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It’s Halloween this week. Maybe in this day we only think of Halloween as an evening when kids dress in costumes and go out trick-or-treating for candy. Or maybe you associate Halloween with scary things like vampires and skeletons. It is the time of yer when people put together haunted houses and decorate their front lawns to look like a graveyard. What is this goofy tradition all about and where does it come from?

The tradition of Halloween wasn’t always about costumes and candy. It goes back to an old Roman Catholic day of commemoration for the saints in the Catholic Church. November 1 is a date that the Roman Catholic Church has traditionally held as All Saints Day. It is a day when the church remembers all those who have been venerated as saints within the church. Along side of that day developed another tradition related to it. Since the saints of the Catholic had died in previous generations, the Catholic Church commemorated their passing away the night before All Saints Day, which makes October 31 a tradition they called All Hallows’ Eve — the evening in which they commemorate the death of all the saints.

From there Halloween took on this spooky vibe as being the night of the dead, which is where we continue to get some of our associations with Halloween connecting to things like graveyards and skeletons. It goes back to an old Roman Catholic tradition of remembering the death of the saints on All Hallows Eve. Don’t ask me where the costumes and candy part of Halloween comes from.

All Hallows Eve also holds a place of tradition in the church because it was the day on which Martin Luther posted his list of grievances against the Catholic Church. This list is known as Martin Luther’s 95 theses. It is a chronicling of all the ways in which Luther saw the church during his time as making mistakes and needing correction. On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther sent a copy of his 95 theses to the archbishop of Brandenburg. It kicks off a period of revival in the church that is known in history as the Reformation. Besides sending a copy of this 95 theses to the archbishop (which is proven historical fact), it is held as legend that Luther also nailed a copy of his 95 theses to the door of the chapel in the city of Wittenberg where he lived (in what is now part of modern-day Germany).

Even though it has never been proven that Luther ever actually did any such thing as nail his documents to the doorway of the chapel, the legend persists and is probably the most notable action associated with the beginning of the Reformation in the European church. John Calvin followed as a reformer in the church shortly after Martin Luther. And from John Calvin we today in this church trace our reformed theology and doctrines which still exists. This church is part of the Christian Reformed Church as our denomination. The local Christian school down the road is named after John Calvin, as is the Christian University here in Grand Rapids which we support. All of this Reformed Christian stuff flows way back to a legendary story of a Catholic monk named Martin Luther who nailed something of his statement of identity to the door on All Hallows Eve—the night of the dead.

Today as we go into this week of Halloween, I want us to consider another night of the dead which doesn’t have to do with trick-or-treating or skeletons or Roman Catholic saints. But it is a night of the dead that has to do with posting a statement of some kind on the door, and it is a night of the dead that we read about in the Bible.

Exodus 12:21–30 NIV

21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. 24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’ ” Then the people bowed down and worshiped. 28 The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. 29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

The Israelites posted a significant symbol of identity to their doors. Martin Luther posted a significant statement of what he believed to the door. I have been thinking this week about the ways in which we post statements, images, and significant markers about our identity. We don’t put things up on doors so much anymore. When we talk today about posting things about ourselves, it mostly refers to stuff we put on social media. I have no doubt that if Martin Luther lived in a world like ours, he wouldn’t have nailed documents to a chapel door. He most certainly would have made TikTok videos or recorded a podcast.

Martin Luther is not the only one who has ever posted something about himself and what he believed for the rest of the community to see

That’s important to note because Martin Luther is not the only one who has ever posted something about himself and what he believed for the rest of the community to see. We do it too. Lots of us do this using some kind of social media. But we post things about ourselves in other ways too. The kind of clothes we wear or maybe the car or truck we choose to drive—these all express something about us for others to see; it all says something about our identity.

What kind of things are you posting about yourself? What do those things say about your identity?

Let’s spend some time with that. What kind of things are you posting about yourself? What do those things say about your identity? And what does this ‘night of the dead’ story in Exodus 12 have to teach us about all this?

the idea behind BeReal

Social media has been around a while now. Those of you who are over 40 may be most familiar with Facebook. There is a little bit of crossover with Instagram. Those of you who are younger stay away from Facebook and probably lean more into TikTok. I am intrigued by the idea behind BeReal. If you are not familiar, the app called BeReal began in 2020 (so it’s a bit newer in the social media world). Like other social media apps, you create a profile and connect with friends through their profiles. But the way BeReal works is there your phone gives you a notification at a random time during the day, and when that notification arrives you have two minutes to snap a picture and post whatever it is you happen to be doing at that exact moment. Once you post your BeReal picture for the day, you can scroll through and see all the pictures your friends posted at that exact same moment.

social media does not often portray our real lives

The idea is intriguing because the creators of BeReal (a couple of guys in France) wanted an alternative to the way so much of the rest of social media is not real. On Facebook or Instagram people tend to only post things about themselves that seem really amazing or noteworthy. That’s why social media is filled with pictures of smiling and laughing families; nobody posts pictures of arguments and fights with family and friends. Instagram is for taking pictures of the fancy and delicious meals I cook; nobody posts pictures of a bag of chips or a bowl of cheerios. TikTok is full of crazy adventures with friends; nobody makes a video of just sitting around waiting for someone to reply to a text. But those ordinary and dull moments of the day are actually more real to our everyday experience than most of whatever gets posted. In other words, most of what people post on social media is not true to the ordinary everyday identity of what we actually experience. If we were to be actually, truly honest about it, we would probably be posting something very different about what we actually experience life to be.

“I just want to belong.” (I am lonely.)

God knows what the real thoughts are. He knows the real desires and hopes. Behind the curtain of whatever it is we may present our lives to be, the real posts show up (and God sees that). There are some things that every single one of us wear as part of our identity; it is posted to us in one way or another. We all have posted to us something like this: “I just want to belong.” (I am lonely.) I just want to be accepted and know that I have friends. More than that, I just want a group in which I can just be myself and not have to pretend to be anything different—I want to belong just as I am. Because sometimes it feels like we live in a world where we are always having to reach to be something more than what we are. Sometimes we all feel like we are in a world in which we have to present ourselves as something more special in order to be accepted.

“I just want to know it will be alright.” (I am afraid.)

Or here’s another one. We all have posted to us something like this: “I just want to know it will be alright.” (I am afraid.) I just want everything in my world to not go wrong. Sometimes when we experience good things, do you catch yourself just wishing it could last forever? Because somewhere inside you think it could never stay that way. Of course we all experience that. It is the reason we have phrases like “too good to be true” or “too good to last” or “all good things must come to an end.” It is the reason why we hoard things; it is the reason why we are greedy. We grab onto and hold onto all that we can because we don’t want to let it go; we are afraid to let it go; we are afraid to lose what we have.

“I just want to know I am okay.” (I am ashamed.)

Or here’s another one. We all have posted to us something like this: “I just want to know I am okay.” (I am ashamed.) We seem to have a hard time in our society talking about things like anxiety and depression. Sometimes the truth for many of us is there are seasons of life in which our identity feels posted in an uncertainty about who we are and how life is going at the moment. I just want to arrange everything around me so that I can manage and get by. Often that leaves us feeling like we are living with shame. Shame is different than guilt. Guilt is the feeling that I messed up something I did. Shame is the feeling that I am a messed up person. Guilt is the feeling that I did a no good thing. Shame is the feeling that I am a no good person.

God sees the things that we are really posting about who we are and about what we are thinking and how we are feeling

I think God sees the things that we are really posting about who we are and about what we are thinking and how we are feeling. And not only does God know about it, God does something about it. Back in Exodus 12 God’s people were enslaved to an identity that kept them trapped. They were enslaved in a place where they didn’t belong. They were enslaved by fear things would only get worse and never get better. They were enslaved by shame that as a group of people they were nobody and nobody cared about them. That was the identity God’s people were holding onto in Egypt.

Passover — symbolic marking that the people in this house are protected by the blood of the lamb posted on the door

God says to his people, you do not have to be alone; you do not have to be afraid; and you do not have to be ashamed

And this is exactly where God steps in and gives them a new identity instead. This weird ritual that the Israelites call the Passover becomes a habit they celebrate and repeat over and over because it is a reminder of the identity they were given by God. On the night of the passover, every family takes some of the blood from a slaughtered lamb and brushes it around the door of their house. The leave a post on the door—a symbolic marking that the people in this house are protected by the blood of the lamb posted on the door. It is an identity in which God says to his people, you do not have to be alone; you do not have to be afraid; and you do not have to be ashamed.

Jesus fulfills the Passover

It is Jesus who takes this same Passover ritual and fulfills its meaning in the gospels. Jesus becomes the perfect and spotless lamb who gives his blood so that all who come to him in faith live within a new identity.

because of Jesus you are accepted just as you are

Instead of an identity of wondering where you belong, Jesus gives a new identity. Because of Jesus you are accepted just as you are. In Jesus there is no requirement to be the right kind of person who proves you live up to the right kind of standard in the right kind of way. The gospel says that all people who come to Jesus in faith are accepted by God. That means you belong to God; you have a place to belong in the community of God’s people; and God always welcomes you into his embrace. That’s the identity Christ has posted for you.

because of Jesus you are loved unconditionally and eternally

Instead of an identity of uncertainty about who you are, wondering if you are going to be alright, Jesus gives you a new identity. Because of Jesus you are loved unconditionally and eternally. The apostle John writes in 1 John 4

1 John 4:16–18 (NIV)

1 John 4:16–18 NIV

16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

In Christ you are given an identity of love in place of fear. God’s love replaces fear because the love of God is unshakable. God’s love will never let you go. God loves you so much that Jesus gave his own life for you. That’s the identity Christ has posted for you.

because of Jesus you are forgiven

Instead of an identity of shame, wondering whether or not you are okay, Jesus gives a new identity. Because of Jesus you are forgiven. In Christ the guilt of all your brokenness and all you sin is taken to the cross. And in the place of that guilt you are now completely clothed in the righteousness of Christ. There is no reason to live as a person with shame because when the heavenly father looks down upon you, all God sees in you is perfect righteousness—the perfect righteousness of Christ is your identity now because you have been forgiven by God.

the identity that you have in Jesus shapes the person that you are and shapes the life that you live

What good does this do you? The identity that you have shapes the person that you are and shapes the life that you live. You do not need to live any longer as a person who doesn’t belong. Because you are accepted by Jesus you have a place to belong in God’s kingdom among God’s people. You do not need to live any longer in fear. Because you are loved unconditionally and eternally by Jesus you have a confidence and an assurance that your identity in Christ will never let go. You do not need to love any longer in shame. Because you are forgiven by God, your identity is now with Christ because he has covered you in his own perfect righteousness.