『“Frogs, Unicorns, T-Rexs, & Saints”』のカバーアート

“Frogs, Unicorns, T-Rexs, & Saints”

“Frogs, Unicorns, T-Rexs, & Saints”

無料で聴く

ポッドキャストの詳細を見る

このコンテンツについて

 The Feast of All Saints – November 2, 2025: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen. Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints, when we remember those who have gone before us. Some may think that sainthood is for a select few, or just for those in what we call the Saints Triumphant, who live in eternal glory. But the fact is, any time the Christian scriptures mentions saints, they do so in the context of it being all you’all in the church – every single person, not just those we commemorate on special days. Now when we hear that word, saint, we sometimes think it also means perfect. Lordy, no. While there are some the church holds up as models of faith, even they were not perfect, nor would they ever claim to have been. And of those we have had the privilege to love here on earth, and remember today, it is doubtful that any of us would say they were perfect people, even if they were perfect for us in their way. We loved them, and they us, but perfection isn’t really possible for humans. So, it’s a good thing that God doesn’t expect that of us. As I remind everyone each year, All Saints isn’t about perfect people who have died, it is about recognizing that God asks ordinary people do extraordinary things. And given the context in which we all live, that’s a message we need to hear. We are a deeply troubled and divided nation. It is a time when we can long for the Matthew version of the beatitudes, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.’ But that is not what we hear today in our gospel. In fact, we don’t even hear about saints either. In the gospel, Jesus spoke of four blessings – the poor will have the kingdom of God, the hungry will be filled, the grieving will laugh, and those who are hated will be given a great reward in heaven. Then comes the woes, something not found in the Gospel of Matthew. Woes to those who are rich because that will be all there is, those who are full will go hungry, and laughter will turn to tears. And then he tells them to love their enemies, reciprocate with goodness the evil done to you, and ends with what folks call the Golden Rule – “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Now, imagine hearing this for the first time. Even today, this is radical stuff. Especially that last part. I mean, we can all get behind the overturning of fortunes for the poor and rich alike, but that other bit about doing good to those who persecute you? It is a complete overturning of how the world seems to work. You can tell that Jesus grew up in his mother Mary’s household, because this is the Magnificat made present tense. In the Magnificat, which is only in this gospel, Mary, in recognition of the promise of this child in her womb, echoes the words of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, and proclaims “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.” Mary saw what this child Jesus would bring about. So, as we all know by now – yes, dang it, Mary knew, in answer to that ridiculous Christmas song. Now, before we go further, just a very brief review about what is going on here. This is not the Sermon on the Mount we get in Matthew. This is the Lukan Jesus – who is visited by shepherds, not Kings, begins his ministry saying he has come to bring good news to the poor and set the captive free, and in this telling, he is most definitely not up on the side of a hill speaking to people below. This is the Sermon on the Plain and he isn’t talking about some other people either, as we hear in Matthew when he says “blessed are they…”. No, he is standing amidst the folks who need to hear this the most, and he is saying blessed are you, woe to you! In the setup to what we heard today in the beatitudes, the text sets the scene: “He came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said…” Jesus was among the people, a large crowd of those who were in desperate need, and he is calling for the overturning of the tables of injustice, and laying it out how to do it for his disciples. Yup – he’s Mary’s boy alright. But what does all that have to do with us today? Everything. For like it or not, we are standing in the midst of people who are hungry and oppressed – some of you may even be among them. These past few months have been horrific for this nation and the world...
まだレビューはありません