Saint Who?
Sermon
Sermons on the Gospel Readings
Series III, Cycle C
Object:
Then he 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
The whole thing started as a safety net. All Saints began as a catchall. In the old church calendar, each saint would get one day a year set aside in their honor. The feast day of Saint Mark the evangelist, just to name a saint, is on April 25. Mary, the mother of Jesus, gets August 15. Saint Andrew is remembered on November 30. Saint Philip and Saint James share the first day of May. You might not even have heard of these holidays, but there is one that most people do know -- Saint Patrick's Day on March 17. It's good to remember people who lived their lives, and in some cases gave their lives, in witness to the gospel. The drawback is, of course, that you eventually run out of days. There are 365 days most years; one more in leap years. But there are way, way more than 366 people who are considered saints. There are more than that whose lives and witnesses are worth remembering. That's why there is All Saints. In the old church calendar, the first day of November was set aside for those other saints. All Saints was celebrated to make sure that no one was overlooked.
There are certain people that all Christians call saints: Saint Paul, Saint John, Saints Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These saints, and a handful of others, still have days of commemoration on church calendars. When these days of commemoration do show up on Protestant calendars, however, they are regarded as minor festivals. For example, when October 14 falls on a Sunday, Saint Luke's day gets celebrated, and the lessons for the day, maybe even the hymns and the sermon, can be especially selected to have something to do with Luke and his ministry. In years that October 18 falls on a Tuesday, good old Luke gets ignored. Many Christians recognize a dozen or so of these minor festival saints' days. There are days for the apostles, maybe a few other people from the New Testament like Mary Magdalene or Paul, and that's pretty much it. There's certainly not a whole year's worth.
For centuries, All Saints was considered one of the holiest days of the year, second only to Easter. It was far more important and a much bigger deal, than Christmas. In some places, it even marked the start of the new year. That was in the old church calendar. New calendars, the kind you'd buy at a mall or in a card shop, may not even mention it at all. All Saints has become little more than the answer to a trivia question, celebrated by few, and understood by even fewer. But All Saints is not trivial. It gets recognized in the church whether the actual day, November 1, falls on a Sunday or not. It's a big deal.
We celebrate All Saints because there are far too many saints to fit on the calendar. There are hundreds of thousands of saints -- millions -- billions. And those are just the ones who are walking around today. All Saints is a big deal because of who the saints are, and, more importantly, because of how they got to be so saintly. A saint is not a flawless person who does all the right things and says all the right things and never doubts and never wavers in the faith and never gives into temptation. If that was the standard, then there wouldn't be any saints at all, not even the ones from the Bible. A saint isn't a superhero, square-jawed and steady, wearing a cape and a halo. Superheroes aren't real. Saints are real.
We get the word "saint" from the Latin sanctus, which means "holy one." A saint is a holy person. But a saint's holiness does not come from their iron will or their unimpeachable moral character. A saint's holiness comes from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A saint is a weak, flawed, normal person, who was dipped in, washed in, and lives in Jesus Christ. If you go into the ocean, you're going to get wet. If you're in Christ, you get holy. It's a big deal. Saints are sinful people who God decides must be holy, because they are soaking in the love and forgiveness and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus died and rose in order to make them his holy ones.
It is All Saints and today we remember and thank God for the life and ministry of all his saints. We remember Saint Paul. We thank God for Paul's coworkers in the gospel: Joanna, Lydia, Barnabas, and many others. We remember evangelists, teachers, bishops, and martyrs. Today is a day to lift up all the saints, including you. On All Saints we celebrate the miracle of your holiness. On this day also, we remember those saints among us who have died: some of them recently, some ages ago. We don't remember them for their perfection. We don't lift you up because you get everything right. What we are doing here today is reminding ourselves that a saintly life is a life spent in coming to grips with a holiness we did not create and with love and forgiveness we do not deserve.
It's not easy living the life of a saint. Jesus talks about that life, and it just sounds backward. "Blessed are you who are poor," but "woe to you who are rich." "Blessed are you who weep," but "woe to you who laugh." "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." Oftentimes, these words get twisted. "What are we supposed to do?" we ask. "Be a doormat? Lay down and let people trample all over us?" How in the world are you blessed when things are going badly? We think we are blessed when things are going well for us and we're healthy and happy and safe. But the saintly life isn't about wealth, popularity, or comfort. It's about faith and hope, resurrection and life, compassion, love, and purpose.
The saintly life is not just about staying out of trouble. It's not passive. It isn't wimpy. To live as God's holy people takes courage. Turning the other cheek is courageous. It's bold and it's tough and it's impossibly gutsy. "No," it says, "you will not win. I will not give up. Jesus died for me, rose for me, called me holy, and I will not let that go. Go ahead and hit me again. I will not let anger and vengeance and sin get the upper hand."
That's backward to our way of thinking. It's not natural. What we want to do, what we are inclined to do, is still largely our selfishness talking, our fear talking, and our sin talking. The good, the noble, the righteous, the merciful, the generous, and the loving -- that is God talking. That is God calling. To live the life of a saint is to live in God's mercy. To live the life of a saint is to live in the often-uncomfortable paradox of being the sinners we know ourselves to be, and at the same time, being the holy person God says we are. Maybe you don't feel especially holy, but you are. God is calling us to be holy. God is calling us to be his. God is calling us forward. It isn't easy. It doesn't come naturally. But God is with you and will always be with you, just as God is with all the saints. Amen.
"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
The whole thing started as a safety net. All Saints began as a catchall. In the old church calendar, each saint would get one day a year set aside in their honor. The feast day of Saint Mark the evangelist, just to name a saint, is on April 25. Mary, the mother of Jesus, gets August 15. Saint Andrew is remembered on November 30. Saint Philip and Saint James share the first day of May. You might not even have heard of these holidays, but there is one that most people do know -- Saint Patrick's Day on March 17. It's good to remember people who lived their lives, and in some cases gave their lives, in witness to the gospel. The drawback is, of course, that you eventually run out of days. There are 365 days most years; one more in leap years. But there are way, way more than 366 people who are considered saints. There are more than that whose lives and witnesses are worth remembering. That's why there is All Saints. In the old church calendar, the first day of November was set aside for those other saints. All Saints was celebrated to make sure that no one was overlooked.
There are certain people that all Christians call saints: Saint Paul, Saint John, Saints Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These saints, and a handful of others, still have days of commemoration on church calendars. When these days of commemoration do show up on Protestant calendars, however, they are regarded as minor festivals. For example, when October 14 falls on a Sunday, Saint Luke's day gets celebrated, and the lessons for the day, maybe even the hymns and the sermon, can be especially selected to have something to do with Luke and his ministry. In years that October 18 falls on a Tuesday, good old Luke gets ignored. Many Christians recognize a dozen or so of these minor festival saints' days. There are days for the apostles, maybe a few other people from the New Testament like Mary Magdalene or Paul, and that's pretty much it. There's certainly not a whole year's worth.
For centuries, All Saints was considered one of the holiest days of the year, second only to Easter. It was far more important and a much bigger deal, than Christmas. In some places, it even marked the start of the new year. That was in the old church calendar. New calendars, the kind you'd buy at a mall or in a card shop, may not even mention it at all. All Saints has become little more than the answer to a trivia question, celebrated by few, and understood by even fewer. But All Saints is not trivial. It gets recognized in the church whether the actual day, November 1, falls on a Sunday or not. It's a big deal.
We celebrate All Saints because there are far too many saints to fit on the calendar. There are hundreds of thousands of saints -- millions -- billions. And those are just the ones who are walking around today. All Saints is a big deal because of who the saints are, and, more importantly, because of how they got to be so saintly. A saint is not a flawless person who does all the right things and says all the right things and never doubts and never wavers in the faith and never gives into temptation. If that was the standard, then there wouldn't be any saints at all, not even the ones from the Bible. A saint isn't a superhero, square-jawed and steady, wearing a cape and a halo. Superheroes aren't real. Saints are real.
We get the word "saint" from the Latin sanctus, which means "holy one." A saint is a holy person. But a saint's holiness does not come from their iron will or their unimpeachable moral character. A saint's holiness comes from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A saint is a weak, flawed, normal person, who was dipped in, washed in, and lives in Jesus Christ. If you go into the ocean, you're going to get wet. If you're in Christ, you get holy. It's a big deal. Saints are sinful people who God decides must be holy, because they are soaking in the love and forgiveness and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus died and rose in order to make them his holy ones.
It is All Saints and today we remember and thank God for the life and ministry of all his saints. We remember Saint Paul. We thank God for Paul's coworkers in the gospel: Joanna, Lydia, Barnabas, and many others. We remember evangelists, teachers, bishops, and martyrs. Today is a day to lift up all the saints, including you. On All Saints we celebrate the miracle of your holiness. On this day also, we remember those saints among us who have died: some of them recently, some ages ago. We don't remember them for their perfection. We don't lift you up because you get everything right. What we are doing here today is reminding ourselves that a saintly life is a life spent in coming to grips with a holiness we did not create and with love and forgiveness we do not deserve.
It's not easy living the life of a saint. Jesus talks about that life, and it just sounds backward. "Blessed are you who are poor," but "woe to you who are rich." "Blessed are you who weep," but "woe to you who laugh." "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." Oftentimes, these words get twisted. "What are we supposed to do?" we ask. "Be a doormat? Lay down and let people trample all over us?" How in the world are you blessed when things are going badly? We think we are blessed when things are going well for us and we're healthy and happy and safe. But the saintly life isn't about wealth, popularity, or comfort. It's about faith and hope, resurrection and life, compassion, love, and purpose.
The saintly life is not just about staying out of trouble. It's not passive. It isn't wimpy. To live as God's holy people takes courage. Turning the other cheek is courageous. It's bold and it's tough and it's impossibly gutsy. "No," it says, "you will not win. I will not give up. Jesus died for me, rose for me, called me holy, and I will not let that go. Go ahead and hit me again. I will not let anger and vengeance and sin get the upper hand."
That's backward to our way of thinking. It's not natural. What we want to do, what we are inclined to do, is still largely our selfishness talking, our fear talking, and our sin talking. The good, the noble, the righteous, the merciful, the generous, and the loving -- that is God talking. That is God calling. To live the life of a saint is to live in God's mercy. To live the life of a saint is to live in the often-uncomfortable paradox of being the sinners we know ourselves to be, and at the same time, being the holy person God says we are. Maybe you don't feel especially holy, but you are. God is calling us to be holy. God is calling us to be his. God is calling us forward. It isn't easy. It doesn't come naturally. But God is with you and will always be with you, just as God is with all the saints. Amen.
