November 5, 2006 All Saints Day

See also: [2000]

Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm 24
Revelation 21:1-6a
John 11:32-44

Discussing the Text

The Festival of All Saints’ Day presents us with grand texts that should have loud music and tympani accompany them. Passages from Isaiah and Revelation speak of the great events of the final judgment, the Psalm speaks of the glorious entry of God into Jerusalem, and the gospel reading recalls the raising of Lazarus from the dead, all themes related to the final judgment.

Isaiah 25:6-9 comes from a segment of literature which we call the “Isaianic Apocalpyse,” (Isaiah 24-27). It is a grand vision of hope created perhaps as late as the 3rd century BC by a Jewish author who believed that God would act in some dramatic fashion in the future to glorify the faithful believers. It speaks of a “feast of rich food” and “well aged wines.” It declares God “will swallow up death” and “wipe away the tears from all faces.” It is a magnificent vision of hope that Christians in faith believe was fulfilled symbolically by the coming of Jesus and the emergence of Christianity.

Psalm 24 is a Hymn of Praise to the “King of Glory,” God, who is mighty in battle and who will enter Jerusalem in strength. Needless to say, early Christians symbolically connected this Psalm to Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and his subsequent resurrection. Its words inspired a great chorus, “Lift up Your Heads, O Ye Gates,” in Handel’s Messiah.

The new heaven and the new earth at the end of time are envisioned by the seer in Revelation 21:1-6a, The New Jerusalem is symbolically portrayed as a bride at her wedding, and the entire passage appears to be built around a hymnic element in 21:3-4. Revelation 21-22 is the final vision in the book and it should be seen as the grand finale to the overall “symphony” of metaphors that constitutes the book of Revelation.

John 11:32-44 recounts the raising of Lazarus by Jesus. Take note: Lazarus’ name means the “poor man.” He is a symbol of the poor and of all humanity. It is a fitting gospel reading for the festival of all saints, for he is brought back to life by the power of Jesus. Many of Jesus’ signs or “miracles” were understood by Jesus’ contemporaries as actions that other healers could accomplish (such as Honi, and Hanina ben Dosa in the Jewish tradition, and Apollonia of Tyana in the Greek world). But raising someone from the dead was an awesome act that only God could perform, or someone working with the power of God, such as Elijah or Elisha. (Realize that traditionally New Testament commentators distinguish between Lazarus being resuscitated from the dead and the resurrection of Jesus, which is a grand event of cosmic proportion in ways that we cannot understand. Lazarus would later die; resurrection is forever.)

Process Theology and the Texts

Process theologians usually do not speak of a literal final judgment at the end of time. They believe that the grandiose metaphors of judgment in the biblical text speak of a future reality beyond our comprehension. These texts speak of the future, the “primordial body of God,” which draws us graciously into the future and provides us hope. These beautiful texts speak meaningfully of a God who draws us through the process of reality toward a new future with new possibilities and hope. In this way, All Saints’ Day can focus our attention upon the future, where God is leading us, and how God is leading us through the current process of our lives.

Preaching the Texts

On All Saints’ Day we recall the past and the present. We recall the past by remembering all the saints who have preceded us in the Christian tradition. Some churches have a moment of silence specifically for the saints or people in the congregation who have passed away, and sometimes the names of those who have died in the previous year are specifically mentioned.

On All Saints’ Day we recall three kinds of saints. There are those special individuals in the Christian tradition whose memory we recall because they inspire us in terms of their commitment to Christian values and beliefs. There are all the departed loved ones, Christians of all times and places, whom we believe to be with God, or as process theologians would say, “they are in the memory of God.” Finally, there are all living Christians, who are saints by virtue of divine grace which has forgiven them and made them saints in God’s eyes. The old Reformation formula, simul justus et peccator, is an apt phrase to describe Christians. Each one of us is both a finite human being, a sinner, and yet as the same time a forgiven saint, who carries the ultimate potential of the divine that God seeks to draw forth. These are great themes upon which to focus.

The preacher might also focus more directly on the texts that speak in grand fashion of God’s future divine actions (if you wish to view the raising of Lazarus as an anticipation of the future resurrection). The preacher may speak of how Christians perceive God as a God of grace who continually leads us into the future by offering not only forgiveness but also the hope of new opportunities, new chances, and new possibilities for self-growth and actualization. Each one of us is a creature graced by God whom God seeks to develop in a process of the divine human relationship. Each one of us has possibilities and potential that God seeks to draw forth. In a sense, the grand futuristic language of judgment day may be drawn to the more concrete level of hope that each individual has when he or she believes that God intends some meaningful purpose for his or her life.

Closely related to that set of ideas is the image of Lazarus, whose name means “poor man,” and who thus may represent any human being. Lazarus died, but it was not his time to go. Jesus brought him back to life. It might be fun to guess what Lazarus might have done once he returned to life and realized God had given him a second chance. Did Lazarus wonder if God had special plans for him, and that is why he was returned to the land of the living? We can then ask ourselves, what if I died and I were given a second chance? What would I do with my life? You can offer many different suggestions with this as a starting point.

Children and the Texts

“God has great plans for you,” is what the preacher might say to the children. The preacher may speak about how God had plans for Lazarus which meant that God intended Lazarus to be brought back to life. Impress upon the children how their whole life is before them and that God may have great plans for them, if they are open to the will of God.

 

Robert K. Gnuse is Professor of Hebrew Scriptures at Loyola University in New Orleans. An ordained minister of the Lutheran Church, he received his doctorate from Vanderbilt University. He has published numerous articles and a dozen books on various topics in the Hebrew Scriptures and biblical theology, including most recently The Old Testament and Process Theology.

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