All Saints’ Day (Observed)
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
St. Matthew 5:1-12
All Saints Day (Observed)
November 3, 2024
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
We call this Sunday’s celebration in the church year, the Feast of All Saints. Throughout the church year, we remember many of the saints such as Martin Luther, St. Matthew, St. John, and St. Mary to name just a few. But what is a saint specifically? Is it just a title for a Christian who did something great? Does the title “saint” simply mean “someone who is without sin?” It can and it does in that sense if we are talking about the saints who have gone before us with the sign of faith. That is, those who have died in their faith and are now in heaven. But how does one become a saint? What’s the process of recognition of sainthood, or is it only for someone who has died the Christian faith? One aspect of our liturgy, which we observe on All Saints’ is the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed, where we commemorate and remember all of those saints who have died within the last calendar year. We can say that they are saints because they have joined the Church Triumphant, they have joined the heavenly host. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
But All Saints’ Day isn’t just about the heroes or great martyrs of the faith, though they too are remembered. Unlike other denominations, we do not petition the saints for help. Jesus did not teach us to pray to them but only to His Father in heaven. But today, we remember the seemingly lesser saints who have gone before us and are now with Christ because they were blessed and made holy by Jesus. Although the saints in heaven were diverse in this life, coming from every nation, tribe, race, and language, no longer do we focus on their diversity. What is unique about the saints is their unity. To be sure, they do come from different tribes, nations, and languages. But at the same time, they were and are now forever united in looking together at the Lamb of God upon His throne. And so, we call all baptized Christians “saints.” For we, like saints who have gone before us, are united with them as we gaze upon the Lamb, Jesus Christ as we believe in Him and receive Him in faith. Jesus Christ humbled Himself to become what we and they once were: children of man, in order to lift us and them up to become what He is: a Son of God. That is what we are. We are one with those who worship the Lamb of God here on earth and in heaven, as heaven comes down to earth and in the Holy Communion, the barrier between is the thinnest.
All Saints’ Day marks a sort of transition in the Church Year to the last times, looking forward to the consummation of the age, to the Last Day. We begin to hear appointed readings which focus on the end of all things: Christ’s return, the resurrection of the dead, the new heavens and the new earth. We are living in the now and the not yet. We have been declared righteous, made children of God, and have the promise of eternal life in Christ’s presence with all the saints. But we, unlike them, have yet to see it in full.
Our Lord’s words in Matthew 5, which is often called the Beatitudes, are the beginning of Jesus’ great Sermon on the Mount. Jesus began this sermon by first going up a mountain. The important point is that Jesus came as the final prophet from God who all the prophets before awaited. It was on a mountain, Mount Sinai, where the prophet Moses received from God the Law, the Ten Commandments for all people. These commandments revealed not only God’s character and will for His people but also served as our guardian until Christ came. For since the Law was given, it has revealed that all people are born sinful and do not live up to the perfection God’s commands. Why the Law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise of eternal life had been made. What this means is that we have not and cannot live a pure and God pleasing life. No amount of human effort or heroic deeds would make us pleasing before God. This is why no one was allowed to go up onto that mountain in the Old Testament because any sinner who stood in God’s presence and saw Him would die. Only out of God’s divine goodness and mercy was Moses cleansed and was able to go on the mountain. And still, he could not see God, lest he die in his sinfulness.
It was on a different mountain that Jesus spoke the blessing we hear in the Gospel reading this morning. Unlike the Law, these beatitudes, “blessed are you…blessed are you…blessed are you when…” are not ethical demands or steps for us to gain His blessing. Rather, they first describe the condition of Jesus’ disciples and then God’s promised blessing. This sermon in Matthew 5 describes the future of those who believe that in Christ Jesus the Kingdom of heaven has broken into our world. And even though Christ gave the hearers that blessing then at that time, years ago, it is given to us here and now.
Blessed are you, when…. (give examples)
The saints of old are Blessed, and so are we. Because we are also saints.
The disciples received this teaching as a “now and not yet” reality. “Blessed are you” is a way of recognizing the best of the best. This is a list of everything that matters. Jesus takes everything that we think doesn’t matter and He shows that they matter to Him. What He is describing are people who have no status by themselves. They have nothing to give our Lord. And yet He gives them everything. He turns the world’s thinking upside down. The poor in spirit inherit the kingdom of heaven. Those who are sorrowful are comforted. The meek, hungry, merciful, pure, and peacemakers will inherit the new earth, be satisfied, will receive mercy, they shall see God. Unlike Mount Sinai, our Lord provided the final answer to everything we suffer in this life.
It was on the blessed mountain, Mount Calvary, that our Lord gave everything and withheld nothing. The Father gave His only-begotten Son unto death to forgive every sin and purchase us from the grasp of Satan. Jesus’ cross is the Lord’s final answer to sin and suffering in this life. No longer are we slaves to sin for we have been freed through Jesus’ cross. No longer do we fear death, for Christ Himself conquered death and rose victorious. No longer do we fear what the future holds, for the kingdom of heaven is ours. When we face anything in this life, whether it be fear, persecution, or death, we know we are sons and daughters of God. No matter the outcome of the presidential election, the cancer results, or fear of persecution, Christ remains our only hope and is our sure defense. All things have been placed under His feet. Nothing can separate us from His love.
We with the saints who have gone before us remain united in the faith with our eyes fixed upon Jesus. His blessing is what makes us His saints. This is why we gather together often around God’s Word and the sacraments. It is here that God comes to speak to us, to comfort and to strengthen us in faith. It is here that Christ speaks His blood bought forgiveness. It is here that we are given assurance that we have been called by God through the water of Holy Baptism as sons and daughters of the most high God. It is here that all the saints of God, the angels and the archangels gather around Christ’s throne as He feeds us His body and blood, the fruits of His cross. And it is here that we respond with thanksgiving and praise to our God who has guaranteed our victory over death. Jesus’ own resurrected body bears the mark that that offers proof that all the saints in Him are living even though they died. And on the Last Day, our bodies and the bodies of all the saints will be raised to dwell in Christ’s presence forever.
Therefore, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope—this trust, this faith—in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” This is our hope—the only truth that gives us hope in the midst of many trials and sadness.
In +Jesus’ name.
