Sermon Text - All Saints
The Feast of All Saints
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12
In the 1980 novel Godric, Frederick Buechner retold the life story of Godric of Finchale. Godric is a 12th century English holy man. Godric was recognized as a saint, a holy man, because he renounced his former life, lived as a hermit by the river, and sought to purify his ambition of pride with severe ascetic practices that included extended fasts and meditating in ice cold winter streams. His holiness was such that he was often visited. People were drawn to his ascetic spiritual practices, his vivid sense of the presence of God, and his wise sayings.
I remember reading this book years ago. Buechner is a gifted novelist. He captures well the milieu of twelfth century England and Godric’s efforts at holiness. What drew people to Godric, and to men and women like him, was their efforts at living a spiritual life that looked wild on the margin of society.
We should be inspired by Godric’s devotion. I have no doubt that he is saintly and holy. However, one of the things we need to bear in mind is that saintliness and holiness are not statuses that we earn or somehow merit by our own efforts. God’s Word tells us that God confers the designation of saint and holy because of your faith in Jesus Christ. This is a gift that the Lord God places upon you regardless of your own efforts.
The bible readings today use different words than saint and holy. They use words like blessed and children of God. These designations, blessed and children of God, are also conferred upon faith filled people independent of their own efforts or actions.
In his first letter, the Apostle John explains that your saving relationship with God begins with love. The Father loves you. Because the Father loves you, the Son becomes incarnate. The Son, Jesus, dwells in the flesh so that he can save you through His death on the cross. Instead of dismissing you, destroying you, because of your sinful flesh. The Son saves you from your sinful nature through His own sacrificial death. The Holy Spirit creates faith within you so that you receive His good news with faith.
All that the Father gives to you, He gives out of love. He gives the Son out of love. He gives the Holy Spirit out of love. Out of love He changes what you should be called. Instead of being called sinner and condemned, we are called something else. The Apostle John writes, “See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” Two verses later he calls us this remarkable name again: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared.”
You are God’s child. Because God is holy, you are holy. God declares you a saint, because you are forgiven on account of Jesus’ death on the cross.
Do you deserve this? No, not really. Are you worthy of this gift to be called holy, saint, child of God? No, not really. Except that Christ stands in our stead. The Father sees the cross instead of seeing your sin. Jesus is the Son of the Father. You too are children of the Father on account of Jesus. You too are a saint and holy.
Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by declaring that you are blessed. This too is a designation that you do not deserve, and you certainly did not earn. Some of those that God calls blessed are going through a terrible time that is not of their own choosing.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their is the kingdom of heaven.” The poor in spirit are the downtrodden, the forgotten, the despised. The poor in spirit will never write a book or be remembered for their deeds by future generations. Yet, Jesus, speaking what the Father tells Him to say, declares, you are blessed.
The title of blessed is conferred upon those who have lost that which is of great value to them. They are a wreck. They are in mourning. They weep. They cannot do good work because their lives are ruined. Yet, Jesus declares, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Jesus continues in this vein to announce that people whose work or social conditions are not celebrated in the world, are seen by God, and God looks upon them with love and declares them blessed apart from anything that they do. They are declared blessed, children of God, holy, saints, simply because God loves them.
At the beginning of the liturgy, you and I confessed to God and one another that we have corrupted, sinful, natures. Despite knowledge of God’s expectations and good training, we make poor choices in judgment, thoughts, words, and deeds. At the root of these failures is a failure to always love and trust God above anything else. We own up to the reality of who we are. We are told by God’s Word, that God decided, out of love for you, to forgive you, on account of the cross of Jesus, God’s own son. You do not deserve the Father’s forgiveness. You do not deserve His love. Yet, he chooses to forgive you. He chooses to love you. He chooses to look upon you as a child of God. He chooses to declare you blessed. By His grace, by His choice, you are holy. You are a saint.
We benefit from the witness of the saints of old such as Godric of Finchale, as well as Abraham and Sarah, Samson, Elijah, Elizabeth, Mary, Peter and Paul. We are inspired by them. God chose them. God changed their lives. God made them holy. God declares them saints. Just as God declares you, the sinner, a saint too, on account of Jesus Christ.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment