The Sunday After All Saints’ Day Revelation 7: 9 – 17
The Rev. Bambi Willis Matthew 5: 1 – 12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he
went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.
Matthew 5: 1
Today is All Saints’ Day. All Saints Day is a “principal feast” of the church year, observed annually together with Easter, Christmas, Pentecost, Ascension Day, Trinity Sunday and The Epiphany. All of these seven days are principal feasts of the church but for many Christians only Christmas and Easter receive much notice.
Originally in the fourth century, this day recognized the martyrs of the church, those who had died for the faith. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III, consecrated a chapel in St. Peter’s to all the saints, not just martyrs. By the ninth century, the feast of All Saint’s Day was regularly observed on November 1.
Yet, while the church recognized the importance of holding up before the faithful the witness of particular men and women, over time, the saints became objects of worship, threatening the unique work of Christ, “our only mediator and advocate.” And the Reformers would have none of that! And so we read in the thirty-nine Articles of Religion in the back of The Book of Common Prayer: “The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping and Adoration, as well of Images as of Relics, and also Invocation of Saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.” In other words, do not worship the saints!
So, what are we doing here today? Are we not honoring the saints? Are we not recognizing that some people deserve the title “saint” and others do not? And what about those nine beatitudes we just heard? “Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemaker,” Jesus tells us. Are not these blessings an admonition to be poor in spirit, meek, merciful, pure in heart and peacemakers? Are not these blessings a call to be saints? And if these blessings are “entrance requirements into heaven,” in the words of one commentator, what should we do about the call to be persecuted? “Persecuted” is not a virtue we can or should cultivate.
Today, like all Sundays, is a day for worship, the worship of God. And we hear the Beatitudes this day in celebration of who God is, not as a tutorial on how to become a saint. The beatitudes are promises, not threats, consolation and encouragement as we live out our faith in the assurance that God will “make all things new.” The Beatitudes bear witness to what God has done and is doing and will do and are not meant to bear witness to what we have done and continue to do and probably will do again. The Beatitudes are food for the journey, not an application form to get into heaven.
The beatitudes bear witness to an “upside down” world in the words of theologian Richard Hays, “declaring that God’s blessing rests upon the mourners, the meek, the peacemakers, and (especially) those who are persecuted.” The Beatitudes reverse the normal expectations of the world where “the one who dies with the most toys wins;” where if you do not look for Number One, no one else will; where crying over spilt milk is a waste of time and energy; and where rocking the boat can get you fired.
The Beatitudes bear witness to us of a world where, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them,” and in the words of Revelation, “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” In that world the blind and the lame and the weak and the persecuted will leap for joy.
Jesus pronounces these blessings sitting upon a mountain surrounded by his disciples. Down below, at the foot of the mountain are “the crowds.” This crowd, we learn from the verses just before the ones we hear this morning, are folks who have brought to Jesus “all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them.” In sight of all of this suffering, all of this heartache, all of this despair, Jesus says: “Blessed are you.” In spite of all this horror and all of this tragedy, Jesus says, “You will be comforted.” Either Jesus was crazy or Jesus knew something we don’t know.
From time to time, the seemingly immutable laws of this world do get broken. From time to time, the weak are made strong, the grief-stricken are received with patience and the meek receive their due. From time to time, the strong do not win and the arrogant do not get their way and tyrants are brought low. From time to time, we catch a glimpse of God’s different “upside down” world.
When we do receive such a glimpse, we usually have a saint to thank. A saint is anyone who has helped us see this world as dearly beloved by God and all of as dearly beloved creations of God. A saint is anyone who bears witness to us that God is at work in the world, bringing all things round right. A saint is a witness not a moral acrobat.
And so, today we read the names of those who have died in the past year, not because they were saints, which is not news I suspect to those who knew them, but because through them we caught a glimpse of the way God intended the world to be. Something they said or something they did, reminded us of God’s desire for the world – that God intends creation to be a place of love and mercy and justice and beauty. A saint reminds us that the way the world is, is not the way God intends the world to be.
What we worship today is God and God’s desire to use us to be witnesses – to be one for another companions along the way, comforts and consolations and helpmates. A saint urges us on, encourages us that the way things are, are not the way God intends them to be. A saint, every saint, helps us to keep on going in spite of what we see around us, reminding us that God will bring to pass what God has promised.
In her All Saint’s Day message, our Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori invites us to consider those who are saints to us. Who is it, she asks, who has born witness to you of God’s love for God’s world? Who is it that has offered to you a glimpse of God’s kingdom and given you strength to continue the journey? “Who is the saint,” she asks in a wonderfully earthy way, “who picks up the trash? Who looks out for school children on their way to and from school? Who looks after an elderly or frail neighbor, running errands or checking to be sure that person has what is needed?” She suggests we give them thanks now and not wait until they are dead. And, saying thank you to the saints that have graced our lives is, I would suggest, far more in keeping with the purpose of the Beatitudes than leaving church this day in the vain hope of becoming more “merciful” or “pure in heart” this week.
“As we gather to celebrate on the feast of All Saints,” Bishop Schori continues, “take with you the name of a saint whose example you have seen in action, and one whose name you do not know, and give thanks. The appropriate companion prayer to one of thanks for the witness of other saints is that we, too, might be holy examples to those whom we meet.”