The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY (Retired)
God's ways are not our ways, and today our readings from the Bible emphasize
this point. They also remind us that when we look at things in a way different
from the way God looks at things, it's us who are wrong ... not God.
The first reading reminds us that the way most people look at death and think
about death is simply all wrong. Death is not the end of
everything. It is the end of one part of our life...the part we spend here on
earth, living in our bodies, worrying about the things our bodies need, such as
food, clothing, shelter, and relationships with others in other bodies. And
then, our bodies die. But we don't die. Our souls are still very much alive, and
they live very close to God, and have no more burdens or cares connected with
bodily living. No worries about getting money for food and shelter, no problems
with the neighbors, no sickness or sorrows or toothaches or frustration. Death
ends those things, and leaves us very much alive, more alive than ever before,
because we are no longer oppressed by the need to worry about bodily things. We
can live in perfect peace, perfect contentment and perfect happiness, forever,
with God.
The Psalm celebrates God as creator of all things, and of people, too. What's
more, it celebrates the fact that God loves us so much that he choose to make
his temple on earth his home, just so he could be with us. He did not want to be
separated from us, ever, at all. And so this psalm celebrates the great love God
has for us, and his great desire for our company and companionship. That, of
course, leads us to a point we need to ponder: do we have an equally strong
desire to be with God, to enjoy his company, and share his life? We are baptized
into his love and his life, so we supposedly do have such a desire...but,
looking around us at our society today, we sometimes have to wonder. Looking at
ourselves, our goals and hopes and dreams, we wonder even more. That love, peace
and contentment that God wants to give us: do we yearn for it, wish for it, hope
for it, and live with that as our great desire and goal?
The reading from Revelation is part of John's vision of what will happen
after the final battle between good and evil has been fought, and Good has won.
What was old will be made new. The battle-scarred earth, and all those who have
borne the burden of living in a sinful culture, will be made new and fresh and
lovely again. That shows us what waits for us on the other side of that door
called "Death." We will have new bodies, new lives with God, with nothing left
that can hurt or bother or irritate us. We will have a new understanding of what
life is all about, and will be able to live it without having to grapple with a
world full of sin. All will be beautiful and perfect, as it was on the day God
finished his work of creation.
We, too, will be beautiful and perfect, washed clean from our sins and bad
habits and self-centeredness, able to enter wholly and happily into the life of
God himself that he wants so much to share with us.
The familiar story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is the gospel for
today, and it emphasizes and strengthens all these promises and hopes. There are
a few things about the story that we might want to think about. Do you remember,
back when Jesus had visited Lazarus, Mary and Martha earlier, that Mary had sat
down to listen to Jesus teach, and Martha had been upset at being left to do the
cooking and serving by herself? She asked Jesus at that time to send Mary to
help her, and tell Mary to stop wasting time listening to Jesus talk. But now,
Martha makes her big confession, and says that she knows that Jesus is the
Messiah. She has come to understand that Jesus shares in God's power, and is
able to overturn the powers of sin and death that have made Lazarus die. This
sounds very much like what happened when Peter denied knowing Jesus, while Jesus
was on trial before the high priest...and we know that later on, after Jesus
died and rose to life again, he gave Peter a chance to confess his faith and
love for Jesus, just as he was now doing for Martha. We, too, will be given a
chance to confess our lack of faith and love for Jesus, and to be forgiven, when
our time comes.
And, then, after Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave, poor Lazarus was
still tied up in the burial clothes. Jesus commanded the people around to untie
the clothes and let Lazarus go, free of the burdens of the grave and of death.
We need others' help, you see...help to come to Jesus, help to have faith that
we can, like Lazarus, be free of the burdens of sin, death and the grave, free
to go and live again in a new, triumphant life. Jesus provides this help for us
through his own death on the cross, in which he conquered sin and death once for
all on our behalf. All we have to do, you see, is to accept that Jesus is indeed
the Resurrection and Life, as he told Martha, and that he intends and greatly
desires to share both the Resurrection and the New Life with us, as he did with
Lazarus.
Those who share in the Resurrection and the New Life are called saints. That
is not just the "Saints-with-a-Big-S," like Peter and Paul, Mary and Martha, and
all the rest. That is you and me, because we share in this faith in Jesus, and
accept the gifts he has won for us, the forgiveness of our sin, the new life
with God. So today, All Saints' Day, is a day of triumph and high celebration
for all of us, celebrating the new life we are waiting to enter, the new life we
have been promised, living in Christ and in God, as they already live in us.
Amen.
