Thursday, July 24th 2025
Text: 2 Corinthians 12:7–10
Sermon Audio
My deepest condolences to John, the beloved husband of Karen, and children John, Sarah, Peter, and Jamie, your spouses, children, and grandchild and I can’t forget siblings David, Bill, Christine, Sandy, and Terry, all of whom I have had the privilege of meeting at Karen’s bedside.
These past few weeks have been a different kind of trial at a bedside: anxious waiting, managing Karen’s pain symptoms, monitoring her breathing, and sleepless nights, all the while managing a parade of medical professionals coming in and out of the apartment. At the end, as you went back home, you too might have wondered, what am I possibly going to do next? Where’s the set of instructions when my wife, my mom, my grandma, my friend passes away?
Who am I going to talk to when I had a bad day? Who is going to cook me a wonderful dinner? Who can be my partner in cards? Who will make the coffee cake next time I visit grandpa? If my hands are stiff, who will guide me in Norwegian finger exercises?
I can’t address everything there is to say about God’s Word and how it applied to Karen—there’s so much to say—but I want to try to have us take one step in the right direction. REJOICE FRIENDS, CHRIST’S PERFECT POWER HAS GRACIOUSLY TURNED KAREN’S THORNS TO JEWELS.
First, I. Karen has borne thorns in this life. Last Friday, I sat down with the Jaegers to plan the funeral. They suggested we read 2 Corinthians 12:7–10. It was a Bible passage that Karen wrote about in the margins of her Bible, and it was a special passage to her.
Let me re-read a portion. The Apostle Paul writes, “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.” A thorn was placed into Paul’s side. We don’t know what exactly this was. It could have been an obnoxious person placed in his path, it could have been a chronic health condition, or maybe even a sin addiction we don’t know about.
This life we live in is one of thorns in sides. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the Garden of Eden, the Lord cursed Adam saying that the ground would be cursed, “thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.”” Because of sin, we face tragedies in this life, and ultimately, we face death.
We can say many great things about Karen, but the fact of the matter is that she was a sinner just like you and a sinner just like me. The Bible tells us the wages of sin is death, and her death, your death, and my death is because we sin and fall short of the glory of God.
Beyond sins some of which only God knew about, Karen also bore other thorns. One of her greatest joys was being a mother, but the curse of Genesis promised pain in childbearing. In addition to the normal pains of birth, she bore the sorrows of multiple miscarriages and one stillbirth. Her health ailments were a thorn in her side that limited her abilities as she aged.
Our God is not unfamiliar with thorns. Jesus Christ, the Son of God became human. He was born of the Virgin Mary—He had a mother just like you and me! Because He was a human, He could feel pain. He sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane as He waited to do what He came to do on this Earth, to die for Karen’s sins, yours, and mine. He had a sleepless night that Maundy Thursday, and He was sentenced to death the next day. The thorn in His side was not metaphorical as they pierced His head with a literal crown of thorns.
Mary, His mother, watched on, with a parade, not of doctors, but of gawkers and critics who mocked Him. Mary monitored His breathing until He breathed His last and died.
To be certain, Jesus did this for everyone. All humanity, but today, I want to zoom in on one person. Today, we reflect on how Jesus did that for Karen. Why? Because II. Christ’s perfect power turns thorns into jewels.
Paul continues in 2 Corinthians, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
It was in the weakness of the cross that God was preparing the greatest act in the history of the world, namely, His resurrection. Jesus rose again on the third day, showing us a sneak peek of a world where the curse of Genesis is reversed. The crown that Jesus wears is not a crown of thorns, but one of jewels. The Father turned His pain into comfort, His sleepless nights into peace, and His last breath into everlasting life. Jesus Christ’s resurrection is Karen’s resurrection, too.
Karen was washed into this reality when she was baptized on November 23rd, 1940. She has lived a life of faith and trust in the Lord who has died for her. I have visited her many times in these last weeks of her life, and I have heard with my own ears the confession that she believes in Jesus and that she knows she’s going to heaven. At her apartment I fed her with the body and blood of the resurrected Christ alongside John and Sarah.
Some might have wondered at my comparison between the day of birth and the day of death. Pastor, are you just talking about the circle of life like in the Lion King? Absolutely not! Without Christ, there is no circle of life. We have no hope. but with Christ, we have certain peace and comfort from the hope of eternal life.
Think of the joy Karen felt when she got to meet her kids for the first time. Think of the bliss when she held her grandkid or even great grandkid for the first time. How much more joy was there in heaven last week when Jesus welcomed her into His presence? Karen has finally met her kids who didn’t make it through childbirth. She’s had a family reunion with her parents and her twin sister, Kathryn.
A song we just sung, “Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me?” Is a song that we sung at least twice to Karen while she was still with us. How well put it is when we sing, “Christ has made my death a portal, from the strife of this life, to His joy immortal.” We too will see Karen again, presuming we follow Christ in faith.
Even while she was alive, the Lord was turning thorns into jewels for Karen. Through the peace from the forgiveness of sins applied to her regularly, the Holy Spirit worked in the life of Karen to bring joy out of difficult situations. Her compassion shone through because God was able to use the hardships of her life for her to rely more heavily on Him.
Finally, III. Christ’s grace helps us bear thorns. All of us come here with thorns in our sides. Each of these struggles is as unique as each one of us in this room. Perhaps one of the reasons we’re here today is because the Lord used Karen in a small way to help us bear some of those burdens.
I remember when my wife, Kara, had a miscarriage. Karen was there to talk to me about her experience with miscarriage, and how God got her and John through nonetheless. Perhaps you’ve had an experience similar to this where Karen brought you comfort and joy.
What do we do now that Karen has passed? We await the life to come to see Karen again, but we don’t have to wait until then to receive comfort. Christ’s power is made perfect in weakness. The Church is Christ’s band of weak people made powerful through His grace. He doesn’t promise to remove the thorns, but He promises the grace to endure them with the help of fellow believers. He promises our daily bread, not a month’s supply drop as we live off of the gifts of His Word and His Sacrament. By God’s grace alone, that’s more than enough.