Reign: All Saints
God’s Saints Receive a Kingdom
Luke 6:20-31
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. Nov. 6th, 2022
The Lord reigns! Paul tells us this morning, “God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.” The Lord reigns! “And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
With Jesus comes power. With Jesus comes might. With Jesus comes authority. He alone is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He alone brandishes all power and rule. He alone has conquered the powers of hell. His dominion extends farther than any emperor. His armies are more innumerable than any great power. And his reign is ceaseless, unending.
His disciples knew his great power. That’s why one day James and John made a request. “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” They knew his glory far surpassed that of Caesar. They knew he would come to rule as he has. And they knew he loved them. So they wanted to sit in the seats of choicest honor, to his right and to his left. Jesus, however, told them they did not know what they were asking. Because they did not understand the nature of his power, the nature of his authority. He asked them if they were willing to undergo his baptism, or willing to drink the cup he would drink. They said they were able, in their foolhardiness. They did not realize he was asking them if they were willing to be martyred, to join him in his death.
The other disciples grumbled among themselves at the request of James and John. How dare they think they were better than the other disciples? So Jesus told them among the gentiles Kings lord themselves over others. But not so among those who belong to the Kingdom. For us, for the Church, it is the servant of all who is ruler. And the son of man comes not to dominate, but to give his life as a ransom for many.
Another time the disciples were bickering among themselves about who will be greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. So Jesus took a child and put him in their midst and said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Or, another time when his disciples were trying to keep the children away, Jesus demanded that they let the children come to him, for to such the kingdom of heaven belongs. The Kingdom of heaven is not about physical power, charisma, wealth, might, greatness. It is instead about meekness, humility, forgiveness, love.
Jesus truly rules. He has conquered. But he conquers through his cross. Not with an army. Not with a sword. But by giving up his own life. Laying it down of his own accord. By giving his life as a ransom for many he rules. And so, too, life in the Kingdom of God entails that same self-giving. That same humility and meekness.
Today we celebrate All Saints Sunday, which is a feast that dates back to the middle ages. Early on in the Church’s life it became customary to celebrate the lives of God’s saints on the anniversary of their death, which was understood to be the day of their entrance into the church triumphant. By celebrating the lives of the saints we celebrated the grace of God that made such saints. The process of naming and celebrating saints was, at first, largely informal. Some feasts, like the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, took off like wildfire and were quickly celebrated throughout the church. Others remained more localized as particular churches celebrated their own saints.
Soon we began to recognize that there are many saints who were being unjustly forgotten. In the book of Hebrews we read that we are “surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” The Book of Revelation speaks of a multitude wearing white robes washed in the blood of the lamb that was too many for John to number. The saints of Christ do not make up a tiny number. In two thousand years of history we have not seen so few saints that we failed to fill up the 365 days of a solar year. But the saints are innumerable. Because the grace of God is abundant to transform all of us and to make all of us like Christ.
All Saints began, then, as a day to celebrate all the saints God has given to us. Not just the widely celebrated like a Francis of Assisi or a John Wesley, but also the practically unknown saints whose memory remains in the churches in which they died.
We should not be surprised that there would be so many ordinary saints. So many faithful Christians who lived lives of love, forgiveness, mercy. So many who trusted in Christ so fully that they truly lived out his command to love even their enemies, to give to all who came across their path, to pray for even those who hurt them. I think we can all say we’ve known such saints. We should not be surprised because Christ reigns, and we ought to see such signs of his reign. We should not be surprised because the grace of God is sufficient for all. And we should not be surprised because being a saint is not about being better than anyone else. Being the smartest, or fastest, or getting first place. Being a saint is about love and forgiveness and humility. There is no scarcity in such things. All may love and we’ll never run out. All may forgive and we will never run out of forgiveness. All can be humble and no one loses their position.
On this All Saints let’s celebrate God’s reign by remembering those who witness to it: the ordinary saints in our midst who taught us the way of the cross. The way of life and peace.