“A Vision of All the Saints”
Rev. 7:9-17
In a well-known movie, “Dead Poets
Society”, Robin Williams played a poetry teacher at an elite
boarding school for teenage boys. His unorthodox teaching style
engaged the students in high contrast to the otherwise stuffy and
straight-laced expectations of their parents and teachers. In a
well-known scene early in the movie, he takes his whole class
downstairs to the exhibit hall where he shows them old pictures of
boys who attended the school in generations past. As the camera
zooms in on these ghostly figures of a bygone era, the teacher tells
the students to listen to their predecessors – listen closely –
and you will hear them whispering, “Carpe Diem”, which of course
means “Seize the day”. The teacher challenges his students “make
your lives extraordinary”. It's all very poetic, and maybe even
inspiring on some level.
And in a way, it reminds me of the
picture we see today in our reading from Revelation. There, John
sees in his heavenly vision, a picture of the church in glory. The
eternal reality of the innumerable multitude of those who are saved –
they who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. They are
from every tribe, nation, people and language. The span the whole of
Christianity throughout space and time. They are, as it were, all
the saints. It's a fitting text for this All Saints Sunday.
But if you listen to them, they don't
whisper “Carpe Diem”. They aren't going to tell you to make your
lives extraordinary. In fact they won't point you to yourself at
all. Instead, they cry out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs
to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
They point you not to yourself, but to
Jesus, the Lamb who once was slain.
It's his blood that proved the only
detergent that could lift the stain of sin. It's his life laid down,
and taken up again, that paved the way for their life and yours.
It's his salvation, that belongs to him, that he gives to us, freely
of his grace.
And so they are not a society of dead
poets. Rather, they are a communion of saints, very much alive in
Christ! Even the dead who have gone on before us live with him. For
he who believes in Christ, even though he dies shall live. And he
who lives and believes in Jesus Christ will never die.
Such is the picture of the church in
her glory. It's a picture of all the faithful, Old Testament and New
Testament. Jew and Gentile. Male and Female. Long gone, and not
even born yet. And it's a picture of you, too, Christian.
For somewhere in that multitude from
every nation, there's a face very familiar to you – a face you see
in the mirror every day. If this is all the saints, then that
includes you. For you, too, are washed in the blood of the Lamb.
You, too, were buried with Christ, and raised with Christ in Holy
Baptism. You, too, gather at the altar of Christ with angels and
archangels and all the company of heaven, and you share in the
blessed sweet communion not only with Christ, but with all those that
are in him. Even those who are already asleep.
All Saints Day is a reminder to
Christians that we are saints – even while we are sinners. That we
live in the strange paradox of this dual reality. Though I sin every
day, though I sin much, though I sin by my own most grievous fault,
God sees me as righteous through Christ. He sees me as, declares me
to be holy and blameless. When God looks at you, he doesn't see or
regard all the embarrassing realities of your fallen, corrupt and
naked shame. He looks past the filth. Rather, he sees you clothed
with a white robe of righteousness. It's as if he's looking at Jesus
himself, and so he says of you, “This is my beloved Son, with whom
I am well pleased”.
The Elder who interprets this vision
for John, and for us, then tells in poetic verse that describes them
further:
“Therefore they are before the throne
of God,
and serve him day and night in his
temple;
and he who sits on the throne will
shelter them with his presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne
will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of
living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from
their eyes.”
Ah but it was not always so. There was
a time when we were not before the throne of God, but were cast out
into the exile of separation over sin. Not fit to stand in his
presence, or enter his holy temple. Even when they were, only the
priests, and only at prescribed times could so enter. But now, all
are holy, all are in his temple, all serve him day and night, that
is, forever. There is no more wall of separation between man and his
creator. This is what heaven is all about. Sheltered in the
presence of God. Does it get any better?
Oh in this world, we suffer. In this
world we are hungry and thirsty, scorched in the flames of sun and
heat. But this is more than just a typical August in Texas. These
bodily sufferings are emblematic of the suffering all of us face as
consequences of our sin, and as part of the brokenness of the world
we have inherited. It doesn't stop at hunger and thirst and heat.
We see all manner of infirmities, persecution, heartbreak,
loneliness, conflict, war, addictions, injustice, abuse, disaster,
poverty, betrayals, lies, mockery, depression and even death itself.
What a world! What a vale of tears! What a wilderness wasteland!
How far we've fallen from the green
groves of paradise God made for Adam and Eve. But Adam's sin touched
all of creation, and as the head of it – so the body would follow.
Adam's sons were brought forth in his, now broken, image, and they
died. And Adam's world, entrusted to his care, would now spit thorns
at him, and that was just the beginning.
But paradise lost is restored in
Christ. What sin had shattered, Christ makes new. Through one man
came death to the whole world, but through another man came life for
all.
And so, with the Lamb as our Shepherd,
everything is right and good again. No more hunger, thirst, or
scorching heat. No more suffering and pain. And in his tender
mercy, not only does he take away sin and suffering, but the picture
is so up close and personal – he wipes every tear from our eyes.
Dear saints of God at Messiah. Christ
knows your suffering. He suffered all – even the very wrath of God
– to procure your salvation. He is not unable to sympathize with
us in our weakness. In fact, he knows it better than we ourselves.
The man of sorrows wept bitter tears for you on the cross, to take
away all tears from you forever. And though in this world, while we
are in the body, we still suffer for a time – those sufferings are
not worth comparing to the glory that is to come. For behold, he
makes all things new.
No, I won't march you out into the
narthex and show you pictures of the saints of old today, and whisper
in your ear, “Carpe Diem”. But we will gather in a few short
moments at the communion rail. And there we will join that great
throng, the communion of saints. There we will receive that body and
blood of the Lamb that makes our filthy robes white again. There we
will join all tribes and peoples and languages gathered around his
throne. There, we will have a foretaste of the great feast to come.
And then we will add our voices of thanks and praise for the
Salvation that belongs to the Lamb, the salvation that he works for
us.
Thanks be to God for all the saints
that have gone before us. Thanks be to God for incorporating us into
that blessed communion. Thanks be to Christ the Lamb for his
salvation. Praise be to the Father and to the Spirit enthroned with
him.
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever
and ever! Amen.”
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