All the Saints

November 5, 2023 homily on Revelation 7:9-17 by Pastor Galen for All Saints Sunday

“After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.” – Revelation 7:9

A few weeks ago, Eboni and I had the opportunity to visit the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first permanent community of African-American Catholic sisters in the United States. The Oblate Sisters were founded by Mary Elizabeth Lange in 1829 right here in Baltimore, and today they’re located right outside of Baltimore, in Catonsville. 

The founder, Mary Lange, was born on a small island in the Caribbean in 1789 and immigrated to the United States in the early 1800’s, eventually settling in the Fell’s Point neighborhood of Baltimore. It was there that she opened a school in her home for African-American children. Soon after that, she accepted the invitation to establish a women’s religious order for women of African descent with the primary purpose of the Catholic education of girls. Upon receiving the invitation, Mary Lange said that she had felt called to consecrate her life to God and she had been waiting for God to show her exactly how God wanted her to serve.

In addition to schools, Mary and the other sisters conducted evening classes for women, vocational and career training, and established homes for widows and orphans. They even established mission work in several foreign countries. During the cholera outbreak of 1832, Mary Lange and the other sisters voluntarily risked their lives serving the victims of cholera.

Mother Mary Lange is someone we might think of as a “saint.” Indeed, after her death, many Catholics began to venerate her as such, and in recent years there has been a movement to have her officially recognized as a saint by the Vatican.

A Multitude of Saints

In Revelation chapter 7, John the Revelator has a vision of a multitude of people, so many people that no one can count them, consisting of people from every nation, tribe, people group, and language, standing together before God’s throne, wearing white robes, and holding palm branches in their hands. 

In a loud voice, they proclaim, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Rev. 7:10). We learn that this multitude of people were those who had been through a “great ordeal” (Rev. 7:14 NRSV) — otherwise called “the great tribulation” (Rev. 7:14 MSG), but that they had “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14b). 

In other words, these are followers of Christ who have given their lives in the service of Jesus. Indeed, we might call them “saints.”  This multitude of saints had endured persecution, imprisonment, perhaps even torture, sickness, disease, and death, all for the sake of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.

In John’s revelation, these saints are now in the presence of God, where, according to the angel, “They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev. 7:16-17).

For people who have endured challenges and difficulties and even persecution because of their faith in Christ, this picture of being guided by the Good Shepherd to springs of living water and having God’s presence so close to you that God can literally wipe away every tear from your eyes, sounds pretty amazing.

Set Apart

John’s vision should fill us with hope that one day we too can be a part of that multitude, worshiping together around God’s throne, where there will be no more sickness, pain, death, or separation.

But some of you may say, “But how do I know that I’ll be among that multitude? How do I know that God will wipe every tear from my eye and that I’ll get to experience that eternal peace and rest with God? After all, I’m no saint!”

But you see, the word “saint” in the Bible does not refer to people who are perfect, nor does it mean that the person has the power to perform miracles, or that they did a large number of exceptionally good deeds. Rather, in the Bible, “saint” refers to all Christians!  The word “saint” means “holy” or “set apart.” It refers to someone who has consecrated themselves to God, which is true of all true followers of Christ. Each and every one of us is called to be saints.

And as saints, we have faults and failures, just like everyone else. We make mistakes. We mess up. The difference is that we look to Jesus for salvation, and we throw ourselves upon the mercy of God. 

And in response to God’s love, grace, and mercy, we live lives consecrated to God’s service. We do this not in order to earn or gain God’s favor but in response to what Jesus has done for us.

You see, saints are people who want to be close to Jesus. They want to worship Jesus with all that they have, and all that they are. And so you will often find them serving the poor and needy, the ill and dying, because they know Jesus is close to all who call upon him. Saints go to the highways and byways because that’s where Jesus is. They stand in solidarity with the brokenhearted and the poor in spirit, because that’s where Jesus is, and that’s where they can be close to him.

And so for a saint who has lived their lives in consecrated devotion to Christ, even being willing to give their all for the sake of the Gospel, what better reward is there than to be a part of that great multitude, worshiping God for all eternity, where there will be no more sickness and death and disease, and where God will be close enough to wipe away our tears.

All Saints/All Souls Day

Today is All Saints/All Souls Sunday when we are reminded that the Church consists not only of all believers, but also of all those followers of Christ who have gone on before us, and all those who will come after us.  In particular, we remember those who sought to live as faithful followers of Jesus Christ, like the saints here in Revelation chapter 7, and like Mother Mary Lange, who consecrated themselves to Christ’s work. They are role models for us as we seek to live lives of deeper devotion to Christ. 

On All Saints Day, we remember too the reality is that if we too claim the name of Christ, if we’ve given our hearts and lives to Christ and pledged our allegiance to Christ, then we too are called to be saints. We’ve been set apart. We’re called to give our all for the sake of Christ. 

And, whether we like it or not, this is a good day for us to remember that there are people around us who are looking up to us and watching us today, just as we look up to and admire those saints who have gone before. The number of people who attend church on a regular basis has dropped significantly over the years, and fewer people seem to read their Bibles. That means that for many people in our lives, we may be some of the few active churchgoers, the few “saints” that many people know.

While we might hesitate to think of ourselves as “saints,” and while we may not want to attract attention, being saints who are “set apart” for Christ’s purposes does mean that we need to think carefully about what we say and do, and how we live our lives. And so I want to end with a few points about what we can learn from this great multitude of saints here in Revelation chapter 7.

Confession

First, like those saints in Revelation 7, we have the hope of eternal life not because of any good deeds that we have done, but because of the shed blood of the Lamb—Jesus Christ, as we see in verse 14. This is why later this morning before we partake in communion, we will confess our sins and wrongdoing, and be reminded again of the grace and forgiveness that Jesus offers. As we allow God’s love to wash over us, we too can extend God’s love toward others.

Confessing our sins to God and to one another and acknowledging our imperfections go a long way in pointing others toward Jesus. As believers, when we try to hide and cover up our mistakes, it so often turns others away, but when we admit that we’re not perfect, it helps them to understand more fully the love and grace that is available to them as well.

Great (and Diverse) Multitude

Secondly, from this multitude of saints in Revelation 7, we are reminded that the Church—the Body of Christ—is made up of believers all throughout the world, and all throughout history. Many of them look different than us, speak different languages from us, and have different ways of living out their faith. This means that we should be careful not to speak ill of those who may worship differently than us, or believe and act differently than us since the Body of Christ is so much larger and more diverse than any of us can imagine.

Worship

And then finally, there’s worship. The saints in Revelation 7 remind us that worship is not just what we do when we come together on Sunday mornings. Worship is not just singing songs, or praying prayers. Worship is giving our lives in sacrificial service, submitting ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It’s growing passionately in love with Jesus and allowing that love to permeate every fiber of our being. 

We worship God when we put God first in our homes and marriages and families, in our work, and in our school. We worship God when we allow God’s Word to illuminate our lives, transform us, and make us over anew. We worship God in response to what God has done for us. We worship through laying all that we have and all that we are on the altar, and saying “God, use me as you will. Send me to do your will.” We worship God as we live our lives in response to the love that God demonstrated to us through sending Jesus to die on the cross for us. We worship as we allow our hearts to be broken for the hurting, the needy, and the lost in this world, and as we open ourselves in obedience to God’s will for our lives.

May we find hope and comfort that one day we too will gather together with that great multitude around God’s throne, worshipping God for all of eternity. And may we too live consecrated to Christ, passionately giving ourselves in love for God and others in response to the overwhelming grace and abundant love that God has poured out for us.

Amen.