The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
It’s All Saints’ Sunday. And news flash: you’re a saint. It’s in the name: Christian, which means Christlike. All Saints’ Day, though, is set aside to remind us of those saints who came before us, who lived by faith, and who passed down that faith by virtue of their service to the church and to their families and to their communities — setting examples of what true Christian faith ought to look like in this world. They are saints who are recorded in annals of history, and there are saints that belong to our own family line whose names have been long forgotten. But today we honor saints who fought the good fight, who finished the race, who kept the faith. And that’s the hard part, isn’t it, in this life? I mean, after all, our conversion is entirely left up to God. It’s His water and Word that makes most Christians saints in the sacrament of Holy Baptism. It’s His Word and the words of absolution that forgives our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. The hard part is finishing the race and keeping the faith. And the hard part of our Christian journey gets hard, hard, especially when life goes awry. It’s especially difficult to keep the faith when illness takes hold of our bodies, or our families are torn apart by sin, or financial troubles confuse and take possession of our daily thoughts, or when we’re lost about who we are and what our place is in the world.
A young lady was nervous once about going on her first solo train ride. The station was full of people and trains. As she climbed up on the platform, after she boarded one of the trains, she asked her seating partner a question: “Is this train the one that goes to Bay City, Michigan?” And he replied, “Yes.” And the young lady sat down and was quiet for a little while, but yet not at ease. Then she walked down the aisle, after the train pulled out of the station, and she asked another passenger, “Is this train going to Bay City, Michigan?” And she got the same answer: yes. Then a little while later, the conductor started to make his way down the aisle, and she thought to herself, “Surely he will know the answer for sure.” So as he approached her, she stood up and held out her ticket, and she said, “Is this train going to Bay City, Michigan?” And the conductor punched her ticket and said, “Yes, ma’am. Trust your ticket. This train is going to Bay City, Michigan, and you are a passenger on a train going to Bay City, Michigan. Put your doubts and your fears to rest. Trust your ticket and enjoy the ride.” That’s supposed to be how it is for the Christian: trust your ticket and enjoy the ride. So it is with all the saints of God. All who believe and are baptized into Christ are saints. And saints are destined for a city much greater than Bay City, Michigan could ever be. You see, the call to trust in Jesus Christ concerns itself, first and foremost, with the person and the work of Christ, in the atoning sacrifice and glorious resurrection of Jesus the Christ, the promised Messiah. But the call to faith also is a call to trust in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that the three are at work in your life and in your circumstances, guarding you and watching over you as a beloved son and daughter to the Father, and brother and sister to Christ. Yes, we make our way toward our heavenly home, and as we do, we’re often confronted by trials and suffering and temptations of this life. And those generate fear and doubt and insecurity, and we begin to try to find where that security can be found. We look to our bank accounts, or to our possessions, or to our status, or to our ability to work hard and do this or that. But still, fear and doubt plague us. In such times, they generate questions like: why me, why this, and why now? Questions likely that we’ll never know the answers to. The sinner in us just can’t seem to trust our ticket, the Word of God, in the sacrament of Holy Baptism and communion.
So let’s back up the train again a bit and start at the very beginning. And the beginning, in this case, is the question: How is a saint made? What is a saint, and who is rightly called a saint? You see, by the time of the Reformation, an awful lot of ink had been spilled over those kinds of questions. Why are some people saved and others? What is a saint and what is not? How does one get to be a saint, or keep the status of saint, quote unquote? Different groups came up with different theological schemes to answer those questions. But let’s begin with the first time that the word appears in the Bible, which it happens to be in the Old Testament. It also happens to be just once. Chasid is the Hebrew word, and it means pious, godly, good, holy, and merciful. It’s a word that has a lot in the package. This word is only used once in the Old Testament. It’s found in Psalm 31:23: “Love the LORD, all you His saints! The LORD preserves the faithful.” From that one verse, we learn an awful lot. We learned that, in fact, the faithful and saints are synonymous. That if one is faithful, one is a saint, and if one is a saint, one is faithful. So saints are faithful who are preserved in the true Christian faith in the promised Messiah — in the Old Testament, the Messiah to come, and the new, the one did come. While the word only occurs once in the Old Testament, the word “saint” in Greek, hagios, is used various times throughout various epistles. First Corinthians, for example: “To the church of God that is in Corinth, and those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus,” — excuse me, there we go — “to be called saints.” Now, some would say, given the theological and moral sins called out in 1 and 2 Corinthians, the epistles calling that congregation, and people in that congregation, saints is quite a stretch. I don’t think there wasn’t a sin that wasn’t called out and openly condemned in the congregations by St. Paul in those letters. And then, on the other hand, we hear from time to time in the world around us, “So-and-so is such a saint. He or she is so kind and patient and helpful.” Nobody’s ever said that about me. So I guess in today’s world, if you’re a saint, you just haven’t been caught yet. But eventually we all get caught. It’s called the Law.
Then, in addition to the world’s criteria for a saint — one who hasn’t been caught yet — there’s the church doctrines to consider from various churches. The most notable, of course, is the Roman Catholic Church versus the Lutheran Church. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that there’s kind of two kinds of saints. There’s the general saints that you can apply to the general churchgoing Roman Catholic Christian. There’s saints with a small s. But then there’s the ones that everybody knows about. Doesn’t know their names, doesn’t know their history, just knows that the Roman Catholic Church has a thing called a canonized saint. That is, somebody who is recognized as having an exemplar Christian life, piety, devotion, and good works. This is a special class of saints called canonized saints. And a canonized saint in the Roman Catholic Church is a person who is officially recognized as having lived, outwardly, a heroic, virtuous life. The word itself is derived from the Latin sanctus, which means holy, and in general refers to all the faithful who have been recognized as living a heroic, exceptional Christian life in service to both God, the church, and their neighbor. However, the most common usage is referring to men and women who live these lives, and whose holiness seems to rank above and beyond what ordinary Christians say and do and live. These Christians can be granted the status of canonized, or also called saints, having earned, as the doctrine goes, more merit than they needed to enter heaven. Now, to understand that idea, you have to understand a doctrine called the treasury of merits, or another word is the treasury of the church. It’s not referring to the bank account down the street. The treasury of merits, and the treasury of the church, consists of the merits of Jesus Christ — the works, deeds that He did, for which He was credited, and then applied some of it to you, in their particular doctrine — or the merit earned by these exceptional Christian saints who get canonized and recognized. Think of it this way: a canonized saint is a person who, by virtue of an exemplary life of devotion and meritorious works, is able to bank or deposit merit in a treasury that then can be used to apply to any other person to whom the church thinks is in need or deserves those merit credits. That’s how it works. So for the first question: how are canonized saints made? They’re made by their exemplary example of true Christian virtue and good deeds in the world. Question two: who then is rightly considered a canonized saint? Only those declared by the church to be canonized saints, declared by councils and popes. It is this false teaching that Christians can possess degrees of saintliness. Right, we agreed already, there’s no degrees in the word “impossible.” It’s one thing. It’s all impossible. Doesn’t make a difference whether it’s a little impossible or a big impossible. It’s simply impossible. We also had a sermon in which we also learned that grace doesn’t have degrees either. Grace is unmerited favor of God. No degrees. It’s all one package. It’s all one degree. It’s perfection. Well, the same is true of saintliness. There’s not degrees of saintliness. You are washed in the image of Jesus Christ. You bear His meritorious works. You appear to the heavenly Father in the same way Jesus Christ appears to the heavenly Father. Luther wrote about this sort of degradation and degrees of saintliness the following: “To be intent on separating saints from us as far as heaven and earth are separated is to dishonor God’s grace and to cast a reflection on Jesus Christ. I should not look upon the least Christian with less regard than I do upon St. Peter and all the saints in heaven. No Christian possesses more grace than another, even though he may indeed have more gifts and treasures. I am purchased with a price precisely as great as that which they were purchased with. They, the saints, are holding fast in the same flesh and blood in which I hold fast.” In other words, they take hold of Christ, just as Luther and you and I take hold of Christ — that is, by faith. And there’s no degrees in the saintliness that’s granted.
How does a sinner become a saint? A person is made a saint out of pure grace, apart from good works. He or she is made in the image of Christ by the Word of God, by faith in Christ alone, apart from works, and in the preaching of the Gospel, in the sacrament of Holy Baptism, and the correct distribution of the Holy Communion. So every time an infant is baptized, a saint is created. And all that Christ is and did for us and for our salvation is imputed, that is, credited to the one who is called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified by the preaching of the Word and the application of the water. To be Christlike is to simply be a believer. The rest is given to you. And all that brings us to the Sermon on the Mount. Now, there’s two approaches, just as there are two approaches to Satan, about the Sermon on the Mount. The first one, the more popular one, the default operating system of the world, is to hear this sermon as primarily a to-do sermon, with a quid pro quo result: do these things and you will be blessed. If you live your life with the right attitude, and if in so doing you find yourself down on your luck, and endure it patiently and graciously, God will eventually turn your frown into a smile. He’ll turn it all around just for you. Go to a happy-clappy church, they’ll preach it all the time to you. Okay, but that’s not what the Beatitudes, quote, say. That’s not how the grammar in the Sermon on the Mount, and on the plain, put the thing together. All right, so let’s do a little Greek. The other approach to Matthew 5:1–12 is: the Beatitudes are radically different. First, the name “beatitude” comes from the word “blessing.” And while the word “blessed” carries with it a meaning, a meaning of happiness, or to be happy, the Greek makarios conveys a much fuller meaning than happy. In fact, it’s quite different than happy. It means literally to be fortunate. Now, the premier analytical concordance — that’s one of these scholarly textbooks, reference books, that parses sentences and Greek words in order to actually understand what Jesus teaches in the Bible — makarios is explained this way, and hang on, you know, it’s a scholar, so you’ve got to sort of be patient with these guys, all right. Makarios, “blessed,” describes a believer that is in a viable, that is, fortunate position of receiving God’s provisions. What’s His provision? Favor, which literally, extended meaning — literally, here’s the word — “make long and large,” His grace and benefits. We get to the Bible bottom line here in a moment. This happens when receiving the Lord’s inbirthings of faith, when you’re given the gift of faith. Hence, faith in Christ, in Greek, and makarios are closely associated. That is, blessedness has to do with your standing in Jesus Christ, one who lives by faith. It’s not an added emotion or reward. It is the thing itself. Makarios is faith, and faith is makarios. What does it mean? It means that the blessed are those who have received, and who are already living in, true Christian faith. Not a quid pro quo. You’re already it. You’re makarios, blessed. The English word “happy” places the emphasis on the result. The Greek makarios places the emphasis on the cause, and the cause is Christ and the Gospel. People who are fortunate on account of receiving the gift of faith are people who are, yes, fortunate, and happy, because the result, the second half of each verse on the blessed Beatitudes, is that which has already been given and will be given in fullness in the future. The word “blessed” places the emphasis on the thing or circumstance that has produced a happy result. The trouble with the word “happy,” or the idea of a happy attitude, is that it places the emphasis on the wrong spot: on our work, our responses to the world around us, and our attitude as we live our lives. Concordia Self-Study Bible makes it much easier: “The word ‘blessed’ indicates that God has acted or is acting on account of man’s, for man’s good, on account of the Gospel.” Blessed is always associated with God’s action in Jesus Christ. A Christian cannot be blessed — excuse me, a non-Christian cannot be blessed. Only Christians are blessed. Thus: blessed, namely fortunate, are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed, fortunate, are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed, fortunate, are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed, fortunate, are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed, fortunate, are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed, fortunate, are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. Blessed, fortunate, are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Sounds a lot different, doesn’t it, than “happy”? We’ve been given a description of the work and the status of the saint. This is what it looks like in this world. We see, first, that the sermon is a description of the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is poor in spirit. He is the humble one. Philippians 2:8: “Being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient,” even “obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.” Or James: “Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will exalt you.” Sounds to me like a beatitude. We know that Christ mourned too. He grieved. He wept over Lazarus’s death. He wept in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said there, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death.” You see, merciful, meek, pure in heart, peacemaking, thirsting for righteousness, being persecuted for righteousness’ sake, are all the things that constituted the person and the ministry of Jesus Christ on our behalf. He is the Holy One of God. He is the hagios, the Holy One, the sainted One of God. We have been washed clean in the water and the Word of Holy Baptism, which is where our sainthood began. Remember: no grades of impossible, no grades in grace, and there’s no grades of holiness. You have the whole thing.
Luther was right: there’s only one category of saints. They’re Christians. Some just modeled their faith in a more noticeable way, and became more well known and more respected because of their devotion in serving God and neighbor alike. Also, one last big note on the Beatitudes is that each, the second half of each verse, each statement, is done in the future passive indicative voice. So what does that mean? Future tense: it’s a promise, right? It’s a promise. “Blessed, fortunate, are the peacemakers” — why? Because there’s this promise: “for they will be called the children of God.” The future tense shows we have a promise from God. God is going to deliver something to us, in time and in eternity. We are fortunate, thus happy, because God is going to give us something in the midst of our suffering and struggles in this world. God is going to give us something, even though we’re poor in spirit and bring nothing to Him except our sin. The passive voice — the passive. We have the future, we have the passive. The passive shows we aren’t receiving something because we did something. It’s not quid pro quo. The passive voice says: God’s giving it to you. Period. The end. You receive it, which He enabled you to do through the gift of faith. The future voice shows a promise. The passive voice shows that the things are being given from God to the saint, based on His work alone, not ours. Finally, the indicative voice, and this one’s really important. The indicative voice is a description. So the Sermon on the Mount, and the Sermon on the Plain, are describing you. That is, they’re describing the sainthood that has been imputed, given to you in Jesus Christ. All saints of Christ have the blessed benefits of the Gospel, and that’s what’s contained in the Sermon on the Mount. And on All Saints’ Day, or All Saints’ Sunday, we are to remember and honor those saints who came before us — the saints known and the ones unknown — those that handed down the faith once delivered to the saints, so that we, in our own families, in our own time, in our own place, would receive and believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today is All Saints’ Day, because you who are in Christ are saints, and you’re on your way to heaven. Trust your ticket: Holy Baptism. Amen.
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.