4 November 2019
Text: Matt 5:1-12 (Rev 7:2-17, 1 John 3:1-3)
In the name of +
Jesus. Amen.
In
our country, we have various holidays that call to remembrance various aspects
about what it means to be an American. We
celebrate the Fourth of July as Independence Day, in which we call to mind the
momentous events of 1776 that led to the United States of America – honoring the
patriots who took up pen and musket to secure our independence and liberties. We also celebrate Memorial Day – a solemn
commemoration of Americans who died in service to our country in all wars. And we also celebrate Veterans’ Day – an
opportunity to express gratitude for the service of all in the military, past
and present (a holiday that was originally called Armistice Day, celebrating
the end of World War One).
The
Church is, in many ways, like its own country. We are citizens of a kingdom. We have our own laws, history, heroes, and government. We also have our own rememberance of war and
peace, of heroes and villains, and important events that we deem worthy of calling
to mind.
We
celebrate the birthday of our King on Christmas Day, and we commemorate His
death and Resurrection during Holy Week and Easter. And we also have lesser holidays in our
calendar in which we honor our “soldiers” if you will. We celebrate the feast days of the Apostles
and Evangelists. We celebrated Reformation
Day last week, and this week, we join the entire western Church throughout the
world to celebrate All Saints Day.
Today
is a bit like Veterans Day, in that we honor all who served, all who followed Christ,
all those “soldiers of the cross” known and unknown, those who died as martyrs,
and those who died in their beds. We
remember the men and women known the world over for their holy and heroic
deeds, and we also remember our own friends and relatives who will never be
honored by a feast day in our hymnal, and who will never have a church named
after them – and yet they are the saints we honor today.
For
even as we need role models and heroes to look up to, we know that Christian
saints are born, not made – and we should rightly say that they are “born again”
– by water and the Spirit, sanctified by the Word of God and called to eternal
life by grace.
In
John’s vision in the book of Revelation, he sees the saints being “sealed” in
symbolic numbers from the twelve tribes of Israel – the twelve tribes that are
carried forward in the Church through the twelve apostles. We Christians are “sealed” by means of Holy Baptism. We are signed by the holy cross. We are delivered from death and the
devil. In other words, we are called to
be saints by our Lord, and we are sanctified by His blood.
And
our saints come “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.”
For what makes us and our brethren saints is that we are “standing before the
throne and before the Lamb.” This, dear
friends, is why we see the lamb illustrated on our altar. You are standing before the throne and before
the Lamb. And notice that those who are
standing before the Lamb are singing a hymn: “Blessing and glory and wisdom and
thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!”
This
is what all saints do: they gather around the Lamb and they sing His praise. All saints gather at the Divine Service where
Jesus comes to them – the Lamb who gives us His flesh to eat and His blood to
drink. All saints participate in the eternal
Passover sacrifice, the Lamb that takest away the sin of the world at the
cross, for all saints “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the lamb.”
And
per John’s vision, we serve God “day and night in His temple,” gathering “before
the throne of God,” and by “His presence,” God Himself shelters us, promises us
a new and greater world with no hunger, or thirst, or suffering on account of
weather – and that the Lamb Himself will shepherd us, and even our tears shall
be no more.
This
is what it means to be a saint, dear friends – to receive the Lord’s grace and His
superabundant mercy. And that quickens
in us love for Him and a desire to be where He is – like a loving little child
who clings to His parents – so too do all saints hold fast to the God who has
given us life, redeemed us from sin, and called us into the throne-room of God,
being made worthy by the Lamb who alone is truly worthy!
And,
of course, even as we honor all saints, we certainly call to mind those who
suffered persecution and even martyrdom as their particular call to sainthood. “These are the ones coming out of the great
tribulation,” those saints past, present, and future who are called to bear the
cross of suffering for the sake of their confession of Christ. Even as Memorial Day calls to mind those
veterans who died for our country, so too do the feasts of the martyrs, of the Reformation,
of Pentecost – and other feasts – bring us to remembrance of those whose
testimony was written in blood and anguish. Lest we forget, dear brothers and sisters!
To
be a saint is to be a child of God. How? Because, as John teaches us, because the Father
has given us a remarkable kind of love. The
world does not know this love, but we do. The world does not know us or Him – but we do,
dear friends. “Beloved, we are God’s
children now,” and even as His children, we have so much more to look forward
to in the future! For “we shall be like Him,”
even as we grow in faith and love in this life, and being perfected in the life
to come.
And
this is the life of Christ lived through the saints, being blessed by His
mercy, blessed by a poverty of spirit through which the kingdom is ours;
blessed even in our mourning, for we will be comforted; blessed in our meekness,
for we will inherit the earth; blessed in our hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for we will be satisfied; blessed by showing mercy, for we will
receive mercy; blessed with a pure heart, by which we will see God; blessed as
peacemakers, for we will be called sons of God. And dear friends, even when we are persecuted
for righteousness’ sake, the kingdom will be ours, and when we are reviled for
the sake of Christ, we will rejoice in the kingdom for our reward will be
great.
And
so, dear friends, let us honor our saints, for in doing so, we honor Him by
whom they, and we, are called and gifted with the saintly life, with membership
in the kingdom, citizens of an eternal country, and an eternal King.
Let
us join with all the saints – past, present, and future – in waving our palm
branches and singing: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and
to the Lamb!” Amen.
In the name of the Father
and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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