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11/06/22 – All Saints’ Sunday

ALL SAINTS AND SINNERS’ LIVES MATTER

November 6, 2022
All Saints’ Sunday
Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18, Ps.149, Eph.1:11-23; Lk.6:20-31
Rev. Denise Clark-Jones

Today we celebrate a special day in the life of the Church you may not have even known about when you were growing up. It is, however, one of the oldest feast days in Christendom. It is one of the few celebrations that is not based on the life of Jesus portrayed in the gospels. All Saints Day was the product of the “All Saints Lives Matter” movement in the 4th century. Once Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, Christians worried that the martyrs would be forgotten. Naming them was the official statement of the Church that their lives were significant to the Church and to the faith. When we think of saints, we think of being morally perfect. But what the word actually means is holy. In theological terms this is sanctification. Being holy is emptying the self to be filled with God. The closer we walk with God, the closer we get to sanctification. With the limitations of our humanity, we cannot achieve this state on our own, it is only in the full presence of God that we become totally sanctified. The seed of holiness is planted within us, as it is in all of God’s creation. Growth in holiness is done by aligning one’s life with Christ’s. The author of Hebrews put it in these terms: 14Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. (Heb. 12:14)

The Apostle Paul referred to all believers, as the “company of saints.” In Pauline theology we are joined with Christ in baptism. In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul speaks of the faithful as being made up of believers both past and present, both Jews and Gentiles. When we think of saints we think of being perfect. But what the word actually means is holy. Holiness is a state of being, which comes from God — we can’t make ourselves holy.  It was the Protestant Reformation that led those that had split from the Roman Church to return to the theological concept of the sainthood of all believers from scripture. In the Reformed tradition we are saints not because of our deeds, but it is through Christ that we are made holy. Thus, it is the death and resurrection of Christ that God has revealed the eternal life promised. Paul assures: “If we die like Christ we shall certainly be raised like Christ.”

In the Old Testament we don’t read about belief in life after death until the book of Daniel, which was written within 165 years of Jesus’ birth. Before, eternal life was achieved by having children. If you think children today have pressures, imagine being responsible for your parents’ eternal life! Being childless meant your life had no continuation after your last breath. You see why the barren woman was such a powerful theological image in the Old Testament.

But a new vision began to be revealed. The story of Daniel, written as dream and visions, revealed that God’s kingdom is eternal, and therefore, of greater power and glory than any earthly kingdom might boast. In the coded language of the Apocalyptic writings of Daniel, similar to the New Testament Book of Revelation, we see the concept of God’s kingdom that has no end, surpassing all the mortal kings, whose kingdoms inevitably fall and are forgotten. As in the time when the book of Revelation was written, Daniel was written during a time of persecution of the faithful – in Daniel’s case it was the Jews being persecuted by the Roman Empire. The author of Daniel wrote: “But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever—forever and ever.”

The short passage from Ephesians read today affirms that holiness is driven by the power of the Holy Spirit. The word, “power,” appears four times. There is a lot of talk about power these days. Social movements like “Black Lives Matter” and “Me Too” have raised challenging questions about the abuse of power by those in American society who have disproportionately wielded it. Recently, constitutional questions have been raised in the Legislative, Judicial and Executive branches of our government. There were candidates who refused to accept the results of the 2020 elections, and who have stated they will not accept the results of the 2022 mid-term election if they lose. One gubernatorial candidate promised that if he were elected, no one would ever be elected in his state if they were not Republican.

Even if the U.S. Constitution is no longer a valid measure of justice and civil rights, the Bible still challenges us to ask the questions: Who has power? By what means did they get it? By what means are they using it? These are questions we need to ask if we follow Christ’s directives for justice and love of neighbor. In the Bible we read that what is lost in the abuse of power is not only justice; it is also the loss of relationship. The Bible is all about the restoration of relationships – God to humanity and neighbor to neighbor.

In Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain we just heard, Jesus seems to set a very high bar for holiness: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” I don’t know about you, but I feel much more like a sinner than a saint when I hear those words. It seems the most troubling and challenging words in Jesus’ sermon are: “If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also (v.29)

I do want to clarify the ‘turning the other cheek does not mean offering oneself for abuse. In the Roman culture of the first century, not to strike back, but to stand, without walking away was not a passive action. To stand and turn the other cheek was an active form of non-violent protest. It was to say: Here I stand, I have value. You may do evil to me. I will not return evil for evil, but I will not deny my God-given value by walking away.

With belief in eternal life, human life and the way one lives one’s life, took on even greater value. Our Scripture passages for today make the bold claim that faithful lives matter. Not that all lives did not – that is the heresy of empires, not the people of God. So, All Saints’ Day is much more than a day of remembrance of the those who have died, but also a celebration of the resurrection and eternal life. In Paul’s epistles, saints and sinners include all of us believers who want to live in the light, but just can’t help stumbling over our own feet into the darkness from time to time. Paul gives us comfort that to be a saint does not mean we have to be perfect. A saint is a sinner that perseveres in his or her journey toward the light of Christ. It is this light that illumines the kingdom of God for us and dispels the darkness of despair that our lives have no value, no purpose, no hope. It is this light that reveals holiness in our everyday lives.

The concept of holiness is intrinsic to eternal life. It is when we cross over from this world into the next that Paul tells us we will be fully with God: In his letter to the Corinthian church, he wrote: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.” Even though we do not have the full revelation of God regarding what we will experience after death, we have the Scriptures – the words of the law, and the prophets; we have the revelation of God’s Word made flesh in Christ; and we have the accounts of people who struggled to be the Church while living as exiles in the secular world of the Roman Empire. We have Christ, resurrected and present with us. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit to empower us to live lives of eternal significance to the greater kingdom of God. This gives us hope.

If we live as a people without hope, then the bible tells us we live as if we are already dead. There is no purpose to dream or have vision. There is no purpose in working for a better future for ourselves, our sisters and brothers or future generations. Without hope for a better world, we have no motivation to do anything but despair of our existence or live only for ourselves. When we die, spiritually, we give up the holiness God created within us.

We live with the potential of experiencing holiness and being a conduit for holiness for others every day. To see holiness, we must be alert. To search for holiness we must expect there is holiness to be found. I’ve heard that it takes a great musician to perform beautiful music, but it takes the listener to hear that music and recognize its beauty. And so it is with holiness.

So, trusting in Christ’s promise of eternal life, we come to this table. With Christ as our host, we rejoice that we are joined here with all the saints of every time and place. We don’t know how Christ was resurrected, but we do know why – God loves us and wants to be in relationship with us. We don’t know why God loves us so much that he gave up his only Son to our human violence on the cross, but we do know we have been promised we will be with Christ Jesus and God, for all eternity. The mystery of God’s steadfast love is the mystery of our faith. All we can do is give thanks for this mystery and respond by living lives worthy of eternity in God’s kingdom without end.

At Christ’s table the bread and the cup are made holy by our wondrous relationship with God through Christ – temporal things leading us to the eternal. May the bread and the cup open your eyes that you might go out into the world and recognize the holiness that abounds by the grace of God and reflect that holiness in your relationships and service.

Amen. May it be so!

 

 

 

© Rev. Denise Clark-Jones, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Westminster Presbyterian Church | 1420 W. Moss Ave. | Peoria, Illinois 61606
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