Remembering

 

Luke 6:20-31

It was early in my internship in northern Iowa, and my first funeral. I met with some of the family members and got quite a story. It was Mom who died, and her body was in Minnesota, where the daughter lived. Mom had been living there for some time, for some reason. The daughter wanted to have the service in Minnesota, but Dad said, No, he was the husband, and the funeral would be in Iowa. Eventually, Mom was brought to Iowa, and Dad and I planned the service details.

In the funeral sermon, I reminded these folks that Mom had died, and I hadn’t heard anyone remembering her. All I had heard was people arguing about who was in charge, who was wrong, who was at fault. I talked about how God loved this woman, and had welcomed her home. It was time to rejoice that she had gone to be with Jesus, no matter how they felt about each other. I’m not sure they heard me, since there was a fist fight in the parking lot after the service. But I remember her, if only because her family didn’t.  

Today we remember the loved ones who died. We call this All Saints Sunday, because all who believe are called saints in the Geek Testament. The Church has been recognizing deceased believers since the 4^th century. At first those remembered were the countless unnamed believers who were arrested, tried, and put to death because of their belief in Jesus as God – and for their refusal to worship the Roman gods.

Later, named believers were remembered on All Souls Day. In recent decades, the Church has combined the two days into one, called All Saints, and moved the observation to November 1 or the Sunday following. In the Lutheran Church, it always follows Reformation Sunday.

… The designated Bible readings remind us that we and the people we have loved are not perfect. Luke’s version of the Beatitudes is shorter than Matthew’s and includes an equivalent set of Woes. The Greek words are makarios and ouai.

Makarios is often translated as happy or blessed. The English word ‘blessed’ is familiar to us, and it has baggage. It gets abused. “How are you?” “I’m blessed.” Another possible word that fits the meaning of makarios is satisfied, in the sense of ‘content with what I have’.

In these beatitudes, Jesus is talking about people who are really poor, as in not having all that they need. People who are literally poor, hungry, and so forth know they need God to provide for them.

So it’s like this: Content are you who are poor, hungry, weeping, bullied, for you will be rich, full, in charge. It is surprising now, and it was surprising back when Jesus said it, because the poor folks were – and sometimes still are -- considered lacking in God’s favor.  

The Greek word ouai is usually translated as ‘woe’. It has the sense of ‘yikes!’ or ‘watch out!’ Jesus warns that it is easy to fall into the trap of having enough in life if we are wealthy or powerful. It is tempting to believe God had nothing to do with our wealth, that we have it because of our own hard work and nothing else.

So it’s like this: Watch out, you who are rich, full, laughing, praised, for you will be poor, hungry, bullied. This, too, was as surprising then as it is now, because you know how we idolize our celebrities.

… Have you ever had the feeling of being content, even if you didn’t have lots of money? Have you ever had to be reminded that what you have comes from God, and you should say ‘thank you’?

None of us is perfect. We all forget to give God credit. We all forget to be kind to others. Some days, living with someone else is a serious challenge. The ones we live with say the same thing about us.

But I find it intriguing that when someone we love dies, we tend to forget the things that got on our last nerve about them. We tend to remember only the good times we shared, and it is that which makes us miss them the most.

I wonder if that is how it is with God and us. God only sees the good things about us, and doesn’t remember any of the stuff which could get on God’s last nerve. So, when we die, it is easy for God to welcome us home. Jesus promised us grace, love, forgiveness, and those “things” make us feel welcome, and at home.

This is not to say that there is no accounting for our behavior. We have no way of knowing, on this side of death, what the other side of death’s door looks like, what judgment is like, how we spend our time, and so forth.

Except for this: I object to proof-texting – taking one verse to prove a whole theological point – but I like to do it for this one verse. In Luke 23, Jesus says to one of the men on a cross next to him, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”

Today, we remember our loved ones, who have joined Jesus in paradise. Let’s be comforted by this assurance. Let’s remember to be kind, and remember God is the source of all that we have. Amen