Matthew 23:1-12; 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13; Joshua 3:7-17a
Joshua is ready to cross the River Jordan to possess the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob some 500 years before, the land Moses led Israel into. And as we read last Sunday, God did not allow Moses to enter the Promised Land, and he died on the mountain. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob also died without seeing the promise fulfilled; as their ancestors, they were all there with them on that glorious day. Why? Because the concept the middle eastern cultures have of community is different from ours, for them, their ancestors are an essential part, an active part of their lives, that is why genealogies are important.
Their understanding of the community unifies those who are present and those who are not. Listen to Genesis 13:15, “All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.” Those crossing the River Jordan with Joshua were with Abraham when God made the promise. Now, Micah 7:20, This is the pre-exilic prophet talking to Israel about 1200 years later “You will be faithful to Jacob, and show love to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our ancestors in days long ago.” The prophet is talking in the present tense. Abraham and Jacob were there, and Micah is asking God to show them, love.
We can say that with the notion of community that when Joshua crossed the River Jordan, all their ancestors crossed the river with them too. Moses was there, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were there also. This concept of community is also found in the New Testament. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore since such a great cloud of witnesses surrounds us, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” By “cloud of witness,” the writer of Hebrews is making reference to all the names he has cited in chapter 11, known as the Hall of Faith. The writer means that the Christian Community in his time was not running alone; God and the cloud of witnesses were watching over them.
When the Bible describes the Church as a community, the Bible describes a community of their times, not ours. And this is important because, in our individualized western society, it is hard to realize just how interrelated we are with one another, how our lives are intertwined with others’ lives in ways that we are sometimes unaware of. Whether we like to admit it or not, we are social creatures. Many people like to think that we are who we are, and we have what we have because we have worked hard to make ourselves this way.
If we are honest, much of what we are as human beings, we owe it to other people, and that is true, especially in the Church; most of us have fathers and mothers in the faith. Most of the time, those are our parents and grandparents. They are people who loved us and were patient with us when we were spoiled teenagers. Others were our teachers, pastors, youth ministers, Sunday School teachers who helped us grow and nurtured us in life and faith in small or large ways. When we think about this, we realize that we are part of a broader community than those around us daily. The metaphor of “Standing on the shoulders of giants” is accurate for us too.
Many of those saints or giants who shaped our spiritual journey are with God now; this is true, especially for those who are older. But this is the Sunday of the year when churches around the world celebrate “All Saints Sunday.” Our Liturgical Calendar calls us to remember those fathers and mothers in the faith. Our own Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; our own Moses and Joshua. We truly are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, and today we celebrate their labor, faith, and commitment.
Today we remember all those great women and men who left their footprint in the Church’s history. People like Paul, Peter, Luke, and many more; people we know through Sunday school like St. Augustine, St. Clement, St. Thomas of Aquinas. But we also celebrate those men and women from our Church. People who God used to transform our hearts. Those men and women whose lives were an example to all of us. We celebrate those saints we knew because they were our neighbors; they were members of our Church and our community. However, the most significant number of those saints we celebrate are unknown to us.
Who is a Saint? Saints are people who live practicing the great commandment of “love God and love your neighbor”; saints are people who have experienced the profound love God has, not only for them but for other as well: and they know that this kind of love charges them with demanding personal change. Saints are people who want others to know about God. Their sainthood is a simple, deep commitment, commitment to God’s will, commitment to show, and bringing God’s kingdom to this world, one person at a time.
In their practice of this love, many of these saints challenged governments and leaders who exploited others. Thomas Moore, Thomas of Aquino are only two of them I will mention. They worked to bring justice to those who were mistreated by unjust systems. In their dedicated work, they were jailed, beaten, criticized, and many of them murdered. We, Christians are fruits of those saints, fruits of their ministries; our lives have been transformed because of their labor and love.
They are models who challenge us to use our assets and gifts as part of God’s redemptive plan. We remember them and celebrate their memories because they bring us a sense of connectedness between our world and the next. Saints, my brothers, and sisters are everywhere; they were and are among us. Saints are from every nation, tribes, and languages, quietly working for the Kingdom of God, quietly transforming our lives, teaching us the way of God, quietly modeling Jesus for us.
Jesus has called many to His eternal glory (last week he called Sue Jerkins), and even when they are gone, they remain with us. Those saints stand out in our memories as friends or mentors who were there when we needed them most. They were with us when we were at the hospital; they were there with us with a word of wisdom when we needed it; they were there to encourage us when our faith failed; they were there with us when the whole world turned their back on us.
Today is a day to celebrate their memories with thanksgivings; it is a day to recall people who have gone on before us, patriarchs, matriarchs, prophets, founding fathers, and mothers of Christianity. This day is also a day to celebrate sisters and brothers who we knew well because they were part of this Church and now are part of the triumphal Church. This morning while we take communion, let us remember that we are a community that transcends space and time. Invite in your heart one of those saints who made a difference in your life to take communion with you by remembering what they did in your life; by remembering their example and how God used them to help you, to help us, to be the Church we are.