Saints
A Sermon for The Feast of All Saints, transferred to Sunday
November 6, 2022
The Rev. Robin Teasley
Jesus looked up at his disciples and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets."
"But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
"Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
"Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
"Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
"But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:20-31
I’m sure you’ve seen them, those drawings, cartoons, or memes of St. Peter at the pearly gates of heaven, at the front desk with his clipboard, listening to everyone’s excuses, and admitting only the righteous ones into heaven. Most of us probably think we will get in, while hoping those people we can hardly live with now will be turned away by St. Peter. For the most part, we believe it’s the saints and not the sinners who get to heaven, who find favor with God.
The Greek word for saint literally means holy ones, those set apart. Holy ones are those who are blessed, those who live in the grace of God. Today we recall the saints throughout time who have gone ahead of us to be with God. The Church has a whole calendar of saints, and many of them persevered against all odds, had amazing gifts, deep spiritual lives, or a vision for mission. If we were to compare ourselves to the famous saints, most of us would come up short. And after hearing today’s Gospel, some of us might even have a few misgivings about coming face to face with St. Peter at the gate.
We hear impossible words from Jesus again this week. They go against the grain; they catch us by surprise because this is not how the world works. And maybe we are not sure we want it to work as Jesus is describing it here. Jesus says those who will inherit the kingdom of God are the poor, hungry, weeping, and hated. Today we might translate that into people who panhandle on street corners, sleep on park benches, or rely on food pantries.
If Jesus had his way, the people who work the system, those who are lazy, or addicted, or collecting unemployment benefits will be waved through the gates by St. Peter. We hear Jesus calling those people, yes, those people, blessed. He calls them saints. Why is that? Simply because God’s attention is always focused on those in need, those left behind by the powers that be, those most of us choose to ignore or exclude. God’s unfailing concern for the least and the lost of this world fills the pages of scripture.
And to make sure we hear him, Jesus goes on, not only lifting up the poor and hungry and those who are hated, but also warning those who are rich, full, laughing, or prideful. Woe to you! This was challenging and uncomfortable for his first century followers to hear, as it is for us today, since most of us are far better off than the vast majority of the world’s population.
Jesus turns upside down our ideas of worthiness and saintliness, reminding us that none of us can fully measure up or check off enough boxes. I imagine Jesus knows all too well how prone we are to measure our accomplishments, while we judge the failure of others. But this passage, and in fact Luke’s entire Gospel, make it clear that Jesus cares for the ones who have failed, gotten lost along the way, or have never been seen as worthy by society.
On All Saints’ Sunday we are blessed with an amazing opportunity to admit that we too, have from time to time found ourselves in these places. Despite all the outward appearances we construct, we still have insecurities, we still find it hard to love others or ourselves, and we are still destined at the end of all of our best efforts to confess that we are imperfect. We all stand in need of some mercy, in need of the grace of God.
And this is where the Beatitudes begin to make sense, where the Good News emerges for us. We cannot understand God’s promise of mercy if we have never been weak. We cannot know the power of forgiveness if we have never needed to be forgiven. We cannot recognize grace if we have never failed. We cannot comprehend the gift of Resurrection if we have never been dead in our old life.
Jesus invites us to stretch our imaginations concerning the saints, those persons who are blessed by God. In God’s eyes, the saints are not only those spiritual superstars who attain exceptional virtue. They also include people who have been at times self-righteous and untrusting. They are the joyous and the grieving, the content and the discontent, the loving and those who find it difficult to love. The saints include folk like you and me, and even though every one of us comes up short, God’s grace is infinite. Thanks be to God!
As we celebrate the feast of All Saints’, we are invited to recognize and affirm our communion with Christians of every gender, ethnicity, race, and economic status, from all times and places; joined together as one Body in Christ, not because of who we are or what we have, not because of what we’ve done or left undone, but because in Christ, God calls us holy and blessed and has set us apart to be witnesses to God’s grace and goodness.
We are set apart at our baptism, marked as Christ’s own forever, washed in the water of forgiveness and grace. Do we live our lives with perfection? No. But the water of baptism has cleansed use from sin, that we may continue forever in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Savior.
Take a moment to recall the saints you have known, the people in your life who have inspired you and encouraged you to continue on the journey, even when it seemed impossible. Recall your saints who have shown you what grace looks like. Your saints were not perfect, but they persevered. Saints know that they are marked as Christ’s own forever and are on a journey toward the heart of God.
There is a story about a young seeker who met an elderly monk just outside of the monastery walls. The young seeker asked the monk, “What goes on in the monastery? What do you do, all day, day after day in there?” The old monk paused to think for a moment and then replied, “Oh, well, we fall down and we get up. We fall down again and we get back up. And then we fall down and get up again.”
Saints are not perfect. Saints are those who get back up, who try again to get it right. All of us have known saints in our lives who have modeled this perseverance; saints we have read about, and saints we have loved very much, including the saints we have listed in our bulletin today. These saints have been witnesses to God’s grace. Blessed are those who live out their faith in Christ and are called saints of God.
Title Image: Procession of the Holy Martyrs, Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo a Ravenna
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