Sermon - All Saints' Day - Matthew 5:1-12

Jesus is called by the prophet Isaiah the Man of Sorrows, the Man of Pain. An aptly applied title for sure. St. Bernard described Christ’s life as an ever incessant suffering. Throughout Christ’s life, He experienced poverty, hunger, thirst, despising, persecution, mockery, shame, slander, scorn, anxiety, sadness, divine judgment, and finally death upon the cursed tree. 

Just as the Master endured such sorrows, so are we, His servants, to endure the same. “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Christians are called to a long night of suffering and persecution, like their Master Christ, so that they may be greatly rewarded with Him in heaven.

Thus Jesus prepares His disciples in that great sermon on the mount for this sort of suffering. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Make no mistake! Suffering and persecution pursues Christians! We Americans are no exception to the rule. We are entering into a dark night here in these united states. The Marxist long-march through the institutions, begun a century ago in the Frankfurt School in Germany, is bearing much fruit for them here as many Americans are now openly Socialist and Communist.

Socialism, communism, Marxism, these aren’t just political theories but they’re avowed enemies of Christ and His church. Certainly on the surface Marxism appears to be nearly Christian. It’s about justice for the oppressed, fair treatment for all people. There’s truth to what they say: it’s evil for the wealthy to be so stingy in their abundance, it’s evil to treat someone as less than human on the basis of their sex or skin color.

However, Marxism is wrong in its Critical Theory which asserts that all people ought to be equal, to be the same, and that there ought to be no distinctions among us. The scriptures affirm that there are differences among us and that those differences aren’t evil. This much is evidenced by the picture of heaven that St. John witnessed: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.”

John is able to tell the difference between all these people just by looking at them. This vast multitude isn’t made up of identical same individuals, but everyone looks like themselves; everyone looks different! The one thing that unites them, in spite of their outward appearances, is that they’re clothed in the white robe, they’re clothed in Christ’s righteousness! Jesus is what unites all Christians. 

But aside from being united in Christ, God made us all different, with unique and fascinating quirks. Some are men some are women, some are poor and some are rich, and all with varying tones of skin color. God made us all unique, we needn’t all be the same, and for this we should praise Him!

Marxism, however, desires an earthly utopia, and sees all of these differences as varying power structures which are preventing utopia. Thus the subjugated classes, the “proletariats,” must rise up against the controlling powers so that all can be equal. But as the Orwell’s pig said, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” So every communist uprising leads not to a peaceful utopia, but a hellish totalitarian state. 

A totalitarian state refuses to share any authority, since it’s premised on atheist secular humanism. Thus, communism has as its central tenet the destruction of Christianity. During most of the 20th century, during many of your lifetimes, the communist party of the Soviet Union killed around 12-20 million Christians, in 1938 they executed at least 106,000 Russian pastors during the “great purge.” You can read plenty of stories about the prisons and gulags Christians were sent to in order to be tortured for decades until they died. Similar accounts exist of Christian persecution in communist countries around the world, going on even today. This Marxist thinking is all growing in popularity here in our country today. 

Sure, maybe this will never reach us here. Maybe we’ll never see that kind of persecution in our lifetimes. I can’t predict the future, so I don’t know that. But I do know that Christ prepares His disciples for persecution, not for comfortable easy times. Therefore, we too ought to be prepared for persecution and martyrdom. We are the church militant, we’re at battle with the world around us. Jesus explains, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

When the world loves us, we ought to be extremely cautious and wary. In the parable of the sower, even the seed sown on rich fertile ground can be choked out by the cares, riches, and pleasures of the world. So when the world hates us, we needn’t be surprised. Jesus said, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” 

(As a brief aside, if you’re a liar, cheat, thief, and a jerk and people persecute you, don’t be surprised. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake,” you’re not blessed for being a criminal. “Let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.)

So be a faithful Christian, and if God sees fit for you to endure suffering for Christ’s name, then God be praised! Rejoice and jump for joy! Why? Because your reward is great in heaven! “The sufferings of this present age aren’t worth comparing with the glory that shall be revealed to us.” Christ has won for you an eternal reward in heaven.

This reward isn’t just some future treasure, but you already have it now! Jesus doesn’t say your reward will be great in heaven, but what does He say?  He says, Your reward is great in heaven! The crown of glory is yours already now! Your name is written in the book of life and you’re sealed for salvation today! You’re not going to be immortal later, you’re already immortal! 

So when suffering and persecution comes, don’t be afraid! Jesus says: Rejoice and agalliasthe, I love that word, it literally means you’re so glad that you jump for joy in celebration! That’s what Jesus tells us to do when others revile us, persecute us, and utter all kinds of evil against us falsely on His account. Jump for joy when people hate you, mock you, and persecute you because of your Christian beliefs!

Your reward is great in heaven! Jesus doesn’t go into a whole lot of detail about the reward, He just says it’s great, it’s many, it’s perfect and complete! The rewards in heaven awaiting us are above our ability to even comprehend. Here on earth we sow with tears, but in heaven we shall harvest joy. Here we go through the great tribulation, which is temporal and light, but there it creates an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. There we shall be before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will shelter us with His presence. We shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike us, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be our shepherd, and He will guide us to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

Let us not be frightened by death, nor any suffering prior to death. Instead, let us remember the great joy which is already ours in Christ Jesus! He has washed us in the blood of Lamb! The reward of Christ’s righteousness awaits us in paradise, and is ours already! If a soldier can run into near certain death because of some uncertain hope of perishable worldly glory, then we Chrstians, soldiers of the cross, may face any peril with hope and joy because we’ve been crowned with the imperishable wreath of eternal life! 

Lastly, we may be glad, jump for joy, and be encouraged here in our worldly suffering, “for so they persecuted the prophets who were before us.” Many a faithful Christian has suffered terrible hardship for the name of Christ: “They suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”

The prophets, the apostles, the early Christian martyrs, the Russian Christians, many of our family and friends, they await us in heaven. By their example of faithfulness, they strengthen and encourage us to run the race, fight the good fight, and keep the faith. May the Holy Spirit kindle this love of Him in our hearts that we too may suffer with Him, die with Him, and live with Him.