All Saints' Day 2023

Text: Matthew 5:3-12

This is, clearly, a day with deep meaning. For many of you, your hearts are heavy with grief and loss. And John’s vision, for example, assures you that those whom you last saw in hospital gowns are now clothed in white robes (Rev. 7:14)— without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27), dare I say as glorious as a bride adorned for her husband (Revelation 21:2).

Some of them spent their last days and weeks in a bed, cut off from everyone except their closest family. Now they are standing before the throne and before the Lamb with a great multitude that no one can number from every nation, tribe, people, and language (Rev. 7:9). Even as you treasure their last words to you on this earth, today you come as close as you can to hearing their voices once again as the apostle John describes them crying out in praise to their Lord and Savior (Rev. 7:10).

Through John’s vision, you glimpse the Church Triumphant— the Church and angels in heaven, celebrating our Lord’s victory. You receive the assurance that they are, now, no longer sick; they are no longer suffering; they are no longer ailing in body or mind; they are free from the shadow of death. They have entered more fully into eternal life.

Blessed are they— and blessed are you.

But today is also about you— the Church Militant, still fighting, in this world, against the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh. That vision of their blessedness strengthens you for the battle. A we will soon sing, “When the fight is fierce, the warfare long, steals on the ear their distant triumph song and hearts are brave again and arms are strong. Alleluia.”

Blessed are they— and blessed are you.

You will continue to have ample reason to mourn in this world. And, like them, you will be comforted in the power of Christ’s indestructible life.

As you strive to be humble and gentle in this life, you will be mocked by the greedy and grasping who are constantly trying to seize as much as they can in this life. Like those standing before God’s throne, you will inherit the earth which has been redeemed for you by the blood of Christ.

Especially on days like today, you hunger and thirst for righteousness— you yearn for the day when you will no longer be attacked by temptation, when sin and unrighteousness will lose its hold on you completely. You hunger, you thirst, you yearn for that day. Blessed are you because that hunger and thirst will be satisfied.

You approach God in the same way that that great multitude did, poor in spirit. You approach God as spiritual beggars: without any merit of your own; knowing that God owes you nothing and you have nothing to bargain with. In them, you see the alms that God gives to beggars— how He rewards the poor in spirit. Blessed are you because yours is the kingdom of heaven, purchased for you by Jesus’ holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death on the cross.

Sunday after Sunday you join in King David’s words: “Create in me a clean heart, O God!” (Psalm 51:10). Already, here, in the waters of baptism; in the absolution you hear; in, with, and under the bread and wine that you receive from this altar, your prayer is answered. You are cleansed by the blood of Christ. When the day comes, you will draw near to Him in the full assurance of faith, with your heart sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and your bodies washed with pure water. Blessed are you, for you will see God. You won’t just ‘see’ God. “15 [You will stand] before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter [you] them with his presence” (Revelation 7:15).

As much as it depends on you, you will fight that daily battle to live at peace with all (Romans 12:18). By the grace that you have received, you will “19 leave [vengeance] to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord”” (Romans 12:19). Trusting that God has avenged their sins in full by the blood of Christ, “20 if your enemy is hungry, you will feed him; if he is thirsty, you will give him something to drink...” (Romans 12:20). Blessed are you when you bless those who curse you and pray for those who abuse you (Luke 6:28) because you shall be called sons of God.

Some of those John saw were persecuted, afflicted, and mistreated. The people around them reviled them, uttered all kinds of evil against them falsely on account of Jesus Christ. But now there is no denying that this world was not worthy of them (Heb. 11:37-38). They have received their great reward. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And “11 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on [account of Jesus Christ]. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12, emphasis added).

Blessed are they—they are, now, no longer sick; they are no longer suffering; they are no longer ailing in body or mind; they are free from the shadow of death. And blessed are you— each and every day, not in spite of, but as you hunger and thirst, as you strive to make peace, as you strive to be meek, as you mourn— blessed are you in your risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“12 Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen” (Revelation 7:12).