All Saints’ Day (observed); 6 November 2022; All Saints’ Day C (RCL); Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18; Psalm 149; Ephesians 1:11-23; Luke 6:20-31.
We tend to think of saints as persons of exemplary holiness who have lived (and died) in previous times. These readings seem odd choices for a commemoration of saints gone by. The readings rather focus on the here and now, and seem to implicate us (or at least some portion of us). And the implications are a bit startling.
Psalm 149 in particular is rather jarring: Let the praises of God be in their (the faithful — presumably us) throat, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to wreak vengeance on the nations, and punishment on the peoples. Yikes! What does that have to do with saints as usually conceived? The reading from Daniel makes much the same point (if you fill in all the verses the lectionary leaves out). Daniel sees a vision of four fearsome beasts, clearly representing the four empires that have ruled and oppressed God’s holy ones (as Daniel sees it): Babylon, Medes, Persians, and finally the Greeks (Alexander and successors, down to Antiochus IV Epiphanes). In the visions of the night, the Ancient of Days sets up a throne, and one like a son of man (Michael, the archangel, or a new Davidic monarch?) is given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him. And in what we read, God’s holy ones (us) shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom for ever.
The Pauline school apparently referred to this idea when claiming of Christ that he would put all things in subjection under his feet, so that Christ could then give the kingdom to God (and presumably to us — Paul certainly sees the Christ-event as setting up God’s restoration of the way things should be). God has seated Christ at God’s right hand far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, now and in the age to come. While it may be oblique, this is without doubt a politically dangerous statement to make.
Luke’s version of the Beatitudes also seems to be making its point about the here and now, and not about some pie-in-the-sky age to come. How honorable (that’s how I would translate μακάριοι) you beggars, because the kingdom of God is yours. Shame on you rich, for you have received your encouragement. The kingdom isn’t what we thought. While Daniel and the psalm look to the future, Luke seems to suggest that the upside-down kingdom is already here — we’re just looking in the wrong places.
So what does any of this have to do with saints? And usually, on this day, we remember the departed of our parishes, and hold in memory our own “saints.” All of these reading, however, seem to imply that we, the church (of which Christ, the fullness of all in everything is the head), have some role in establishing God’s righteousness in the world. I’m not sure I want that two-edged sword in my hand, but that is the implication. How do we live the kingdom here and now, and what does God’s dominion look like in these fractious times?