Year B
Mark 12:28-34
The Rev. Denise Vaughn
I Want To Be One Too!
The observance of a day to celebrate All Saints—known and unknown, named or anonymous—was originally celebrated as early as the fourth century, on May 13, the day for the dedication of the Pantheon in Rome. In the eight century, we have evidence of a special feast day on April 20 as the day for celebrating “all the saints of the whole of Europe.” However, a firm date was finally set by the year 800, for we know that by that date, it became the habit of observing All Saints Day on November 1. Originally, this feast was to commemorate a rather exclusive list of spiritual celebrities. But by the Middle Ages, prior to the Reformation, the list of those being canonized as “saints” become so large that the church decided it needed to set aside one day to honor all the “minor” saints because they could not find room for them to have a day of their own to be honored on the church calendar.
So All Saints Day then became a day not to honor a select number of superstars of the faith, but a time to recognize all of us saints as Christians together throughout the ages-both the living and the dead. How awesome is a God who seems to enjoy calling the most likely of us and the most unlikely of us? Yet, this is exactly what God does. Our Lord calls and empowers each of us, likely and unlikely, and calls us “saints.” In the New Testament, “saints” is the most commonly used title for Christians. It literally means “holy ones,” and was and still is used today to refer to Jesus-followers, all those who have been baptized into Christ. Now whether or not we see ourselves to be “saints,” each of us has a place in God’s design, we each have a vocation to fulfill.
There are many stories and memories of remarkably gifted persons through whom God has worked and there are also those stories from the most unlikely and unnoticed. God does a great deal through the faithful service and willing hearts of “saints” whose love and goodness make a real difference in the world. Today we recognize and give thanks for the many gifts of all the faithful, both living and departed. It is quite a thing, really that we are connected to so many; connected to so much faith, so many stories, so much divine love. When we read about the lives of saints who have lived through the ages we begin to realize that there is no one particular kind of personality that makes up a saint. They represent many different varieties of personalities and many different backgrounds.
Yet, what they do have in common is they all show a glimpse of the great Divine Love; all have a slightly different emphasis as they all draw out for us the many-sided, nature of God’s love. This is the kind of love represented in the greatest commandment; the kind of love that Jesus proclaims today in the gospel text. As Mark tells the story, one of the scribes who has listened to Jesus skillfully disarm the Sadducees and was impressed, asked Jesus the last question in Mark’s gospel before his arrest and death. Jesus began his answer with the keystone of the Jewish faith, the proclamation that begins to this day every synagogue service; the Shema prayer which we heard read in the OT lesson this morning. “Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”
Jesus then gives the second commandment, the cornerstone of civilized society: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” In doing this, Jesus links the Shema prayer, the Jewish creed with loving your neighbor as yourself. To love your neighbor Jesus says is to love God. Unless we love God with such complete passion, we can never really love our neighbor as ourselves. This great commandment is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. It is much more, because Christ himself has become the last sacrifice, through whose suffering, death and resurrection we see that God, who calls us to love him in all ways, loves us in every way. This last sacrifice unites us with Christ as the perfect priest in the perfect sacrifice and makes all of life different for us. It means that now when we see his people, we see Jesus. When we love his people, we are loving the Lord himself.
What we need to remember is that the word love in this context is not the kind of love we often think about today. Loving with the whole heart isn’t the emotional, huggy-kissy kind of love we find on greeting cards or in advertisements. Loving with the heart in Jesus’ day first of all meant being loyal. So Jesus was talking about being loyal to God-to God’s laws-to the promises of the covenant the people made with God. Included with being loyal to God was being loyal to their neighbor and because they knew the scriptures, the Jews knew that being loyal to their neighbor meant that they would care for their neighbor, fight oppression, feed the hungry, make provision for the poor, the widow and the orphan. There are those days when we understand and work toward being even more loving-loyal-in our relationship with God and with others in our lives. Yet, there is so much more work to do.
A recent survey tells us that one in six Americans or 39.7 million people live in poverty, and even worse, one in four children lives, in poverty. Maybe we are overwhelmed with all the needs in today’s world, including the needs for our own families. There really is too much to care about. Yet, if we truly believe the two great commandments are important in our lives, then we will seek to know what God is calling us to do about the kingdom of God that is here and then live into it. Just like all the saints of ages past who committed their lives to follow Jesus and love their neighbor. Mary MacGregor in the bulletin insert today tells of a song that speaks to these saints committed to God and neighbor. It is a song I have sung many times through the years on All Saint’s Sunday, “I sing a song of the saints of God. “You can meet them in school, or in lanes or at sea, in a church or in trains, or in shops, or at tea. For the saints of God are just folks like me and I want to be one too.
She sings this song of the saints who played significant roles in her life. She says, “they do share some similar characteristics: a remarkable devotion to God and, to a person, exemplary sacrifice in their lives and ministries. I always see Christ in them. Sometimes I see years and years of an unbelievable witness to their love for God, the giving of themselves while asking nothing in return. Sometimes I observe an extraordinary act of courage for God’s sake. As we set aside a day to remember the saints of old or the saints we actively encounter in our everyday lives, let us thank God that they all show us a glimpse of how the Holy Spirit can work in and through us, simple folks just like you and me.”
I would like to close one of the prayers I have shared with you before on All Saints Sunday from the book Soul Weaving: A gathering of Women’s prayers, this prayer was written by Janet Morley from England. Let us pray. For all the saints who went before us, who have spoken to our hearts and touched us with your fire. We praise you, O God.
For all the saints who live beside us, whose weakness and strengths are woven with our own. We praise you, O God.
For all the saints who live beyond us, who challenge us to change the world with them. We praise you, O God. Amen.