CALVARY
BAPTIST CHURCH
Rev. Fred Weimert November 4, 2007
For All the
Saints
Sometimes it is
easy to see why a text was chosen
by the Church leaders who assembled
the Lections for special days.
It was easy to see
why Daniel 7 was chosen for All Saints Day
The final verse in the reading was
the reason.
But the
holy ones of the Most High
shall
receive the kingdom
and
possess the kingdom
forever--forever
and ever."
The “holy ones” of the Most High…
the saints of God
will inherit
the kingdom…
simple…
that’s
why Daniel was chosen to be read
on
All Saints day…
But understanding
the Gospel reading’s place on this day
is
more difficult.
The reading from Luke 6
is the beginning of Luke’s
version
of the “Sermon on the Mount”
only Luke
puts it on the plane…
a
flat place.
And Luke’s
Jesus doesn’t pull any punches
not
like Jesus does in Matthew…
In Matthew
you heard:
Blessed are the poor in spirit…
Blessed
are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness…
It
isn’t like that in Luke…
in
Luke Jesus says:
Blessed are you who are poor…
Blessed are you who are hungry now,
And
Jesus in Luke doesn’t stop there
he
continues with 4 woes
to match his 4 beatitudes,
Luke doesn’t have 9:
woe to you who are rich,…
"Woe
to you who are full now,
and two others which parallel the other two
beatitudes.
Are we reading this on All Saints
Day,
because the prerequisite
for being a saint is to be:
Poor,
Hungry,
Weeping,
Reviled?
I may have to go and
change some of the names
on
my list of personal saints.
Not so fast…
Some of you may think that I am
naive enough to believe
that the poor and hungry
are truly
saintly…
I
am not!
I know that the poor are nice to me
because I am
Pastor Weimert…
and a soft touch.
But I have seen poor people operate.
I have heard them talk
trash about others
who I know
have been good to them.
I have heard them trash
people
who have told them they have to wait.
I have heard them trash
me…
that’s ok.
I
know it may be part of the reason why they are poor
or
part of the stress that poverty brings.
I am very concerned
about the growing number of people
who I see
that are poor and hungry…
and I am sad about the
hoops our society
makes them jump through to get what they
need…
it
encourages them to be dishonest.
but I am not sure I am
ready for all of you to become poor,
because I
have enough trouble taking care of those
I
am already seeing off the streets…
However, I am not ready to say some
of the things I have heard
some
of the media preachers
say about wealth…
that
it is no problem…
They are positively deuteronimic…
Wealth
is a sign of God’s favor…
Then
John Gotti and Donald Trump…
must be particularly loved.
Jesus frequently spoke
about the problem of wealth
and doing
the will of God.
The
woe which is spoken here…
The
camel and the eye of the needle saying…
From
Luke 18 :25
(Which skipped in the assigned readings)
But hear now Luke’s
version of the opening of this sermon on the plain:
Luke 6: 20-31
Then he
looked up at his disciples and said:
"Blessed
are you who are poor,
for yours is the
"Blessed
are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
"Blessed
are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
"Blessed
are you when people hate you,
and when they exclude you,
revile you,
and defame you on account of the Son of
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy,
for surely your reward is great in
heaven;
for that is what their ancestors did to
the prophets.
"But
woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
"Woe
to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
"Woe
to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
"Woe
to you when all speak well of you,
for that is what their ancestors did to
the false prophets.
"But
I say to you that listen,
Love your
enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
bless
those who curse you,
pray for those who abuse you.
If anyone
strikes you on the cheek,
offer the other also;
and from
anyone who takes away your coat
do not withhold even your shirt.
Give to
everyone who begs from you;
and if anyone takes away your goods,
do not ask for them again.
Do to
others as you would have them do to you.
Here ends the reading:
Blesses are the
Poor,
Hungry,
Weeping,
Reviled?
Woe to the
Rich
Full
Laughing
Well
respected
You know some of
that stuff is a given…
It is not something that we may
always have much control over.
The author of
Ecclesiastes says that there are times and seasons
to mourn and
to dance…
to weep and
to laugh…
there may
even come times for wealth and poverty…
or to be raised
up and to be brought down…
Jesus
probably understood that…
There
were moments when crowds gathered to
listen
to him teach…
but
also times when they gathered to
see
him be executed.
For me
what makes one saintly
is what they do with the
times and seasons…
Saints love
even when they’re not loved
They bless
those who curse
and
pray for those who hurt…
They don’t
hit back…
and most of
all they give…
They
give because Saints have a strong sense
of
having received
everything…
from
God.
With
this understanding
Saints choose to be connected to God.
that’s
what the word means…
to
be set apart for God use…
for
God’s purpose…
The word sanctuary is from the same root…
a
place set apart for worship of God.
I think that all of us
are called to be set apart…
but some
take it more seriously than others…
I also think that there
are momentary saints…
people who
in a moment become
the instrument for God’s purpose.
Like
Cyrus, a Persian ruler,
Called
by Isaiah in his 45th chapter…
the
Lord’s anointed… The messiah…
certainly
a saint,
but
not always.
One of the people I
sometimes remember on my list
Is a man who
was a friend of my father… Bill McGinnis.
Bill
was hardly what you would think of as a saint.
He
was rich and self-centered…
a
philanderer…
and
not easy to get along with…
But, one day
he sat me down and had a talk with me,
about
being myself—or trying to be my father
and
after that talk I decided to go to seminary.
He
didn’t change radically after that day.
I
did,
but
he was part of that change.
I think part of the process of
sanctification
is our coming to realize
that we are not just connected to God
but
connected to all humanity…
and more than just being connected
to people alive now…
we are also connected to we have never even
met…
nor
ever could have met,
because
they proceed us, in time,
and
one day will come behind us…
the
Cloud of Witnesses
from
Hebrews 12: 1
which
uses that expression—
to
describe the heavenly realm.
Therefore,
since we are surrounded by so great a
cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight
and the sin that clings so closely,
and let us run with perseverance
the race that is set before us,
Perseverance is what
makes us saints…
Eugene
Peterson has a wonderful book on the Psalms
The title of which defines saintliness well…
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction.
One of my favorite
Preachers, Tom Troeger
Wrote of this cloud in his book Open to Glory: pg. 43
“Even on the sunniest Sunday of the year a
cloud hovers about your congregation. It
is not a dark and threatening cloud, but a cloud of light and music. It is the great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews
12), the generations of the past, who in their own fumbling way were faithful
to God: the Israelites, the crowds who followed Jesus, the congregations that
Paul scolded and loved, the martyrs who died for faith, the nameless believers
who witnessed in a million silent ways known only to God, the musicians with
ears tuned to heaven and eyes squinted blind at the musical staff, the
theologians who spilled ink and blood for their visions of the truth.
In
our private lives we are usually oblivious to the cloud.”
All Saints Day is
the time to remember that cloud…
The parts of it we have seen,
and the parts of it we have read of
in church history…
and the parts which no one even
remembers any more…
but were still somehow
responsible for our faith…
our being
here today.
Our role is to
remember the lives of saintly people
and then set ourselves apart to
serve God
so that in the future
whether we
are remembered or not
God
will be.
So may we be set apart.
Amen.