Illustrations for All Saints Day (2023)
Illustration
Revelation 7:9-17
A 2022 Stress in America survey found that a majority of adults (62%) disagreed with the statement, “our children are going to inherit a better world than we did,” and 63% disagreed with the statement, “I feel our country is on the path to being stronger than ever.” We obviously need a fresh start, hope for new beginnings. Famed New Testament scholar Rudolf Bultmann contended that the promises of the end times like in this text need to be interpreted in light of present realities. The real point of these images is to give us hope for and openness to the future, so we are no longer chained by the past and present fears. He explains the matter this way:
If it is true that the Christian faith involves free openness to the future, then it is freedom from anxiety in the face of the nothing. For this freedom nobody can decide of his own will; it can only be given in faith. Faith as openness to the future is freedom from the past, because it is faith in the forgiveness of sins; it is freedom from the enslaving chains of the past. (Jesus Christ and Mythology, pp.77-78)
We need to be always on guard for the future, for the kingdom of God which changes everything. The kingdom can come to all and comes all the time. Martin Luther taught us that:
How does this [the kingdom of God] come about? Answer: Whenever our Heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit, so that through his grace we believe his holy word and live godly lives here in time and hereafter in eternity. (The Book of Concord [2000 edition], pp.356-357)
Mark E.
* * *
Revelation 7:9-17
In this great scene from Revelation 7, the immense concourse of people is described in these terms: nation, tongue, people, and tribe. These words have specific meanings. This crowd beyond counting, made visible to John the revelator, is meant to include all the martyrs. But the four different words, which can be synonyms, are also used to denote subtle differences. For this installment of Emphasis, I especially concentrated on the newly published Cambridge Greek Lexicon.
Nation (ethnos) can be used for a swarm of bees or a flock of birds, a group of people connected by a common attribute, descended from a common ancestor – but also used sometimes to describe outsiders from an insider’s point of view. People who are not us.
Tongue (glosson) means literally tongue, as what we speak with or a delicacy served at banquets, but it also refers to people specifically united by a language, or a special dialect of that common language.
People (laon) is similar to nation or tribe but can refer to “the natives” of a region, who may not be the rulers, or people under a common leader or a geographic identity.
Tribe (phulon) refers to a tribe, race, nation, or creed. In the context of God’s people, there were twelve tribes of Israel, the tribe of priests, and others sharing both genetics and history.
Frank R.
* * *
1 John 3:1-3
Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not been revealed.
This verse reminds me we’re not done growing up spiritually. Now when it comes to kids, we often ask them to stand up against the wall while we make a mark with a pencil, writing the date next to it. Some of these walls have many sets of marks, and different names. There can be a lot of history there.
Things could happen to that wall, so we try to protect it. Sometimes the very existence of those marks prevents us from ever painting those walls, or even moving. It becomes a sacred monument that must be preserved at all costs.
Or maybe we have to move, for whatever reason, and leave this precious record behind. Someone else is going to paint it over, someone to whom these memories mean nothing.
Or maybe one of the kids will erase the marks themselves, no longer wishing to be connected to this record.
Change is part of life, and letting go of what seems precious is what happens, whether we plan for it or not. I hate losing connection to things like this, but John reminds us – what we will be has not been revealed – but we are changing. We are growing. We are God’s children, and what we are becoming is eternal. Someday every mark on the wall, every photograph, every trophy, every memento, will meaningless except as an archaeological curiosity to people who have no emotional connection with us. Ah, but John wants us to know that in God’s time “…we will be like him, for we will see God as God truly is.”
And no one is erasing that.
Frank R.
* * *
1 John 3:1-3
French impressionist painter Auguste Renoir was confined to his home during the last decade of his life due to crippling rheumatoid arthritis. One of his best friends was Henri Matisse, who visited him often. Renoir’s affliction was constant, but he continued to paint. To do so, he had to clamp his brush between his thumb and index finger. Some have observed that as he painted, he would cry out in pain.
It is said that one day as Matisse watched the elder painter work in his studio, fighting torturous pain with each brush stroke, he blurted out, “Auguste, why do you continue to paint when you are in such agony?” Renoir said, “The pain passes but the beauty remains.”
That story resonated with me as I thought about this passage. The world did not know Jesus and it treated him poorly. The world does not know Christians and yet we are children of God and becoming what he wants us to be. When the pain of this life passes, the beauty of being like Jesus will remain. What a wonderful hope for all of us.
Bill T.
* * *
Matthew 5:1-12
In the spring of 1965, several weeks before the Rolling Stones were to begin their third North American tour, Keith Richards suddenly sat up, turned on a tape recorder and played what Newsweek magazine would later call “five notes that changed the world.” It was the introduction to the song that would become the band’s first number one hit, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.”
The story behind that song is fairly well documented and intriguing. What is also interesting is the lyrics to the song itself. Keith Richards and Mick Jagger worked together to attack the modern world in fierce, cutting, and sometimes crude language. Truly, in 1965, the Rolling Stones could get no satisfaction.
The Rolling Stones number one song stands in stark contrast to the lifestyle Jesus describes in Matthew 5. Where the Stones could find no satisfaction in anything, the follower of Jesus is “blessed” or “contented” by living a life like that of Jesus. Being “poor in spirit,” “meek,” “merciful,” and “pure in heart” leads to a satisfying and blessed life. The choice and contrast could not be any clearer. Will you live life echoing the Rolling Stones, “I can’t get no satisfaction” or will you find peace and meaning living the life of the beatitudes? The choice is yours.
Bill T.
* * *
Matthew 5:1-12
The expectations of the beatitudes, seeming to expect the followers of Jesus to renounce a lot of good things, are mind-boggling, a challenge to what we believe, feel, and think about how to succeed in life. Preaching on this text, St. Augustine speaks to these perceptions, referring here to how God breaks down our hearts and enters our minds in order to take possession of our hearts (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.6, p.267) The beatitudes teach us to get away from ourselves and to see things God’s way. Martin Luther made this clear in a comment on this text:
So, you see that everything depends on the Word of God. Whatever is included in that and goes in accordance with it, must be classed clear, pure, and white as snow before both God and man... whatever God does and ordains must be pure and good. For he makes nothing impure, and he consecrates everything through the word which he has attached to every station and creature. (Luther’s Works, Vol.21, p,35)
The beatitudes describe a way of being in which things are in balance, the things that pass away don’t count much. Jesus says when that happens you feel blessed and happy. This is in line with the modern American Catholic writer Thomas Merton who once said, “Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm, and harmony.”
Mark E.
A 2022 Stress in America survey found that a majority of adults (62%) disagreed with the statement, “our children are going to inherit a better world than we did,” and 63% disagreed with the statement, “I feel our country is on the path to being stronger than ever.” We obviously need a fresh start, hope for new beginnings. Famed New Testament scholar Rudolf Bultmann contended that the promises of the end times like in this text need to be interpreted in light of present realities. The real point of these images is to give us hope for and openness to the future, so we are no longer chained by the past and present fears. He explains the matter this way:
If it is true that the Christian faith involves free openness to the future, then it is freedom from anxiety in the face of the nothing. For this freedom nobody can decide of his own will; it can only be given in faith. Faith as openness to the future is freedom from the past, because it is faith in the forgiveness of sins; it is freedom from the enslaving chains of the past. (Jesus Christ and Mythology, pp.77-78)
We need to be always on guard for the future, for the kingdom of God which changes everything. The kingdom can come to all and comes all the time. Martin Luther taught us that:
How does this [the kingdom of God] come about? Answer: Whenever our Heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit, so that through his grace we believe his holy word and live godly lives here in time and hereafter in eternity. (The Book of Concord [2000 edition], pp.356-357)
Mark E.
* * *
Revelation 7:9-17
In this great scene from Revelation 7, the immense concourse of people is described in these terms: nation, tongue, people, and tribe. These words have specific meanings. This crowd beyond counting, made visible to John the revelator, is meant to include all the martyrs. But the four different words, which can be synonyms, are also used to denote subtle differences. For this installment of Emphasis, I especially concentrated on the newly published Cambridge Greek Lexicon.
Nation (ethnos) can be used for a swarm of bees or a flock of birds, a group of people connected by a common attribute, descended from a common ancestor – but also used sometimes to describe outsiders from an insider’s point of view. People who are not us.
Tongue (glosson) means literally tongue, as what we speak with or a delicacy served at banquets, but it also refers to people specifically united by a language, or a special dialect of that common language.
People (laon) is similar to nation or tribe but can refer to “the natives” of a region, who may not be the rulers, or people under a common leader or a geographic identity.
Tribe (phulon) refers to a tribe, race, nation, or creed. In the context of God’s people, there were twelve tribes of Israel, the tribe of priests, and others sharing both genetics and history.
Frank R.
* * *
1 John 3:1-3
Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not been revealed.
This verse reminds me we’re not done growing up spiritually. Now when it comes to kids, we often ask them to stand up against the wall while we make a mark with a pencil, writing the date next to it. Some of these walls have many sets of marks, and different names. There can be a lot of history there.
Things could happen to that wall, so we try to protect it. Sometimes the very existence of those marks prevents us from ever painting those walls, or even moving. It becomes a sacred monument that must be preserved at all costs.
Or maybe we have to move, for whatever reason, and leave this precious record behind. Someone else is going to paint it over, someone to whom these memories mean nothing.
Or maybe one of the kids will erase the marks themselves, no longer wishing to be connected to this record.
Change is part of life, and letting go of what seems precious is what happens, whether we plan for it or not. I hate losing connection to things like this, but John reminds us – what we will be has not been revealed – but we are changing. We are growing. We are God’s children, and what we are becoming is eternal. Someday every mark on the wall, every photograph, every trophy, every memento, will meaningless except as an archaeological curiosity to people who have no emotional connection with us. Ah, but John wants us to know that in God’s time “…we will be like him, for we will see God as God truly is.”
And no one is erasing that.
Frank R.
* * *
1 John 3:1-3
French impressionist painter Auguste Renoir was confined to his home during the last decade of his life due to crippling rheumatoid arthritis. One of his best friends was Henri Matisse, who visited him often. Renoir’s affliction was constant, but he continued to paint. To do so, he had to clamp his brush between his thumb and index finger. Some have observed that as he painted, he would cry out in pain.
It is said that one day as Matisse watched the elder painter work in his studio, fighting torturous pain with each brush stroke, he blurted out, “Auguste, why do you continue to paint when you are in such agony?” Renoir said, “The pain passes but the beauty remains.”
That story resonated with me as I thought about this passage. The world did not know Jesus and it treated him poorly. The world does not know Christians and yet we are children of God and becoming what he wants us to be. When the pain of this life passes, the beauty of being like Jesus will remain. What a wonderful hope for all of us.
Bill T.
* * *
Matthew 5:1-12
In the spring of 1965, several weeks before the Rolling Stones were to begin their third North American tour, Keith Richards suddenly sat up, turned on a tape recorder and played what Newsweek magazine would later call “five notes that changed the world.” It was the introduction to the song that would become the band’s first number one hit, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.”
The story behind that song is fairly well documented and intriguing. What is also interesting is the lyrics to the song itself. Keith Richards and Mick Jagger worked together to attack the modern world in fierce, cutting, and sometimes crude language. Truly, in 1965, the Rolling Stones could get no satisfaction.
The Rolling Stones number one song stands in stark contrast to the lifestyle Jesus describes in Matthew 5. Where the Stones could find no satisfaction in anything, the follower of Jesus is “blessed” or “contented” by living a life like that of Jesus. Being “poor in spirit,” “meek,” “merciful,” and “pure in heart” leads to a satisfying and blessed life. The choice and contrast could not be any clearer. Will you live life echoing the Rolling Stones, “I can’t get no satisfaction” or will you find peace and meaning living the life of the beatitudes? The choice is yours.
Bill T.
* * *
Matthew 5:1-12
The expectations of the beatitudes, seeming to expect the followers of Jesus to renounce a lot of good things, are mind-boggling, a challenge to what we believe, feel, and think about how to succeed in life. Preaching on this text, St. Augustine speaks to these perceptions, referring here to how God breaks down our hearts and enters our minds in order to take possession of our hearts (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.6, p.267) The beatitudes teach us to get away from ourselves and to see things God’s way. Martin Luther made this clear in a comment on this text:
So, you see that everything depends on the Word of God. Whatever is included in that and goes in accordance with it, must be classed clear, pure, and white as snow before both God and man... whatever God does and ordains must be pure and good. For he makes nothing impure, and he consecrates everything through the word which he has attached to every station and creature. (Luther’s Works, Vol.21, p,35)
The beatitudes describe a way of being in which things are in balance, the things that pass away don’t count much. Jesus says when that happens you feel blessed and happy. This is in line with the modern American Catholic writer Thomas Merton who once said, “Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm, and harmony.”
Mark E.
