Christ’s Victory in the Saints

23rd Sunday after Pentecost, B

Sunday of All the Saints

November 4, 2012

Foreword: Today is the celebration of the Feast of All the Saints, transferred to this Sunday from November 1. It is the culmination of “A Season of Saints,” which began on World Communion Sunday last first Sunday of October.

Introduction

Today we celebrate the Feast of All the Saints.  It may come as a surprise for us Protestants to be celebrating a supposedly “Catholic” feast day which may even have pagan roots. But first, we need to clarify a few terms:

• Halloween is usually associated with ghosts and the dead. People dress in costumes and children go around “trick or treating” for candies or money. “Halloween” simply means “All Hallows¹ (Saints) Even²”, the evening before All Saints Day (that is, October 31).
• All Saints Day, November 1, in the Philippines is usually observed as the day of the dead. But the “day of the dead” is actually the following day. We will discuss All Saints later.
• All Souls Day, November 2, is the actual “day of the dead”. In the Roman Catholic tradition, this is the day when a “plenary indulgence” is given for prayers for the dead in order that they might escape Purgatory and go to Heaven. It is precisely against this practice that Martin Luther issued his “Ninety-Five Theses” on the eve of All Saints (October 31, 1521).³

All Saints Day was originally celebrated as a feast for “all the saints”. In the Roman Catholic Church, saints are commemorated on their feast days throughout the year⁴. Eventually, the calendar got cluttered and some saints were no loner remembered. Thus, November 1 became a day to remember all the saints, especially the “forgotten ones”.

Should Christians celebrate “All Saints Day”? In the New Testament, “saints” are believers in Jesus Christ, as seen in the salutations to the Epistles (the saints in Rome, in Corinth, in Ephesus, & c.) As Protestants, should we commemorate the saints? Yes, but we should fix our eyes on Jesus:

Since we are also surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Let us look unto Jesus, the beginning and end of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1, 2; italics supplied)

The “great cloud of witness” (tosoutov…nefos marturōn) in this passage refers to the Old Testament saints in the preceeding chapter (Hebrews 11). But we are to “look unto Jesus” (aforōntes eis…Iesoun), not the saints!

Therefore, Protestant Christians can observe All Saints Day⁶, to celebrate the witness of the saints! May I add, not only the saints in the Bible, but saints from every time and place. John and Charles Wesley are saints commemorated in the calendar of the Church of England!) But we must not focus on the saints; we must “turn our eyes upon Jesus” (for that is the meaning of aforaō—to turn the eyes from other things and fix them upon something else) who is the Author and Finisher, the beginning and end, of our faith. To use an analogy in sports, we, the saints on earth, are in a race⁵. The saints who have gone before us are in the stands, cheering us on. But we are not to focus on them; we are to focus on Jesus, who is waiting for us at the finish line!

Now, we go to our Gospel reading. In John 11, we see the victory of Jesus over death, as seen in his resurrection of Lazarus. In the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus showed that he is “the Resurrection and the Life” (v. 25). Not only would Jesus be resurrected after his death on the cross, but he will also resurrect all those who believe in him: “He who believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live; and whosoever is living and believes in me shall never die” (vv. 25b-26).

I. Death is a reality in this life.

Death is a reality in this life. So are the following:

• Sickness is a reality in life (Lazarus is sick, John 11:1-3)
• Sometimes, God withholds healing (Jesus does not immediately go to Bethany and heals Lazarus, vv. 4-ff)
• Sometimes, we blame God for not healing our loved ones (Martha in vv. 19-27; Mary in vv. 28-32).
• Death brings us sorrow. (Mary was weeping, v. 33; the Jews were weeping, v. 33; even Jesus wept, v. 35) (However, there is a difference: the word used for Mary and the Jews is klaiō, ‘to cry, to bewail’, for Jesus is dakruō [edakrusen ho Iesous], ‘to weep, to shed tears’.)

II. Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

Death may be a reality, but there is a greater reality: Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Life will not end in death; but because of Jesus, death will end in life!

• Jesus intentionally did not go immediately to Lazarus, letting him die, so that “the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified” (v. 4).
• Jesus wept for Lazarus, but he was “groaning (embrimaomai) in spirit” for those who mourn (vv. 33, 38).
• Jesus resurrects Lazarus so that the glory of God may be revealed, and so that people will believe in him, who God has sent (vv. 41b-42, 45).

Conclusion

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live; and whosoever is living and believes in me shall never die” (vv. 25-26) He then asks, “Do you believe this?” Martha answers with a classic affirmation of faith: “Yes, Lord: I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who has come into the world” v. 28). Jesus showed that he is “the resurrection and the life” by rising from the dead. One day, he will raise up “those who sleep in Christ” from the dead. The question is: Do you believe this?

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¹ ‘Hallows’ is an old English word for ‘holy’; as in the Lord’s Prayer: “Hallowed be thy name.” The word “saint” comes from the Latin sanctus (where we get the word sanctification and others), which also means ‘holy’. Thus, hallows = saints.

² The term ‘Halloween’ is derived from the phrase ‘Hallows (Saints) Even’ → Hallowe’en. ‘Even’ is an old English word for ‘evening’.

³ At that time, St. Peter’s Basilica was being constructed. In order to fund the construction, the Roman Catholic Church sold “indulgences” all over Europe. An indulgence is a purchase of “good works” from the “treasury of merits” of Christ and the saints.

⁴ The feast day of a saint is not his/her birthday, but his/her death anniversary, which the saint’s “birthday in heaven”.

⁵ The analogy of a footrace is often used in the New Testament as a picture of the Christian life; cf. I Corinthians 9:24.

Thus, The United Methodist Church celebrates All Saints Day (The Book of Worship, p. 413), but we do not celebrate Halloween and All Souls Day, for the doctrines of Purgatory and prayers for the dead (as well as praying to the saints) are against our doctrine (Articles of Religion XIV, Discipline 2008 ¶103).

Icon courtesy of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church, Raleigh, NC, USA.