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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good morning, St. Paul Lutheran Church. It's Pastor Wolfmuller and this is the Sunday Drive to church podcast for November 1st, All Saints Day. Blessed All Saints Day to you saints of the Lord. This is what it means to be a saint. It means to be forgiven, holy, set apart from sin and death and the kingdom of the darkness of the devil by the name and word of God. So we are saints. And we especially celebrate on All Saints those saints that have gone before us and have been purged from all their sin through death, who are in that beatific vision of the. The glory in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ, resting from their labors, where their works follow them. That's All Saints. For a long time it's been on November 1st. I think it happened in the Middle Ages, because the sanctoral calendar got so full that, well, we need a day for all the other saints. And November 1st must have been open November 2nd in the medieval tradition and still the Catholic tradition is All Souls Day. And interesting to think about that, the difference between All Saints and All Souls, because souls are the people in Purgatory, saints are the people in heaven. We don't have All Souls Day because we don't have Purgatory.
[00:01:10] Praise the Lord. The Bible doesn't have. I was talking about that at Blind Ministry today, how Michelangelo painted that famous painting of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. And all the bishops got all worked up about it because they're like, where's purgatory? There's just heaven and hell. And Michelangelo said, it's not in the book.
[00:01:29] It's not in the book. Anyway, Heaven is. That's why we have All Saints Day. And we rejoice in that. It's a festive service. So we'll have divine service setting one with a few adjustments. You'll notice I'll walk through them in just a little bit, including the commemoration of the faithful Departed, which happens after the offering before the prayer of the church, where the choir has this beautiful piece. And then we'll name the names, the eight saints that have gone before us to the Lord's nearer presence in the last year and toll the bell for them.
[00:02:02] Also notice that the psalmody finds a good place between the first and second reading, Psalm 49, which the choir will sing. And we'll also notice that the first lesson is what would normally be the Old Testament place. It belongs to Revelation again this week.
[00:02:20] I don't. What's the tradition here?
[00:02:23] At some point during the late early Middle Ages, maybe even pre Middle Ages, The Old Testament lessons were lost for the normal Sunday service.
[00:02:35] So there must have been at some point Old Testament epistle and Gospel lesson appointed for all of the Sundays. But they were lost for the Sundays, but they were kept for the, for the calendar holidays.
[00:02:54] So like if a holiday had a day on the calendar, that Old Testament lesson was kept. So we know the ancient Old Testament lesson for like Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday for All Saints Day.
[00:03:08] We know that they had these different readings that were there that were appointed.
[00:03:15] So, so sometimes during some of these festive readings we get either a doubled up Old Testament or a doubled up epistle.
[00:03:23] And so it is with, well, with reformation, that's kind of new. We had Revelation 14, but with all saints we have Revelation 7.
[00:03:32] And this is the beautiful vision that St. John has of the multitudes from every tribe, tongue and nation that no one can count.
[00:03:42] And they're coming into heaven and they have these filthy robes on and they take their robes off and they dip them in this vat of blood and they pull them out and they're glorious, beautiful robes.
[00:04:00] And that's the picture. I might preach on that. It's so beautiful. Where have they come from? The angel says to John, who are these? And he says, you know, and he says, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.
[00:04:16] They've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. How beautiful.
[00:04:21] It's the blood that cleanses. It's the blood that makes us holy. It's the blood that washes away our sins. It's the blood that saves.
[00:04:31] Psalm 149, the second to last Psalm is our psalmody. And it's part of that great alleluia chorus that comes at the end of the book of Psalms. And it's, it's ramping up to this great crescendo. Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing his praise in the congregation of the faithful. Let Israel rejoice in his Maker. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
[00:04:54] And then we're on to the Epistle. Now this I, for a couple of years now, I've been thinking about this epistle in first John.
[00:05:01] Oh, I'm thinking about this and thinking about how this teaches us to pray. And realizing that I didn't pray the collect, I got so excited.
[00:05:11] Let's do that.
[00:05:13] Almighty and everlasting God, you knit together your faithful people of all times and places into one holy communion, the mystical body of your Son, Jesus Christ.
[00:05:23] Grant us so to Follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that together with them we may come to the unspeakable joys you've prepared for those who love you through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
[00:05:40] Amen.
[00:05:42] That mystical body, the holy Communion of the saints. Remember that the Church talks about three unions. The first and most important is the personal union.
[00:05:53] That's the union of the two natures in Christ, divine and human, united in the single person of Christ.
[00:06:00] And then we have the sacramental union, which is how the Lord Jesus joins His body and his blood to the bread and the wine. That mysterious union of those two different natures. And then we have the mystical union. That's the union of Christ and His Church.
[00:06:17] That's the union that we have with Him.
[00:06:21] It's what we're praying for. Okay, back to the epistle.
[00:06:24] Three years ago, maybe. I don't know. For some time, I.
[00:06:32] I've been rubbing on this text from First John 3.
[00:06:35] That's our epistle.
[00:06:37] Because there's something more here.
[00:06:39] And I. I've been waiting for. I've been waiting to strike oil on this text for a little bit, but it hasn't.
[00:06:46] It's still on the way. But there's something amazing. Here's what the text is. I and I. This might be one of the first texts I memorized because we.
[00:06:54] We had a Sunday school song that we used to sing to this text.
[00:06:58] Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us. I don't know if you knew that. You remember that from Sunday school, that we should be called the children of God.
[00:07:09] That's what the verse is. See what kind of love the Father has given to us.
[00:07:13] That we should be called children of God. And so we are.
[00:07:18] The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now. So it's not just that we're called God's children, we're called as children because we are his children.
[00:07:31] And what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like Him.
[00:07:37] Remember that likeness that was created at the beginning and lost in the fall. And so Christ became like us to save us. And then he's making us like him in baptism and the resurrection.
[00:07:48] When he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. Is. And everyone who has this hope purifies himself as he is pure.
[00:07:57] So being like him and seeing him are related to one another. And I don't know if it's the cause and effect. If the chicken or the egg there. Is that because we're like him, then we'll be able to see him, or because we see him, we'll be like him. I think it's like that the beauty of the vision of the Lord, when we are able to handle it, actually recreates us into his image.
[00:08:16] But even before we get to that, it's this marvel of being called and being the children of God.
[00:08:23] And I can't figure out, maybe this is where I'm kind of trying to mine the text. I can't figure out where the difference is. Is it because we're the children of God instead of the children of wrath?
[00:08:32] We're children of God instead of children of darkness. We're children of God rather than children of the evil one, like John 8, we're children of God rather than children of death.
[00:08:42] That already is amazing. Or is it because we're the children of God and not the slaves of God or servants of God or enemies of God?
[00:08:50] In other words, I don't know if we are the children which are wonderfully changed by the of God or if we're the of God and wonderfully changed by the children. I don't. Maybe it's both. Maybe we are by nature slaves of sin. And he says, no, no, you're not slaves anymore, you're children. And you're not of sin anymore. You're of me.
[00:09:14] The whole thing's amazing.
[00:09:16] And look, this is unique amongst Christianity.
[00:09:22] We, you know, if there's a something of God, maybe it's a follower, a worshiper, a servant. That's what it should be. If. If of God is the end part of the phrase. The first part should be, I think it should be servant.
[00:09:40] And the Lord says, nope, no, not for you. You are my children.
[00:09:49] Well, behold John. He can hardly behold what manner of love the Father is given unto us. That it's a. It's an amazing amount of love that not only has he saved us, but he's also adopted us. He could have saved us to be like his workers, his servants to be his children. And then the mat. The Matthew text, our gospel is the Beatitudes, the blessing. It's a. It's a total surprise.
[00:10:22] I mean, Jesus lists how many Beatitudes there are. Depends how you count.
[00:10:29] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9. 8 or 9.
[00:10:35] The first. Notice this the first and the eighth. So here's something to do when you're getting ready for church and meditating on this.
[00:10:46] Look at the Beatitudes and notice how the first. The first eight are kind of. They are a set. And then the ninth one is different.
[00:10:53] The first eight are Blessed are the. Blessed are those. Blessed are the. Blessed are those. Blessed are the.
[00:11:01] Then number nine, verse 11, blessed are you. Okay, that's different. So the ninth stands apart. But notice also the first and the eighth. They're also different.
[00:11:11] They're present tense and all the others are future tense.
[00:11:15] Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is, is, is, is the kingdom of heaven. And then two to seven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be, shall be, shall, shall, shall. Until you get to number eight. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[00:11:34] And Jesus lists now in these nine Beatitudes the nine things that we would never think are blessed. I mean, look at this. Poor in spirit, mourning, meek hunger and thirst for righteousness.
[00:11:47] The last four are kind of nice, but merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers persecuted. Blessed are you when others revile and persecute you. And what are you supposed to do? Rejoice and be glad.
[00:12:00] In fact, that English is hiding something. In the Greek, it's rejoice and be exceedingly glad.
[00:12:06] Be overjoyed, your reward is great. In heaven.
[00:12:11] They persecuted the prophets who were before you. So Jesus takes nine things that we would not think are blessed and then says they're blessed. And then why the kingdom of heaven? Comfort, inheritance, inherit the earth, satisfaction, mercy, seeing God called sons of God, possessors of the kingdom of heaven.
[00:12:32] These are all the gifts that come unexpectedly to the Christian. And here is maybe the big point. The Christian life is one of getting what God has given.
[00:12:43] He's up there giving us his gifts, and we are just the getters of those gifts. That's what faith is. It means to receive, to grab ahold of the these great promises that. That the Lord Jesus gives.
[00:12:58] That's his kingdom. It's totally unexpected.
[00:13:03] The hymn of the day. We're all just going to cry through for all the saints.
[00:13:06] You can tell how many of your loved ones are in heaven by how many stanzas. You can pray. You can sing for all the saints.
[00:13:16] If you know, you know. Man, oh man, I can hardly make it through. Like Stanza 4.
[00:13:21] Soon, soon. To faithful warriors come, this is where we sing.
[00:13:25] And when the fight is fierce, the warfare long steals on the ear, the distant triumph song.
[00:13:34] And hearts are brave again and arms are strong.
[00:13:40] Wow, here we are. Plodding through life. One foot in front of the other.
[00:13:46] I think I can. I think I can.
[00:13:48] Getting the wind knocked out of us by all the troubles of this world. And then. And then you can hear it almost just echoing faintly that holy, holy, holy. Coming from the angels around the throne of God. And you know you're headed that way and.
[00:14:02] And, and. And the strength starts to come back.
[00:14:07] That's this beautiful picture. And this is this Christian life where.
[00:14:11] Plodding along through this valley of death. But the Lord is bringing us to the place where we can enter into his glory.
[00:14:21] See him face to face. Be joined with the saints who are already there singing his praises. Absolutely marvelous.
[00:14:31] Well we'll rejoice in this. And the fact that the Lord is bringing us through death to life. That's the order that God has it. Not life then death, but death to life.
[00:14:42] We'll rejoice in that for our brothers and sisters in the faith.
[00:14:46] And also for us as well. So blessed all saints.
[00:14:50] Drive safe. We'll see you soon. God's peace be with you.