Dear Friends in Christ,                  

            The basis for the proclamation of God’s word this morning is found in the book of Revelation chapter seven verse thirteen. “Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”

In the year 288, Sebastian, an officer in the Imperial Roman Army brought food to Christians who were tossed in prison under the intense persecution by Emperor Diocletian. Later on it was reported that Sebastian had healed the wife of one of his fellow soldiers by making the sign of the cross over her ailing body. The Emperor would have none of this Christianity in his army, so he arrested his own Imperial Officer and had Sebastian bound to a tree and shot with arrows. Sebastian was left for dead, but God had other plans. He was nursed back to health by an aging widow and after making a full recovery, he marched into Rome and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Emperor. The gospel fell on deaf ears, and Diocletian had his personal guard surround and club Sebastian until he was dead.

Out of awe and wonder, Sebastian was made a saint and a giant cathedral in the Philippines was built in remembrance of him.

Fifteen years later, in the year 303 a man by the name of Vitus was in Rome and had the privilege of meeting Emperor Diocletian’s son. Now the emperor’s son was suffering from an illness that was being attributed to an evil spirit, and at the hands and prayers of Vitus, the emperor’s son was miraculously healed. In exultation, Emperor Diocletian asked Vitus to make the ritual sacrifice to the pagan gods as a token of thanks for the divine miracle. Vitus, being a faithful Christian, refused to make the sacrifice, whereby the miraculous healing was considered magic. Emperor Diocletian, in a rage, had Vitus and his entire household bound and they were thrown into the Coliseum to be slaughtered by ferocious lions. Then the unexpected happened. Much like Daniel in the lion’s den, the lions in the Coliseum refused to make a meal out Vitus and his family. Vexed by the turn of events, Emperor Diocletian took matters into his own hands and ordered large pots to be brought out into the Coliseum. Once they were in the Coliseum they were filled with oil and tar and a fire was lit underneath them. When the pots were boiling, Vitus and his family were seized and thrown into the pots and were boiled to death on account of their faith.

Out of reverence and respect for Vitus, he was made a saint and a giant cathedral in the city of Prague was built in remembrance of him.

I share with you these stories because today we are celebrating All Saints Day. It’s not much of a celebration though is it? I mean, compared to All Saints Day Eve, also known as Halloween, our celebration of All Saints Day is pretty pathetic. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t rush out to the store and buy a brand new outfit or costume so I could traipse around town and knock on doors to tell people about the saints. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t stock my pantry with candies and sweets to hand out to children in celebration of the saints and their mighty deeds.

To be honest, All Saints Day feels a lot like every other day. And part of the reason for this is because the Lutheran Church is not known for its saints. I mean, compare our churches to Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Churches. We have St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church here in town. There is St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Sandoval. In Nebraska, where I went to college, there was a St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in the small town of Bee, and right next to our college campus there was a tiny Greek Orthodox Church called St. Tikhon’s. Compare the names of those churches to Lutheran Churches. We have “Salem” Lutheran Church, and “Bethlehem” Lutheran Church and “Zion” and “Trinity” and “Grace” and “Peace” and “Immanuel” and often times, it is true, we will call our Lutheran Churches St. Peter, St. Paul, or St. John. But when was the last time you saw a Lutheran Church named after a saint who isn’t found in the Bible? I have never seen a St. Gregory Lutheran Church have you? How about a St. Jerome Lutheran Church or a St. Clement Lutheran Church? Lutheran Churches with these names are so rare that even Google couldn’t find one.

Consider this then. Did you know that the Lutheran Church has its own saints? We do. We have our own saints. Saints you won’t find in non-Lutheran churches. The problem is, we don’t talk about them, and I can prove it to you.  Here is a list of our Lutheran saints. Wilhelm Loehe, Philipp Melancthon, Lucas Cranach, Johannes Bugenhagen, Friedrich Wyneken, Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther, Johann Gerhard, Henry Melchior Muhlenburg, Paul Gerhardt, Martin Chemnitz, and Johannes von Staupitz.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Who are these guys? And where do they come from?” Well, this is the same exact question that one of the elders in heaven asked John into today’s Scripture reading. John was given a tour of heaven, and while he is up there he sees, “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the thrown and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and waving palm branches in their hands” (Rev. 7:9) And after he sees them an elder asks him in verse 13, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” And just like you, John doesn’t have a clue. And so he dodges the question and says, “You tell me.”

And the elder who asked John the question does tell him. He says, loosely translated, “These are the saints.”

John is just like us. He certainly had his preconceived idea of who the ‘saints’ were. After all, he had already seen Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. When John thought of saints he was probably just like you and me. He could rattle of a few names like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, King David, and Isaiah. And so you know he was shocked when he sees not just a few saints in heaven, but rather hundreds and thousands and millions of them. And before he can take it all in someone asks John. “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” John doesn’t know. He doesn’t even know where to start. He can’t begin to find out ‘where’ they come from because they are from every tribe, nation, language and tongue. It looks like they come from everywhere. But it doesn’t really matter where they came from. Perhaps a better question to ask is “What makes them saints?”

Think about it, what is it that makes men saints? Often times it is their death. We remember the deaths of the saints more than anything else don’t we? St. Vitus was thrown into a pot of boiling oil, Sebastian was clubbed to death, St. Peter was crucified upside down, St. Paul and St. Valentine were beheaded, St. Ignatius was eaten by lions in the Coliseum, St. James of Jerusalem was thrown from the temple, St. Polycarp was burned at the stake, and St. Clement of Rome had a millstone tied around his neck and was thrown into the ocean. Their deaths are what makes them saints.

As shocking as this may sound, you and I are no different. You and I are made saints because of our deaths. Now, I do not mean to say that some of you will be boiled to death, or thrown from the lofty heights of some temple. No, you and I, even now are made saints through our crucifixion. That’s right, our crucifixion.

Did you know that you and I were killed by crucifixion? Listen then to the words of St. Paul from Romans chapter six. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We know that our old self was crucified with Christ in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” That’s right, in baptism we died with Jesus Christ, there on the cross, and in our baptism we were covered, quite literally, in a white robe., just like the great multitude of saints clothed in white robes that St. John saw in heaven.

We often think that saints are dead people. And this is true. Because it is only after death that sainthood begins. You and I are dead. We are dead to sin. But we are alive in Christ. Our death took place right there on the cross with Jesus Christ.

Granted, you won’t find a Cathedral built in remembrance of the single mother who quietly works two full-time jobs to support her children because their father skipped town, but she is a saint. And you won’t see a Renaissance painting of the weathered Midwest farmer whose thankless work provides food for thousands, but he is a saint. There won’t be stain glass windows dedicated to the alcoholic who approaches the altar of God in repentance, but he is a saint And there are no museums proudly displaying the relics of the elderly woman who spends Thanksgiving and Christmas in tears because no has come to visit her, yet she too is a saint. These everyday people or “average joes” are nothing less than the very saints of God. And Christ in our gospel lesson today said, that these, the meek, will inherit the earth.

When John shares with us his glimpse of heaven he sees a multitude of saints and this vision reveals a lot of information. You’ll notice that there are no demarcations, no divisions, no classes or clubs. St. Jerome stands on the same footing as the Midwest farmer. St. Ignatius is not raised up above the alcoholic. St. Sebastian is not standing head and shoulders above the single mother, and St. Vitus is not wearing a better garment than the disenfranchised penitential homosexual. All these people from every tribe, nation, language and tongue are gathered together and they share but two things in common. First, they are clothed in robes made white in the blood of the lamb. Second, they are gathered around the throne of God and around Christ.

So I implore you, come. Join the hosts of heaven in the communion of saints. Approach the table of the Lord. His blood is for you and it makes your robes white.

Now may the peace of God and the love of Christ keep you in the one true faith until life everlasting.                                  

Amen.