To Be Children of God by The Rev. Dr. Donald L. Hamer, Rector
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Trinity Episcopal Church, Hartford, CT
All Saints Sunday – Year A – November 5, 2017
1 John 3: 1-3; Matthew 5: 1-12
As we celebrate this All Saints Sunday, 2017, the passages from the First Letter of John and from St. Matthew’s Gospel point us again to “the way of Jesus” and what it means to grow in mission. And as we renew our baptismal vows and, at the 10 a.m. service, welcome three new boys into God’s household, we can remember once again what it means to be a saint.
In this Year A of the three year lectionary cycle, our Epistle is from the first Letter of John in which John is emphasizing the humanity of Jesus and, through him, our own status as children of God. And that is where chapter 3 begins: See what love the father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. And since we believe that Jesus is God’s son, that makes us brothers and sisters of Jesus himself.
One of the things we get as children is an inheritance. So as children of God, we have received an inheritance from God. This point is also made by St. Paul in the first chapter of his letter to the Ephesians. Now, inheritances are things we like to get, right? I mean, who here does NOT want to get an inheritance? In 25 years of practicing law and 14 years presiding over cases where people were often clamoring for their inheritance rights, I can tell you I have yet to see the person who says, “No thanks, you can have my share.”
But this inheritance is not an inheritance like the one we might get from rich Aunt Matilda. This inheritance is not a pile of money we can run out and spend on ourselves. Because we inherit other things from or parents as well, don’t we? We inherit our parents looks, a lot of their bodily characteristics and some of their personality characteristics – we inherit their whole gene pool, both good and not so great.
In Ephesians, Paul tells us that our inheritance from God through the life and death of Jesus Christ is so that WE might LIVE to the PRAISE OF GOD’S GLORY. The writer repeats that one line later: we have been MARKED WITH THE SEAL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – NOTE TO SELF – THAT IS WHAT WE RECEIVE IN BAPTISM --and that is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of God’s glory (vv 13-14).
And a couple of verses later, Paul writes that with our hearts and minds enlightened by the Holy Spirit, we will know THE HOPE to which Jesus calls us, and we may know the RICHES OF HIS GLORIOUS INHERITANCE AMONG THE SAINTS.
John is saying the same thing. Unlike the inheritance from rich Aunt Matilda, our inheritance as children of God is received over the course of a lifetime. He writes, Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him for we will see him as he is.
So let’s see. We have this inheritance from God – that means God has given us something of value. And with that thing of value, we are supposed to take it, and use it throughout our whole lifetimes to become more like Jesus. And what do we call people like that? We call them saints.
Now, who do we usually think of as saints? Really holy people, right? They write stuff in the Bible. They perform miracles. They distinguish themselves in history somehow. Sometimes they even get killed for what they believe. If you look up the word “saint” in the dictionary, the first thing you see is something like “a person formally recognized by the church for exceptional holiness in their life” or “a person of great virtue, holiness or benevolence.” They get a day named after them and, in the Episcopal Church, get an article printed about them in Holy Women, Holy Men or Lesser Feasts and Fasts. We think, These are exceptional, one-of-a-kind people. It takes someone like them to make sure that God is glorified. We begin to think of saints as someone whose performance and sanctity of life is unattainable for us. And we begin to think of saints as someone else.
And that, my friends, is a mistake. Because when we start thinking that only someone else can be a saint, it is the beginning of giving up that special inheritance that God gives to each of us. And how does God give us that inheritance? Through our baptism. It is through our baptism that we join the community of saints – those who have gone before us, those whom we have loved and see no longer, all of us who are part of Christ’s church, and those who will follow us. All of us, together, form “the communion of saints.”
And what is our task as one of these saints? Our Book of Common Prayer sets it out on page 855: To be a saint is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them – those gifts are that inheritance we talked about—according to the gifts given them to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.
Representing Christ. Bearing witness to Jesus Christ wherever we may be. What does that look like? Well, a lot of things, but Matthew gives us some ideas in today’s Gospel from the sermon on the Mount: Whenever the poor are blessed, whenever the hungry are fed, when those who mourn can laugh or have their burden lifted, whenever we can make the world a better place even in spite of those who may stand in the way. When we love our enemies, when we do good even to those who hate us, when we can bless those who curse us, when we can pray for those who abuse us, when we can give without ceasing – when we do any of these things, we are representing Christ. We are bearing witness to Jesus Christ – following his way – in the words of 1 John we are becoming more like him – and when we do that the world cannot help but stop and take notice.
That’s what each one of us is called to do, whatever our gifts may be. We need to use the gifts we’ve been given to look more like Jesus. We know from the writings of St. Paul that all of our gifts are different, but Ephesians also promises us that each and every one of us has gifts through our baptism. And when we pool our gifts together, only then do we become the Body of Christ that Jesus envisioned.
When we think of saints as someone else, as people set apart, as only people with extraordinary abilities, it is so easy for us to tell ourselves, “someone else will do it.” Someone else will give glory to God. Someone else will feed the hungry, lift up the poor, educate the children, soothe the afflicted. Someone else will help teach church school. Someone else will bring that dinner to the sick person or give the person who doesn’t drive a ride to the doctor’s office. Someone else will step up and tithe to the support of the church. Someone else will bring communion to the person who can’t get out. Someone else will be a witness to the way of Jesus.
And that, my brothers and sisters, is when we begin to walk away from that blessed and abundant inheritance that God has offered to us in the person of Jesus the Christ. And when we do that, we sell ourselves short of being the people God has made us to be. And not only do we sell ourselves short, we sell our church short, and the Body of Christ doesn’t look so much like Jesus any more. And when we’re not living up to our inheritance, we’re also selling God short. We fall short of the glory God has set for us. And when that happens the world – whatever our world is – misses the opportunity to recognize Jesus in its midst. We don’t do it for our own glory. We don’t do it for the glory of the Episcopal Church or even the Christian church. We do it for the glory of God – the God who has a mission in the world and who has adopted us – who depends upon us – to be a part of that mission.
So on this All Saints Sunday, we celebrate our day! We welcome three new children into the Body of Christ. We renew our own baptismal promises, and remind ourselves that we – each of us – are heirs to God’s grace and blessing. And that inheritance brings with it a responsibility – our responsibility to look more like Jesus, to witness to his love, to shine the light of Christ into the darkness of the world. On this All Saints Day 2017, may this be our prayer: That each of us will try to look a little more like Jesus each and every day. AMEN.