All Saints Day Matthew 5:1-12

Today we celebrate All Saints Day. Most typically I am up here telling you about how your salvation comes into being. But today I get to answer the questions, “So I have been baptized and claimed by Christ and as a result I am one of the saints, now what?” What does the life of a saint look like in today’s world?
But before I answer those questions I need to tell you a story. I have been told by some in the congregation that the experiences that I share with you about the homeless men that helped shape me as a pastor are not relevant to this community however I am going to tell you one today because I think that you will find relevance in it.
My friend Steve was in his fifties when I had first met him. He was a resident at the Bethel Rescue Mission in Des Moines and worked there in exchange for his rent. Steve had tried several times to stop drinking. When I had first met him he was one year sober and was well on his way to turning his life around. He knew the rules at the shelter better than anyone and he actually trained me on how to work the desk which involved filling out reports, enforcing security issues, allowing people access to the building, and even deciding who would not be able to stay that night as a result of a disciplinary action.
Steve fell a month later and returned to drinking and camping along the river. Sometimes we can only ignore our pain for so long by immersing ourselves in our work. He was burned out from working 12 hour days. It seems that he had replaced working with drinking and as long as he stayed locked in the shelter he would not go out and drink. You see unless we invite Christ into and help us to deal with our past hurts and traumas we will never be free from them. The devil knows exactly where your pain buttons are and how to push them. He is a ruthless coward who doesn’t fight fair.
About 6 months later my friend Albert came to the mission and told me we had to do something about Steve. Albert is a hopeless alcoholic in his fifties on the streets of downtown Des Moines. The victim of sexual abuse and mental illness my hope for Albert’s recovery is fading. However I talk to him each week and even took him to dinner a couple of weeks ago; much to the dismay of the restaurant employees. Albert is the perfect example of saint and sinner. He knows Jesus is his savior, in his own diminished capacity, and spend his life caring for homeless people in Des Moines. If only he would use his skills to care for his own needs. But Albert understands that he is a sinner and God loves him regardless. Albert is a saint, he understands the concept of loving and caring for his neighbor more than anyone I have seen. Once he asked me why I looked so stressed and I told him that money was so tight I didn’t know how I was going to buy the baby milk. He took me to a dumpster in an alley where he was living am took out $20 form his hiding place and gave it to me. It was all the money he had. He loves Joey, Ally and Gabby and had met them several times and couldn’t stand the thought of having the money to get Gabby her milk. Let say it again, “HE WAS LIVING BEHIND A DUMPSTER WHICH HE ATE OUT OF BUT GAVE ME ALL OF HIS MONEY BECAUSE HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT MY KIDS.” Albert loves his neighbor, Albert loves my family.
Albert told me that Steve as in a camp and his feet were rotting and he could not walk out to get to the hospital. So I went with him to the camp and called an ambulance helping them carry Steve 300 yards over sand weeds and gravel to the ambulance. After he was treated at the hospital we took him back to the shelter to recover.
This time I thought Steve had the booze licked. He started to talk to me about his childhood and how he had abandoned his son because he didn’t want to do to the son what had been done to him. His heart was pure and beautiful. We prayed and prayed and asked Jesus to come into his past and heal it. Eventually we contacted his son in Ohio and attempted to start a dialogue with him. He was reluctant at first but eventually invited Steve to come out and stay with them for Thanksgiving to meet his 2 year old granddaughter for the first time.
I had lost touch with Steve as I moved to St. Paul to go to seminary. I had heard from Albert that he was back in Des Moines and not doing well. I made a mental note that I would look in on him at his camp one Friday as I was going through Des Moines. Time got away from me and I never made it to see him. Steve was found dead in a weekly rent sleazy hotel in Des Moines last Thursday morning. Steve knew the Lord and professed Jesus as His Savior but he dealt with chronic depression. He had gone to Broad Lawns Hospital in Des Moines to be treated for his depression and as usual they prescribed him lithium and kicked him out. When they found Steve he was black from the waist up which means he had a stroke and had broken every blood vessel in his upper body. He must have overdosed on lithium and alcohol. Why did my friend have to die alone? What must those final hours of his life been like? Staying a in a sleazy hotel room alone unable to call for help listening to his breath get shallower and shallower until it was no more. My heart is broken for Steve and I know that this is most likely how Albert’s story will end as well.
In today’s gospel reading Jesus tells us how we are to live as his called and claimed saints. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” The Kingdom of Heaven is not for the super spiritual that boast about and find fulfillment in their good works and try to set themselves above everyone else as special. NO! It’s for people like Albert and Steve who know that they are broken and know that they only hope they have is in the mercy of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
“Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.” My heart is broken and I cannot tell you how much I blame myself for not being there for Steve. My rational mind knows that there is no way that I could have known that this would be the night or that this was where I was needed however my irrational feelings are tearing me apart. All I can do in my time of complete and utter turmoil thinking that I failed and lost one which God had called me to serve is to cling with all my effort to the promise that God is merciful and has ended the pain that Steve was in both emotionally and physically. I trust and cling to the promise that Jesus Christ is Holding Steve in His loving embrace was we speak.
“Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” The meek “πραΰς,a \{prah-ooce'}” in Greek meaning: 1) mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, meekness. Those who are daily afflicted with the pains and traumas of the past that destroy any hope of a happy future; and know that their righteous and hope for peace and serenity comes not from anything in this world but form the hope in the one who has taken all of their pain and died with it destroying all of the punishment for due to them because of their wretched existence. Faith in JESUS CHRIST!
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied.” Those who know that they do not belong to this world and daily are reminded by the devil, society, and their own sinful desires that are broken, unwanted, and unacceptable. Those who for once in their lives hunger and thirst to be acceptable to someone anyone! JESUS PROMISES HERE THAT THEIR HUNGER AND THIRST WILL BE SATISFIED!
“Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.” Jesus promises us that if we show mercy we will receive mercy. Mercy means: “The act of sparing, or the forbearance of a violent act expected.” If someone angers you and you feel the need to strike out against them in a violent way but rather show mercy and forgive them then your Lord will show you mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Blessed are the “kath-ar-os” in Greek. “Katharos” means: 1) clean, pure 1a) physically 1a1) purified by fire 1a2) in a similitude, like a vine cleansed by pruning and so fitted to bear fruit 1b) in a levitical sense 1b1) clean, the use of which is not forbidden, imparts no uncleanness 1c) ethically 1c1) free from corrupt desire, from sin and guilt 1c2) free from every admixture of what is false, sincere genuine 1c3) blameless, innocent 1c4) unstained with the guilt of anything. Who here claims to be katharos? The book of Romans chapter 3 tells us that not one is found pure. However this is the state that the Lord God sees you in on account of the work of Jesus Christ. You may not be pure but Jesus has made you pure in the sight of God because he gave to you His purity by the shedding of His blood.
“Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called sons of God.” Be the peaceful presence to your neighbors. Like Albert when you find someone afflicted, either physically or mentally, bring them peace by helping them or getting the help they need.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Dallas Willard, a professor of religion and philosophy at USC, wrote a book entitled, “The Divine Conspiracy.” In it he says that the divine conspiracy is the promise that since you have been made righteous through your faith in Jesus Christ all of you worldly troubles are over. Quite the contrary Willard says, now that you are counted righteous all the powers of Hell are coming after you. Jesus promises here that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are persecuted because they belong to him.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” How many times are you called hypocrites or are your actions described as unloving because you profess Jesus Christ as your Savior; or because you hold fast to any type of Christian moral principle?
So in answer to the questions now that I am saved so what and what does a saintly life look like in this world? Today Jesus tells us recognize that we are poor in spirit, to look to Christ in our mourning for comfort, we should approach all situations with meekness, we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness, show mercy, be pure in heart, be peace makers, and rejoice when we are persecute on account of Christ.
But what does that have to do with Steve and Albert? Everything! Because all of these characteristics we are to have and do for one purpose, for the sake of our neighbor. These things matter to your neighbor! Confirmands this is our small catechism. Memorizing the content of this book may not seem worth wile or even entertaining. But the day you sit at the death bed of someone and have these words memorized and can recite tot them the promises of Christ bringing them comfort and peace before death; that is the day when your neighbor doesn’t have to die alone in a sleazy hotel room with no preacher to deliver Christ’s promises. These WORDS MATTER, THEY BRING COMFORT AND PEACE NIT TO MENTION ETERNAL SALVATION. THESE ARE NOT JUST WORDS ON A PAGE THEY ARE THEY POWER OF GOD, HIS COMMANDS HIS PROMISES. AND TELLING THEM TO YOURSELF AND DOING THE GOOD WORKS IN THIS BOOK MAY NOT AMOUNT TO A HILL OF BEANS TO YOU BUT THEY MEAN EVERYTHING TO YOUR NEIGHBOR. Especially in their time of suffering. YOUR ARE ALL PRIESTS, JESUS HAS GIVEN TO YOU THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. WHENEVER YOU ENCOUNTE ONE WHO ASKS, CONFESSES, ORSHOWS THE LEAST BIT OF INTEREST IN JESUS CHIRST YOU TAKE OUT YOUR KEYS AND LOOSE THEM OF THEIR SIN. YOU PROCLIM TO THEM THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS ON ACCOUNT OF CHIRST. So they do not have to die alone or suffer another minute without being reminded of Jesus Christ and His promise. This is what you are to do as a saint claimed by Jesus from Himself. You belong to Him and He has given you the authority to claim others for Him. Let us pray.
Lord Jesus we thank you that you have given us the keys to your Kingdom. Lord we ask that you give us the boldness and awareness to recognize when we are in the presence of one who is in need of your promise. Lord Jesus I commend to you the soul of my friend Steve. Have mercy on him and welcome Him into your eternal Kingdom. Lord I thank you for the lives of each and every baptized saint before me today. Continue Lord to use this congregation and Your Church to further Your Mission in Jefferson County. In the name of Jesus we pray.