All Saints’ Day – November 2nd,
2014 – Matthew 5:1-12
In the Name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost +
Sometimes we as people can be very near sighted. And I’m not talking about the fact that I am
wearing contact lenses that I’m basically blind without – I’m talking about our
perspective. We can get so focused upon
ourselves, our immediate surroundings, that we don’t see the big picture – we
can miss the forest for the trees, as it were.
All Saints’ Day is a day where we are brought back to the larger picture
– where we are made to remember that Christ’s Church is more than just this
place right now. The Church of God
consists not just of we few who bothered to show up on a Sunday morning – but
it is the full company of heaven, the countless throng from so many
nations. It is not just us here – but
the Church is full of countless millions of Christians all around the
globe. It is not just us here – but the
Church is made up of saints from all times, those who lived hundreds, thousands
of years ago on earth yet live in the presence of God right now – and even
those who are yet to be born and brought to faith before the Lord returns. Christ’s Church, His Body, spans all times
and all places, and as we are united to Him, we are united together, bound up
in His Holy Communion, in a way we so seldom pause to comprehend. All Saints’ Day is a day that we do this –
where we remember all the saints – many times we will focus more so on those
from our own congregation who have recently been given rest from their earthly
labors and now see God face to face, but it is truly a day where we see just
beyond the here and the now.
We must remember, dear friends, that the Church is not
defined by us. The Church is not created
by us, it is not made by us, it is not run by us. The Church is the Body of Christ – and yet,
we can be so bogged down in the every day concerns of life, of bodies not in
pews and bills to pay that we can forget this.
We don’t define the Church.
Rather, the Church is the Body of Christ, is those who are gathered
around Christ’s Word, are washed into Christ’s Body by Baptism, who receive
Christ’s Body for forgiveness and strength – and also those in eternity who are
with Christ now, the Lamb of God, face to face.
The Church is those who struggle
now on earth, and those who have received heavenly joy. So, what does this look
like – our Lord tells us.
Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Christians are going to be poor in
Spirit. Christians in this world will
see so much sin, and violence, and filth that our spirits must ache, must feel
poor and lowly. Consider this past
week. How much pain, how much
disappointment did you see? How much
wickedness and sin did you see? In a
sinful world, this is what we see, and rather than delighting in this like the
world does – it causes us sorrow. It
caused Christ Jesus sorrow as well, and for this reason He came down from
heaven to win salvation – He Himself bore up our infirmities – so that He might
win for us by His death and resurrection –the kingdom of God. Because Christ came and was poor in spirit,
those who are of the Church have the kingdom
of God. The Saints who have gone before us, they see
this now fully. We, we have this in
part, but then we too shall have it full.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. There’s much to mourn in life – not just
death as a whole, but all the little, bitty bits of death we experience before
hand. How many of us have dying ears,
dying eyes? How many of us have dying
friends, dying relationships, dying hopes and dreams? There is much to mourn. And what does Christ Jesus do – He comes down
from heaven, and He mourns, He encounters all the loss and suffering that we do
– even tastes death. And why? So that He might rise, and that in rising He
might bring us with Him, so that He might comfort us with heaven the
resurrection and life everlasting. The
Saints in heaven, they see, they receive the comfort of our crucified and risen
Lord right now – they behold Him in His risen Body upon the Throne and they
therefore know that on the Last Day they too shall rise.
Are you seeing the pattern here? The beatitudes aren’t just pretty words –
they describe the Church and Christ. The
first part describes what we see here in this sinful world – the second part
describes what all the saints who from their labors rest now see – and all of
this, whether we are the Church militant here on earth or the Church triumphant
is ours because of Christ – because He is the poor Man who inherits the kingdom
of God, but makes it ours – because He is the One who mourns His fallen
creation but is comforted by redeeming it.
The Church has its existence in Christ.
Let’s see more.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. As Christians, we are called to be meek. When wronged, we are not to wrong in
return. We are not to focus upon
ourselves, but our focus is to be upon our neighbor. And in this, we simply follow Christ. Christ Jesus is the Meek One, who went
quietly and meekly to the Cross to win us forgiveness for those times when we
are not meek, when we are brash and sinful.
But our Lord was meek, and He has inherited the Earth, and He has
promised this, and not only this, but a new heaven and a new earth to all His
Saints.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they
shall be satisfied. Does this
not describe us here? We hunger, we
thirst for righteousness. We confessed
our sin, we said we lack, we need righteousness, we need forgiveness, we don’t
have enough of it on our own. Christ saw
the world’s lack, and so He became Man, became our righteousness for us – lived
perfectly in our stead and said to us, “Here, I long for you to be righteous, take
My righteousness.” Do you hunger and
thirst for righteousness – Our Lord says, “Take and eat, this is My Body – take
and drink, this is My Blood.” And this
is the same feast that the Saints in Heaven are celebrating eternally – they
are most well and truly satisfied by our Lord.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. We do not show mercy like we ought – often we
are mean and cruel and self-centered.
But Christ our Lord is merciful, and He has called us unto Himself, has
bound us to Himself in the waters of Holy Baptism, applied His Name to us, and
He gladly gives us mercy for His Name’s sake.
We see this now, the service itself focuses us upon mercy over and over
– but we also often forget. We struggle
with sin, we wander – our Lord must call us back over and over again. But consider the Saints of heaven – they see
this mercy, they have received it in full, never to wander, never to
stray. The Love of Christ has been made
complete in them.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. In and of ourselves, our hearts are not
pure. So what do we do? We cry out to God – Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me! And Christ our Lord does – He gives us
forgiveness over and over all our days, until our last day, and then what? The Saints see God face to face, they dwell
with Him. God desires you to dwell with
Him as well, and so He forgives you, makes your heart to be pure.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Christ Jesus is the true peacemaker – He made
peace when He went to the Cross, when He suffered and died – when He cried out,
“It is finished.” And it was finished –
our war, our rebellion with God, begun by Adam and Eve in the garden – our Lord
put an end to it – He made peace. That
was 2000 years ago. But then, in the
here and now, in our own lifetime, Christ took water and His Word, and He
baptized you into His own death, made you to be a partaker in all that He has
done – you share in Christ’s death, you share in His peace which He won for
you, you speak this same peace out, and now God is your Father. The Saints see this clearly.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for
theirs is the kingdom
of God. To be a Christian is to struggle, is to be
reviled and thought poorly of, to be mocked by the world, indeed, in many
places, to be a Christian is a death sentence, to mean the government, the
angry mob, will come for you. Just as
the world did to Christ, so too happens to Christians today. But what does our Lord teach us – yes, Christ
suffered, but His in the Kingdom
of God. Likewise, should we suffer – so be it – the
Kingdom ours remaineth. We have this
promise – the Saints in heaven see this promise in full now.
And finally, Blessed are you when others revile you and
persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My
account. Rejoice and be glad, for your
reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before
you. You are part of the Church,
and despite what we like to tell ourselves – the Church is never popular, we
never live in a nice, clean world. This
sinful, fallen place is always sinful and fallen, and if you strive to follow
Christ, you will be mocked and reviled.
For so the prophets were treated, for so was our Lord Himself
treated. But what is the reality – the
reality of eternity that stretches beyond the here and now, beyond our present
suffering? That being united to Christ,
we will face difficulties in this life, but Christ will see us through them
until we too are brought unto the joys of heaven and life everlasting – joys
far surpassing what we see here.
Do you see, dear Christian, the larger picture? Do you see from the Words of our Lord that
you are part of something much greater than just your own little life? Your Lord Jesus Christ has had compassion
upon you, beheld you in your sinfulness, in your struggles in this life, and He
has had compassion to you. And He has
gathered you by His Word, joined you to Himself through the gift of Holy
Baptism, and He has said, “I will suffer all for your sake, so that you might
have everything for My sake.” He has
promised us new heavens and a new earth – told us that this fallen one shall
pass away and we will get that which is better.
Right now though, we are here on earth – we don’t see this fully. The Saints in heaven do, they behold Christ
face to face right now. And our Lord
knows that we left on earth don’t see this perfectly, that we only see dimly
and in a mirror now, not yet face to face.
So He calls us here to His Church, invites us to join in for a few
moments with the song of Angels and Archangels and all the company of heaven –
gives us His own Body and Blood, so that we might be sustained until the day
when we do get to see Him face to face.
Christ Jesus blesses all His saints, and thanks be to God, by the power
of His forgiving Word and the wonders of His blessed Sacraments – you are
numbered with those saints. In the Name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost +
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