On All Saints’ Day, we are intentionally being reminded about those who have gone before us, those saints who are now at rest from their labors, yet they still remain as part of the body of Christ.
Often the challenge for a preacher is not in exploring a difficult or seldom-used text but in preaching a sermon on a text so familiar that the hearers encounter it with an immediate “been there, done that” attitude. In the public reading of the opening of the Sermon on the Mount, longtime hearers will finish the lines before they are spoken. “Blessed are the poor in spirit...” The challenge is to find a way for them to experience the truth of the Beatitudes anew as you gather together on All Saints’ Day. These words of Jesus have long been a source of great comfort and assurance to the people of God, so it behooves the preacher to carefully consider how he might approach them on this day.
Our great ally for this week is the nature of All Saints’ Day itself. Many churches continue the tradition of reading aloud the names of the members who have died the previous year. Even if your congregation does not do this, you could speak to them about the tradition and note how this action injects a tension within the service. The tension lies between what we are experiencing now and what we long for as we await the fulfillment of our Lord’s promises. On All Saints’ Day, we are intentionally being reminded about those who have gone before us, those saints who are now at rest from their labors, yet they still remain as part of the body of Christ.
In fact, you might speak about the often unspoken reality that on All Saints’ Day an individual’s private tension is invited to be taken up by the whole congregation. The widow who sits in the front row each Sunday and has never stopped grieving the loss of her husband, who still feels the tension to live in the “now” while awaiting the “not yet” of the resurrection, is in this moment embraced by the whole of the church. All are invited into the tension, and this tension can be the fuel for your sermon.
How beautiful and reassuring these words are, especially as we come to face how truly poor in spirit we are and how we long for release and escape from the torment of this age.
The Beatitudes themselves keep the tension. The beginning and the end of the Beatitudes express a present-tense reality for the people of God. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” The blessing is now, and the Kingdom is now. This is the present reality of the people of God. How beautiful and reassuring these words are, especially as we come to face how truly poor in spirit we are and how we long for release and escape from the torment of this age. There is a promise and reality given in this promise, a promise that you are called to make to your congregation as you speak these words into their lives this Sunday.
Yet, the other Beatitudes shift the tense to the future. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied,” and so forth. Here, the present-day blessing is attached to a fulfillment in the future, to a “not yet” for which we all long. This wonderfully echoes the tension of All Saints’ Day. It is the assurance of the promise made to the saints and the promise of the resurrection of the dead that is to come.
Again, an excellent way to get after this text for this Sunday would be to maintain this tension. Instead of trying to resolve the paradox or downplaying the “now” or forgetting the promise of the “not yet,” the preacher can simply hold the tension throughout. It is the very dilemma we have as we mourn those we have lost while living in the assurance of the promise of a yet more glorious day to come. This is what it is to experience All Saints’ Day with the household of the faithful.
God bless your preaching.
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on Matthew 5:1–12.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching Matthew 5:1–12.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
