Friends with regular preaching responsibilities often ask
why I do not post lectionary reflections ahead
of the week in which they are scheduled.
(Sounds like they are looking for a Saturday night “friend” as some of
our elders described Barclay’s Commentary.]
I will seek to do that in next year’s Trinitarian Soundings, and this week’s post for All Saints Day is
demonstration of my commitment.
The texts
for All Saints, Year B, range from scenes of renewed worship in Jerusalem to
the vision of a new heaven and a new earth in the Apocalypse, which is prepared
by the One who makes resurrection and life possible. The overcoming of death holds these disparate
texts together.
Isaiah
25:6-9 includes these striking words: “God will destroy . . . the shroud that
is cast over all peoples . . . “ Death will not have the last word, for it will
be swallowed up by the divine power. God
will also intimately console the grieving by wiping “away the tears from all
faces.” Those who have waited upon the
Lord will not be disappointed.
Psalm 24
may well be a liturgical ceremony that acknowledges God’s reign over all that
is. Perhaps this text is used for All
Saints because it portrays the character of the saintly: “Those who have clean
hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do
not swear deceitfully” (v. 4). Saints
also know who is worthy of worship—God alone.
Revelation
21:1-6a unveils the vista of a “new heaven and a new earth,” “the holy city,”
and most importantly, that God will dwell in the midst of the people. Experiencing God’s presence as elusive will come
to an end; rather, the Holy One will move among persons, ensuring that death,
crying, and pain will be no more. For
those in the midst of anguishing physical extremity, there could be no more
comforting a word. God will conquer all
that threatens the flourishing of humanity.
John
11:32-44 narrates the power of Christ in the raising of Lazarus. Not only does this story reveal Christ’s
great compassion for these friends, it is a sign that death, while excruciating
in the agony of separation, will not endure in God’s eternity.
As we
celebrate All Saints in our churches, we recall those who have gone before us
with profound trust in the Living God.
They died with confidence that God was making room for them in God’s own
eternity. We also acknowledge those in
our midst whose saintly ways shine light for the rest of us.
Molly T. Marshall
To learn more about Central as a formative, creative, and progressive seminary, visit our website at www.cbts.edu
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