When We Think of Saints

Who do you think of, when you hear the word “saint”?

Perhaps on of the gospel writers, or the apostles - St Mark, St Luke, St Peter, St Paul.

Or perhaps one of the influential early theologians - St Anselm, or St Augustine.

Perhaps the more Catholic minded will consider a notable patron saint - Saint Christopher, or Saint Patrick, or Saint Joan of Arc.

Or perhaps there are more modern examples of of notable Christian names who come to mind as special and notable examples - John Wesley, Martin Luther King, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

When thinking of these people, perhaps there’s the temptation to compare ourselves to them.

To question how our own lives measure up in comparison.

When looking at their great and note-worthy deeds, we might even wonder how we could ever be worthy to be noted alongside these people, under the title of saint.

However in doing so we make too crucial errors: we elevate the title of saint to a position higher than was ever intended, and we downplay the importance of those the Lord calls to do his will.

For All the Saints

The word saint in its original meaning comes from the Greek Hagios, meaning holy or set apart.

Now if you look to today’s reading from Ephesians, you’ll see there are actually three places this Greek word appears: in verse 15 we’re told that Paul has heard of the Ephesians’ love toward all the saints, and in verse 18 he talks of Christ’s glorious inheritance amongst the saints. And he also talks in verse 13 about the holy spirit.

But that’s not the whole story: Let’s skip back a few verses, to the beginning of the letter.

Ephesians 1:1 NRSV

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus

This is very much a Pauline practice: he opens his letters introducing himself and stating that he is writing to the saints in Ephesus, or to “all of God’s beloved in Rome, who are to be called saints”, or to “the church of God in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Jesus Christ, called to be saints”, or to “all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Phillipi”, and so on.

Paul continues,

Ephesians 1:3–4 NRSV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.

And there’s that word yet again.

To be a saint is to be one who is set aside and made holy.

And that’s everyone in the church. It’s all those who have put their faith in Christ for their salvation, and been justified and sanctified by God’s spirit.

God does not call us to be Saints with a capital S, giants of faith and action who enact visible change on the world, but rather He makes us saints with a small s. His beloved people set apart to recieve the inheritance of redemption and to do His work in the world.

And all those who He calls to enact His purposes, He empowers them to do so through the indwelling of the spirit.

And while most of those he calls may not have the name recognition of the influence of a Wesley or an Augustine, without them the vital work of the Kingdom would go undone.

For all the people who may have heard of those great figures, I wonder how many can also speak of one or more individuals who attended their own church. Who passed through life largely unknown outside of their local community. And yet whose influence was felt by those who knew them.

How many can you personally think of, whose influence on your life and on your faith was pivotal and yet whose name would mean nothing to most people?

For every Mother Theresa, how many saints have worked unnoticed and unacknowledged in providing relief to the suffering?

For every globally-known megachurch senior pastor, how many parish ministers have lived out their decades in some small rural congregation, yet touched myriad lives through multiple generations of families?

And for all that these big names may inspire us, what actual direct impact have they had on us and those around us?

Because inspiration is no replacement for action.

A book or a video of a sermon, directed at a general audience, is no replacement for words of love aimed at a specific person and addressing their specific needs.

The mark of a saint is not how well known they are, or how prominent and notable the way that God has chosen to use them.

It’s that they know God. That their lives are dedicated to His work. And that He does use them, in real and tangible ways, that are just as important if they are seen by ten people or by ten thousand. Or even by only one.

The Work of the Saints

Often, those saints who God uses are those who the world overlooks. This is the very same truth that we see in the words of Christ in today’s gospel reading.

In this passage, part of what is known as the Sermon on the Plain, we see a set of beatitudes like those from the better known Sermon on the Mount. But unlike those beatitudes, these ones are accompanied by a set of woes: a word which indicates condemnation, and God’s displeasure.

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.

But woe to you who are rich, for you have recieved your consolation. Your riches give you all the comfort you will have in this life, but you won’t see the true joy that comes with God’s kingdom.

Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled!

But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

But woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

Once more, the great reverser turns the expectations of the world on their head. He reveals that those who are marginalised, those who are without, those who suffer, will recieve justice and relief and comfort and salvation when they put their trust in Him.

But those who are rich, who delight in their earthly comforts, and who put their faith not in Christ but in their own wealth and pwoer and status, those things may be with them now but ultimately they will have nothing. They will forfeit the joys of God’s Kingdom.

God has compassion and love for the marginalised, and he calls those who have much to forsake the advantages that come with privilege, to give of what they have to those in need with no expectation of return. To do unto others as you would have them do unto you - not just in a general sense of repricosity, but to recognise “were I in their position, and they in mine, what would I have them do to help me in my suffering?

And just has he loves those who are marginalised, it is the marginalsied who He calls to do His work.

To work unseen and unrecognised except by those whose lives they touch.

And on this day in which we celebrate the lives of the saints who have gone before us, we are reminded of who they are and of who we are. Saints, not because they are exalted but the world but because they are loved by God and called by Him to recieve a glorious inheritance.

Saints who come from across the world, and from all walks of life, gathering together at the table to which Christ invites all who would call Him Lord. Saints who gather not because we are rich and full, but because we are poor and empty, and hunger and thirst for the grace that He lavishes upon us with abundance.

And so as we prepare to gather together at his table and in his name, let us do so reflecting on all of the saints and of our place amongst them, united together through place and time as one body in His glorious kingdom.