All Saints’ Sunday
Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18
Psalm 149
Ephesians 1:11-23
Luke 6:20-31
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
You’re familiar with what we call The Sermon on the Mount. Sometimes we call it The Beatitudes. They pop up all the time, in greeting cards, on calendars, times when people want to say, “It gets better.” Blessed are the sad people, for they will one day be happy, and that kind of thing. But the Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew. Jesus climbs the mountain and delivers a lengthy encouraging poem to his listeners.
But this year, we’re using Luke, at least for a few more weeks. And one of the characteristics of Luke’s Gospel is what we might call, The Great Leveling. Luke is big on lifting the poor and pressing down the rich. And today, we even see it in the landscape: Matthew’s Jesus delivers his words on a mountain. But in Luke, this scene is called the Sermon on the Plain. Luke levels it out. No mountains here. No valleys either. Just level.
But we also a balance in Jesus’ words. Matthew is all about encouraging the downtrodden, and Luke also gives us the four encouragements, to the poor, to the hungry, to the grieving, and to the outcasts. But then Luke adds the Four Woes: woe to the rich, woe to the well-fed, woe to the laughing, woe to the popular. Blessed are the poor, but woe to the rich. Blessed are the hungry, but woe to the well-fed. Blessed are those who weep, but woe to those who laugh. Blessed are the hated, but woe to the well-liked.
You know, it’s almost like our armchair view of karma, right? This section could be summed up as, What goes around comes around. There’s a sort of circular thinking in this.
And even when we bring this lesson into the spiritual realm, it still holds true. The poor, the hungry, the grieving, and the outcast will all have their redemption at the grave. And, they’ll end this life with a focus on the things that really matter, rather than worrying about whether they have the latest i-Phone gadgets. And the rich, well-fed, happy, popular ones will end up in the same state when they face the grave. We leave this world with nothing, just as we entered it. So, of course, we all leave on the same footing. Simple, right? Blessed are the poor, and since the rich will also one day be poor, they’re blessed too . . . just not quite yet.
But that isn’t what this gospel text really says. Or, rather, this text says much more than that. That simplified reading overlooks what comes after this section. The blessings and woes are kind of the preamble to what follows. They’re the set-up for this . . .
“But I say to you, “ says Jesus, “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” The blessings made some sense to us. You know, for the poor, hungry, sad, and unpopular. But, if anyone strikes you, offer the other cheek also? If they take your coat, offer your shirt? Give to everyone who begs, and when someone steals from you, don’t ask for your stuff back? If we actually followed these rules, we’d end up . . . well, poor, hungry, sad, and unpopular.
Society is based on doing the exact opposite of these things. A good citizen goes to the police. A good citizen defends her property. A good citizen doesn’t give to beggars, since it might just be some kind of scam. And being a bad citizen will make you unpopular. If we follow the advice of Jesus, you and I will end up poor, hungry, sad, and unpopular. That does not sound like a happy kingdom.
But let’s look at today’s other readings, with a mind toward God’s kingdom in the midst of our earthly kingdom, or—better yet—our earthly kingdom’s place within God’s eternal kingdom.
The reading from Daniel gives us a bunch of scary monsters, all seeming to put the story into the land of fairy tale, rather than some believable narrative. And that’s sort of where this story belongs. It’s not a newspaper account of the day scary monsters came to visit Daniel’s house. But, at the same time, it’s more than a dream Daniel had. There is an important truth at the end of that story: “the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever—forever and ever.”
The four monsters in Daniel’s day were said to represent four oppressive kingdoms. In our own time, they might be said to represent four things that oppress us on a daily basis. You know, things like being poor, hungry, depressed, or lonely. These four beasts might rule the earth for a season, and their kingdoms might rise up for a while, but the saints of God shall receive the kingdom forever—forever and ever.
And, from the reading in Ephesians, the writer hopes his readers might come to recognize the riches of glorious inheritance among the saints. And I want to draw our attention to that phrase “glorious inheritance among the saints.” An inheritance comes as an unearned gift. Among the saints implies it is shared by all the saints. We receive and we share this inheritance with all the saints, of every time and every place. We belong together; we were meant to be together; we were meant to receive this inheritance together: In the Communion of Saints.
You’ve heard that phrase before, yes? It’s in one of our ancient Creeds of faith. But it’s not in the one we say every Sunday. The Nicene Creed does not include the “Communion of Saints.” But the Apostles Creed does. We don’t use the Apostles Creed very often in the Episcopal Church. But we say it at two crucial moments.
As a community, we recite the Apostles Creed at baptisms. And we recite the Apostles Creed at funerals. When the Church welcomes a new member, we proclaim our belief in the Communion of Saints. When we gather to commend to God’s care one who has passed from our midst, we proclaim our belief in the Communion of Saints. At these bookends of the life of faith, we are reminded of our common inheritance, we are reminded that the saints of God shall receive the kingdom forever—forever and ever.
And who are these saints? Well, the short answer is, they’re everywhere. Rich and poor, hungry and fed, grieving and rejoicing, lonely and popular. There are saints who spend every possible moment in church. And there are saints who spend Sunday mornings driving tow trucks and coaching soccer. God’s kingdom includes all sorts of people, including ones we might not expect to be included.
And the way you know it includes so many people is because of the times when we proclaim the Apostles Creed. A baby is baptized, and we might not see that saint again until the day when we gather to bury him or her. A saint nonetheless, and one who receives that glorious inheritance, right along side us.
We pray for one who has died, “Acknowledge, we pray, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming.” It is the prayer that will be prayed for you, whether rich or poor, hungry or filled, sad or joyous, outcast or welcomed. When you enter the Church by baptism, and when you leave the Church at death, the Church gathers and proclaims your membership in the Communion of Saints. Your citizenship in a kingdom that is not of this world, distracting though your time in this world might be.
And so I want to say to you what we heard from Ephesians this morning, “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints.”
And in a little while, we will stand together before this Altar, with the saints of every time and every place. Rich and poor, hungry and fed, grieving and rejoicing, lonely and popular, we all celebrate together our place in God’s kingdom, here among us now, and in the world to come. Happy All Saints’ Day to all the saints.
Amen
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