TITLE: “Blessed”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for All Saints Day is from Matthew Chapter 5, the Beatitudes. We focus on the word blessed.

It is a fairly common practice today for mothers and grandmother’s to keep a necklace or perhaps a bracelet that includes a stone for each of their children and grandchildren. It’s a lovely way for them to remember their children, and everything that they have done. In many ways, a mother kind of lives vicariously through her children. When they accomplish great things, she swells with pride. When they are hurt, she is in pain. When they mess up, well, a mother is probably more ashamed and embarrassed than her children are. But this is the way it is supposed to be. They are her flesh and blood. They are her life. They go together, hand in hand.

So what does our mother, the Holy Christian Church, think of us? Does she remember our accomplishments and mourn our losses? Does she love no matter what, or does she measure us according to the other children on the block? Oh, I wish my children were more like Mrs. Jones’ children. They are always so well behaved. Look at my kids!

This is sometimes how we feel when it comes to our mother, the Church. I can never measure up to her standards. I can never be holy enough, give enough, do enough good works. I can never get it exactly right. My life is a mess. I don’t know what to believe anymore. I don’t even know if my mother, the church, really loves me at all!

Have you ever felt that way? Has God’s Law ever had its way with you so much that you felt like you were outside of God’s Church looking in? It’s easy to get that impression when you read the beatitudes. The beatitudes is this series of “blessed” phrases that our Lord uses to introduce His Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the pure in heart, and the like.

Now when you first read this list, perhaps your first response isn’t so great. Well, that’s nice. But what does that have to do with me? You know that you do not hunger and thirst for righteousness. You know that you don’t mourn over your sin. You certainly know that you are not pure in heart. If you look at this list through the eyes of the Law, it doesn’t take much to figure out that you don’t measure up.

And as this is All Saints Sunday, you know that all of the saints who have gone before us don’t measure up to that standard, either. I mean, let’s just take King David for a minute. An adulterer and murderer, ambitious, and as full of pride as anyone you will find. Or the apostle Peter: he denied Jesus three times. Or even Martin Luther, whom we remember with the Reformation last weekend. Luther certainly had a temper, and was arrogant and boastful. Or you could even go closer to home. What saints have gone before us here at Messiah of late? Whether you are thinking of a relative or a friend, or someone you only knew in passing, I guarantee that they were a sinner. If we used the Beatitudes as a measuring stick, they certainly wouldn’t make it any more than you do.

So how is it that we can rejoice in such a day as this, with such a Gospel reading as this? The answer lies in the Gospel itself. For you see, Jesus is first of all talking about Himself, and then He is talking about His bride, the Holy Christian Church. For Jesus and His bride go together. They are one flesh. The Christian Church is called the body of Christ elsewhere. What happens to Christ happens to the body of Christ. And the blessings that Christ receives His bride, the Church, receive. They go together.

Only Jesus is pure in spirit. Only Jesus truly mourns over our sins as He takes them as His own. Only Jesus hungers and thirsts for God’s righteousness. Only Jesus is pure in spirit. Only He is meek. Only He is persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Only Jesus.

But because these wonderful words describe Christ our Lord, they describe His Holy Church, as well. For just as a husband gives all things to his beloved bride, so also our Lord gives all things to His bride, the Church. And when He’s talking about the Church, He’s talking about you. And me. And my grandmother and yours. And all of the saints who have gone before us.

This is the pattern in the seed, as our entrance hymn puts it so well. We can look at the work Christ did on the cross, and see that pattern reflected throughout the entire history of His Church. Martyrs killed for the faith. Christians persecuted for upholding the truth of the Gospel. Poor. Meek. Lowly. Christ’s Church does not seem to conquer at all. And yet, in a wonderful mystery, it is precisely in this humble work that God does His great work of forgiving sins and making saints.

What could be more wonderful than that? Christ our Lord calls you blessed. He gives you the Name that is above every name. He washes you in His own blood and makes you white and pure. You are His bride, the Church. You are loved by God above all.

So this day we remember the saints who have gone before us, like Laura Schumacher and Charles Blackburn, who died in Christ this past year. We remember friends and family near and far who have fought the good fight, and who now rest from their labors. We remember these loved ones in Christ, not because they were perfect or their lives were somehow better. No, we remember them because of everything Christ our Lord did for us by His atoning death and resurrection. We remember them because we know that theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We remember them because we are all one holy Christian and apostolic church in heaven and on earth. We may not be able to see them, but they are here in our midst. For wherever Christ is, there are His saints and angels and all the company of heaven. Do you remember that great line from our communion liturgy? Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven. That is Blackey. That is Laura. That is you. We all laud and magnify His glorious name evermore praising Him and singing HOLY HOLY HOLY.

So rejoice this day. Your sins are washed away in the blood of the lamb. You are His bride, the Church. He has bought you with His own blood. You are God’s saints. Amen.