea in Matthew, they say “who is this that can even command the wind and waves?”  At the tomb of Lazarus, nobody even considers that Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead and even try to prevent him from doing so.  On one occasion, Jesus’ family even came to collect him because they thought he had lost it. Continue reading →

The following is taken from a funeral I performed on 3/18/10.  Please note that names have been changed.

“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matt. 11:28-30

While I do have the occasion to perform funerals for our hospice patients from time to time, it’s not often that I get to include a eulogy.  I always have some sort of message where I try to speak of what I learned from this person, or provide some words of comfort.  But I usually don’t know the person whom I am speaking of well enough to provide an actual eulogy.  However I did know Norman more than I knew almost all of our patients because we had him on for over two years – he outlasted most of our other patients and several of our own staff.  But Norm was also different because he and I could talk and actually get to know each other.  That’s relatively uncommon in my line of work.  So I wanted to speak not only of what Norm taught me, but of him as a person and a friend. Continue reading →