Saturday, October 31, 2015
Sermon for All Saints
November 1, 2015
On the Occasion of Holy Baptism
Holy Trinity & St. Anskar
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought to be a disaster, and their going from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace.
+ In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity.
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought to be a disaster, and their going from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace.
+ In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity.
St. Mary’s grief-stricken reproach reminds me of the disciples in the boat, when Jesus slept during the storm. “Don’t you even care?” I suppose, at one time or another, all of us have the same doubt. Why does God permit all this suffering and death. The answer is today’s Gospel. In the preceding verses, not read, we learn that Jesus purposely delayed coming to Bethany. The whole purpose was to answer our question.
Given the popularity of ghosts and zombies at this time of year, the raising of St. Lazarus of Bethany may need to be rescued: it is not one more creepy Hallowe’en story. Lazarus is not a zombie; he represents all the baptized. Baptism is dying and rising again. All the saints participate in this Resurrection. That is what the raising of Lazarus is about, and why it is appropriate on All Saints day. Of course, as the Fathers observed, Lazarus would still have to die again and await the final resurrection at the Day of Judgment, and so do we – even the baptized
The point is that Baptism transforms our physical death into a door, annihilation into a passage into new and larger life. The waters of Baptism are the Red Sea, standing like walls on both sides of the paschal road to freedom. The sea, blocking escape from Pharaoh’s pursuing army, meant FINAL destruction to the Israelites. God’s Holy Spirit – the strong east wind that God sent to make the waters recede and stand like walls on either side – turned it into the path of life.
Even so, Jesus wept, too. I think the point is that God’s Son is not merely a Healer of temporary illnesses, but the Victor over death itself. What is true of Lazarus is true of all the baptized: though we die, yet shall we live. As He summoned Lazarus from the tomb, so He summons all who are called to Baptism. He addresses all the saints with the words: Lazarus, Come Forth.
When Lazarus died, he went into the tomb alone. When he walked out of the tomb, he came into the community of his beloved family, which had adopted Jesus, Who wept with them. Likewise, we all pass through the Waters of Baptism alone, to come up out of the water into the Blessed Company of All Faithful People, which we call the Communion of Saints, the indissoluble community in which death is no longer relevant or even significant, except as a sign of liberation. Even the baptized will die. But that is only a matter of appearance.
So, every baptized person shares something with St.
Lazarus. Like him, we face death having already died: died and come out of the
tomb, like him. Death no longer has dominion over us. God has turned our eventual
corporal death into our ally, as the water of the Red Sea became the ally of
the Israelites.
Still, we are tempted to share Mary’s complaint. Why would
God permit this kind of thing? Doesn’t God care? The raising of Lazarus is the
answer: Lazarus died so that God’s glory might be revealed. God cares allot
more than we think. More than to be satisfied with a few particular healings.
Enough to remake the whole creation.
In
the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died… and their going from us to be
their destruction
But the baptized have died already, with Christ, and
God has raised us, with Him, to Life Immortal. The power of death, like the
power of the Red Sea, is now our usher and guide into the new life of ineffable
joy. To
follow the saints in all virtuous and godly living, in the words of the Collect,
is to join them in the Paschal Journey across the Red Sea on dry land. That journey, begun at baptism, is participation
here and now in what the Collect calls the ineffable joys God has prepared for
those who love Him, because virtuous living is the power of life-giving love,
and Godly living is the Life of the Most Holy Trinity, the Life of ineffable
joy. This new life is not some reward we get later if we succeed in heroic exploits, following the moral examples of the saints; rather it is the life we
enter into right now, with them, by virtue of our Baptism, our entrance into the
Communion of All Saints, the blessed company of all faithful people.
Alleluia!
The Lord is Glorious in the Saints!
Come, Let us Adore!
