- Psalmody: Liturgical Text; Psalm 33:1; Psalm 34:9, 10b; Psalm 118:15a; Psalm 32:11; Matthew 19:28a, 29b
- Lection: Revelation 7:2-17; 1 John 3:1–3; Matthew 5:1–12
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Why do we celebrate the Feast of All Saints? The reasons lie in what you’ve been listening to from the Scriptures as we chanted portions in the Introit, Gradual, and Alleluia Verse; in what you gladly hear and learn in Revelation, 1 John, and St. Matthew; in what, with your blessed brothers and sisters in the Lord, you boldly sing in the hymns that teach and confess the precious counsel of the Word of God.
“All Saints.” What does this mean? What it doesn’t mean is what some grievous and erroneous teachings have come to ascribe to certain Christians that are now dead; that they can somehow, through merits of their own, hear prayers made to them and intercede with God for us. We admire and honor fellow saints in glory, but we do not pray to them. To do such is blasphemous and anti-Christ, for there is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. All prayers made by those redeemed by the salvific work of the Son of God, whether we be here in the Church Militant, or in Heaven in the Church Triumphant, are to God the Father through God the Son by God the Holy Spirit. We do not invoke saints, pray to them, or depend upon them as we should only do upon Christ our Lord. We invoke Christ and depend upon His merit, His righteousness alone to be able to go boldly to our heavenly Father with our prayers. No Christian is to be exalted above another in this manner, for the term “saint” simply means “holy one.” These holy ones, referred to as saints from the Psalms all the way to Revelation,are saints because of the way the Scriptures describe them and how God has sanctified them. We know by the Holy Word that no one is righteous of himself, that none are justified by works but by faith alone, faith that is gifted from God through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit; a gift completely from outside ourselves, so that no one may boast, except in the Lord. We are made holy by the Holy One of Heaven. All believers, Old Testament and New, including us here today, who have faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, who trust that there is no other name under heaven by which man might be saved, all those believers are made holy by the grace of God through faith alone. They are made holy only by God. They are His saints. If this is your belief, then you are a saint. If your friends, relatives, and neighbors look to Christ alone for their salvation, then they are saints. If loved ones died believing that Jesus Christ shed His blood for the forgiveness of their sins, then they died as saints and were taken by God from this valley of sorrow to Himself in Heaven and now await the resurrection of the dead on the Last Day. This is the right understanding of All Saints.
This isn’t merely for your head knowledge, for once again, this knowledge is no good unless its godly reasoning is grasped by the heart in faith. All the Beatitudes begin with “Blessed are…” as in currently, whether saint in heaven or on earth. Those who have gone before us in the faith have received fulfillment of Christ’s declarations and promises. Believe that you indeed belong, as a saint, as a holy one, to the whole Body of Christ; some of whom live still upon the earth; others of whom rest in peace in Christ as their earthly bodies lie quietly in Christian graves. The difference between saints here and there is that those there have arrived by means of their death here. This means that dying is a normal part of this cursed world, brought about by the Fall into Sin. This means that all of us will face death all around us throughout our years here and eventually our own, lest the Lord tarries no longer. Sometimes, death will strike tragically very close to home, maybe even suddenly and unexpectedly. This also means that we experience the slow arrival of death for those we love who fall ill and maybe struggle for a period of time before the body finally gives out and the breath of life departs. This is difficult for us to experience. It is not easy to watch. Death isn’t natural in God’s Creation. We brought it upon ourselves and yet our mourning over the death of a loved one is legitimate. Mourn as you should. Call upon the Lord to comfort as only He can. Recall His promise that Blessed are those who mourn, or understood correctly, Blessed is the Christian who mourns, for there is no true, lasting comfort outside of faith in the Conqueror of Death. They, we, shall be comforted, even while still here, because the blessedness we possess, we possess in the present.
The short verse, “Jesus wept,” happened when our dear Lord Himself received the mournful news that His beloved friend Lazarus had died. It is appropriate not to like death. It is appropriate to mourn, to miss those no longer with us, to grieve, yet not without hope. We dare not despair, for those who have gone before us with the sign of faith and have now been summoned into the Lord’s nearer presence are not gone forever from us nor will we forever be apart from them. We shall see them again and glorify Jesus together. All saints will be united in the One Lord, raised on the Last Day, and given eternal life. For all saints, earthly death is not the end. Gut-wrenching to face for sure, but for the ones made holy by God, it is a restful sleep through which our faithful Savior delivers His saints, which is a comfort for all the ones who remain behind; for all those who mourn.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” These and the remainder of the Beatitudes, the “Blessed are” promises given to us by our Lord in Matthew five are a description of all that we face as the saints of God in this life. We neither see nor measure truth as the world does. We walk not by sight, but by faith in Him Who created and completed all things. We know that what we will be has not yet appeared. We look to God by faith for that. We trust that there is a kingdom of heaven that will have no end. We trust that though we mourn, truly we shall be comforted. We trust that every tear from our eyes will be wiped away and we will no longer have to deal with what harms us. We trust that, though persecution comes in the evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, the kingdom ours remaineth. It remaineth for all saints that we see now, those with whom we gather in the mighty fortress of God; those with whom we worship the Lord together in Spirit and in Truth; those with whom we kneel at the altar and feast upon the forgiveness of sins in Christ’s Body and Blood. The kingdom remaineth, too, for those who have now moved beyond what is seen with earthly eyes, for those who await securely, resting in peace in their Savior. Their comfort is yours. Your and their salvation is one and the same. You share life in Christ. He Who has delivered them will do likewise with you.
When we remember All Saints, we remember our Almighty, merciful and gracious Savior, in Whom the whole Church in heaven and on earth dwells and is blessed; in Him Who has rescued us saints even by means of mournful, earthly death, death that has lost its sting and grave that has surrendered its victory. We shall see this beautiful Savior fully as He is in due time, at that glorious Return we so long for. May the sure Hope placed by God into All Saints according to His grace be our comfort from everlasting to everlasting.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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