I married into a healthy family.  

My wife’s family members live for a long time. Her maternal grandparents are in their 90s. They just celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary. They have 86 descendants. Not one of their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or great-great-grandchildren has preceded them in death.

My wife’s grandparents have had their share of old-age aches and pains recently. Both of them need regular pain medication to keep going. It would seem appropriate to ask why God is still letting them live on this earth. Why doesn’t he take them home?

It’s a common question from people who are elderly. They ask more frequently when they are suffering. Why doesn’t God just take them home? They groan, “longing to be clothed with [their] heavenly dwelling” (2 Corinthians 5:2). They “would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (5:8).

God may be letting them live so that my wife and I and all of the other descendants have an opportunity to serve them. “Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone,” says David (Psalm 71:9). I’m seeing a growing trend in our society to discard not just the ideas of the elderly but even the elderly themselves. That is exactly the wrong direction. Instead, “show respect for the elderly and revere your God” (Leviticus 19:32).

The letters and cards that my children received from their great-grandparents are precious, loaded with the sage advice of experienced Christians. Even if they can no longer write, my wife’s grandparents are living reminders of the grace of God for my children and all of their other descendants.

They also constantly remind their descendants of the importance of church, of worship, and of the Word of God. They’ve said that it grieves them when any of their descendants do not come to worship every Sunday. They know the importance of worship.

They made it to worship themselves every Sunday until this year. Now their pastor brings the Lord’s Supper to them at their home, and the relatives who are visiting get to hear law and gospel. They get to hear the confessions of faith from these elderly believers.

Even when my wife’s grandparents are on their deathbeds, the relatives who are visiting will get to hear law and gospel. The workers who take care of them in the hospital or the hospice will get to hear all about Jesus, forgiveness, and heaven.

Eventually there will be a funeral. I’m sure my wife’s grandmother has chosen hymns from her childhood Scandinavian Lutheran tradition. I’m sure my wife’s grandfather has asked the pastor to preach on the passages that meant the most to him when he learned Lutheran doctrine as a young bridegroom.