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Blessèd are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
᛭ INI ᛭
(5. Oops!: Death is the common theme for All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day)
No one really wants to talk about death. We think about it, and how often we do or maybe don’t depends on a few things. What’s going on in our daily lives or the world, or even how old you happen to be. But thinking about it and talking about it are two different things.
“Death is our last great enemy,” (1Cor 15) and we don’t like talking about or even thinking about it because “the sting of death is sin.” (1Cor 15) Death cuts us to the heart because of sin. “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom 4) Sin reminds you that you’ll die, and death reminds you that you’re a sinner. (This good reminder produces repentance in our hearts and lives and actions!)
The world instead sanitizes death. On the one hand it desensitizes us to it through TV, movies, and news. On the other hand it also hides death away. It puts the dying, the sick, and the suffering far from view—out of sight, out of mind. The suffering are hidden away in ghettos and certain neighborhoods. The sick are quarantined in hospitals, along with the dying.
In the Church calendar, All Saints’ Day, November 1, is actually the second day of allsaintstide. The first day is All Saints’ Eve (All Hallows’ Eve). The third day is All Souls’ Day. Each has a slightly different emphasis, but the common thread through all three is death. No wonder it got stripped down to just one day…
4. (Ugh!: You’re going to die, just like the Saints’ did, and so will those you know and love.)
Historically, the three days were an attempt to offer a time for preaching and God’s Word so that we might learn “to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Ps 90) The LORD has put “eternity in [our] hearts,” (Eccl 3) but our flesh doesn’t to think about death, because the moment you die its time is over. Your flesh won’t rise unless Christ “transforms our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power which enables Him to subdue all things to Himself.” (Phil 3) “This corruptible [flesh] must put on incorruption.” (1Cor 15) We often sinfully reject God’s call for wisdom. Out of fear, we put our heads in the sand about death and often rather live each day in fleeting pleasures that don’t last longer than even tomorrow.
The harsh reality of All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints’ day, and All Souls’ Day is this: you’re going to die, just like the Saints of old, and so will those you know and love. Sin’s wages come to everyone—believer and unbeliever; high and low; rich and poor; you; famous Bible Characters; the not so famous or maybe infamous people you love—“for there’s no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3)
None of us can prevent death. In fact, death will come to you, to the people you know, just like it came to any Bible character—exactly the moment the Lord chooses. David puts it this way: “In Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.” (Ps 139) All the years, days, and hours that the Lord gives you are a gift from Him, “The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years.” (Ps 90) But they will end. Some year, some day, some hour, minute, or second will be your last. As it was for the Saints, so it is for you and for all.
(3. Aha!: CHRIST REVERSES ALL ILLS, EVEN DEATH!)
There’s nothing that you can do about it. The world uses that as an excuse to be dead while you live, to live it up, live only for yourself. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (1Cor 15) the world says, but they forget—and because of our flesh we Christians also forget—that such an idea is true only “if the dead do not rise,” and more specifically, “if Christ is not raised.” For “if the dead are not raised, then Christ is not raised, and you are still in your sins.” (1Cor 15)
“But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1Cor 15) And this Christ who is raised from the dead is the only one who can do something about death—your death, the death of His Saints, and the death of those you love. It’s only Christ because
CHRIST REVERSES ALL ILLS, EVEN DEATH!
That’s your take away this observed All Saints’ Day:
CHRIST REVERSES ALL ILLS, EVEN DEATH!
He reverses the guilt of sin. He bore your sins, even the gluttony of seeking some momentary pleasure because of fear about daily life or even death itself. “He who knew no sin, became sin.” (2Cor 5) He also took the wages of sin, too! Christ, the eternal Son, beloved and “begotten of His Father before all worlds” was forsaken by Him. The Author and Prince of Life died. The Light and Life of the world went down dead into the darkness of a tomb. He did this not for His own sake, but for yours. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” (Ps 116) So much so, that He not only dies for them but also rises for them! So much so, that He promises to raise them, too, on the Last Day. After all, CHRIST REVERSES ALL ILLS, EVEN DEATH!
(2. Whee!: The Almighty LORD does this for insignificant people.)
How does the Lord do such a thing? He does it through great reversals, by putting things together that don’t quite fit in our limited sin-darkened way of thinking. That’s the beauty of the Beatitudes on All Saints’. It’s IHS preaching that ALL ILLS get REVERSED, HE REVERSES them, which also includes reversing DEATH.
I’ve already mentioned a few ways the LORD does reversals. The sinless Son of God sacrifices Himself to save sinners. The Son of God who formed mankind from mud and ribs, as it were, with His own hands, is manhandled by His own people and put to death by the hands of sinful men. More reversals in Christ’s Beatitudes:
“Blessèd are the meek for they will inherit the earth.” The meek, the humble will not be passed over by the Lord, they will not be walked all over of, but will rather inherit everything!
“Blessèd are the merciful for they will receive mercy.” They won’t finally be taken advantage of but will receive mercy.
“Blessèd are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.” Word leaders who try to seek peace are sometimes called all sorts of things, but not so those are Christlike by faith.
The Beatitudes are beautiful descriptions of the saints who are like their Lord and Savior. Christ Himself was truly meek, “humbling Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2) He truly was merciful and kind. “His mercy [truly] endureth forever.” (Ps 136) He truly is the true peacemaker. “He Himself is our Peace, making peace by the blood of His cross.” (Eph 2)
CHRIST REVERSES ALL ILLS, EVEN DEATH!
He doesn’t do this for the great and mighty. Even the Saints in the Bible aren’t necessarily people to emulate. We’re told their story sins and all! The Lord does this reversing of ills, even death and the grave, for the likes of you. Insignificant though you are in the world, you are not so to the Lord. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints,” even you.
(1. Yeah!: The LORD is working this out with outwardly impotent things.)
CHRIST REVERSES ALL ILLS, EVEN DEATH! And He works this out by another reversal. It, of course, takes almighty power to REVERSE ALL ILLS, EVEN DEATH, but He does it by outwardly impotent, that is, powerless things. He washes sins away, He washes the sting of death away, by Holy Baptism. He reverses the consequence of sin, a closed heaven, by the Absolution which unlocks heaven. He enlivens your whole heart, mind, and strength with His Holy Word, which just looks like one book among many. With simple bread and wine, which He blesses to be His body and His blood, He delivers the forgiveness of sins, and His Supper is truly then also the Medicine of Immortality, that you should not die eternally but live forever with Christ. The benefits of these gifts are received not by great and mighty works but by simple faith. Faith may be living and active toward your neighbor in good works, but when it comes to His gifts, your Lord and Savior IHS Christ places His promises in the dead hand of faith, a hand that simply receives. And one with such faith “I will resurrect on the Last Day,” Christ says.
Yes, the harsh reality of All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints’ day, and All Souls’ Day is this: you’re going to die, just like the Saints of old did, and so will those you know and love. But the glorious comfort of All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints’ day, and All Souls’ Day: is that you’re going to rise, just like the Saints of old will, and so will those you know and love who trust in Christ. CHRIST REVERSES ALL ILLS, EVEN DEATH! A reality we enjoy today “with angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven.”
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