Sermon "For All the Saints"
Rev. Lonnie Richardson
Sunday, November 1, 1998
For All the Saints
Luke 6:20-31
Once there were two brothers who were involved in corruption, deceit, and organized crime. Both had accumulated much wealth with their dishonest means. One day, one of the brothers died, and the other brother wanted a very nice funeral service for him.
So the corrupt man offered to pay the pastor of a church $50,000 if he would do the funeral service for his brother. There was only one condition: the pastor had to say that the deceased brother was a saint.
After some thought, the minister agreed to have the service with one condition, the $50,000 had to be paid in advance. The man and the pastor agreed on these conditions. On the day of the funeral, the pastor had second thoughts about how he could keep his own integrity intact while calling a person a saint who had done so many despicable things in his life.
The service began with the usual liturgical elements, and then the sermon. The pastor began slowly, but then step by step launched into a litany of the horrible things the deceased man had done, how he had been selfish, greedy, corrupt, caring about no one but himself, carousing with women, drinking excessively, and on and on.
The brother was getting a bit hot under the collar about the pastor not fulfilling his promise. Then the pastor concluded with these words, "This man was a no-good, dirty, rotten scoundrel! But, compared to his brother, he was a saint!"
What is a saint? For some, saints are only those people who have lived extraordinary lives of faith. For others, saints are more ordinary people, like you and I, who are by no means perfect but are trying their best, through the grace of God, to lead God-centered lives in their everyday circumstances.
For some saints are all those who are baptized. For others saints are all those who are committed Christians, not including those who have been baptized and have never come back to church again. For others, it includes everybody who could be considered a child of God -- a criterion which includes everybody.
Discerning the characteristics of a saint is confusing. Based on the story I opened with, I certainly would not nominate either of the corrupt brothers for sainthood. Even the pastor's motive is questionable. It seems to me that there should be some kind of criteria for a saint.
For me, a saint is a person, past or present, who seeks diligently to do the will of God. Not one who pats him or herself on the back, but one who seeks humbly to please God, even though they falter and fail every once in awhile. The issue is not whether we are saints; it is what kind of saints we are.
The latter part of today's gospel (verses 27-31) provides a pretty good list of guidelines for saints in service:
* love your enemies
* do good to those who hate you
* bless those who curse you
* pray for those who abuse you
* if anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also
* from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt
* give to everyone who begs from you
* if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again
* do to others as you would have them do to you.
These are tough guidelines, which have caused their share of controversy and debate over their interpretation. For example, some have interpreted "turn the other cheek" as submission to the point of letting one's self get beat up by another without offering any resistance. That's taking that phrase totally out of context.
These guidelines were not meant as a list for personal moral attributes, but guidelines to apply to a community as a whole. We miss it when we translate the Greek to the English, but the original "you" and "your" references are all plural.
So, when it says, "Turn your cheek," it isn't talking about someone being privately abused. It is referring to the forgiveness that the community of saints strives for as a whole. We Americans tend to privatize these guidelines because we find our identity in individualism. On the other hand, the people of the ancient Mediterranean communities found their identity in being part of a group. We see this in the many ethnic festivals of Milwaukee.
One guideline I want to look at in particular is the one we call the golden rule: "Do to others as you would have them do to you." If we were to interpret that rule from an individualistic perspective, it would read something like: "I'm going to do to others as I would have them do to me." If we read it that way, then we run into problems because not everybody wants to be treated the same way you would treat yourself.
For example, the corrupt brother in my opening story would treat others to corruption, carousing, etc., as he would like to be treated. Personally, I can't say as I would like to be treated that way just because he wants to be treated that way.
If we were to interpret the rule, instead, from a communal perspective, it would read something like: "Let us do to others as we would have them do to us." Unfortunately, we're so used to an individualist way of thinking that we still try to interpret this guideline from an individualistic perspective.
For example, we may attempt to treat the church as though it was one individual, as though we all think and understand things the same way. Some individuals, believing they represent the church as a whole might say, "Let's do worship the way we want it done for us." Or, "Let's do church the way it's been done for us." Instead of being the golden rule, such misinterpretation attempts to give credit to the rotten rule or affectionately referred to as the seven last words of the church: "We've never done it that way before."
The golden rule is best seen in relation to something else Jesus said: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35 NRSV)
I would like to take the golden rule a step further to the platinum rule. If you have ever received credit card offers, you will know the platinum card is a step above the golden card. Likewise, the platinum rule is a step above the golden rule. The saints are given guidelines so that the good news of Jesus Christ is not only shared within the community but passed on from generation to generation.
Our longevity has allowed for five and occasionally six generations to live and be church, side by side, for the first time in history. If we're to pass on the baton of a living faith in Jesus to future leaders, we must find ways of handing it to them so they can receive it. Just as Jesus laid down his life for us, so we are to lay down some things to pass the gospel from generation to generation. This is why we are sponsoring this week's "Past with a Future" symposium.
If some of us think that certain expressions of the gospel are not to our tastes --like "Veggie Tales", or some of the music styles, or the way the youth ministry is done, or how some of the small group ministries are organized -- and yet they are allowed to thrive in our church, then "Well done." For then we are not be limiting other people to do it the way we would want it done. Instead, we are putting into action the platinum rule: "Do unto one another as Christ has done unto you." Communicating the gospel in a way understood.
The issue is not whether you are a saint; the question is what kind of a saint you are. Are you attempting to follow Christ's guidelines? Are you willing to pass on the gospel so that the ranks of sainthood continue to grow?
When Mother Teresa died, I remembered my favorite among her memorable one-liners, her short and direct statements of truth, built upon her short and direct acts of Christian mercy, those acts and pronouncements which make her a true twentieth-century saint.
One of her frequent newspaper interviewers was finishing up his questions to her, when he decided to ask a question meant to be practical, meant to involve us -- twentieth-century western readers back in America enjoying our good lives. He asked her, "Given your ministry, what can we do to live out the good life?" She did not say "Go, sell all you have and work with the poor, like me." Perhaps he, and we, would have expected her to say that. But, instead, she said simply and directly, "Smile at the people you live with."
The reporter was a bit surprised and he pressed the issue.
"That's easy for you to say. You don't face family
pressures, and the work place." "Oh," said Mother
Teresa, "I live with Jesus. Believe me, he's a hard person
to live with." Saints help us live with Jesus! As we live
with Jesus, let's help others live with him as well. Amen.
