Loving God, you make us holy people – saints – through uniting us with your Son, Jesus Christ, by the power of your Spirit. May that same Spirit be at work within us this day, to strengthen our faith and empower our lives, that we might give glory to you and loving service to others, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

It’s not easy, being a saint. People often assume that everything becomes effortless once you’re a saint – weightless – just like sitting on a cloud. But they’re wrong. It’s not easy at all, being a saint. In fact, sometimes it’s almost as if trouble follows you around like a cloud over your head, just waiting to rain on your parade.

Really, when you think about it, why should it be any different? I mean, look at what happened to Jesus. He couldn’t get a moment’s rest, no matter where he went. Wherever he went, there was turmoil – people clamoring to be healed; people offended at his teaching and ready to stone him; people possessed by demons coming at him because they knew who he was and what he could do to them. It seems that trouble followed Jesus around, too, and eventually gathered together all in one time and one place to yell and scream for his crucifixion and then finally to put him to death.

It’s not easy, being a saint, but it is so much tougher to be the Son of God! And yet, if it weren’t for the Son of God, there really wouldn’t be any saints. Actually, when you think about it, it’s not difficult at all to become a saint in the first place, because God does all the work. God comes along with water and the Spirit and makes you a saint, just like that. It’s a gift, just like Jesus’ whole life was a gift – just like eternal life is a gift.

So actually becoming a saint is not the problem. The problem is staying a saint. The problem is living as a saint. The problem is that we’re still sinners at the same time as we’re saints, and if we allow it to, the sinner part of us will take over and wipe the saint right out of us. You’ve seen it happen. You know what I mean. You’ve lived and worked with people who are supposed to be saints, but don’t act like it at all. It’s easy to let it happen, especially when we don’t make the effort to plug ourselves into the Rock.

Now of course you’ll be wondering what on earth I’m talking about, but really, it’s well-documented. God is the Rock. Jesus Christ is the Rock. And we’ve got to be plugged into the Rock if we’re ever going to live as saints. For one thing, our whole life needs to be built on the Rock. We need to be solidly plugged into it, with a very firm foundation. We need to build our lives on Jesus Christ, and not just on him, but on hearing what he has to say and doing it.

Do you remember when Jesus talked to the people about the man who built his house on the rock and the other man who built his house on the sand (Mt. 7:24-27)? The one who built on the rock heard the words of Jesus, and did them! The one who built on the sand heard what Jesus said, and did nothing about it. So if you want to live as a saint, you’ve got to build on the Rock.

Building on the Rock means that everything we do is centered around Jesus Christ. Building on the Rock means that our number one concern is to love God with our whole heart and mind and soul and strength and to love our neighbour as ourselves. Building on the Rock means that we imitate Jesus in loving and serving others as he has first loved and served us.

Saints do these things, but not because they are better than other people, or are holier than other people. They do these things, because they are also plugged into the Holy Spirit. Even saints are not able to obey the words of Jesus on their own. They’re still sinners, remember? And so the Holy Spirit has to be there, working inside of them, so that the love of God can flow out of them.

One way to think of it is that it’s like being plugged into the Rock so deeply that you hit water, and the water that comes from the Rock is the “springs of the water of life” that are mentioned in Revelation (7:17). Remember the rock in the desert that miraculously gave water for the Israelites to drink? Remember how Paul looked back on this rock in the desert and said that the rock was actually Christ (1 Cor. 10:4)? Remember how the gospel of John describes the Holy Spirit as “rivers of living water” flowing out of a believer’s heart (Jn. 7:38)? So it’s like drilling down into the Rock in order to get to the water that’s there – the springs of the water of life.

But of course we’re thinking spiritually here, and so you’re not actually drilling into a rock in order to get water to drink. Instead, you are drinking in the Spirit of God – through time spent in prayer with an awareness of God’s presence – through time spent reading and meditating upon the Scriptures – through time spent receiving Jesus in Word and Sacrament – through time spent coming into God’s presence through music. It’s almost like eating and drinking in order to have energy to live. For saints, their spirits need to be nourished in order to be able to do what Jesus has taught.

Meanwhile, there are still the trials and storms that come into the lives of all the saints – others who ridicule your faith – illness that saps your strength and tests your faith – financial difficulties – loved ones who leave this earthly life – turmoil in your family, or at work, or in the world – all of these things come into our lives, whether we’re plugged into the rock or not, and threaten to take our sainthood away from us. These things are part of being human and of living in a world populated by sinful human beings. Saints are not immune. In fact, sometimes saints have to deal with even more storms, because the devil works hardest on those who live by faith in Jesus Christ.

No, it’s not easy being a saint, but when you’re plugged into the Rock, those storms won’t shake anything important loose. And when you’re drinking in the Spirit, too, then it’s like added strength coming into you, in order to help you to withstand the storm. And then there is standing together with all of those other saints, whether they’re present day saints, or saints who have gone on to their heavenly home. When you “are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1), there is strength there, too, and encouragement, and growth in our faith.

Yes, sometimes saints do have to put up with a lot. Sometimes saints are persecuted and falsely accused and verbally abused. Sometimes saints are hungry and thirsty and long to see righteousness done. Sometimes saints are full of sorrow or poor in spirit and desperately need the comfort and strength of God’s presence with them. Yet, in the midst of these things, saints in this life catch little glimpses of the kingdom of God and of the joy and peace and hope that are part of God’s reign.

It is an amazing thing to be created in the image of God, and redeemed by the blood of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and sanctified, or made holy, or made a saint, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is an amazing thing to be adopted as a child of God through water and the Spirit, and to be promised an inheritance of eternal life. It is an amazing thing to experience the joy of God’s presence and the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. It is an amazing thing to come to God’s table and to be nourished by the same heavenly food that has fed God’s people in every time and every place. It is an amazing thing to be a child of God, and a saint.

Yes, it’s not easy, being a saint – but it’s infinitely worth it! Amen.

All Saints’ Sunday (A)     Revelation 7:9-17
November 2, 2008      Matthew 5:1-12
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2008 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved