All Saint's Day- we don't have to fear death

Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 24; Revelation 21:1-6; John 11:32-44

Today we are celebrating the feast of All Saints. It is a celebration that started in the 300’s when churches in the east began to celebrate the feast of the “martyrs of the whole world”. This feast was celebrated on a few different days around the calendar, but within a few hundred years it was assigned to November 1st in the Western Church, and it was broadened to include all the saints, whether they were martyrs or not. The word “saint” is related to the word “sanctus”, and it basically means “holy one”. Something that is “holy” has been set apart for God’s purposes.

All Soul’s Day is the following day, November 2nd. This is a day to remember all the faithful departed. This celebration began in the 11th century. Originally it came from the idea that those who died without being considered saints had to go through a kind of purification before entering fully into the glory prepared for them. The Anglican Church has rejected the idea of purgatory, though it has retained a sense of God’s continued work in the lives of those who have died as they are drawn deeper and deeper into God’s presence.

So, these days sort of blur into each other. In the New Testament, followers of Christ are addressed as “saints”, and so there is a sense that All Soul’s Day is also a recognition of “saints” in the general sense of a saint as a follower of Christ. And we don’t want to lose that sense of the word, but it is also helpful to hold up these heroes who have been highlighted as shining lights in the life of the church.

But, the saints aren’t just examples to us. … We sometimes talk about the church “militant”, which includes all Christians who are alive on earth. … We also talk about the church “Triumphant”, which includes those who have faithfully completed their life on earth and are now present to God. The book of Revelation speaks about the prayers of the saints being offered before the throne of God (Rev 8:3-4). So, it is believed that they join with us in prayer. They continue to be bound to us as members of the Body of Christ. They have been rescued from everlasting death and are in the presence of God. And they are still active. Though they have died, God has brought them through the dark valley of the shadow of death to the other side, and they continue in joyful and loving service.

The readings today speak about Christ’s victory over death, and those who are graced to share in that victory. … Looking forward to the Messianic feast, when all wrongs will be made right, Isaiah speaks about how God “will swallow up death forever” (Is 25:7).

Our reading from Revelation reflects this reading from Isaiah saying, 

“he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away” (Rev 21:4).

And our reading from the Gospel of John tells the dramatic and powerful story of Jesus displaying his power over death. Lazarus is dead in the tomb for 4 days, and Jesus calls him out of the depths of death back to life. … This isn’t the only time Christ does this. He raises the synagogue ruler’s daughter (Mk 5:4). He also raises the widow’s only son while being processed out of the city (Lk 7:14). … Though, Lazarus was a more powerful miracle in being dead for 4 days. Christ called Lazarus from his tomb when the decay of death was obvious to anyone with a nose.

To be a saint also means to be one who is saved by Christ from everlasting death. The saints have no need to fear death. Death has been overcome by Christ. He is our King, and the victory of the King is the shared with the citizens of his kingdom. … To be free from the fear of death allows us to be free to follow God wherever He might lead us. And we see this courage in the saints.

For example, St. Lawrence who lived in the 3rd century, while being roasted over a fire, joked with his torturers asking them to turn him over because he was done on that side. In a move that I’m sure would make St. Lawrence smile, the Church declared him the patron saint of cooks and comedians.

In the year 203, St. Perpetua, was martyred at the age of 22. She had been recently married and had just had a baby, and was arrested for having become a Christian. She was eventually killed along with 5 other Christians, as a part of the games celebrating the emperor’s birthday. She went to her death with incredible courage because she held onto the vision of Christ- The one who loved her, and who called her to be with him, to a place where death has no more power.

St. Maximilian Kolbe was a Franciscan friar who was arrested by the Nazis during WW2 for sheltering Jews and members of the polish underground. He was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. A prisoner escaped from Auschwitz, and as a punishment, the Nazis selected men to be starved to death in an underground bunker. One of the men who had been selected to be starved to death cried out because of his family and Kolbe volunteered to take his place. So he was sent instead, and he led the men in prayers and hymns, ministering to the men in those horrifying conditions.

In the twentieth century more Christians suffered for their commitment to Christ than at any other time in the Church’s history. We can look to the three million Armenian Christians who died at the hands of Turkish Muslims during the first World War. We can look to the million Eastern Orthodox who were killed in the Soviet Union in the 1920’s and 30’s as they imposed atheistic Communist rule. We can look to the unknown number of Albanians who disappeared in their communist government’s efforts to suppress Christianity. We can look to the Burmese Christians who were killed by Buddhist nationalists.

And we can look into our own century and the deaths of Christians at the hands of groups like ISIS in the Middle East, Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria, Al-Shabaab in Somalia and Kenya, the Houthi Rebels in Yemen, as well as at the hands of the North Korean government. And we could go on.

The martyrs were particularly important to the early Christians because they were examples of confidence in the words of Christ in the face of death. … Jesus says to Martha, Lazarus’ sister, 

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” (Jn 11:25).

 And a couple of chapters later Jesus says, 

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; … And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (Jn 14:1-3).

 … The Martyrs trusted in these words, and were willing to serve Christ even in the face of death.

In the Early Church, the tombs of the martyrs became special places. Eventually churches were built over some of their tombs and the church would be named after that Christian. These people were remembered for their courage and faith even when confronted with death. They were remembered as people who gave everything for their love of Christ. And they stand as examples to us, that because of the work of Christ, when we are joined to him we do not have to fear death. AMEN