Blessed Are You and All the Saints in Christ Jesus

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Blessed are you in Christ Jesus.  You are righteous and holy before God in Him, and the Kingdom of Heaven is yours in Him, because He who is the Blessed One has given Himself for you in love.

He has given Himself for you and for all the world, in order to redeem you from sin and death, to save you for Life everlasting with Himself, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, because He loves you with divine and holy Love.  He has taken your place and suffered all, even death, to deliver you from the condemnation of the Law and the punishment you deserve, and to give you Peace.

He has hungered and thirsted for you and your salvation, and so has He come to justify you with His own righteousness by His Cross and Resurrection.  He has come with divine compassion and with mercy.  He has come in gentleness and with purity of heart.  He has come to give to you His own inheritance as the Son of God; wherefore all the riches of heaven are yours in His Gospel.

He is merciful toward you.  He freely and fully forgives you all your sins.  He gives to you nothing less than Himself.  And because you have been united with Him in your Baptism, all that He is and all that He has is now yours.  As He has taken your place under the Law, so does He now give you His place at the Right Hand of His God and Father, even now within His Church on earth.

Everything that He has achieved, and all that He has become by His Cross and in His Resurrection from the dead, it is all for you.  He needed none of this for Himself, but He has moved to help you from His great heart of Love.  He has given His Life for you, in order to give you His own Life.

His place is your place, now and forever.  His Cross and Resurrection are yours by your Baptism in His Name.  His Ascension and His eternal Sabbath Rest are yours.  Your life is found in Him.  It is hidden with Christ in God, and it is safe and secure, it is steadfast and certain.  You belong to Christ Jesus, and this same Lord Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, belongs to you.  That is true.

But it is also true that, for now, you cannot see it with your eyes or feel it with your mortal senses.  You cannot see the resurrected Life of Christ Jesus in your body of flesh and bones.  You do not experience the Resurrection in your day-to-day life in this fallen and perishing world.  Or, rather, you do not recognize it when you experience it, because it comes by and with the Cross.  And so, you are beleaguered.  Too often you are weighed down by your own sins and by the sins of those around you.  You perceive that the world is filled with war and sickness and death; and you suffer, people persecute you.  Even your nearest and dearest loved ones may disappoint you, abandon you, or forget about you.  This is what seems true.  This is what seems to define your life.  But not so.

The Cross of Christ Jesus does not destroy you, for with His Cross He gives to you Himself.

It is by faith and not by sight.  You cannot recognize the Truth apart from the Word and Spirit of God.  But so does He speak His Word to you, and He pours out His Spirit upon you generously.  As He did in your Holy Baptism, so does He continue to do through His Gospel.  As often as your sins would accuse you, He speaks His Word of forgiveness, which does for you and gives to you what it says.  He does not count your sins against you.  He counts you righteous in Christ Jesus.

Though you are dying every day, death does not get to have you, nor does it get to have the last word concerning you.  You are alive in Christ Jesus.  And even when death wrecks your body, and you are laid in the ground, returning to the dust whence you were taken — even then you belong to Jesus, and He belongs to you.  As death could not hold Him, death cannot hold you, either.

It is by faith and not by sight.  And yet, it is true — for you and for your neighbor in Christ Jesus, though you cannot see it in your neighbor any more than you can see it in yourself.  When you look at your neighbor outwardly, you do not see Christ Jesus.  And when your neighbor deals with you, what you feel and experience with your senses is not the Lord Jesus Christ.  You see your neighbor in his sinfulness, and you would run from him.  Or you see your neighbor in her hurt and poverty, and so you would run from her.  You do not recognize that the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these, to these poor and little ones, these hurting ones, these needy ones.  You do not see Christ Jesus in your neighbor — except by the Word and Spirit of Christ, by faith in His Gospel.

You know what is true for your neighbor because of what Jesus has said concerning your neighbor.  And so, too, you love your neighbor for Christ Jesus’ sake, because He loves your neighbor, as He also loves you.  You count your neighbor, also, among those who have been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, because He has given Himself as the Ransom for many — the Ransom for all — for God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men’s trespasses against them.  You love your neighbor as the Lord loves you; and in loving your neighbor, you are loving Christ Jesus in your neighbor — and the same Lord Jesus is loving your neighbor through you.

Much the same thing is likewise true in the case of those who have gone before us in the faith, the saints we remember with thanksgiving on this night, who lived and died and now live forever in Christ Jesus, even as they now rest from their labors and their works do follow after them in Christ.  The vast majority of those blessed saints you have not known in this body and life — numberless thousands — and yet, they also belong to you, because they and you both belong to one Lord, Jesus Christ.  Together in Him, they and you are one “Blest Communion, Fellowship Divine.”

You and all the saints are knit together by the Blood of Christ, by the washing of the water with His Word and Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism.  You are one Body in Christ Jesus with all those who yet abide in faith in this life on earth, and no less so with those who have been called from this vale of tears to His nearer presence.  They are all your family.  For if you belong to the Lord Jesus, then you belong to His Family.  You cannot have Him by yourself or to yourself.  With Him you have all His many brothers and sisters, the whole Household of God.  They are all yours.  For God has given them to you, to bless you by their example, by their confession, and by their deeds of love.

There are so many who have gone before you in the faith and confession of Christ Jesus, who have faithfully received and handed over His Gospel from one generation to the next.  Mothers and fathers who have taught their children faithfully and well.  Pastors and teachers who have cared for the Lord’s flock by and with His Word.  Pious and faithful workers in the world who have served their neighbors within their callings and supported the Church and Ministry of the Gospel with their means.  Bold confessors who have spoken the Truth in the face of persecution, threats, and hardship.  Old and New Testament saints and believers.  Our fathers in the early church, our mothers in the Middle Ages, and the 16th-century reformers, Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz.  And countless poets, composers, musicians, and artists, who have adorned the Church with love.

All of these belong to you in the one Body of Christ Jesus.  And there are many, many more whom we do not even know.  And yet, they are all known by the same Lord who knows and loves you.

In those whose lives you do know, not only those from the distant past, but the saints who have gone before you within your personal history — the pastor who baptized you and catechized you — the teachers who have taught you — your mother and father, your grandparents — brothers and sisters in the family of faith.  These, too, have been given to you as examples of God’s mercy and faithfulness, and of the Christian faith and life under the Cross in the hope of the Resurrection.

These faithful men and women, boys and girls, young and old, are examples of perseverance in the midst of hardship.  Examples of steadfast service in their own place and time, even where their particular stations in life might not be so glamorous or popular.  The mother who takes care of her children.  The garbage collector who picks up everyone’s trash.  The janitor who sweeps up after everyone else has gone home.  The waitress who works to serve her customers, in order to support her family.  All of these are examples of faith and life, and you are strengthened by their example.

The Lord has not created you to live alone in isolation, as an island unto yourself.  He has created you to share His own holy Fellowship and divine Life — that of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit — the one true God who is Himself an eternal Communion of three Persons.  And He has called you by the Gospel into the one Body of Christ Jesus, to share in the Fellowship of all who believe and are baptized in His Name, in heaven and on earth.  In remembering them, in giving thanks to God for them, in considering their lives and their confession, your own faith and life are strengthened — because they all point you to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of the Faith.

It is Christ Jesus who is reflected in His saints.  It is Christ who shines through them upon you.

I’ve often compared the saints who have gone before us (and our remembrance of those saints) to our beautiful stained-glass windows here at Emmaus — which also depict some of those saints!  They offer some beautiful images of our Lord’s life in the Holy Gospels.  And His saints are such windows, also.  Myriad patterns and colors, different walks, different tongues, different names and locations, and yet the same golden Sunshine has beamed through each and every one of them to cast the Light of Christ upon you.  And He does the same thing for others through you, as well.

You also are a living stained-glass window for your neighbors.  You also are one of those in whom the Light of Christ Jesus is reflected, so that others see Christ in you — despite your frailties and flaws — because it does not depend on you; it depends upon Jesus, and He never falters or fails.

He shines upon your neighbor through your body and life in Him, even though you are still sinful and unclean; for your sin is not held against you, nor does it impede this Lamb of God, who has taken away your sin, from showing His mercy to others through you.  In the midst of suffering, sickness, and death, He sustains your faith, that you might be a witness and example to others; that you might confess by your words and deeds the glories of God in Christ Jesus; that your neighbor might see the Love of God in you, and give glory to Christ, to God and the Lamb upon the Throne.

It is true.  Even though you are often not (perhaps hardly ever) even aware of it.  At the Last Day, when the King shall come and the Shepherd divides His sheep from the goats, the sheep don’t come before Him with a checklist of all their good deeds.  They are surprised when they are told about their works of mercy; for they have done them naturally, because Christ has cared for them.

So does He likewise care for you, now and always.  As He has been faithful to the saints who have gone before us because He loves them, and because He so loves you, He is faithful to you, as well.

The One who has called you is faithful, St. Paul writes, and He will do according to all of His good promises.  Not one of them shall fail to come true.

“Lo, I am with you always,” He says.  The One who comes to be your Judge is the One who has given Himself for you.  He has become like you in every way.  Not only is He a true Man of flesh and blood like yours, but He is the Man who has suffered all the consequences of sin, including all of your sin.  A Man who has hungered and thirsted.  A Man who has gone to death to save you.

It is true that belonging to Him means that the Cross also is yours.  And there are days when the Cross is particularly weighty and painful.  But that Cross of your dear Lord Jesus Christ shall not crush you or destroy you.  For Jesus’ sake, you will not die but live.  For your Life is hidden with Christ in God.  Even your own sin cannot touch it.  Nor can the devil touch it.  And God’s own Law does not take it from you.  It is yours because Christ is yours by the Ministry of His Gospel.

You have not yet seen Him, and yet, by His grace, by His Word and Holy Spirit, you do believe in Him, and you love Him from a heart of faith.  And your hope in Him shall not be disappointed.  You will not be put to shame.  It has not yet appeared what you shall be, but at His appearing you shall be known, and you shall know Him, and you will be like Him.  And with His righteousness you will shine like the stars forever and ever, as do those who have gone before us in Christ Jesus.

To Him be all the honor and glory and praise, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

Glorifying Christ Jesus in the Lives of All His Saints

When the Reverend Wilhelm Löhe sent his first colony of Lutherans from Germany to settle in this country, having prepared them to establish the church and community of Frankenmuth (Michigan), he was hopeful that those faithful Lutherans would be able to evangelize the Native Americans: “You are my ‘epistle’ to the heathen,” he told them.  “For by your Christian way of life, and by your piety, the heathen will come to recognize how pleasant it is to have fellowship with Jesus.”

Pastor Löhe correctly understood that the Gospel is proclaimed — not only from the pulpit to the people of God already assembled around it — but also in the lives of His people out in the world.  For hearing and receiving the Gospel of Christ Jesus in the Liturgy, His dear people then also live that same Holy Gospel to the glory of His Holy Name in the midst of their neighbors on earth.

Throughout the history of the Church on earth, that is the most fundamental and important way in which Missions and Evangelism happen.  And so it was that a good number of American Indians were baptized as a direct result of the Frankenmuth colony.  But even apart from any such outward and observable “success,” the fact is that the Gospel of Christ Jesus is lived and confessed in the lives of His people.  And so do their bodies and lives continue to be His “epistle” to the world.

Thus are those 19th-century Lutherans of Frankenmuth part of the great cloud of witnesses with which we are surrounded, along with Dr. Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, and all the Lutheran Reformers of the 16th-century, and the faithful Christians of all times and places, including those we remember with thanksgiving at the Lord’s Altar here at Emmaus this morning, who with us are members of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God.

So reads the Letter to the Hebrews, concluding its commemoration of the Old Testament Saints who lived and died by faith in the promise of Christ Jesus.  They are set before us as examples, that we might find in them — and in all the faithful departed — a living demonstration of the Christian faith; that you should be encouraged in the race you still run, looking with them unto Christ Jesus.

The Feast of All Saints and the commemoration of those who have gone before us in the faith are not only appropriate and salutary observances, but they are very much in keeping with the Word of God.  As the people of God, belonging to the Body and Bride of Christ our Lord — as members of His Holy Church — we do not forget our fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, who have fought the good fight and finished their race on earth; we remember and give thanks for them.

We do not worship the saints who have gone before, nor do we have any command or promise of God concerning any sort of prayer to or for the faithful departed.  We put no faith or trust in them, but fear, love, and trust in the one true God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and find our hope in the one Lord, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer — just as all the saints have ever done.

But we do remember the faithful departed to the Glory of God in Christ Jesus, in accordance with the Holy Scriptures, and in the ways that our Lutheran Confessions attest and affirm.  Though we do not pray to the Saints for their assistance, we look to their faithful example for encouragement in our Christian faith and life.  We give thanks and praise to God for His grace and mercy toward them, and for all that He has granted to His Church on earth by way of their words and actions in this body and life.  And we rejoice in the living fellowship we have with them in Christ Jesus.

In all these ways, it is a given that our focus is fixed on Christ Jesus, who alone is All in All.  The saints are rightly honored when we look on them as living “stained-glass windows,” through whom the Light of Christ now shines upon us.  For their steadfast faith and good works are not a product of their own reason or strength, but the presence of Christ and the work of His Holy Spirit in them.

That is precisely to the point of the Beatitudes (or Blessings) of this morning’s Holy Gospel, those beautiful Words of our Lord from His Sermon on the Mount.  For they are first of all a description of Christ Jesus.  He is the One who, though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that He might obtain for you the Kingdom of Heaven.  He is the One who is truly gentle, meek, and mild, who by His death redeemed the entire earth.  He is the Merciful One, who is Mercy itself; He is the Peacemaker, who has accomplished a true and lasting Peace between God and man.  He is the only-begotten Son of God, who was reviled and persecuted for the sake of righteousness, that He might earn for you a very great reward and freely bestow all the blessings of heaven upon you.

By the same token, the Beatitudes are also a description, not only of Christ Jesus, but of those who find their life and hope in Him.  He speaks in the plural throughout, thereby revealing that all of His blessings are given to His people, as well.  And so, for example, in the faithful departed we see that blessed reflection of Christ Jesus Himself, because He lives His divine and holy life in them and through them.  We follow and draw strength from their example, because it is His.

What is more, and most wondrous of all, as you are thus encouraged and strengthened in your faith and life in Christ, you also now find in the Beatitudes a description of the life that Christ Jesus lives in and through you.  For by grace through faith in Him, you also are a living reflection of the Lord Jesus Christ for others, that He might bless your neighbors through your example.  As Jesus clearly says, “Blessed are you when you suffer for My sake.”  For His Life has become yours.

For the time being, of course, the blessed life that you have in Christ Jesus includes His Cross and Suffering, just as it has for those who have gone before us in the faith and confession of His Name.  But you may greatly rejoice even in this, because it is a participation in the Cross of Christ Jesus.  And if you suffer and die with Him, you know that you shall also rise and live with Him, as well.

As you struggle though this life under the Cross on your pilgrimage to heaven, you do well to find comfort and strength in the witness and example of the faithful departed of all times and places.  Not only are their lives and good works a confession of the Christian faith, but their victory in Christ Jesus over death and the grave is a powerful witness, even as you struggle feebly on.

Not only that, but you already share in the heavenly fellowship of that great cloud of witnesses, especially as you are gathered together here at the Lord’s Altar for the Holy Communion.  For here in this place, week after week, year after year, the Lord Himself, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, tabernacles with you in the Flesh.  He is here to feed you with Himself, to join Himself to you and bind you to Himself — not only in some sort of abstract “spiritual” sense, but in the truly Spiritual fact of His own Body given for you and His Blood poured out for you.

Christ Jesus is here present with you and for you; and wherever Christ is, there is the greatest glory and blessing of heaven itself.  Indeed, in the words of one beautiful hymn, heaven itself would be void and bare if not for the presence of Christ Jesus.  But He is present here in the Sacrament of His Altar, granting you the forgiveness of all your sins, and so also His Life and Salvation in body and soul.  And because all those who have departed in the faith and confession of Christ Jesus are with Him forever, you can rejoice in their presence here with you, as well, closer than ever in Him.

As Pastor Löhe expressed it so beautifully: “To me it is such a joyous thought that I am not alone, that I do not travel by myself, but that I am accompanied on my pilgrimage through the valley of the shadow by a communion of believers.  Right in the midst of this life’s barren wilderness, this thought can dissolve all sorrow in forgetfulness.  Yet, this communion of saints is no mere thought but an unshakable certainty.  I know from the mouth of God that I am not alone.  I rejoice over this from the bottom of my heart.  Unfortunately, though, my joy is not unmixed with sorrow, for death takes away many whom I love.  Like candles, one after another in the bright circle of my friends goes out, the empty places turn dark, and seldom does another star fill the dark void.  This brings pain and longing.  But I do not forget that these brethren of whom I speak are just hidden from my sight and have been placed in higher positions in the Kingdom of God.  Those who live in the Lord and those who, while out of the body, abide in Him; those who are still pilgrims and those who are already home; those who walk by faith and those who walk by sight — these are not two separated flocks, but one: one before God, and one according to their own consciousness” in Christ Jesus.

It truly is meet, right, and salutary, therefore, that the Liturgy of Christ here on earth unites us with all the company of heaven, as we are also gathered around the Lamb upon His Throne.  Indeed, He feeds you here at His Altar with a gracious Foretaste of that same Wedding Feast which they eat and drink in His Kingdom without end.  Thus do we rightly sing with All Saints and Angels the majestic hymn that is chanted forever in heaven: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, who was and is and is to come.  Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.  Blessed is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!”

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Awaiting the Appearance of Christ in Hope

Behold the host arrayed in white!  And fix your eyes on Jesus!

But that is easier said than done.  On the Day of His appearing you shall see Him as He is, because you shall be like Him.  But for now it has not yet appeared what you shall be.  And though you are surrounded by so great cloud of witnesses, all the Prophets and Apostles, the holy martyrs, and all the saints — all the faithful who have departed in Christ Jesus — for now you cannot see them.

What you behold is not the Resurrection, not the glorious life of heaven, but the Cross, suffering, sin and death, and all the trials and temptations of the great tribulation.  That is what you see in your neighbor, even where it's not!  And that is what you see and experience in yourself, in your mortal flesh and blood, in this poor life of labor.  That is what you behold especially in those whom you have loved in this life on earth, who have died, who are now but dust or ashes, hidden away in boxes.  Their bodies and their life in Christ Jesus are out of sight, invisible to your senses.

Often as not, what you perceive and feel is emptiness, loss and sorrow, the pain of separation, doubt and fear and uncertainty; which scare you all the more because your faith is threatened and you are tempted to despair, or else tempted to become cold and harsh and hard.  Cynicism creeps in where the catholic faith ought to hold sway, and you are tossed about within and without.

Beloved of the Lord, do not despair, and do not lose heart.  Though it does not yet appear to be so, you are a beloved and well-pleasing child of God in Christ Jesus; and at the last He shall appear, and He shall stand upon the earth, the Crucified and Risen Lord, and every eye shall see Him.  And you also, with your own eyes, from your own risen and glorified body, shall see Him as He is.

Because you are a child of God in Him, by the grace and waters of your Holy Baptism, so shall you be like Him: righteous and holy, innocent and beautiful, never to die again, but alive forevermore. Your body shall no longer be tired or sore, frail or falling apart, but immortal and imperishable, glorious indeed, like unto His own glorious Body.  This is most certainly true.

But for this present time, you fix your hope on Jesus — a sure and certain hope — not with your eyes, but with your ears, by the hearing of His Word and promise in the Gospel.  By repentant faith, and not by sight.  By the confession of His Name in the face of sin, death, and hell.  By the daily remembrance of your Baptism, and by the eating of His Body and the drinking of His Blood.

Thus are you cleansed, both body and soul, with the pure waters of life which flow from the riven side of Christ, the Lamb who has been slain.  Your ears hear and receive His Gospel, His Word of forgiveness, and the gracious outpouring of His Holy Spirit.  Your heart believes, and with your mouth you confess, you eat and you drink.

And for all of that, your eyes do not yet see the risen, exalted, all-glorious Christ Jesus.  You see Him, instead, as the Crucified One — in the hurts and heartaches of this mortal life in a fallen, sinful world.  You see the Cross all around you in the curse of sin and death.  And it is likewise the Cross that you behold in the Ministry of the Gospel, since it is the Gospel of the Cross.

What, then, shall you say and do in response to these things?

Fix your hope on Christ the Crucified by hearing and confessing His Word of the Cross, ironic as that seems.  Return to the significance of your Baptism by contrition and repentance, confession and absolution. And proclaim His death in the confidence of His Resurrection, until He shall appear in glory, by eating His Body and drinking His Blood in faith and with thanksgiving.

And as you share His death by your Holy Baptism in His Name, and as you receive His sacrificial body and blood into your own mouth and body in the Holy Communion, so also rejoice when you are counted worthy to bear and carry His Cross in your vocations and stations in life.

When your eyes behold the hurt and heartache of your neighbor, then behold Christ the Crucified in him or her, and fix your hope on Jesus by helping as you can in the confidence and confession of the resurrection of the body.  That sure and certain hope puts all things into perspective, for the sufferings and death of the body are neither insignificant nor final.

It is in the faith and promise of the Lord’s own bodily resurrection from the dead that you love and serve and care for your neighbor's body while you can.  And it is in the hope of the resurrection that you lay to rest the bodies of your loved ones who have departed in the faith of Christ Jesus.

Blessed are they who die thus — in the Lord — for they rest from their labors, and their works of faith and love do follow after them in Christ.

So do your works of faith and love likewise follow after you in Christ Jesus.  Your good works do not lead the way, but they do follow after, as you live and walk in the way of Christ, your Savior.

Already here and now, as you are given to bear the Cross in this poor life of labor, you are like Him who bore your sins in His own body on the Cross.  Indeed, He made Himself to be like you, so that you should thus become a son of God in Him, by grace through faith in His redemption.

He has borne your poverty, in order that you should receive the inheritance and all the riches of His heavenly kingdom.  He has come down from heaven to earth in gentleness and meekness, in flesh and blood like yours, even unto death, so that all of creation is redeemed, made new, and sanctified in His crucified and resurrected body.  And just as He is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity at the Right Hand of the Father, so it is that, even here on earth, while yet on your pilgrimage, you also are at home with God the Father through faith in Christ, His Son.

The same Lord Jesus Christ has compassion on you.  He has mourned for you and for your loved ones, and He has died for you and for all.  So are you comforted in Him who is your Resurrection and your Life everlasting.  For He has reconciled you to His God and Father by His Cross, and He grants you His peace, such as the world cannot give, with His forgiveness of your sins.  He feeds your deepest hunger, He quenches your deepest thirst, and with His grace and mercy toward you He purifies you through His Ministry of the Gospel, day in and day out, throughout your life.

When you are persecuted and accused of all kinds of evil, and when you are insulted for the sake of Christ, and if it comes down to it that you are even put to death for His Name’s sake, rejoice and be glad.  For He has also been persecuted for the sake of righteousness; He has been insulted, falsely accused, and put to death upon the Cross.  So, too, His Prophets and Apostles, His martyrs and all His saints, indeed, all of His disciples who take up the Cross and follow after Him.

So also shall you and all those who bear the Cross, who suffer and die with Christ Jesus, rise with Him, as well.  Even though you die, yet shall you live, and you shall never die again forever.

To be gathered here around the Lamb upon His throne, around His Altar in the Tabernacle of His Church, is to worship and confess Him by faith.  Neither you nor the world can yet see Him here, and yet you love Him because He has first loved you.  He has given Himself for you.  He has died for you and risen for you.  He is here with you, a very present Help in the midst of every trouble; and He shall never leave you nor forsake you.  As your heavenly Bridegroom, He gives Himself to you here and now, and He abides with you, that you may live and abide in Him forevermore.

That is the sure and certain hope that you confess, and that is the new song that you sing — with the voice of His Word and Holy Spirit — when you remember and give thanks for the saints who have gone before you in the faith of Christ.  You set the Word of His Gospel, His Cross, and His Resurrection, against the apparent devastation and finality of sin and death.  You boldly declare that, not these temporal and perishing things, but Christ the Lord is trustworthy and true.

It truly is meet, right, and salutary so to do.

In the great tribulation of the Cross, you also have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.  Your nakedness is clothed and your shame is covered by the white robes of His perfect righteousness.  And here at His Altar, in the company of angels and archangels and all the host of heaven, with the great cloud of witnesses who surely do surround us, though hidden from your eyes, you drink the blood of that same Lamb and eat His flesh.  His blood shelters and protects you, and His flesh nourishes and strengthens you in body and soul, even through the wilderness and in the deep, dark valley of the shadow of death, unto the resurrection of your body and the life everlasting.

Even now, by His means of grace, by His Gospel–Word and Sacrament, your body, soul, and spirit live safely and securely in His Body.  For so it is that all the saints of God, in heaven and on earth, live and move within the Body of Christ, the Lamb who was slain, and yet, behold, He lives!

It is this same Lamb who is also your Good Shepherd, who willingly laid down His life for you and all His sheep, and who took it up again, that you should have abundant life in Him.  As He has done all that, do not doubt that He will also freely give you all good things.  As He leads you by the quiet waters of your Holy Baptism and through the lush green pastures of His Word to His Table in His House, so shall He surely raise you up in glory at the last, to live with Him eternally.

Do not be ashamed of the tears that you cry in the here and now, whether of joy or sadness.  These, too, are sanctified by the tears of Christ and redeemed by His Cross.  But do know this, dear child of God, that in the resurrection He shall dry your tears once and for all.  No longer will you mourn or weep.  No longer will you hunger or thirst.  No longer will you suffer the ravages of heat or the bitter cold.  No longer will you hurt or have your heart broken in any way.

Then, at last, and ever after, you shall see Him as He is, and you shall be like Him, and you shall live with Him in the glorious Kingdom of His God and Father, sanctified by His Holy Spirit.

In that sure and certain hope, in the Word and promise of Christ Jesus, eat and drink the foretaste of that Glory here and now.  Taste and see that He is very good, whose mercy endures forever.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

You Live as Christ Lives

By your Holy Baptism into Christ Jesus, you have received the gracious adoption of sons, so that you are God’s own child, and He is your true Father. Though it is yet hidden from even your own eyes and senses, you have been signed with the Cross of Christ and sealed with His Holy Spirit, so that you also have life and salvation in Him. And, as you thus belong to Him, so has your Baptism situated you within the Holy Communion of His Body, the Church; even as you are given to eat His holy Body and to drink His precious Blood, for the forgiveness of all your sins, and for the cleansing of your body and soul, within and without.

Belonging to the Body of Christ, and bearing the sign of His Cross upon your body, upon your forehead and your heart, you have been set upon the pilgrims’ way. Your Baptism has given you a new identity in Christ Jesus, and it is not of this world. The world does not know you, dear Christian, because it does not know Him who has anointed you and named you after Himself. Here, then, in this fallen world, you are a stranger in a strange land. For this is not your true home, and this is not your fatherland. But your true home is in Christ with your Father in heaven.

In this life on earth, as a baptized Christian, you are on a journey — one with many twists and turns, and ups and downs — in the midst of a great tribulation. It is a narrow way, often dark, and painful: Like the pain of labor and delivery for both mother and child, and like the dark and narrow chamber of the grave. It is the tribulation of the Cross that weighs upon you, and works in you both death and life. Because it is the daily journey of repentance, on which your old Adam is put to death in you, crucified and buried.

But the journey does not end in death. Weeping may remain for a night — and that may be a long, dark night, indeed — but there is joy in the morning of the Lord’s Resurrection, and day by day He wipes away every tear from your eyes. He forgives your sins, raises you up from death, and gives you life in Himself. So the Cross that you bear is not only the death of your old Adam, but it also becomes the burden of love and forgiveness that you bear for your neighbor in Christ.

So there is the Cross and burden of both death and life, but both of these belong to the journey; neither is yet your destination. Already there is a Sabbath Rest for you in Christ, even in the midst of all your labors. And even now He leads you and guides you to the springs of the water of life in the Ministry of the Gospel. But there shall down a still more glorious Day — the eternal Eighth Day of the Resurrection — when all your burdens shall be no more, and you shall rest from your labors in the endless joy and felicity of Christ Jesus.

That Peace and Rest in Christ — in the face of sin and death — is the promise and hope to which we cling, and which we celebrate in the witness of the faithful departed. In the death of those who die in the Lord, we recognize not defeat, but victory; not a tragic ending, but a blessed sleep. We dare to say of dust and bones, that these shall be raised and live in glory. For the First-fruits of the Resurrection have already been offered to God in the Body of Christ Jesus. He has gone up the Mountain and taken His seat at the Right Hand of the Father, and so do His works follow Him: His disciples from all the nations, from many tribes and tongues and peoples, all who believe and are baptized into Him; they come to Him in peace, and the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

So do we rightly dare to say and confess concerning you, also, even though your mortal flesh already reeks of death and the grave, and despite the fact that all of your best efforts and most righteous works are dust and bones. But we boldly confess that you shall from death and live forever in glory, because you are surely cleansed and covered and clothed by the Blood of the Lamb. For He has taken your mortal flesh to be His own, and He has taken all your sins upon Himself, and He has been sacrificed for you. See, His Blood now marks the door of this House, where you have been given a home with His God and Father. And His paschal Blood permeates the waters of your Baptism, whereby you are washed and vested in the white robes His perfect righteousness. He has redeemed you with His life, and He has reconciled you to the Father in His Resurrection from the dead. Now He also feeds you with His crucified and risen flesh, and He pours out His Blood for you to drink, that you might have His Life in you, not only in your soul, but in your body. As death could not hold Him, neither shall it have any final claim on you.

That is the endurance with which you run the race that is set before you. His Cross and Resurrection are your courage in the face of sin and death. His Body and His Blood are your food for the journey: your Manna in the wilderness, your water from the Rock. His Righteousness is your strength, His forgiveness your peace, and His Gospel your life and light and salvation.

Therefore, do not die within yourself — do not lose heart or give up hope — but live, as Christ lives. Pursue the path that the Lord your God has set you upon. Be content with your own particular calling, and fulfill it faithfully, whether it be great or small. Bear the Cross in love for your neighbor. Be patient, and persevere in the faith of Christ. For you are a son of God in Him, and He has honored you with His own life-giving Spirit.

As your hope is in Him — and your life, your health and strength are in Him — purify yourself in Him, just as He is pure. That is to say, live by the grace of the Gospel. Forgive those who trespass against you, just as you are forgiven all your sins by your Father in heaven, for Jesus’ sake. Humble yourself before Him, and so deal with your neighbor in humility and gentleness. Have mercy upon your fellow sinners, as upon your fellow Christians, and, so far as it depends upon you, be at peace with all people. Swallow your pride, and make the first move to apologize, to make amends, and to be reconciled with your neighbor.

As you are comforted by Christ in your sadness, comfort those who mourn. Call them, or write to them, or visit them if you are able. Remember those who are hurting, not only in and with your prayers, but with the balm of your kind words and your presence in their anguish. Feed your neighbor, not only with food and drink, but with whatever means the Lord has generously provided you, for whatever needs your neighbor may have in heart, mind, body or soul.

And do not resent the needs and weaknesses of those you are given to help, as though you had any strength or sufficiency of your own — when, in fact, you having nothing but the charity of God. Therefore, pursue righteousness, not with the force of the Law, but by the Gospel of the Cross.

That is the pilgrims’ way, and that is the race that is set before you. That is the journey of your Baptism — through death into life with Christ Jesus, your Lord.

Beloved, take to heart that you are not alone on this journey. Surely the Lord Himself is with you always, as He has promised. But consider the ways and means by which He accompanies you and abides with you, and realize that, precisely in Him, you are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. There is the testimony and the evidence of the saints who have gone before you in the faith of the Gospel, as well as the witness of those who love and serve you within their own vocations now. As you are given to care for your neighbor, so do your brothers and sisters in Christ care for you.

Not only the saints in heaven, but the whole Church in heaven and on earth is gathered before the Throne of God in His Temple, to worship the Lamb in the center of the Throne. For He who is both perfect God and perfect Man, who was crucified for your transgressions, and raised for your justification — who was sacrificed for you, and yet, behold, He lives — He fills all things and unites all of the children of God in Himself. While He ever lives to intercede for you at the Right Hand of His Father, so does He also serve you in His Church on earth. For He is the One who preaches and teaches, who baptizes and absolves, and who communes you with His Body and His Blood. He is the great Good Shepherd who spreads His Tabernacle over you, even as He is your merciful and great High Priest, who brings you to His own dear God and Father in peace and love.

Fix your eyes and ears, your heart and mind on Him: on Jesus, your Savior. You see and hear Him in His saints, not by their own merits, but according to His mercy, because He is their Life — as He is also yours. So, too, their example and their faithfulness, by His grace, point you to the Gospel. For it is the Gospel of Christ Jesus that their lips and their lives have confessed.

Everything flows from Him, returns to Him, and centers in Him. For He is the Author and Perfecter of faith and life, and the Firstborn of many brethren: by His Incarnation, by His Baptism, by His Life and Ministry, by His Cross and Resurrection, and now also by the preaching and administration of the Gospel in His Name and stead.

Everything that was necessary for you to have life and salvation with God, this dear Lamb the Lord Jesus, has done and accomplished for you: not only on your behalf, but in such a way that everything He has done is credited to you, and given to you, so that it actually becomes yours. In fact, it is already yours, by His grace, through faith in the Gospel. Because He gives you nothing less than Himself in and with and through the Gospel.

Your strength is in Him — and it is an all-sufficient strength, which is not defeated but made perfect in weakness. That can be frustrating and discouraging, because it is so contrary to your instincts, and so foreign to the wisdom of the world. It seems foolish and helpless. That is the way of the Cross. On the one hand, it appears so weak and impotent, while on the other hand it crucifies you and puts you to death. But out of this great divine paradox — and out of this great tribulation — the Cross releases you from sin and death, and sets you free to live with Christ Jesus. In fact, by the Gospel of forgiveness — this weak and foolish charity and compassion of God — from His own Cross and Passion, He gives to you His own Resurrection, and His Life.

That’s right: His Victory over death and the grave is your Victory. His Resurrection and His Righteousness are yours. And His Life is yours. Indeed, everything that belongs to Him, now belongs to you, by His grace. It is given to you freely, by and with and in His Gospel. And not even death shall be able to snatch it from you; no more than death can snatch you from Him.

That is what we celebrate in this Feast of All Saints. For here you also are gathered with that great throng of witnesses, robed in white, encircling the Lamb once slain. Just as He is risen from the dead, and lives and reigns to all eternity, so shall you not die, but live.

For you are in Him, and He abides in you and with you. He surrounds you round about, supports you as a firm foundation, and shelters you with Himself as a strong shield.

Though you struggle and suffer, and you are crucified, dead and buried, you share the Lord’s Resurrection and His Life — even as you eat His Body and drink His Blood. And you are knit together with all His saints in the fellowship of His Church in heaven and on earth. You are bound together, in Him and with Him, in His flesh and blood, with all those who have gone before you in the faith and Baptism of Jesus.

Though it does not yet appear what you shall be, it is already true in Him, and when He appears, then you shall see Him as He is, and you shall be like Him: glorious with His glory, immortal, imperishable, and fully alive forever and ever.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.