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All Saints 2026 -Beatitudes
The feast of All Saints has always been a special feast in the church. Celebrating those individual saints whose lives and deaths have inspired so many over the millennia; and those saints whose lives have been lived unobtrusively in God’s light.
Those who live, and work, and care for family and community each and everyday without the veneration given to those who fill the stained glass around us.
Using Matthew’s gospel one might refer to these people as ones who lived or live in the Kingdom of Heaven. In Matthew’s gospel the Kingdom of Heaven is not just a nebulous concept, but a truth waiting to be realized.
John the Baptist is the first to speak of the Kingdom of Heave;, how the time is coming near when Heaven’s Kingdom will be upon us and we must all bear good fruit. John speaks especially to the spiritual leaders, calling them out with rather harsh words, proclaiming them to be vipers in need of repentance, and proof of that repentance.
Now in that time and place, I think that most people would have been surprised by John’s words, because those leaders, the Pharisees, were seen to be shining examples of how to live out God’s law. We would likely have called them saints; they were known for their strict adherence to God’s law and generally understood to be Godly man. Yet, John, Jesus, as well as others have so often called them to account that we tend to see them as the Bad Guys.
Yet, Matthew 5:17-20 reminds us that Jesus didn’t come to get rid of the law, nor to break it or preach against Jewish law…rather Jesus meant to live it out…to fulfil it. So much so that he said in 5:20 For “I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
So, just how are we to do that? How can we be more saintly, than the saints of the time? The challenge is with interpretation. So many example are given throughout scripture of people who knew God’s law…the way of life that God proclaimed to be righteous…and yet, instead of living that way, put their own wants and desires first.
This was especially egregious when it was lived out by the leadership and teachers of the communities. Those who were meant to be living example of what it meant to be a follower of God, a holy person. This is why John the Baptist was so harsh speaking to the pharisees, because they seemed more concerned with their place in this world than establishing the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Kingdom of Heaven would be ruled by God’s law, by God’s teachings, spoken through the prophets. It was a law that focused on a few key elements.
- Putting your relationship, your fealty to God first and foremost.
- Obeying God’s commands to care for the most vulnerable in society; at that time strangers, widows and orphans.
- Ensuring that God’s people, especially those in roles of leadership lived out lives of Justice and compassion.
This was a very different from the life that was experienced by most people daily. A life where money and power, politics and social status were the rule of the day. How you experienced life depended entirely on your financial and social status…not unlike today.
The kingdom of this world focuses on self promotion, the love of success, the love of money and the love of celebrity status above all else. Above love of God, above the love of neighbour. A kingdom that focuses on self above all else has no problem with the oppression and abuse of those they deem unimportant…the poor, the hungry, those in need.
Those that God calls all of us to care for above all. Worse of all, in Jesus’ time people who were down and out, people in the lower strata were considered to be cursed, to be deserving of their lot due to their sinfulness.
In our gospel today, Jesus looked out over the crowds…crowds of people who were in need. People who had been left behind by society, who live in need of healing, in need of a change in this world. People who lived in the kingdom of this world, knew what this world taught and knew it needed to be changed.
Jesus looked over the crowds, over the people gathered, people who had been told all their lives that they were sinners, they weren’t worthy, that they were cursed because of their station in life.
Jesus looked out over his own people and said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The impact of those words cannot be underestimated, and they do loose something in translation.
Firstly, blessed did not mean happy or lucky…blessed meant in right relationship with God…it meant being in God’s favour. It meant the opposite of cursed. Not only that, the way Jesus was speaking was a traditional style…just like speaking in parables, this was a style of speaking….a style of wisdom literature which spoke not in terms of future hope or present reality but in terms of spiritual truth.
A truth that is dependant on our actions, not as individuals but as a community. A community that exists in the Kingdom of Heaven. A Kingdom that priorities God’s law first and foremost.
God is with poor in spirit…those who are humble and self aware…not arrogant.
God is with those who mourn…those whose community is grieving
God is with those who are starving for a kingdom of righteousness
God is with you when are done wrong for doing right
Just as God was with the prophets who spoke God’s word to an unjust world.
Blessed are you when you live into the Kingdom of Heaven, for if you do; The Kingdom of Heaven will be here.
That is what Jesus taught his followers to do…be active in bringing the Kingdom of Heaven into the Kingdom of this world.
That is what we remember in those we call saints…those whose lives and actions were aligned with the Kingdom of Heaven and inspire us to this day. But, remember that all those saints we venerate today did not exist at Jesus time. After all it was Jesus who inspired them, but those to whom Jesus was speaking, those who Jesus was preaching to, were those initially called to be saints.
People who are living and acting as if the Kingdom of God were already here. Those who regardless of wealth, status or influence were humble, compassionate, thirsty for justice, acting for mercy and peace…prophetic people calling others to follow God. Saints who practiced what they preached and changed the world around them.
If we keep reading Matthew’s gospel we would read that his teaching continued.
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
The Beatitudes are not meant to be cross stitched and hung as art on the wall. They are a call to upend the way the world works, to create a new reality, a kingdom of saints living into the kingdom of heaven. Creating a world were justice, peace, compassion and the love of God and Neighbour are the foremost priorities.
This the teaching Jesus gives us on this All Saints Day. Not simply to remember the saints that were, but to live our lives as God’s Holy People, blessed saints in the kingdom of Heaven. Not because the kingdom of heaven is here, but precisely because it isn’t. we are called to live the beatitudes and bring the truth of God’s blessings to the world around us.
To be community seen as brightly as a lighthouse, casting God’s light around us…illuminating the rocks of sin that cause us all the tumble and fall. Showing the way forward to God, the straight narrow path of God’s law which brings us all into the arms of God’s everlasting love.
“whoever (lives out these beatitudes) and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
We are called to be saints…a community of blessing and light…living and loving as God has always called us to do. Being prophets of blessing in our own communities until that day when the kingdom of this world is over turned and all people know that they are blessed.
amen
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