SUNDAY OF ALL SAINTS

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: SUNDAY OF ALL SAINTS
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: November 4,2001

TEXT: Matthew 5:1-12 - The Beatitudes
“When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

ISSUE: The setting of The Beatitudes is Jesus teaching his intimate disciples. He is teaches them that when they begin their ministries they are to be knowledgeable of what it is that God truly honors. What does it mean to be really honorable or blessed? It is not in great wealth, or having an happy life without problems. But it is in simplicity of life, of being in union with God, and yearning for what is right.
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This celebration day of All Saints is a special one in the life of the church. It is a Holy Day set for November 1st each year, but the church in recent years provided that since many people worked and were not responding to the celebration of this day in the middle of the week that it could be celebrated on Sundays. It used to be a day when many of our deceased Christian friends and relatives were remembered, and those names all read aloud or printed in parish bulletins. However, the All Faithful Celebration, formerly known as All Souls Day was returned to the church calendar, for Nov. 2nd, and we have been celebrating that day remember many of our loved ones who had made a special impression on our lives as truly people of God.
I think that it is important to make the distinction of separating All Faithful remembrances from the All Saints Feast itself. On this day of All Saints, we look primarily at our part in the church’s definition of sainthood. Remember too, that this Sunday of All Saints is one of the special days that the church sets aside for our baptisms. Our baptism is our entrance into the church and into the fellowship of God’s saints or holy persons. There are the saints that have their special days. There are many remembered for their great contributions to the Christian Faith, like Francis of Assisi, St. Patrick, The Apostles, St. Teresa of Avila, and the fellowship of great men and women who led holy lives and sacrificed much for the Christian Faith. From earliest times in the church, the saints were the baptized faithful of God, sealed on their foreheads with the sign of the cross. They were the followers of Jesus Christ, each having their ministry and mission given to baptizing all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them the things that Christ had taught them.
Notice that the appointed Gospel reading for this day is The Beatitudes from the Gospel account of Matthew. (A more abbreviated list of Jesus’ beatitudes also appear in Luke 6:20-26.) The setting tells us that Jesus takes his intimate group of disciples to a mountain get away. Jesus sits as was customary for a teacher or rabbi. He speaks to them about what is true blessedness. And of course they are peculiar, if not somewhat shocking to the disciples. Several of the beatitudes are sort of the exact opposite of what a person might think true blessedness was, and these are probably the most authentic of Jesus’ beatitudes. Why would Jesus say: Blessed are the poor, Blessed are the mournful, Blessed are the meek, the hungry and thirsty? These seem to be the exact opposite of what you might expect blessedness to be.
Let’s set the scene. Jesus gathers together his closest disciples. He sits. It is as if he begins to say to them, if you are going to be a follower of mine, lets begin by getting it straight. Let me tell you what it is that God blesses or honors in this world. That is to say, let me tell you what it is that God really holds up as honorable in this world, in spite of what the world tells you are blessedness or honor. Those who have no clout, no voice, no prestige, or power are the very ones to whom God extends his undeserved grace. These are the very ones that God loves and honors. You got that? Honorable and blessed are those that mourn, that are without hope, who know pain and suffering. These are the ones that God honors, and to whom he extends his grace. The world will tell you that the poor and the suffering are unimportant, but the mission on which you disciples sees the world differently. The world will tell you that the meek and humble folk, finish last. I tell you, says Jesus, that they will inherit the earth. Blessed and honored are those simple folk who hunger and thirst for what is right, for innocence, who are merciful and giving. Honorable in the sight of God are those who have been abused, maltreated, disenfranchised, dumped on by the world, and considered to be worthless and are persecuted. These are the very ones that God loves and seeks to embrace.
And finally Jesus says to the disciples gathered around him on their mountain get away, And honorable are you guys, who will be condemned and persecuted, slandered, avoided, thrown out of your families and out of the synagogues for faithfully caring on the ministry to which you have been called and responded. As you develop your ministries of teaching, caring, loving, in the name of God, you will come to know persecution and mockery at times from the world.
The beatitudes of Jesus are teaching, telling, proclaiming to the world, and Jesus disciples, his buddies, what real blessedness and honor is in the world that so often thinks very differently. Is that true or not?
What is often honored in our world today is wealth. Persons who have a large accumulation of wealth are often seen as “the blessed.” They are the ones who must have done things right to become so blessed. Many of us fear for the loss of our possessions. We cling tightly to them. We think of people who achieve positions of authority and power as the honorable or blessed.
For a long time, people who have good solid educations were thought to be the honorable by their accumulation of knowledge and wisdom, as opposed to people in lesser positions in life. The mantra was, “If you’re going to make it in the world, you have to get a good education.”
Now having wealth and possessions, having a fortunate life with a minimum amount of suffering and mourning, and having a good education with some wisdom and knowledge are not evil, nor dishonorable. It is, however, when these things become the total focus of our lives without God, and without the recognition of his grace that we are not honorable in the sight of God. There are many rich, educated, and healthy saints in the world and gone on before us. But neither are wealth, education, and lack of suffering honorable if we are without God, and conduct our lives as if we have made it on our own. Being a ‘hot shot’ in the world is not the stuff of which saints are made Jesus is telling his disciples and the Christians living in the world today. We frequently baptize infants on All Saints Day. These too are the ones whom God honors and blesses. They have no ability of their own and they do not have the capacity to earn anything, and they are by the grace of God, the new saints in the community whom God, loves, blesses, and honors. We grow them up, hopefully, in a community of saints whose blessedness is in their capacity to love and forgive and teach them about God.
Right now we are living in a very frightening world. People are scared and anxious. Most of us would never have dreamed that the day would come when we were afraid to go to the Post Office to pick up the mail, or even to pick it up out of the mailbox in front of our homes. It is sad, mournful, that we have to be on constant alert to anything strange, and afraid to fly in an airplane. It’s a sad comment that we are frightened to be in a tall building. It is a world where there is fear and great anxiety. Our imaginations are at work making us wonder what might be the next tragic event. Evil and terror for the most part has us just where it wants us. We are not quite so sure that we are in control of our lives like we once were. There are many people in mourning as a result of the recent acts of terror on Sept. 11, 2001. We now know only too well what it means to be persecuted as a nation, and for our Christianity. The sixteen Christian people murdered in Pakistan last week were members of our own Anglican Communion meeting in a Catholic Church.
Jesus takes his disciples up to the mountain get-away. He tells them there are many people who are afraid and have no one to speak for them, and feel anxious and powerless in the world. There are those who are in mourning, those who are hungry and thirst for what is right and need justice. These are the very ones I honor and love. Don’t ever forget that. They are the saints as you are. Now go and proclaim love to the world, give them a cup of water, hear their pain and their suffering, their fear and anxiety and take to them the peace that passes understanding. Hold fast to the presence of God and his love and fulfill you discipleship as the saints you are and are called to be.