ALL SAINTS NOTES, YEAR B. 2024

Rev 21:5 “And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’”

John 11:32-44 “He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep… So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out”

On Death and Grief

Death denied the final word: Jn 11:25–26. “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Even though they die, will live…everyone who believes will never die. They do not end nor cease. There is a continuance, unbroken existence. Do you believe this?

Now, we’re seeing reality a little clearer.

Here, we see the very source of the Communion of Saints.

In an era of spectrum identity, sanctioned violence, dehumanizing ideologies, famine, and genocide, the church offers its persistent counter-testimony to the voices of nihilism, resignation, and capitulation. In the raising of Lazarus, death is denied the final word.

Christ declares himself to be “the resurrection and the life” (v. 25) and freely enters into the suffering of the world that God loves.

Jn 11:4 “This illness does not lead to death; rather, it is for God’s glory…”

Interesting point: this was to glorify God, yet it disturbs Jesus (v. 3). Which is it? Are we witnesses to the glory or the grieving of God?

The point: When we see Jesus, we see a God who feels the pains and emotions of one who has lost a friend. We see a sympathetic/empathetic God who grieves. To see that is to see the glory of God.

John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory Father’s only son…”

Humanity is the glory of God.

St. Irenaeus, the great second-century theologian, expressed the essence of Christianity as such: “The glory of God is a human being fully alive!” Fully alive is exactly what it sounds like. The fullness of life is not merely the positive experiences, but the “taking-up” of all experiences into God, transfigured and transformed. In other words, the Incarnation.

On the Resurrection

Richard Rohr - “The cross is the standing statement of what we do to one another and to ourselves. The resurrection is the standing statement of what God does to us in return.”

“Christ Crucified is all the hidden, private, tragic pain of history made public and given over to God. Christ Resurrected is all suffering received, loved, and transformed by an all-caring God.” Rohr, Richard. Yes, and…p.81

“To believe in resurrection means to cross limits and transcend boundaries…” Rohr. Yes, and…p.147

Chris Green - “The past is not the past to God.”

Resurrection: “Tomorrow can be better than today. We are not bound by any past. There is a future that is created by God and much bigger than our own efforts.”

William Willimon - “If you thought that the cross and resurrection happened once and only to Jesus, think again. Resurrection keeps on happening… Resurrection is not just something that happened to Jesus. Resurrection is something that happens to the dead followers of Jesus, us. Not just someday but today, now, resurrection happens.”

Rohr comments that to believe in resurrection is not to believe in “some kind of survival or immortality or just ‘life after death.’” Resurrection is an utterly new creation. Resurrection is all things new!

Rev. 21:3-5 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’ And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’”

Robby Wadell: “Notice that it does not say that God is making all new things but all things new.”

This is why the resurrected Christ still bears scars

Resurrection is not the annihilation and eradication of all things but the renewal of all things. God does not delete!

Jesus said, “I have the keys to death and hades.” He has died, passed through it, and come out on the other side…bodily, with scars.

Christ’s Body was not annihilated and replaced but transformed. Thus, the wounds.

Again, all things new. Every pain, suffering, affliction - given over to a loving God, an all-caring God, to be transformed. Still wounded, but “Crown him the Lord of love; behold his hands and side, rich wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified;”

There’s a prayer said at funerals from the ancient church: “Indeed for your faithful, Lord, life is changed - not ended.”

We believe in the Communion of Saints, which is this exact continuum of life and communion with God and each other.

Hebrews 12 - “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses”

Our relationship with our loved ones who have gone on has changed, but it has not ended.

Thanks be to God. AMEN