Sermons Online ...
Sermon - All Saints' Day (B) - 1st November 2009
St Alban's Anglican Church Epping
Readings: Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 24; Revelation 21:1-6a; John 11 32-44
Welcome to All Saints Day. This feast day is a very ancient and very valuable tradition. But in recent years it has come under threat by its association with Haloween and that tradition’s emphasis on death. But All Saints Day takes us in a very different direction.
Now first, we need to consider this word “Saint” because it can be used in a number of ways. A saint can simply be a reference to any believer. When Paul the apostle wrote to some churches, he simply referred to them as the saints of that town. S a saint can be any believer. However, we also use the word “saint” to refer to heroes of the faith who have stood out because of what they have done or for their faithfulness in the face of death. For example, we don’t even know if St Alban could read or write. His life of faith probably lasted just a few weeks at most. Yet his example of faith to the point of death has inspired the faith of others and a community of witness to Jesus for the last 1700 years.
So today is a celebration of the lives of all the saints who have gone before us, who by their lives, their witness and their faithfulness, encourage us to persevere in the faith. And this is a wonderful service, because there is so much that can drag us from the faith. Illness, traumas, discouragements, frustrations and distractions can all work to move us away from our faith. We need to make use of every opportunity to strengthen ourselves for the road ahead. For example, the writer to the Hebrews encourages us not to abandon our meeting together because that regular meeting will encourage us to continue in the faith.
And so this feast of All Saints is another encouragement along the way as we consider their examples of faith. But faith is not an end in itself. We don’t remember these saints simply because they had faith, that they were a believing people. Rather it is the content of that faith that makes all the difference. These people had a faith worth committing their whole lives to. They had a faith they knew was worth dying for. It was as Alban watch that refugee priest, Amphibalus praying, reading the scriptures and living in fear of his life from the Roman authorities, that Alban realised here was a God he must get to know.
But what was it about this faith that captured each saint’s attention? We can’t be exactly sure, but we can talk in general terms. For, no doubt, each one was convinced that God was there. For many people today, that seems to be the beginning and the end of the discussion, whether or not God is there. But mere existence is not that exciting. I believe the polare ice caps exist. But it doesn’t have any impact on my life. Their existence is not a life-changing belief for me. I get concerned when people debate the existence of God, because at the end of the discussion whatever people decide, they can still conclude, “So what!”
What is more significance than God’s existence is his attitude towards us. And we learn over and over of God’s love for us and God’s intention to bless us. But how will he do that? What is it that we really need God to do for us? In our three readings this morning they each give exactly the same answer, and that, what we need more than anything else is that God would do something about the destruction of the power of death. In Isaiah 25 the writer considers all that God has done and all that God will do. He gives thanks to God that Israel’s enemies have been defeated. He thanks God that Israel can live in safety. Then he looks to the future and describes a victory banquet that all Israel will enjoy.
Then suddenly, the passage changes gear. He now describes a blessing that will be for all the nations on earth. He describes all the world as enfolded in a shroud. In other words, no matter who we are, we are all constrained by death and none of us can escape it. We all live under a death sentence. But what will God do. He will destroy this shroud or in verse 8 we are told that God will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all their faces. All mourning will end because death will be no more.
Seven hundred years later we have the same ideas taught in the book of Revelation 21 verse 4. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” This is God’s agenda. He did not create the world, he did not create us for death. Rather, he had something better planned. And the good news is that God will put his plan into action. The shroud that enveloped all of humanity will be destroyed. It will be abolished from God’s creation.
And this was Martha’s faith in John 11. Even though Lazarus had died, she knew that he would rise again at the last day, or at the end of time. She knew God would do this. This was what she believed. But Jesus wanted her to go deeper into her faith. The God that she believed in now stood before her. The God that would bring this resurrection was present with her now. Here was Jesus. He is saying to her now, the same thing he would say to the disciples in chapter 14. “Trust God, trust also in me.” In other words, your faith is in God. So too, in the same way, have faith in Jesus also. This is where Jesus was taking Martha. She said she knew Lazarus would rise again at the resurrection. But Jesus demanded more of her. His response was, “I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this?”
And then notice Martha’s response. First she says she believes it and second she says she believes Jesus is the Son of God. This is an incredible breakthrough. Here is this woman looking at this man and yet she can accept that this man is the Son of God. This man has the power of life and death. Jesus never has this sort of discussion with his disciples. Certainly, Peter had acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. But once Jesus began to discuss the suffering and the dying Peter refused to listen. He was not prepared to consider what it really meant for Jesus to be the Son of God.
Now people can claim to be anything they like. But it doesn’t make it true. Jesus here has made the biggest claims of all. He has claimed to be God himself. He has claimed to possess the power of life and death. But can he back up those claims? He was taken to the tomb where Lazarus body was placed. We are told that he was surrounded by people who were weeping. Perhaps too, Jesus was thinking of what would happen to him in a few weeks time. His body too would be placed in a similar tomb just like this one. People would weep for him, just as they were weeping now. And so, Jesus too wept with the crowd. Its as if the power of death pressed in upon them all and they were crushed by its awesome cruelty.
And then, just as suddenly, the mood changed again. It seems that this Son of Man has had enough, this Son of God, this resurrection and the life, would at last flex his muscles. “Take away the stone!” Jesus demanded. “But its been four days” they answered. “Didn’t I tell you, you’d see the glory of God!” Jesus replied. And then Jesus issued his call, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out. Then Jesus said, “Remove the shroud, and let him go!” And Lazarus was released from the bonds of death. Jesus had done it. Here was the Son of God winning back his world just as in a few weeks time he would swallowed up death itself.
This is the faith we believe in. This is the great hope we share. And we give thanks to God for those saints who have gone before us who have led us to this truth, who have encouraged us to persevere with this great hope. And so our prayer today is that just as those saints were faithful we pray for God’s strength that we too might be as faithful. That just as others were an example to us, that we might be found worthy to be an example to others, that as we were encouraged by these saints we too might encourage and build others up in this great faith, this great hope for all the world.