091101a

All Saints Day.  22nd after Pentecost

Sunday 1st November  2009

St.Aidan’s Waitarere     St.John’s, Ohau.

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

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  Amen.

Today on the church calendar is All Saints Day, a day when we especially remember all those saints and martyrs who have gone before us.  There are the many obvious ones, such as the ones we understand to be the authors of the Gospels, or whose names are attributed to those Gospels, and many more who have been canonised by the church over the centuries, - such as St.Aidan.

Then there are the less obvious ones, or should I say the not so well known ones; the people who have been, or are, truly faithful followers of Christ and servants of others. One that comes to mind is Mother Teresa of Calcutta.  Then there are those who might be referred to as the “ordinary people.”

The day to day people. The people who devote much of their time, if not all of it, to the service of others. That can include you and me? Needless to say there have been, and will be in the future, many saints who will go almost unnoticed during their life-time but their work and contributions to mankind will only be fully recognised after their death, which is very much like many renowned artists from past centuries who struggled during their life-time but their work is now valued in the millions of dollars. Have you also noticed how all the good points of a person are spoken about at their funeral?

(Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not suggesting we should focus on the bad points.)  They did so much good work during their life, and probably received a lot of criticism for it, but it’s only when they die that they are spoken about as if they were truly saints.  There have been times when I’ve wondered if I’m at the right service because some of the comments about the deceased didn’t seem to fit my perception of that person and I can’t help wondering how much more they may have done if there hadn’t been so much criticism that they had to overcome or ignore. We all respond so much better to positive, complimentary comments, rather than negative criticism.   But I digress!

I consulted my trusty dictionary and read one definition of a saint as: Holy, canonised or officially recognised by the Church as having won, by exceptional holiness, a high place in heaven and veneration on earth.  I don’t think I fit that description so that eliminates me, but it’s “work in progress.” 

You may also think it eliminates you from the saintly list but that shouldn’t stop us all from at least striving to attain the qualities that would be considered saintly.  It also doesn’t mean we have to join a convent or monastery and spend all our time on our knees in prayerful devotion because we have all been given different talents and abilities to fulfil our particular missions in life and most of us will achieve that in the day to day world we live in rather than in cloistered surrounds, but it also means that we need to do as Christ has commanded;  “to love one another as I have loved you.”  In other words to do as Christ would do.

I know I have referred to those phrases a number of times recently and that’s because there is no doubt in my mind that they are the basic, and extremely important foundations for our daily Christian living, although I hasten to confess that there are times when I really struggle to meet those standards.

Another important cornerstone of our daily living is something else I have spoken about previously;

Faith.

It doesn’t matter what part of the gospels your read, one of the basic messages that comes through time and time again is that of having faith and we hear it again in today’s reading from John’s gospel about Jesus  raising Lazarus from death.

We’re told that Lazarus had two sisters, Martha and Mary, Mary being the one who poured the perfume on Jesus feet then wiped them with her hair. (Wasn’t that a beautiful act of humilty and devotion?)

They all lived in Bethany and while Jesus was away from the town Lazarus fell ill and died.  A message was sent to Jesus when Lazarus became ill but for reasons only known to himself Jesus elected not to return immediately, waiting another two days, telling his disciples that what was happening was in order to bring glory to God as well as being the means of bringing glory to the Son of God.  If I’d been there at that time and heard him say that I’m sure I would have been completely baffled by that explanation, but those who knew Jesus obviously had faith in what he said so didn’t question him too closely.  When Jesus decided it was time to go back to Bethany the disciple’s main concern was for his safety because the locals had previously threatened Jesus with stoning.  However, back they went and Mary came out to meet them, telling them what Jesus already knew, that Lazarus was dead, and it almost sounds as if she was chastising him for not being there when Lazarus became ill saying it was her belief that if Jesus had been there earlier Lazarus wouldn’t have died.  That in itself is surely a declaration of faith.

Others there at that time had apparently heard how Jesus had restored the sight of the blind man so they also wondered why he hadn’t prevented Lazarus from dying.  See how we humans are quick to criticise! However, I read that as another example of faith, - and the best was yet to come.

Lazarus had been dead for four days and the locals knew what the tomb would be like - we need to remember that this was in the days before refrigeration and they were living in a very warm climate, - there would be an unpleasant smell, so Martha felt the need to remind Jesus of that, to which he responded;  “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believed?”

He then looked up and prayed to His Father, and I love the simplicity of the opening phrases of this prayer; “I thank you Father that you listen to me. I know you always listen to me, but I say this for the sake of the people here so that they will believe that you sent me.”

He then called for Lazarus to come out and, as we know, Lazarus came out, alive and well.

I may have a rather simplistic understanding about this story but it seems to me that Jesus knew Lazarus would rise from the dead because he too had faith in what God, his Father had told him, and authorised him, to do.  It was also another way of confirming exactly who he really was - the Son of God - as he said in his brief prayer prior to calling Lazarus out: “I say this for the sake of the people here so that they will believe that you sent me.”

The faith - the belief - of those people around Jesus at that time was, apparently, somewhat like our own can be from time to time.  It wavers and subject to attack by so many worldly influences, so Jesus called on His Father for another miracle that would confirm exactly who he was, confirm their belief, their faith. 

I’m sure there have been times in all our lives when we have questioned or wondered why a particular event happened, especially if the outcome was painful, physically or emotionally.  I also suspect that there has been a subsequent event or comment made by someone which has helped to restore or re-build our faith.  I’d like to think that no matter what our level of faith may be we will always turn to Christ in prayer for guidance and support, - put our faith into practice.

So, what is “Faith?”  I understand it to be; Implicit belief, total reliance, complete trust, acceptance of something without absolute or concrete proof.  Faith is not something which is easily defined or perhaps easily understood because our human minds usually demand a logical, rational or even scientific explanation,  but we need to exercise complete faith if we are to call ourselves true Christians and that faith can be encouraged if we begin our daily prayers with the phrase that Jesus began his prayer with; “I thank you Father that you listen to me.  I know you always listen to me.....................” 

Be assured, He is listening, and He hears us.  Our faith will enable us to hear Him.

Amen.