Matthew 5:1–12
The Sunday after All Saints’ Day
Today is All Saints’ Sunday. That day in our church calendar where we remember all the saints who have gone before us. It is also a traditional major feast that is specifically set aside for baptizing. One of those spiritual ‘soft spots’ where we theologically profess the thinness that separates the Church Past from the Church present; those doorway moments that seek to collapse and freeze time and space, where we remember the past, live in the present and look forward to the Future.
Today is also my 30th anniversary as a Baptized Christian. I do admit that the only reason why I ever knew this was tied up in ordination process—otherwise, I’d have no clue what day I was baptized—I certainly don’t remember a thing being only 8 weeks old! But it is true, this very Sunday, this very day thirty years ago I was baptized in my family’s Presbyterian Church. The same church where my mother and aunt, my grandfather, great-grandmother, great-great-grandfather, and great-great-great grandfather. I was even baptized with water from the Jordan River, which Rev. Clayton collected on pilgrimage. With such a cloud of witnesses surrounding my baptism, what better example of the Community of saints was enacted on that All Saints’ Sunday! Except, the day being observed in that Presbyterian Church was not the ancient feast of All Saints, but Reformation Sunday—marking Martin Luther’s nailing of the 95 Theses on the Door of Wittenberg Castle Church! Rather than singing “For all the Saints” who from their labors rest, we were singing Martin Luther’s great anthem, ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God’ and I’m sure they threw in ‘Amazing Grace,’ just for good measure!
Well, as you can see, I’m not standing in a Presbyterian pulpit this morning. It has only been since my conversation to the Episcopal Church, that I finally got it! That saints weren’t people we pray to, but they serve as example of real people whose lives were dazzling with God’s glory. And it is with great joy that we remember the saints who were, and are, and who will come after us.
Today’s Gospel lesson is one of those we hear over and over, The Beatitudes. They’re the type of Gospel lessons that you just want to say, “Well…yeah, of course that’s the way Jesus wants us to be.” And when confronted by these types of Gospel lessons, there lies a bigger challenge for us to make old words sound new.
So look at the words before you. Look at them carefully. Look to the point where you see explicitly where Christ is talking to you. Look and hear where you are in that cloud of witnesses. I don’t know about you, but it took me several times to find new breath in old words.
Look and see where the Kingdom of God resides. Before mentioning the future, the things yet to come, Jesus makes it quite clear that the kingdom belongs to the poor in spirit and to those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Listen again:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Sandwiched between present day resides the beautiful Kingdom of Divine Hope. Jesus is saying that the Kingdom of God belongs to those with absolutely no hope, with absolutely little faith—the poor in spirit; and at the same time they are also heirs along side with those whose faith is so robust they are willing to be persecuted. Jesus in no uncertain terms, dear church, makes clear that the kingdom of heaven belongs to all types.
Look again, at the text. Balanced between the poles of doubt and certainty lies the future kingdom. Our Jewish brothers and sisters say that so holy, and so perfect is the Torah that even the white spaces between each word are pregnant with interpretation of God’s Law. Might I also say that the picture of God’s perfect is visible in the present tense, that what we all are to inherit is dependent on the inclusion of all people. This kingdom of God is for ALL the saints—everyone from the righteous to the puny.
It takes all kinds, church. And that is why our hearts must move from Reformation to transformation; and that each Sunday is a day for ALL saints and one of transformation. And we balance the act of honoring the saints surrounding us in the dazzling beauty of stained glass, to honoring the living saints in our midst. From celebrating the saints who for whom we ponder ‘what their joy and the glory must be,’ to the cloud of witnesses who die daily in the Sudan, the cloud of witness who live daily on the streets in our Communities, and the cloud of witnesses among us who die daily with no hope for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And in only minutes we will welcome a cloud of new witnesses.
Our baptism is our acceptance of God’s great yes to us. It is our acceptance that we, like the great saints and witnesses before us-- that we also desire to become special instruments of God’s work. It is where we become living saints, and become numbered among the countless throngs of the faithful.
Today, this All Saints, is a day when we spiritually look back and look with great pride of so great a cloud of witnesses. Today is a day when we look forward with divine optimism and ponder anew where God’s saints’ will go forward. Today, this day look around and see the saints among us. Blessed are you all, for yours is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you St. Christopher, St. Geoffrey, St. Mariel, St. Smith and St. Lindsey, for yours is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are we who bear witness to their lives in Christ’s kingdom.
St. Mother Theodore Guerin, Indiana’s only saint to date--who was canonized two weeks ago said, “What does it matter what becomes of us, provided God’s work be accomplished” Blessed are we who are heirs of God’s kingdom, and who, through our works and by grace, are striving to accomplish God’s kingdom among us. Pray by God’s grace, that this Sunday, and every Sunday will reform us, Transform us, so that we may live fully into the sainthood to which we already belong. Remember, brothers and sisters, it’s not just about all the saints who from their labors rest, its also about the saints here and now who labor on in God’s kingdom that was and is and aver shall be world without end.
AMEN.
