Rose Schmiedge Funeral Sermon – John 15:12–15 September 4th 2026 / What a Friend we Have in Jesus

Rose Schmiedge Funeral Sermon / Pr. Ted A. Giese / Friday September 4th 2026: Season of Pentecost / John 15:12–15 “What a Friend we Have in Jesus”

[Jesus said,] “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight O Lord. Amen.

Grace peace and mercy to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Good Christian Friends and family of Rose Schmiedge these days Christian mothers and father will take their time baptising their children, it could be months even years before they are brought to the waters of holy baptism and sometimes, they are never brought and the child grows into adulthood before they are finally baptised as a Christian, but for families 101 years ago the practice was to have their children baptised as soon as possible. There are a couple of reasons for that,

“[baptism] works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.”[1]

That’s what the Church teaches and confesses to be true based on what the Bible teaches. At the end of the Gospel of Saint Mark, Jesus—who by that point had risen from the dead—says to His disciples, “Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”[2] and at the end of the Gospel of Saint Matthew this same risen Lord Jesus says to His disciple, just before He ascends into heaven to sit at His Father’s right hand side in heaven, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”[3] And in our Gospel reading today Jesus earlier to His disciples in those last hours before He goes to His cross and passion, His Good Friday Death, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.” Often people think of friendship as the good times, the fun times — and that is certainly part of friendship — yet friendship is also about being faithful to each other even during the hard times. So, when Christians take the commands of the Lord to heart, they get things done as soon as possible. Friends work quickly to show their faithfulness to each other.

When a person hears God’s Word the Holy Spirit begins to work on their hearts, faith in Christ Jesus is implanted and a friendship starts for those who believe God’s Word. For the baby or young child who doesn’t yet understand language the Word of the Lord combined with the water of Baptism becomes a lifegiving flood, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit,[4] as Saint Paul says in his letter to Saint Titus: “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying,”[5] Saint Paul says. This happens for everyone who is baptised regardless of their age—whether they are 1 years old or 101 years old or anywhere in between—the Word of the Lord, His Command and the washing with water in Baptism produces, implants, cultivates faith and forms a new relationship. Rose had that. In Baptism you become a child of God, God the Father becomes your heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit dwells within you and Jesus becomes your Brother, and as Jesus said to His disciples in our Gospel today He and those who follow Him become friends. We His friends, and He, our Friend. What a Friend Jesus is.

Rose knew this friendship with the Lord, one of her favourite hymns is “What a Friend we Have in Jesus,”[6] We sang it at the beginning of the Service this morning and every visit Rose it would include singing this hymn together, this was a must, it had to happen. Now as you may have noticed it’s not really about Jesus being your buddy or your pal but about Him being your Friend and you being His. And yet it’s a relationship where He is more faithful in His friendship to us than we are in ours with Him. Jesus is there for us when we turn to Him and He remains faithful to us in our griefs and sorrows when other less faithful friends despise and forsake us. Great is His faithful.[7] And like the Gospel reading says today Jesus is the Friend who is willing to lay down His life for you as your Friend, but as we know from Scripture Jesus was not only willing but carried through on that willingness and truly laid down His life for you at His Good Friday Cross in His crucifixion. Jesus was, is and ever shall be All Powerful, All Knowing, All Present so He could have by His Divine foreknowledge avoided the cross of His crucifixion by choosing to be elsewhere, by His All-Powerful nature He could have overpowering the ones who sought to have Him dead, instead Jesus lays down His life for you as His cross approached. In friendship toward you He took your place and did not raise a finger to stop what was happening to Him there. In friendship toward you He went knowingly into danger and death. In His friendship toward you Jesus wanted to be nowhere else but to be upon the cross with all it’s suffering and pain because if He faced death and defeated it then you, His dear friend, who couldn’t fight death on your own would ultimately be saved from it.

With every step toward the cross, with every nail driven home and with every strained breath, with His very death, Jesus bore your sins and griefs. Rose knew this and she trusted it, she knew this very Jesus acted out of love and friendship, and that this is why Jesus likewise commanded us to love one another. Rose’s kindness, love and patience toward you grew out of Jesus’ love and patience and kindness towards her, because her Friend Jesus first loved her, she loved you, just as He commanded. The Lord Jesus knew Rose’s every weakness just as He knows yours, just as He knows mine and yet she knew that in spite of all of our weakness Jesus still laid down His life for her and for us all as our Friend. Rose trusted that as a Baptised child of God she could always take her joys and sorrows, her troubles and thanksgivings to the Lord in prayer, because He was both her God and her Friend. In these last years Rose was limited in what she could do, but Rose knew how to pray and she also knew she didn’t need to be able to run a marathon to talk to Jesus, so her heart was full of prayer to the Lord.

Perhaps you’ve had this experience; you have a close friendship with someone but circumstances and life cause you to spend less time with them and then before you know it you haven’t seen them in years and yet when you get back together you pick up right where you’ve left off. Perhaps this is where you are right now with your friendship with Jesus. Dear ones remember He is ever faithful, turn to Him and you will find that Friend so faithful who has not turned from you. Perhaps your friendship with Jesus is only starting and you are beginning to feel Him draw you to the waters of Baptism, if this is you be encouraged, there is no time like the present and you have the opportunity to have what the Lord provided Rose, faith in the Lord and friendship with Him through thick and thin, through everything life in this World throughs your way.

100 years of friendship, 101 years of friendship is but a drop in the bucket of what Rose has in Christ Jesus; in Baptism Rose has eternal friendship with Christ Jesus, this is not for Rose only it is for you too. She often referred to God as “the Good Lord,” He was, and is, and ever shall be her “Good Lord,” and her “Good Friend,” if you have been away from Him “return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster.”[8] If the call to friendship in Christ Jesus is new to you, take up the call, come to the waters of Holy Baptism and Jesus will “take and shield” you there in those waters, He will provide a “solace” a peace in those waters for you unlike anything the World offers. In His Word and in Baptism Jesus is the giver of these things because His friendship was not only unto death, but a friendship that extended beyond His three-day rest in the Tomb, a friendship that extended to Eternal life in His Easter Sunday Resurrection from the dead, a life now promised to all by His Word and a life guarantied to the Christian who trust and receive this gift of friendship.[9]

Rose was the last of her living siblings, and with her passing into her rest in Christ she will be reunited with her husband Walter and with her parents Mike and Polly; her sisters Victoria, Helen, Mary, Anne and Emma; her brothers Edward, Mike, Leo and Henry; a her niece, a nephew, with all those family members who likewise had their faith and trust in Christ Jesus, she will finally be able to look upon her friend Jesus’ face. She has long looked forward to see them all and even more so she has long looked forward to seeing the Good Lord. With thankful hearts we can rejoice with her as she enters her rest in Christ. Amen.    

Let us pray:

Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us, “take our minds and think through them, take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire; for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.

[1] The Sacrament of Holy Baptism, Luther’s Small Catechism, Concordia Publishing House 2017, Page 23.
[2] Mark 16:16
[3] Matthew 28:19–20
[4] Luther’s Small Catechism, Page 24.
[5] Titus 3:5b-7
[6] Lutheran Service Book, Concordia Publishing House 2006, #770.  
[7] Lamentations 3:23
[8] Joel 2:13
[9] Romans 6:3-11

Photo Credit: Main Photo suplied by Mount Olive and Family along with all additional photos, Jesus with His cross and Jesus on His cross from fineartamerica / fineartamerica.