Christian celebrate All Saints Day not because we
Christians believe we are “better” than others. Not true! Being a saint doesn’t
mean that one is “saintly” –– as if we accomplish goodness on our own. Instead,
we are made “saints” –– God’s own children –– through baptism.
We retain our inevitably sinful selves but we are assured
of God’s presence in our lives. That is why we say we are both saint and sinner
in this life. We all know individuals who have been witnesses to us of God’s
love. They are our personal saints, worthy of celebration. Even our faults do
not diminish God’s power to love, heal, and renew.
During the fourth century the
church remembered martyrs and confessors, those punished for their faith, on
the first Sunday after Pentecost in the East, and during Eastertide in the
West. As the church spread to Western Europe, especially to England and France,
it encountered pagan festivals held in late fall. People wore costumes and made
bonfires in an attempt to scare away evil ghosts associated with killing frosts
and the coming of winter. To make a Christian response, the church moved the
observance of All Saints' Day to November 1.
On November 1, the church
celebrates the vocation of every Christian to be a saint, a holy one of God. In
the New Testament, all Christians are described as saints by virtue of their
baptism. . . Because of this, all Christians, the living and the dead, are
united with one another. –– Phyllis Vos Wezeman
GOSPEL: Matthew
5:1-12
Jesus goes up the mountain to
deliver the first of five major discourses, alluding to Moses on Sinai. Verse 1
suggests a distinction between “the crowds,” and “the disciples.” The
beatitudes are not commandments, but descriptions of God's relationship to the
world.
Only the last of the blessings (v
11) is directed specifically to the disciples. The first four are blessings of
persons who are victims in the world (the poor in spirit, the mournful, etc.).
The next three blessings are upon persons who resist the world (the merciful,
peacemakers, pure in heart). Jesus' disciples will recognize these blessings,
and may suffer persecution because of their insistence on honoring them. –– L.
Edward Phillips
FIRST READING: Revelation
7:9-17
In the midst of the calamities that
befall creation, the servants of God are marked with a seal (of the cross?)
before the final cataclysm. The number 144,000 (v 4) is the square of twelve
(e.g., the twelve tribes of Israel) times one thousand, and represents the
whole people of God.
This does not limit the number of
witnesses, for verse 9 portrays a multitude of martyrs too large to count, who
sing before the throne of God (v 12). Note the paradox typical of the
Revelation: they have washed their robes “white” in the “blood of the Lamb” (v
14). This is not a valorization of their suffering (which God will alleviate, v
16 and vindicate, Rev 21:3–4), but of their perseverance. –– L. Edward Phillips
EPISTLE: 1 John
3:1-3
“Children” and “Beloved” are John's
appellation for the readers of this letter, which may actually have its origin
as a sermon. The theme is family resemblance. The Father shows his love by
calling us “children of God” (v 1).
The world does not recognize us as
God's children because the world does not recognize God, and thus the world
misses the resemblance. It is possible that the pronoun “him” in verse 1 refers
to Jesus (“the world did not know him”), but the point would be the same. The
text implies growth in God-likeness.
We are God's children now, but what
we “will be” has not yet been revealed because God (or Christ), has not been
fully revealed. Nevertheless, the family resemblance will only become clearer
(v 2). Does John have in mind the prevalent notion that the older we get, the
more we resemble our parents? –– L. Edward Phillips
L. Edward Phillips is
an associate professor of worship and liturgical theology at Candler School of
Theology, Atlanta, Georgia.
Phyllis Vos Wezeman is a prolific
author of books for children and devotional books for all ages. See
Twenty-Third Publications for her writing.
Homily Service 41, no. 4 (2009): 100-111.
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