Revelation 7:9-17
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.
The way of a saint has never been easy. In today’s lesson from Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is speaking to His disciples and those in the crowds who knew what it was like to be rejected, persecuted, discriminated against, held down. He was speaking to the crowd; we know this by the language used. And the interesting thing is that He calls them “blessed.”
I find it interesting that in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was speaking directly to the disciples: Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. Isn’t it interesting? Jesus called these people who suffered so much for their faith “blessed.” We call them saints.
Welcome to this All-Saints weekend. I have the unique privilege of addressing a room full of saints. Well, maybe not in the way we use the word today, to signify someone of extreme virtue. But saint as it was originally used, to denote someone who has accepted the call to follow Jesus Christ and to align themselves with His church.
Fortunately, it’s not generally required for modern saints to suffer all that much, at least not in the western world. I know many saints who are quite jolly souls. But this doesn’t mean to say that people aren’t still being persecuted for their faith. It can happen even in a land where Christianity is the dominant faith. After all, there are all kinds of suffering, all kinds of persecution.
Jesus knew what it was to be persecuted. And He tried to prepare His followers for the suffering that they would experience after He was no longer with them. Blessed are you when people hate you, He taught them, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
That’s how the prophets were treated and that’s how many of those who were committed to Christ in the early days of the church were treated. All of the earliest leaders of the early church were martyred except for John. Some died in the cruelest ways that human evil could devise. Some were beheaded, some were fileted alive, some crucified. Through the ages saints of Christ have experienced ridicule, persecution, all kinds of rejection.
And, of course, on the mission field, persecution has always been a constant companion.
It was at the 100th anniversary of the arrival of missionaries in Africa, which was once called the Belgian Congo. The anniversary was celebrated with a day-long festivity of music, preaching, food and conversations. Many reminisced about the early days and praised God for the progress of the gospel and the church.
Near the end of the celebration, an old man stood to give a speech. He said that he would die soon and that he needed to say something that no one else knew. He explained that when the first missionaries came to the Congo, his people didn’t know whether to believe their message or not. So, they devised a plan to discover whether they could be trusted or not. They began slowly poisoning the missionaries and watching them die. One by one, children and adults became ill, died and were buried. It was when his people saw how these missionaries died that they decided to believe their message.
Think of it, the missionaries never knew what was happening. They didn’t know they were being poisoned, and they didn’t know why they were dying. They stayed and died because they trusted Jesus. And it was the way they died that taught others how to live.
It’s a tragic, yet inspiring story. As we celebrate this All-Saints Day, we need to be reminded of the price many of our spiritual ancestors paid that we might have the life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ today. But sacrificial living didn’t end 2,000 years ago, or 1,000 years ago, or 500 years ago, if we knew the stories of all the people responsible for this church being here today, we would find sacrifices large and small that were made. Some of you have made significant sacrifices over the years and I think that it’s important to tell you how the story ends. Listen carefully as I read again:
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.
All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!
Then one of the elders asked me, these in white robes, who are they, and where did they come from? I answered, Sir, you know.
And he said, these are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in his temple; and He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
That’s the promise made to all saints forever and ever. God will be with them and God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Amen.
Today, as is our tradition, we read the names of all those saints who received their crown of life since the last All Saints Sunday November 6, 2022 and not in any particular order and a bell will toll after each name: