How enviable are the saints on earth!

Sermon for the Festival of All Saints

Revelation 7:2-17  +  Matthew 5:1-12

Today we remember all the saints: the apostles, prophets, and martyrs of the Church of Christ, together with all the faithful who have gone before us, who were washed in the Baptism of Christ and made holy by faith in His blood, who bore the cross with patience, who persevered in faith until the end and have now received the crown of life. They are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation and are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. As it says elsewhere in the book of Revelation, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, for they will rest from their labors, and their works follow them. The saints above are truly blessed.

But so are we. So are we, if we have the qualities that Jesus describes in the Beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, that is, simply the qualities of a true Christian. Those who do, Jesus calls “blessed.”

There are two different words in Scripture with different meanings both translated as “blessed” in English. One is used for when God blesses someone, that is, when He bestows great benefits on someone; or when we bless the name of the Lord, that is, when we praise the name of the Lord and speak well of Him. The other word for “blessed” is used here in the Beatitudes. This word means “happy,” or the word I like best, “enviable.” Everyone should yearn to be like them. They have good reason to rejoice and be glad. In these verses from Matthew 5, Jesus is describing people who are enviable now, who have good reason to rejoice now, in this life, either because of something they already have and enjoy, or because of something they will most surely have and enjoy in the future. So whether we’re talking about the saints above or the saints below, all are blessed, all are enviable and have good reason to rejoice.

Jesus says, Blessed—happy, enviable—are the poor in spirit. What kind of poor people is Jesus talking about here? The poor “in spirit.” They may be the richest people on earth, or the poorest people on earth financially. It doesn’t matter at all. Rich or poor by earthly standards, they’re equally blessed, equally enviable if they’re poor in spirit, that is, if they humble themselves before God, if they offer Him none of their good works, none of their good character, none of their decency or virtues or ancestry. They offer God nothing in order to barter for their acceptance or for God’s grace. Instead, they know they have nothing to offer God. They’re poor in spirit.

Why are they enviable? Why do the poor in spirit have good reason to rejoice and be glad? For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. No matter how much or how little you possess on earth, it will sooner or later be destroyed. It won’t be yours forever. It won’t last. What will last forever is the kingdom of heaven, where Christ reigns as a good and just King over His subjects, where Christ provides free forgiveness of sins and every grace and blessing, where all the members of the kingdom are dearly loved children of God the Father. But this kingdom doesn’t belong to those who are rich in spirit, to those who think they have something good to offer Him. It only belongs to the poor in spirit, making them the richest people on earth.

Blessed—happy, enviable—are those who mourn. Now, there are two kinds of mourning. There’s a mourning over your sins, which we call contrition, grieving over the countless ways you’ve sinned against God. And there’s a mourning over the effects of sin in the world: pain and loss, suffering and death, other people’s hatred, or mistreatment, or injustice, to watch as wickedness prospers and as righteousness is defeated. True Christians mourn for all these reasons, because of their own sins and because of the tragic effects of sin in the world. They know better than to blame God for any of it. They blame sin, and the devil who dragged our race into it. But they still mourn over it.

What makes them blessed? What makes them enviable? It’s Jesus’ promise, They will be comforted. Already here and now those who mourn over their sins are told the comforting truth: The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. Already here and now, those mourners who confess their sins hear God’s own absolution spoken by the pastor, I forgive you all your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Already here and now those who mourn over all the sad effects of sin in the world are comforted with the fact that Christ reigns at the right hand of God, and with the knowledge that God works all things together for good to those who love Him. Already those who mourn the death of a fellow Christian are comforted with the sure promise of the resurrection and eternal life, and that makes them enviable. That gives them good reason to rejoice and be glad even as they mourn.

How much more are the saints above comforted! As John described them in his vision, They will no longer hunger and no longer thirst; neither the sun nor any heat will strike them; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living springs of water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Blessed—happy, enviable—are the meek. Also translated “gentle” or “lowly.” It’s that quality of love that St. Paul described to the Corinthians, love that does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked. It’s the attitude of Jesus, who said, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle (meek) and humble of heart. To be meek doesn’t mean that you can never be forceful or never take a stand. It just means that you’re placing the needs of others above yourself, as Jesus always did.

Why are the meek enviable? They are often the ones who finished last here on earth. But what does Jesus promise? They will inherit the earth. They will “inherit” it because they have been given the right to become children of God through faith in Christ. Now, neither the saints in heaven nor the saints on earth have received this inheritance yet, but it is certain. It is sure. It is guaranteed. It’s the inheritance of the new heavens and the new earth after these heavens and earth are destroyed by fire. For us, it’s entirely in the future. For the saints above, they’re already seeing a glimpse of it as they live in Paradise with God.

Blessed—happy, enviable—are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Just as there were two kinds of mourning, so there are also two kinds of righteousness for which people hunger. There is the righteousness before God, and there is righteousness or justice among men.

Why do those who hunger and thirst for righteousness have good reason to rejoice and be glad? Because already here and now, those who believe in Christ and who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have His righteousness as a robe to wear at all times. That’s the righteousness that counts before God and that makes us righteous in his sight. Already here we receive Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of sins, and that satisfies our hunger and our thirst.

As for righteousness or justice among men, we won’t see much of that here in this life. On the contrary, we’ll continue to see injustice grow, and we’ll continue to struggle against our own unrighteous flesh. But according to God’s own promise, we will see perfect justice in the Day of Judgment, which is coming soon, and in the next life, where the saints above now see it. We’ll be rid of all sin forever, as the saints above are now rid of it.

Blessed—happy, enviable—are the merciful. Those who are truly merciful, who truly look on their fellow man with mercy and compassion and pity, are just imitating their Father in heaven, as Jesus told us to do, Be merciful just as your Father also is merciful. They’re merciful because they know just how much mercy it took for the Father to send His Son to die on a cross for us poor sinners and to reconcile us to Himself through Christ. Those who show mercy as He has shown mercy are truly happy, truly enviable.

Why? Because they will be shown mercy. You can’t trust in Christ for mercy and at the same time refuse mercy to your fellow man. So believers who have received God’s mercy in faith will learn mercy from Christ and will then be shown even more mercy, as He no longer judges our deeds according to the strictness of His Law, but instead looks mercifully at the works we do from faith in Christ and accepts them in His mercy.

Blessed—happy, enviable—are the pure in heart. A pure heart is genuine, sincere, and honest with God and with men. It doesn’t pretend. It isn’t hypocritical. It doesn’t have false motives, but seeks God in genuine repentance and faith and shows genuine love to our neighbor. It’s the heart of the New Man that has been created in Christians, even as we still drag around with us the impure heart of the Old Man and struggle against it. But if we walk according to the Spirit, if the pure heart of the New Man dominates within us, then we are said to be pure in heart.

Why are the pure in heart enviable? They will see God. Not because they deserve to see Him, but because their hearts have been purified by faith, and so, as Paul writes, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Blessed—happy, enviable—are the peacemakers. Not worldly peace. But peace with God and peace within His Church. Since the only way to have peace with God is by faith in Christ, as we just heard, the peacemakers are those who preach the Gospel of peace in order to expand God’s peace. And the peacemakers are those who strive to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

They are enviable, because They will be called sons of God. Our God is a God of peace, not chaos, not disorder, not strife or contention. He is a God who yearns to be reconciled with sinners through Christ. So those who carry out the ministry of reconciliation and those who work to bring peace to His Church are rightly called His sons.

Blessed—happy, enviable—are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. This one He repeats and elaborates on: Blessed are you, when for my sake they insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you.

That sounds horrible, to be treated that way by the world! It is horrible! It hurts! It’s painful! It’s unfair! It’s unjust! How can Jesus call us blessed when we are mistreated for the sake of His name? What reason do we have to rejoice and be glad about that? Because Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Because great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who came before you. More than that, in the same way they persecuted the Lord Jesus. A servant is not above his lord. He shouldn’t expect to be treated better than his master. But if we share in His sufferings here, then we will also share in His glory there, even as the saints above do already.

If all this is what we have to look forward to, then truly we are blessed, fortunate, enviable people, more than all the people on earth. Yes, blessed at the end of this life, together with the saints who have gone before us, but blessed even now for all the reasons Jesus gave. How enviable are the dead who die in the Lord! Their race is finished. Their course is run. But how enviable also are the saints on earth! May we strive to finish our race in faith, by the power of the Holy Spirit, nurturing all the qualities mentioned by Jesus in today’s Gospel that make us all truly blessed. Amen.