WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:07.540 Well today, as we've said, the church does celebrate All Saints Day, a 2 00:00:07.580 --> 00:00:11.340 day to remember that what the Nicene Creed says is true. 3 00:00:12.040 --> 00:00:15.440 That to be a Christian is to be placed into a 4 00:00:15.520 --> 00:00:17.660 communion of saints. 5 00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:22.260 But of all the phrases in the creed, this is perhaps the phrase we 6 00:00:22.340 --> 00:00:26.160 understand the least. Because what is a saint? 7 00:00:26.460 --> 00:00:30.180 And what does it mean to be placed into communion with 8 00:00:30.240 --> 00:00:32.640 them? And why should we even care? 9 00:00:33.900 --> 00:00:36.420 To answer those questions, two points this morning. 10 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:40.140 First, the definition of saints, and second, the 11 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:42.760 communion of saints. First, the definition. 12 00:00:43.960 --> 00:00:47.860 In order to see what a saint is this morning, we really only need to look at 13 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:51.140 one word, and that is the word blessed. 14 00:00:52.100 --> 00:00:55.900 Because for hundreds of years now, out of all the gospel passages the church could 15 00:00:55.980 --> 00:00:59.660 choose to read on All Saints Day, we have chosen the 16 00:00:59.700 --> 00:01:03.560 Beatitudes. And the Beatitudes, of course, are called the 17 00:01:03.620 --> 00:01:06.640 Beatitudes because of the repetition of that word, 18 00:01:07.060 --> 00:01:10.420 blessed. "Blessed are the poor in spirit. 19 00:01:10.600 --> 00:01:14.060 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." 20 00:01:14.500 --> 00:01:18.440 Nine times, blessed. In the Greek, the word is 21 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:22.820 makarios. And so to be a saint is to 22 00:01:22.880 --> 00:01:26.400 be makarios. But what does that mean? 23 00:01:27.640 --> 00:01:31.600 According to a Catholic scholar named Father Simeon, who I believe to be the best 24 00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:35.300 living commentator on the Gospel of Matthew, and who's honestly 25 00:01:35.360 --> 00:01:38.580 transformed the way I read the Beatitudes, this word 26 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:42.180 makarios is notoriously difficult to translate. 27 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:44.860 Simeon lays out multiple options. 28 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:48.740 He says some say makarios means happy, 29 00:01:49.700 --> 00:01:53.480 but that is the worst option because happiness is so 30 00:01:53.540 --> 00:01:57.520 psychological and subjective. And the Beatitudes are not 31 00:01:57.560 --> 00:02:01.420 describing some subjective or inner state, but they're 32 00:02:01.440 --> 00:02:04.900 describing something that is objective and permanent. 33 00:02:06.020 --> 00:02:09.301 Others, like our translation, says makarios means 34 00:02:09.780 --> 00:02:13.620 blessed, and that's better. But blessed can also 35 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:16.980 give us the wrong idea. It can tempt us to make the 36 00:02:17.020 --> 00:02:19.860 Beatitudes into a sort of reward system, 37 00:02:20.780 --> 00:02:24.680 into a type of equation where A equals 38 00:02:24.860 --> 00:02:28.600 B, or if leads to then. 39 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:32.560 And so if I will simply become the sort of person 40 00:02:32.620 --> 00:02:35.680 described on the other side of that word are, 41 00:02:36.740 --> 00:02:40.180 if I will become meeker or more merciful or 42 00:02:40.260 --> 00:02:44.120 purer in heart, then God will finally bless me and 43 00:02:44.160 --> 00:02:46.120 approve of me and reward me. 44 00:02:47.160 --> 00:02:50.880 But the Beatitudes are not, and have never been, some sort of 45 00:02:51.060 --> 00:02:54.120 spiritual homework assignment. I mean, they do not 46 00:02:54.200 --> 00:02:57.500 command or prescribe anything, 47 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:02.220 but instead they describe. They describe not what 48 00:03:02.320 --> 00:03:05.940 could be or what might be, but what will 49 00:03:06.040 --> 00:03:09.020 be. And in fact, what already is. 50 00:03:09.480 --> 00:03:11.420 Blessed are. 51 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:16.100 The third possible translation is fortunate. 52 00:03:16.860 --> 00:03:20.760 To be makarios, and therefore to be a saint, is to be fortunate. 53 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:25.180 In the words of Simeon, it is to be in possession of some 54 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:28.900 good, some good that many desire but 55 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:31.060 not all can obtain. 56 00:03:31.980 --> 00:03:34.840 And so what is it then that the makarios possess? 57 00:03:35.260 --> 00:03:38.120 What is it that makes them so fortunate? 58 00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:42.780 And that leads to what Simeon says is the fourth and best translation, 59 00:03:43.320 --> 00:03:44.980 which is the Spanish one. 60 00:03:46.040 --> 00:03:49.160 In Spanish, makarios is always translated 61 00:03:49.720 --> 00:03:52.640 bien aventurado or 62 00:03:52.720 --> 00:03:54.720 bienaventuranza. 63 00:03:55.740 --> 00:03:56.840 And so do you hear it? 64 00:03:57.660 --> 00:04:01.060 To be makarios is to be on a 65 00:04:01.140 --> 00:04:02.860 grand adventure. 66 00:04:03.780 --> 00:04:07.520 It's to be someone fortunate enough, by the grace of God, to 67 00:04:07.600 --> 00:04:11.460 be on some journey that all desire but 68 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:13.180 not all can obtain. 69 00:04:14.320 --> 00:04:15.340 Which sounds exciting, 70 00:04:16.180 --> 00:04:19.760 until we read all of the phrases on the other side of that 71 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:23.220 word are, until we read about all the types of people 72 00:04:23.340 --> 00:04:27.300 Jesus identifies as the makarios. 73 00:04:28.500 --> 00:04:31.980 It's shocking, and it would've been shocking to Jesus' original 74 00:04:32.060 --> 00:04:35.520 listeners because, as Simeon says, in Jesus' time, 75 00:04:35.980 --> 00:04:39.760 in the Greek world, the word makarios was reserved for 76 00:04:39.880 --> 00:04:41.800 two types of people. 77 00:04:42.600 --> 00:04:44.900 The first were the gods. 78 00:04:45.780 --> 00:04:49.760 The gods were said to be the makarios, or to be the fortunate ones, 79 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:53.580 because the gods were immortal. And therefore the gods were 80 00:04:53.640 --> 00:04:57.520 immune from all human sadness, including the 81 00:04:57.640 --> 00:05:00.260 saddest thing of all, which is death. 82 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:05.320 And so then therefore, by extension, in the Greek world, the upper class or 83 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:09.340 the privileged could also be said to be the makarios, the fortunate ones, 84 00:05:09.780 --> 00:05:13.380 because out of everyone living, they were those who most 85 00:05:13.460 --> 00:05:17.260 closely approximated the gods, insulated as 86 00:05:17.320 --> 00:05:20.880 they were from at least most forms of human 87 00:05:20.980 --> 00:05:21.720 sadness. 88 00:05:22.740 --> 00:05:26.700 And yet look at what Jesus does this morning. He goes up on a mountain. 89 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:30.900 He goes up on the place reserved for gods, and he calls to himself 90 00:05:30.960 --> 00:05:34.880 a group of people who in no way resemble gods or resemble 91 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:38.720 the privileged, but instead gathers to him a group of men, the 92 00:05:38.760 --> 00:05:41.940 disciples, who are in no way immune from human 93 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:46.080 sin or pain or misery. And 94 00:05:46.100 --> 00:05:49.560 he stares them in the face and he says, "From now on, 95 00:05:50.420 --> 00:05:52.460 you are the makarios." 96 00:05:54.600 --> 00:05:58.180 You are the fortunate ones. You are the ones on 97 00:05:58.380 --> 00:06:02.220 some secret adventure that all desire 98 00:06:02.680 --> 00:06:04.480 but not all can obtain. 99 00:06:05.320 --> 00:06:06.280 Poor in spirit, 100 00:06:07.440 --> 00:06:07.940 sad 101 00:06:09.132 --> 00:06:10.832 Hungry and thirsty, 102 00:06:11.652 --> 00:06:14.432 persecuted, reviled, hated, 103 00:06:15.052 --> 00:06:16.112 makarios. 104 00:06:18.012 --> 00:06:20.192 And so what is the definition of a saint? 105 00:06:21.192 --> 00:06:23.452 It is to be on a grand adventure, 106 00:06:24.292 --> 00:06:27.772 but an adventure that is, in so many ways, a journey 107 00:06:28.332 --> 00:06:28.832 down, 108 00:06:29.832 --> 00:06:32.912 a grand adventure into deeper and deeper dependence. 109 00:06:33.212 --> 00:06:36.852 Dependence on God, but also dependence on other 110 00:06:36.932 --> 00:06:40.672 people, dependence on all of the other hungry and 111 00:06:40.752 --> 00:06:44.512 thirsty and dependent people that Jesus gathers around 112 00:06:44.552 --> 00:06:45.312 himself. 113 00:06:46.392 --> 00:06:49.912 And that leads to the second point, which is the communion of the saints. 114 00:06:51.112 --> 00:06:53.652 Because that's what Jesus is doing in the Beatitudes. 115 00:06:53.832 --> 00:06:56.972 On the mountain, he is establishing a community. 116 00:06:57.872 --> 00:07:01.552 And the Beatitudes then become his Magna Carta or his 117 00:07:01.632 --> 00:07:05.592 constitution which outlines citizenship in 118 00:07:05.652 --> 00:07:09.592 the people of God. He is saying, "From now on, poor 119 00:07:09.652 --> 00:07:13.052 in spirit, meek, peacemakers, 120 00:07:13.571 --> 00:07:16.912 these are the types of people you can expect to find 121 00:07:16.992 --> 00:07:18.772 gathered around me." 122 00:07:20.812 --> 00:07:23.932 And usually, we read the Beatitudes so 123 00:07:24.032 --> 00:07:25.032 individually. 124 00:07:26.312 --> 00:07:30.132 We think that God is asking each one of us to become all 125 00:07:30.332 --> 00:07:34.292 nine of the people in the Beatitudes, but that is actually not 126 00:07:34.312 --> 00:07:35.612 what is happening at all. 127 00:07:36.652 --> 00:07:40.232 Each of the Beatitudes, instead, is naming the sorts of people we can 128 00:07:40.292 --> 00:07:43.672 expect to be around Jesus, and therefore, it is 129 00:07:43.732 --> 00:07:47.292 naming the sorts of gifts that each individual Christian 130 00:07:47.452 --> 00:07:51.352 brings into the community, almost like the spiritual gifts 131 00:07:51.392 --> 00:07:54.832 in Paul's letters, in which each of us brings one, 132 00:07:55.332 --> 00:07:59.212 maybe two or three gifts to the table. 133 00:07:59.992 --> 00:08:03.752 And so I bring my Beatitude of poverty of spirit, and you 134 00:08:03.812 --> 00:08:07.772 bring your mercy, and you bring your tears, and they bring 135 00:08:07.792 --> 00:08:11.632 their persecution or their peacemaking, and together, all 136 00:08:11.712 --> 00:08:14.612 of us become the people of God. 137 00:08:16.152 --> 00:08:19.692 And that is true both for saints who are living and 138 00:08:19.792 --> 00:08:21.312 saints who are dead. 139 00:08:22.392 --> 00:08:23.032 Because 140 00:08:23.932 --> 00:08:27.532 if I am joined to Christ and united to 141 00:08:27.612 --> 00:08:30.212 him by faith and baptism, 142 00:08:31.412 --> 00:08:35.192 and a medieval peasant who lived in the year 1219 is 143 00:08:35.312 --> 00:08:38.852 also united to Christ by faith and 144 00:08:38.913 --> 00:08:42.252 baptism, then in some very mysterious way, 145 00:08:43.172 --> 00:08:46.532 I am also united to that peasant. 146 00:08:47.772 --> 00:08:51.372 And because we are both dependent on Christ, we are 147 00:08:51.472 --> 00:08:55.412 also, in some very mysterious way, dependent on 148 00:08:55.492 --> 00:08:56.152 one another. 149 00:08:57.872 --> 00:09:01.452 And this brings up what is probably Anglican Episcopalians' biggest 150 00:09:01.532 --> 00:09:05.472 question when it comes to the saints, and that is, should 151 00:09:05.552 --> 00:09:06.492 I pray to them? 152 00:09:08.212 --> 00:09:09.232 And the answer is this: 153 00:09:10.192 --> 00:09:13.572 we should not pray to the saints, but we should 154 00:09:13.892 --> 00:09:17.432 absolutely ask them to pray for us. 155 00:09:18.952 --> 00:09:22.912 Because to pray to the saints would be to direct our worship or devotion 156 00:09:23.012 --> 00:09:26.492 to them, and therefore it would be to give to them what 157 00:09:26.532 --> 00:09:28.132 belongs only for God. 158 00:09:29.252 --> 00:09:32.812 But should we ask saints to pray for us? I mean, yes. 159 00:09:33.972 --> 00:09:37.132 Because as the theologian Jason Michelli has said, 160 00:09:38.352 --> 00:09:41.792 our fellowship with the departed is not altogether different from our 161 00:09:41.872 --> 00:09:43.312 fellowship with the living. 162 00:09:44.292 --> 00:09:48.112 If we believe in the communion of saints, then asking the departed 163 00:09:48.192 --> 00:09:51.492 saints for their prayers is no different than someone in this 164 00:09:51.552 --> 00:09:55.112 congregation asking you to pray for them this week, 165 00:09:55.632 --> 00:09:59.292 or you asking someone in this congregation to pray for 166 00:09:59.432 --> 00:09:59.692 you. 167 00:10:00.512 --> 00:10:04.352 Because both the living and the dead are all friends 168 00:10:04.472 --> 00:10:08.372 in Jesus Christ, we can talk to and pray for one 169 00:10:08.432 --> 00:10:08.912 another. 170 00:10:09.812 --> 00:10:13.292 It is not that the saints are our way to Jesus Christ, 171 00:10:13.712 --> 00:10:17.572 but rather, Christ is our way to them. 172 00:10:19.532 --> 00:10:23.512 Which brings me to the story of one saint who Christ has brought into communion 173 00:10:23.552 --> 00:10:26.792 with us, and that is a man named Ji 174 00:10:26.912 --> 00:10:27.792 Tanyong. 175 00:10:29.192 --> 00:10:33.152 Ji Tanyong was born in China in the year 1834, and 176 00:10:33.172 --> 00:10:36.892 he grew up in a wealthy family, and he eventually became a doctor. 177 00:10:37.692 --> 00:10:41.192 But in his 30s, he contracted a very serious 178 00:10:41.332 --> 00:10:45.172 stomach sickness, and he treated himself with opioids, 179 00:10:45.752 --> 00:10:48.272 which was a routine treatment at this time. 180 00:10:49.172 --> 00:10:53.112 But Ji quickly became addicted to these opioids, and 181 00:10:53.152 --> 00:10:56.772 he suffered from that addiction for the next 30 years. 182 00:10:57.672 --> 00:11:01.532 And over those 30 years, in spite of his addiction, Ji started a 183 00:11:01.632 --> 00:11:05.152 family. He became a father and a grandfather, 184 00:11:05.952 --> 00:11:09.592 and he also developed a reputation in the community for 185 00:11:09.652 --> 00:11:13.132 providing free medical care to the poor. 186 00:11:15.332 --> 00:11:19.232 In spite of his addiction, or perhaps because of it, Ji never 187 00:11:19.312 --> 00:11:22.892 abandoned his faith, but for the next 30 years, he went to 188 00:11:22.972 --> 00:11:26.852 Mass not only every week, but every day, and he 189 00:11:26.932 --> 00:11:30.292 also frequently went before the priest for confession. 190 00:11:31.232 --> 00:11:34.952 But for 30 years, every time Ji went to Mass, 191 00:11:35.452 --> 00:11:38.272 he was denied the body and blood of Christ, 192 00:11:39.152 --> 00:11:42.912 and every time he went for confession, he was denied 193 00:11:43.032 --> 00:11:46.952 absolution because his addiction was seen as, quote, 194 00:11:47.352 --> 00:11:48.672 "unrepentant sin." 195 00:11:50.232 --> 00:11:54.112 Then, in the year 1900, there was an uprising in northern China that 196 00:11:54.172 --> 00:11:56.452 we know today as the Boxer Rebellion. 197 00:11:57.372 --> 00:12:00.892 And as a part of that rebellion, 120 Christians were put to death, 198 00:12:01.412 --> 00:12:04.272 including Ji Tanyong and his family. 199 00:12:05.212 --> 00:12:09.012 And it is said that Ji asked his executioners to be 200 00:12:09.092 --> 00:12:12.992 beheaded last, so that he could comfort all of his friends 201 00:12:13.032 --> 00:12:15.612 and family as they went to their deaths. 202 00:12:16.872 --> 00:12:20.532 So exactly 100 years later, in the year 2000, 203 00:12:21.192 --> 00:12:24.772 Pope John Paul II canonized Ji Tanyong, 204 00:12:25.352 --> 00:12:29.332 officially making him a saint and giving him the name 205 00:12:29.452 --> 00:12:30.232 Saint Mark. 206 00:12:32.432 --> 00:12:35.992 Blessed Saint Mark Ji Tanyong, 207 00:12:37.512 --> 00:12:41.372 so needy and stuck and broken for 208 00:12:41.752 --> 00:12:42.632 30 years, 209 00:12:43.632 --> 00:12:46.392 and yet so makarios and 210 00:12:46.472 --> 00:12:48.452 bienaventuranza, 211 00:12:49.352 --> 00:12:52.692 longing desperately to see the face of God, 212 00:12:53.752 --> 00:12:55.292 hungry and thirsty 213 00:12:56.112 --> 00:12:56.932 for God, 214 00:12:58.012 --> 00:13:01.812 reviled and persecuted on account of 215 00:13:01.872 --> 00:13:02.312 God. 216 00:13:03.992 --> 00:13:07.852 And so this morning, as we gather around the mountain at the feet of 217 00:13:07.932 --> 00:13:11.632 Jesus and hear the Beatitudes, Saint Mark 218 00:13:11.772 --> 00:13:13.292 is gathered with us. 219 00:13:14.232 --> 00:13:18.112 And this morning, as we hear of this heavenly throne room 220 00:13:18.152 --> 00:13:21.632 described in Revelation, where we will gather 221 00:13:21.692 --> 00:13:25.272 before the Lamb and before the throne with all those 222 00:13:25.412 --> 00:13:29.252 others who have passed through the great ordeal, 223 00:13:30.352 --> 00:13:33.952 with all those others who have washed their robes white with 224 00:13:34.032 --> 00:13:34.452 blood, 225 00:13:35.332 --> 00:13:39.092 and with all those others who will no longer cry or be 226 00:13:39.152 --> 00:13:40.212 hungry or thirsty, 227 00:13:41.152 --> 00:13:44.272 Saint Mark Ji Tanyong will be with us. 228 00:13:46.072 --> 00:13:49.992 Saint Mark does not bring me to Christ, but Christ has 229 00:13:50.052 --> 00:13:51.272 brought him to me. 230 00:13:52.232 --> 00:13:56.152 And so we say, "Blessed Saint Mark, pray 231 00:13:56.212 --> 00:13:56.592 for me, 232 00:13:57.512 --> 00:13:58.152 a sinner." 233 00:14:00.112 --> 00:14:02.572 In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 234 00:14:03.452 --> 00:14:03.832 Amen.