The Festival of All Saints
Jesu Juva
“Real Saints are Poor in
Spirit”
Text: Matthew 5:1-12; Isaiah 26; Revelation 21-22
Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our
Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Judging by all the political campaign ads being run on TV these days,
everyone running for office is a saint, and their opponent is the biggest
sinner in the world. So vote for the
saint if you want your world to be a better place.
Actually, that’s not too far away from how many people in our world
think of Heaven, and their “campaign” to get in. For if God is going to let so many people
into Heaven (and His is the only vote that matters!), then I’ll get in because
I’m not as big a sinner as a lot of people. In fact, by comparison, I’m a saint! God, vote for
me.
And so it’s good that we have a day like All Saints Day. Not only to remember, celebrate, and honor
those believers, those saints of God, who have gone before us into the eternal
rest and peace of Heaven, but also to remind us what a saint really is: a
sinner made holy by grace through faith in Jesus Christ; washed white in the
blood of the Lamb. (Introit) And
so today we separate the Scriptural wheat from the worldly chaff, and base our
assurance of Heaven not in the vague hope
that God will vote for me and let me in, but in the sure and certain hope of my Saviour Jesus Christ. The certainty of His atonement and His promise of eternal life for all who
trust in Him (John
And so the beautiful pictures of Heaven that we heard
in the first two readings is what awaits you. The beautiful city, like a
jewel. A city whose gates are
never shut, because there is no enemy to keep out – just peace, always. The Lamb of God providing
light, and no darkness of sin and death ever again. The water of life, the Tree of Life – all is
life. Constant life. Real life. Life . . . very unlike life here, now! For life here, now, because of sin (Romans
But that is life with a little l, and all this death here is death with
a little d. Yes, it looms large to us
now, and is often frightening, and always sad.
But for all the saints, for all who die with faith in Christ, this death
is but the gate to life (Ps 118). Big L, life. Real life. Eternal life. The beautiful life of Heaven, which does not break down or wear
our, that is not ravaged by sickness or disease, and has no end in death, but is
a constant living. A constant living for all
who in Christ have been re-created to live a new life. . . .
And so as sad as death is here, now, there is a worse death. Big death. Big D, death. The death that is the very opposite of
eternal life. For if eternal life is real
life, the life that will never end, then big death is
the real death, the death that will never end.
The death after
little death. Not an
annihilation, a ceasing to live – but a
constant dying.
Sadly, we sometimes get those two deaths mixed up, being more afraid of
little death than big death. And when we
do that, we also get our lives mixed
up, thinking more highly of our life here and now, and treasuring the things of
this world, rather than looking forward to the promises of God in Christ Jesus,
and the life that is to come.
And I think the confusion is understandable. We tend to trust what we can see. But today we are being directed differently,
to trust what we cannot see. To trust the promises of God. And to trust that often times what we see in
this world is the exact opposite of how God sees things. And that the saints of God here and now usually
don’t look like saints at all.
And it is the Beatitudes from Matthew that show us this, for they do
not paint a pretty picture of the blessed in this world. In fact, those who are blessed are often
those who seem cursed. For who are the blessed? Those not rich in spirit
but poor in spirit. Not the
joyful but those who mourn. Not the high
and proud but the lowly and meek. Not
those who are satisfied and confident with their spiritual life, but those who
hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Those who are persecuted, cursed, reviled, hated, and live a life filled
with pain and difficulty! These are
mine, Christ says. My
saints. My blessed
ones.
To which those trolling for God’s vote for them now say, “Huh?”
How can this be? Aren’t those
like this far behind in the polls and have a lot of catching up to do?
Actually no. Rather,
it is a constant reminder to us that the saints of God are not of this
world. That we live
now as strangers and foreigners in this world. It is a constant reminder to us not to mix up
this life with the next, or this death with the next. And so it has been for all the saints. Consider Isaiah,
who we heard from in the Old Testament reading.
He is persecuted for speaking God’s Word and (according to tradition [Heb
That is why both Isaiah and John, in writing their beautiful pictures
of Heaven, focus not so much on Heaven, but on Christ and their confidence in
Him. And so Isaiah writes: “We
have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.” But what is this salvation that protects us? In Hebrew the word is Yeshuah – you know it better by its Greek equivalent: Jesus. It is Jesus who is our hope, or as we heard
Luther put it last week, Our Mighty
Fortress! And for John, as wonderful
as His description of Heaven is, it is the Lamb that makes it glorious. The Lamb is the center of all He writes
about.
And so too for you and me. Our
future is not dependent on us, on anything that we do or can do. But on Christ. On what He has done. On what He gives to us. And it is the very first Beatitude that shows
us that, for did you ever wonder why “Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven?” It is because this is the posture of all the saints – coming to our God and
Father in poverty; coming to our Saviour with hands empty and in complete need;
coming sinful and begging for mercy. We
are Lazarus sitting by the rich man’s gate. (Luke
16) We are the blind and the lepers, crying out
for mercy. We are the Canaanite woman,
begging for the crumbs from the table. (Matt
And ours is the kingdom of
Heaven, for to us who have
nothing is given everything. In Christ. For He is
the One, the very Son of God, who having everything, for our sakes became
nothing, that we who are poor might be rich. (2 Cor 8:9) And so we come with empty lives, and are
given fullness of life in Him. We come
lowly and are lifted up. We come
mourning our sin and are given the joy of sins forgiven. We come hungry and thirsty and our mouths are
filled with His body and blood. We come
hated, reviled, and persecuted, and He opens His mouth to us and says: you are
my beloved son, my beloved daughter. You
are blessed.
And if we are blessed by Him, then even though the world despise us,
hate us, and persecute us; then even if we be lowly and poor; then even if we appear cursed – if we are blessed by
Him, then blessed we are! Truly blessed, though what we are now be
hidden. For far more
important than what you hold now in your hands, is to be held in His hands. His nail-pierced hands. Who, if He takes away from you now, gives
back even more.
Who, if He takes away from you now, does so to focus your eyes and faith
not on the here and now, but on Him. Who, if He takes away from you now, points to
His cross and empty tomb, that you may know that though the grave awaits
you now, it cannot hold you. For as you
are in Him and He in you, just as He is
risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity (Small Catechism: Explanation to the Second Article), so will you.
So in the end, you don’t have to prove yourself to God, that He may
vote for you – God proved His love and faithfulness to you by dying for you. And it is this work, His work, that makes saints, when by grace through faith His
forgiveness, life, and salvation are given to you. So fear not, you are blessed. Fear not, though there be tears and pain
now. Fear not, for you are among the
host arrayed in white. This day is your
day. Yes, already now, in Christ Jesus.
In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now
the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds
through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Amen.