Sunday, November 6, 2022

All Saints Sunday
Revelation 7:(2-8) 9-17
Psalm 149
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.

It is hard to talk about the persecution of Christians in this day and age in America, simply because we do not know what it is like to suffer the way they did in the early church. There are Christians who are dying for their faith in places like Africa, China and South America, but not many could be called martyrs in America. Through there have been times when American Christians faced verbal abuse or ridicule, and churches have burned, in general we have not faced the difficulties that the first disciples faced. Of the twelve disciples, only John died of old age. Judas killed himself, but the rest were martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ in many horrific ways. To us, it seems strange to find joy in such a death, but the apostles understood the glory that came out of suffering.

In the history of the Church, beheading, stoning, crucifixion, and burning at the stake were commonplace. The stories of the saints are hard to read, though some of them are mythic the saints really were murdered for their faith. St. Sebastian was killed twice: first with arrows from a battery of archers that left him wounded but not dead. He was found by a woman who nursed him back to health. He was then clubbed to death and then dumped in a sewer. It is said that St. Lawrence was grilled to death, recorded as taking the slow torture stoically, even joking that they should turn him over. “I’m cooked on that side.” St. Margaret was pressed to death. She was placed on her back on a sharp stone, then covered with a door on which was placed an 800-pound weight. St. Cassian was hacked to death by children. He was a teacher who refused to make sacrifice to the pagan gods, so he was condemned to death and turned over to his students who acted as his executioners. Let us never forget the fate of the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen who was stoned to death. He stands as an example and a witness to us, praising God and sharing the Gospel even as he died in a pit, pummeled by stones that bruised his skin and broke his bones.

It is interesting to look at the stories of the Saints, those whose lives serve as an example of how to boldly live the Christian life in this world, beginning with the disciples. Many of those who have been canonized by the Church died for their faith, they were martyred for being a Christian with beatings, torture, and murder. Many were burned to death or beheaded. They were thrown in prison and forgotten. They were ripped from the people they loved and forced to serve as slaves. Through it all they never wavered in their faith. They accepted the pain and suffering, and even sang God’s praises while their world fell apart. They were witnesses, even unto death, of the Gospel and God’s grace. They deserve to be remembered.

A few years ago, I attended an All-Saints Sunday at the cathedral in Bury St. Edmunds, England. Bishop Clive preached on the Gospel lesson of the Beatitudes. Throughout the sermon the bishop kept saying, “Consider yourself blessed.” It is hard to think in those terms when the blessedness is given to people who are being persecuted and are suffering. Bishop Clive explained, “In the beatitudes, Jesus was making saints out of ordinary people.” All those in Christ are saints, called, gifted and sent to be His witnesses in the world. The saints are those who trust in God no matter their circumstances.

What is a saint?

From the Concise Encyclopedia: “[A saint is a] Holy person. In the New Testament, St. Paul used the term to mean a member of the Christian community, but the term more commonly refers to those noted for their holiness and venerated during their lifetimes or after death. In Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, saints are publicly recognized by the church and are considered intercessors with God for the living. They are honored on special feast days, and their remains and personal effects are venerated as relics. Often Christian saints perform miracles in their lifetime, or miracles occur in their names after their death. In Islam, wali (“friend of God”) is often translated as saint; in Buddhism, arhats and bodhisattvas are roughly equivalent to saints. Hindu sadhus are somewhat similar.”

While this definition is true, it isn’t complete, because we know that the scriptures refer to all those who are Christians are saints. Saints do not have an exceptional degree of holiness or virtue. Those who have been canonized have died, and their stories show them to be extraordinarily faithful or pious, at least at the end of their life. We all possibly name people from our own history or lives that we might count among the saints even though they have not been canonized. This year I will remember my lifelong mentor, Sister Verna, who always encouraged me in my ministry and will always be an example I want to follow. She was definitely not perfect. I remember her getting a speeding ticket on the way home from a youth group activity. But she loved Jesus and all those He had put into her care. She served God and the Church until she couldn’t actively work, and then she served God and the Church in a manner that mattered even more: through prayer. Now she has joined the Church Triumphant, singing God’s praises for eternity.

Sister Verna was well into her nineties when she passed from life to new life, a long life well lived. She had her own struggles, and perhaps dealt with verbal abuse and ridicule, but she did not die a martyr’s death. Many churches will have special ceremonies this Sunday in remembrance of those we loved and lost this year. Our church places white roses in a basket as the names are read. Those whom we remember dealt with their own suffering and sacrifices. They have learned to live as children of God from those experiences, and they have passed those lessons on to us. They should be remembered for the impact they had on the world.

We are called to have an impact, too. The Beatitudes are given to us to help us to become the disciples that God intends us to be. Martin Luther wrote in his commentary on the Beatitudes, “These eight beatitudes are nothing else than a teaching about the fruits and good works of a Christian, which must be preceded by faith, as the tree and main body or sum of his righteousness and blessedness, without any work or merit, out of which these beatitudes must all grow and follow.”

John Stott wrote, “These characteristics do not describe eight separate and distinct groups of disciples. There are not some who are meek, while others are merciful, yet others called upon to endure persecution. These are eight qualities of the same group who at one and the same time are meek and merciful, poor in spirit and pure in heart, mourning and hungry, peacemakers and persecuted. They are the characteristics of the common, everyday Christians.” The Beatitudes emphasize who we are rather than what we do. They are not a statement of social or sociological judgment about the poor and hungry, and though we are to take care of those in need, the Beatitudes are the beautiful attitudes of the people who are obedient to God’s Word, humble before God and merciful to neighbor.

“Blessed” is sometimes translated “happy.” Happiness is subjective feeling, but in this text Jesus is making an objective judgment about those who follow Him. The word “to bless” means “to speak well of.” These blessings are what God thinks of Jesus’ disciples and what they are: blessed (fortunate, “it will be well with them.”) The saints include all those in Christ in every time and every place, including us. The saints are those who have been blessed by God’s grace and who lived, do live or will live in the faith that is a gift from God. That blessedness is not accompanied by some sort of giddy happiness or a life of prosperity. Jesus calls those whose lives are ravaged by the world as “blessed.”

The world reads today’s Gospel lesson and laughs at the foolishness. The beatitudes are eight beautiful attitudes that are lived by those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Matthew’s Gospel is organized to establish Jesus as the foundation, as the One who accomplished the will and purpose of God in this world. His life was parallel to the people of Israel, but where Israel failed to keep the faith, Jesus did so and in doing so, Jesus made it possible for the rest of us to do so, too.

John writes, “See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him.” We are the saints, the children of God. It is the love of God that gives us this grand and glorious title; by His mercy we are adopted into His family, and we will inherit His kingdom one day, just as those faithful ones we have loved and lost have already received their inheritance. We live in the hope of faith that one day we will join them to dwell forever in the presence of God. For now we have to deal with the reality that we are blessed though we are ravaged by the world. Sometimes the blessing is in the suffering, as with those martyrs of old who were blessed because they passed through death into the bosom of God for eternity by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The book of Revelation has been widely interpreted, and misinterpreted, since John wrote it nearly two thousand years ago. Read a dozen commentaries and you’ll find a dozen different explanations for the symbolism of the images and the numbers. Today’s passage includes one of the most puzzling accounts of all. The number 144,000 has been described by some as a literal number, yet if we take that as true, even those who believe this can’t account for the many others who have been sealed by God’s grace.

In the verse following the list of tribes, John writes that there was a great multitude that no one could number. Some say that this refers back to the 144,000; others say that they are two different groups. I’ve always interpreted the 144,000 as twelve times twelve tribes times a thousand which was the largest number understood by man at the time, thus representing a great multitude and possibly the same group. However, the first group is made of Jews and the second of the nations, so we can interpret this to mean all people: Jew and Gentile.

Does it really matter? What is the point of John’s witness of this scene? What is happening there that we should try to understand?

The multitude cries out, “Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” This is a moment of worship, of thanksgiving, of witness to the work of God in Jesus Christ. He is being praised for saving God’s people, bringing them through the tribulation and making them right so that they can stand before the throne. The angels see this praise and join in with the faithful, singing a doxology of praise. Whatever the numbers, every one of the faithful, both angelic and human, are part of the eternal worship that will glorify Christ forever. This is our eternal hope; this is the life the saints will live according to God’s promises. This is the hope that God has fulfilled through Jesus Christ, washing our righteousness with His blood so that we can stand before Him in praise and thanksgiving; it is the hope that we will never suffer again.

The apocalyptic text gives us a picture of what life will be when everything has been fulfilled. That multitude represents all those who have believed in Jesus throughout time and space. We stand somewhere in that multitude. We are part of those who have washed our robes in Christ’s blood and who will spend eternity worshipping God. We are the children of God. We are the saints. Thanks to God’s grace we are blessed with this future, but that doesn’t mean that our present will be without pain. We will suffer. We will get sick. And yes, we will die.

A few years ago, I saw a story about a girl who had a rare disease. CIPA, congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis, is a condition in which the person feels no pain. We might consider this a blessing because we don’t want our children to feel pain. However, pain helps us to know when something is wrong. We feel pain in our body when we are sick. We feel pain when we hurt ourselves.

The little girl was only a few years old put her hands on a scalding hot surface and her hands were burned terribly. Most children realize the danger quickly and pull back their hands. They might end up with first degree burns which would require some care, but Ashley had no idea that she was suffering. She should have been screaming in pain. When asked what they wanted for their daughter, her parents answered, “a normal life.” They even want her to feel pain because they know that she would be much safer if a cut or a bruise would cause tears.

When we think of blessedness, pain never enters our mind. To the human mind, blessed are those who are healthy, wealthy, and popular. We equate blessedness with being comfortable, contentment with satisfaction. We would never consider the poor, hungry, or sick to be blessed, for they are suffering in a world that God made good. However, the danger to our souls comes when we are too comfortable. We do not see that we need help; we do not look to God for His grace.

Jesus had a way of turning our world upside down. We would much rather be comfortable and happy. We would much prefer a life of wealth, health and popularity. However, Jesus never promised us a rose garden. He promised Himself. We can find blessedness in poverty and in mourning, not because there is anything good about these things but because it is in suffering that we turn to grace. Physical blessedness is found in pain because the pain makes us look to the one who can heal us. Spiritual blessedness is found in suffering because it makes us look to God. The saints are those who trust in God no matter their circumstances.

Jesus does not call us to overcome our troubles or wallow in them, but rather He encourages us to live in an attitude of trust and confidence that God is faithful to His promises. The beatitudes are the attitudes of God’s people living in faith. The students for today’s lesson were not the great crowds of people; Jesus was speaking to the disciples. This lesson is not given for those who are trying to earn their way to heaven but is given to those who believe in the work of God. The lesson is given for us, the Christians who have been saved by the cross of Christ, saints who are anxious for the day when we will join the hosts in heaven singing God’s praise. We are comforted by the Word of God that tells us this life is only a momentary journey on our way to an eternity in heaven. We believe and we are blessed. We find comfort in the promise that our mourning will one day come to an end forever as God Himself wipes away our tears.

In our life of humble service, we are given the greatest blessing which is that the kingdom of heaven is not just a future hope. It is hard for us to see the blessings of the Beatitudes. Where is the blessedness in poverty, mourning, meekness or hunger? In a world that seeks wealth, fame and power it is hard to understand mercy, purity of heart and peacemaking. These are not seen as strengths, but weaknesses. Finally, it is impossible to rejoice in persecution. Yet, Jesus says, “Blessed are they…” They are the blessed ones, the ones who are receiving the mercy and grace of God.

God does not limit eternal life to a few; He receives all who believe. He makes children out of all those who wash their robes in the blood of Christ. That’s awkward image as we battle the cultural focus on death and darkness. How many young people came to our doors wearing a ripped and dirty shirt covered in fake blood on Halloween? It wasn’t a pleasant sight. Anyone who has had to wash a garment that has been stained by blood knows that it is very hard to make it clean. How can blood make a robe white as snow? And yet, in faith our robes are made white by Christ’s blood. “These are they that come of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Thanks to God’s grace we are blessed with life in His Kingdom now and forever, but that doesn’t mean that our present will be without pain. We will suffer. We will get sick. And yes, we will die. Pain and death have a purpose, but it isn’t meant to be for entertainment, as it has come to be in our culture today.

Jesus climbed the mountain and began to speak words to the multitude that were difficult to hear. We don’t want to find blessedness in poverty or mourning or persecution. But the multitudes in Revelation were not there because they had an easy, careful life. They had washed their robes in the blood of Christ. He did it for us and calls us to follow Him. That life of following Jesus is not a carefree journey. He doesn’t make it so that we’ll never suffer. Pain has a purpose. “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you.” Even death has a purpose, because without death we’ll never enter into eternity with our Father.

On Sunday we will remember those who have passed from this life to the next. We can’t help but mourn, because their lives meant something to us. They had an impact on the life we lived. They taught us, touched us, comforted us, fed us, showed us mercy, and shined the light of Christ. They loved us. They will be missed, and it is good for us to take a moment to join together to remember them.

Though we mourn, we are also called to rejoice. There is pain in the death of those we love because they will no longer be with us. But there is also joy because we know that they are now among the multitude praising God forever. We join with all Christians in heaven and on earth signing songs of praise and thanksgiving, knowing that we will be part of that multitude some day.

We stop on this All-Saints Day to thank God for their witness. We were brought into the fellowship of believers by those we love who shared the Gospel with us. We are called to live as they lived, as witnesses so that those who are yet to come will have the opportunity to hear God’s Word and believe. We are saints and that means something. It means we are God’s children called to a life of worship and praise, of service and justice, of love and peace and joy. Though the life that awaits us after death is greater than anything we can experience in this world, we still have work to do here and now.

The promise of God is not that we’ll be saved from suffering in this world at the hands of our enemies. By His grace we have been saved from the greatest enemy: death. We have the promise of eternal life, an inheritance beyond anything we can imagine. How much more should we praise God for His grace and mercy? We are called to live a daily life of thanksgiving and praise to God for everything. Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to dwell now in the Kingdom of Heaven even as we wait longingly to join those who are already singing the eternal doxology of praise at the foot of God’s throne in robes made whiter than we can even imagine.

People die. Injustice exists. All too many people have no problem stepping on others to get ahead. We will suffer. We would like to think that the promises found in the beatitudes will be fulfilled in this life; they sometimes are. I have found great comfort in the love of my family and friends. I have experienced mercy. I’ve known the presence of God and seen His face in the faces of my brothers and sisters in Christ. I've shared in the waters of life and God has indeed wiped away my tears. Yet, I know that I will still feel hunger and thirst. I will cry again before I pass into life eternal.

The closest we will come to experiencing the future kingdom of heaven in this life is at the at the communion table when we share the Lord’s Supper. I grew up in a church that received communion at railings that surrounded the Table. Later we joined a church that only had railings around the front and sides of the Table. It made me sad because I loved the image of us as a congregation kneeling in a circle together, joined together in the feast. One day, however, I realized that the circle may not have been closed in the furniture, but the rest of the circle was filled on the missing sides with all the saints in heaven. I imagined my mother and other forebears, my friend who died when we were teenagers, and so many others kneeling there with us, taking the body and blood of Jesus as one body in Him. Now I know that my friend Sister Verna is with me even more so now that she has died than she was when she lived two thousand miles away.

In some forms of the liturgy we hear words like these: “Join our prayers with those of your servants of every time and every place and unite them with the ceaseless petitions of our great high priest until he comes as victorious Lord of all.” Our worship is timeless and the fellowship of the saints numbers in the multitudes, and those who died in faith that we mourn are amongst us, sharing the same feast and worshipping the same Lord.

What is a saint? A saint is one in whom God takes pleasure; a saint is one who is humble before Him, believing His Word, and receiving His salvation like a crown. Thanks to those who loved and served God throughout time, sharing the Gospel with us so that we would know His mercy and grace, we will join the multitude standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white, with palm branches in our hands, singing the victory song.