Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Nov. 5, 2023 (All Saints A)

First Reading: Revelation 7:9-17

The Sermon on the Mount (1598), oil painting on copper by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625). J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. (Click image to enlarge.)

We remember all saints, known and unknown, on All Saints Sunday. The Episcopal Church recognizes that saints are not only historic figures recognized by the early church, but that Christ makes it possible for us to be saints as we share his life. Sunday’s readings begin with the apocalyptic vision of John of Patmos, who imagine all the saints, robed in white and gathered in a heavenly throne room. A countless multitude of every race and nation, they are all assembled to praise the Lamb, Revelation’s allegorical image for Jesus as both sacrificed sheep and messianic shepherd; victim and victor, the loving protector who leads us as a single multitude that shows all Earth’s glorious diversity.

Psalm: Psalm 34:1-10, 22

Most of the Psalms address God in prayer, but this portion of Psalm 34 is different: The Psalmist here, imagined as the voice of King David after he had feigned madness to escape a deadly threat, sings directly to the people, offering wise counsel: As God’s saints and as God’s servants, we praise and worship God. We are small and humble. God is great and powerful. Yet when we are in trouble, when we are afraid, when we are hungry, we place our faith and trust in God and need not fear.

Second Reading: 1 John 3:1-3

Biblical scholars believe that the three short letters of John were written neither by John the apostle, John the evangelist, nor John the author of Revelation. After all, John was – and is – a very common name! Still, these verses from the first letter of John celebrate the abundant love of God that showers on us and makes us all God’s children in language that seems consistent with the theology of John’s Gospel and may have come from a later community devoted to John the Evangelist’s tradition. The glory of our coming adulthood under God’s love remains to be revealed, the author of this letter tells us. But from the beginning, we are assured, all of God’s children, all of God’s saints, are brothers and sisters through God’s creative love.

Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12

The Beatitudes, the beloved verses in Matthew’s telling of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, have become so familiar that we sometimes don’t pause to give them the deep reflection that they deserve. In eight quick statements, Jesus turns the world upside down: It is not the rich who are blessed, but the poor. It is not the successful and the proud who win God’s blessing, but mourners, the meek, the hungry; the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the oppressed. This is good news for the poor, and it is earth-shattering. It is also a theme that Jesus repeats again and again until it is difficult to understand why we have such a hard time getting it.