Episcopal Church of the Incarnation

West Point, Mississippi

All Saints’ Sunday (Year B)

Isaiah 25.6-9                            Psalm 24                      Revelation 21.1-6a                             John 11.32-44

 

The lessons for All Saints’ Sunday remind us that each one of us is called to blessedness and holiness, and that in responding to this call there will be many who’s love of the Lord is unknown to any but the Lord.

 

Isaiah 25.6-9

 

1)      This lesson is taken from a longer section (24.21-27.1) which is focused on the triumph of the Lord.  This lesson describes the banquet of the Lord (as a sequel to the enthronement scene described at 24.21-23).

 

2)      The reference in v. 7 to “the shroud that is cast over all peoples” is to be understood to refer to a mourning veil.  In this respect, it is a reference to the surface of the earth covering the dead.

a)      This is made more explicit in v. 8:  The Lord destroys death.

 

3)      References to the salvation of the dead are not just a New Testament phenomenon!

a)      The use of this lesson at All Saints’ is intended to reinforce the truth that, as in v. 9, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us,” all “saints” are not just those who have attained sanctity (known and unknown).

i)        All “saints” are all those who are saved by God, all those redeemed by His Son, all those in communion with the Lord.

 

Psalm 24

 

1)      A hymn of praise to the Lord as victorious Creator.

a)      Included (vv. 3-6) is an “entrance liturgy.

i)        An entrance liturgy is comprised of verses to be recited at the gate of the Temple, asking, quite literally, who is entitled to enter to worship.

b)      The lordship of God over nature is recited as evidence of His greatness.

 

2)      Parallel to the entrance of worshippers into the Temple is the entrance of the Lord, returning victorious into His dwelling.

a)      The gates of Jerusalem parallel “gods” in Canaanite mythology, who in these myths acclaim the entrance of the supreme god.

i)        In the West this reference has also been used in liturgies to refer to Jesus’ descent into Hell, that He “broke the gates” of those in captivity (cf. 1 Pet. 3.18-19).

(1)   The psalm is used in this sense on Trinity Sunday, in the Gregorian rite, as a reference to the sovereignty of Jesus over heaven, earth, and “under the earth” (Phil. 2.10).

 

Revelation 21.1-6a

 

1)      This section is taken from the vision of the Last Judgment.

a)      A new heaven and a new earth are the seventh (and last) of the last series of visions.

i)        The focus of last things is, therefore, salvation!  (Compare Isaiah 65.17-25.)

 

2)      Radical discontinuity is revealed, since the old heaven and earth have been destroyed (20.11).

 

3)      The vision was written down at a time when Jerusalem had been destroyed.  Isaiah 54 may be a reference, but the imagery is that of the city as the bride of the Lamb, an image which becomes that of the Church as the bride.

a)      The imagery is that of union with the Lord for those who are faithful.

b)      The voice from the throne makes this clear:  old promises are renewed and resumed (cf. Lev. 26.11-12; Ezek. 37-27; compare 2 Cor. 6.16).

 

4)      Imagery abounds from Isaiah (see ch. 55), of the restoration of creation as intended by God.

 

John 11.32-44

 

1)      The raising of Lazarus is the seventh and final “sign” of Jesus’ identity, authority, and mission in John.

a)      The signs (Greek = semeia) are found in parallel with the “I AM” sayings, by which Jesus identifies Himself using the Holy Name of God (as revealed at Exodus 3.14).

 

2)      At the start of this chapter, Jesus and his disciples are beyond the Jordan, out of reach of the authorities.  He receives word of Lazarus in Bethany, and his disciples think Lazarus is just sleeping (hence the delay), but Jesus knows the purpose behind how and when He will see Lazarus.

a)      Later, the disciples think that perhaps Jesus is seeking death, and Thomas shows courageous loyalty.

b)      The timing of what happens matters here.  The point is made that Lazarus has been in the grave four days.  He is thus “dead:dead”.

i)        Jewish tradition held that the soul hovered over the body for three days after physical death.

ii)       This tradition is followed in some churches (and by some ministers), who will baptize a person already dead, provided the person has died just before.

 

3)      Lazarus is described as “loved” by Jesus.  The word is not used in connection with another person, and this has led to the tradition in some churches that Lazarus is the “beloved disciple” (not John, author of the Gospel).

 

4)      Like the man born blind in John 9, Martha addresses Jesus as “Lord” and acknowledges that He is the Messiah.

a)      This she says after saying that whatever Jesus asks of God will be granted.

i)        This statement anticipates what Jesus tells His disciples about prayer at 15.16 and at 16.23.

 

5)      A key to this lesson is found earlier, in v. 25, when Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life”. The Greek definite article hé is used (as at 14.6:  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”)

a)      The use of the definite article in Greek is very rare, and indicates exclusivity:

i)        “I am the one and only resurrection and the one and only life.”

(1)   The point of the saying, and ultimately of the narrative as a whole, is to make and celebrate the claim that people who believe in Jesus find life.

(a)    It is eternal life, which includes timelessness or eternity in the temporal sense, but the focus is quality not quantity.  It is sharing the life of God here and now and forever.

(b)   In John’s narrative, miracles are signs that point to a new and higher reality!