1. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word as we observe All Saints’ Day is taken from Matthew 5:1-12, it’s entitled, “The Good News We Need to Hear,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. All Saints’ Day can be, in a way, a confusing experience in the church. Some people wonder who the “saints” are. As Lutherans, we know that, in the most important sense, all people who are baptized and confess that Jesus is Lord are holy in God’s sight. All of us Christians are “saints.” Sometimes, there’s confusion about what it means to be “blessed.” Aren’t capable, successful people the ones who are really blessed? When we think, as we often do today, about beloved fellow Christians who have died, are they somehow more “blessed” than we are? If they are, why do we mourn, and why does the Bible teach us that death is a final enemy that Christ will only fully overcome on the Last Day when he returns in glory and reverses death (“I believe in the resurrection of the body”)?
3. Our King, Jesus, offers us an amazing teaching today. To be sure, the Beatitudes, Mt 5:1–12, do not answer all of the questions that we might have about the saints and our eternity. But Jesus does have some very good news for us on All Saints’ Day, and for every day that we live as God’s saints, God’s holy people. It’s good news that many people will reject. But it is the Good News we need to hear from King Jesus. Certainly, on this All Saints’ Day, We Need to Hear This Good News from King Jesus.
4. Never forget that you and I need to hear the Good News! Jesus has not come to be our helper or our life coach or our cheerleader. Jesus has come to be our King, to reign over the world and us, because we can’t and must not try to reign over ourselves or our world. Jesus’ first sermon that he preached was, “Repent for the kingdom, or the rule, the reign of God, is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) In fact, that’s what got us into our fallen predicament of sin, death, and the devil’s hold over us, because we rejected God’s reign and rule over us when we sinned against God in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:1-24). Sin is understood as a transgression against God's will according to His 10 Commandments. It involves wanting to be the lord of one's own life rather than allowing God to rule as our Heavenly Father.
5. In fact, we pray in the 3rd Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This perspective emphasizes the importance of surrendering one's own will to God's will and acknowledging God as the ultimate authority in one's life. It suggests that when people prioritize their own desires and ambitions over God's guidance and purpose, they are living in a state of sin or disobedience. Instead, the ideal is to submit to God's will, seek His guidance, and live in accordance with His teachings and commandments. This is what Martin Luther teaches us in the 3rd Petition to the Lord’s Prayer, so writes Luther, “The good and gracious will of God is done even without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may be done among us also… God’s will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God’s name or let His kingdom come; and when He strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith until we die. This is His good and gracious will.” Many of us are willing to call Jesus our Savior from sin, death, and the devil, but how many of us are willing to call Him our Lord or our King?
6. When we try to be little kings, we become tyrants. When we try to be little kings, we really are acting as “puppets” in the hand of Satan, the prince of this fallen world. We need a king because we are unable. We need a king because we are not capable of governing our lives in ways that do anything but defy the living God and earn for us his judgment. We call Jesus many things, as the Bible rightly teaches us. But today, we will especially call him “King.”
7. How does King Jesus want us to think of ourselves, in the most important ways, to prepare ourselves for his blessing? Poor in spirit—having no resources sufficient of ourselves. Mourning—because even now, our lives and the world are still so broken because of sin. Meek—that is, “powerless,” lowly. Longing for things to be right and unable to fulfill that longing—only God can do it!
8. This Good News is not something that we naturally want. We want to be capable, to be powerful, to be in control. Jesus will have none of that. He says, “Repent! You need a king who can bring Good News that you need to hear.” And here is that Good News.
9. Jesus’ Good News answers the needs of all his saints! You have nothing? Jesus knows it—and he will give you everything. He healed the sick. He cast out demons. He forgave sin. He took on the world’s evil, taking it into his own body to save you and me, dying on the cross. He rose from the dead to defeat the devil and take the ultimate sting of death away already even now. He will come again—and put all things right. Now he gives you every blessing. Then he will make everything right. Forgiveness. A new identity. The Holy Spirit to sustain you and keep you in the faith. A new king, King Jesus.
10. You have no purpose? Jesus will give one to you! His mercy comes and fills you, and, even though it’s hard and we have to practice, you can turn and show mercy to others. Your heart is cleansed—and will be clean on the Last Day. Here, in the place where we listen to the Good News that we all need to hear, we can find peace and share it with one another. This is the original meaning of the “Passing of the Peace.” Jesus by his reconciling death on the cross has made peace between you and God. Now, you and I become willing for there to be peace between us.
11. Even when opposition comes and Jesus and his ways are hated and rejected, still we are blessed because God’s gifts still belong to us. “Yours is the reign of heaven.” Yes, “the Kingdom ours remaineth!”
12. You mourn the loss of dear fellow Christians, especially those who have been called home to heavenly rest this past year? On All Saints’ Day, remember that it is certainly right and holy and Christian to mourn in the face of death. But, our mourning, is filled with hope—because of the promise of Christ’s return and the resurrection of the body. The hymn we just sang, “For All the Saints,” expresses this so well. St 4: “Oh, blest communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine; yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.” All saints! One Church! “Alleluia!”
13. Here I want to encourage us all not to settle for anything but the fullness of God’s promises. We do, on All Saints’ Day, take comfort that the souls of our dear fellow Christians are resting with Christ—yes, indeed. But God’s final plan of salvation does not stop there. Christ will return and raise the dead! To forget this would be like hiking in the mountains and looking up—and you think that you can see the summit, the top of the mountain. But, once you get there you find that although you are in a beautiful place, it is not the majesty and glory of being at the TOP! So it is with our Christian, certain hope on All Saints’ Day. It’s not just that we look forward to resting with Christ, should we die before the Lord returns. As Paul says in Philippians, we press on toward the goal, toward the resurrection of the dead. St 7 of “For All the Saints” says it so very well. St 7: “But, lo, there breaks a yet more glorious day: The saints, triumphant, rise in bright array; The King of glory”—the King, Jesus—“passes on his way. Alleluia!”
14. On All Saints’ Day, every day, for you and for all the saints, this is the Good News we need to hear from King Jesus. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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