Date: November 5, 2023
Scripture: Revelation 7:9-17
Sermon Title: “When the Saints Go Marching In”
Preacher: Rev. Dr. Bob Jon
You can also listen on Podcast from iTunes and Spotify. Search for “Podcasting from Rev. Bob Jon.”
This past summer, I was asked to do a graveside service at Pine Ridge Cemetery here in Chelmsford. I arrived there a little early and decided to walk around the cemetery and found out that the tombstones, as simple as they may seem, had lots of stories to tell. The one that caught my attention had three names together. The couple had a son who died when he was only 5 or 6 years old. The father who was in his 90s died only three years ago. The mother was the one without the date of her death, presumably still living. I could imagine the couple standing at the tomb of their son, sobbing, saying goodbye, and the mother burying her husband first, telling him to go and say hi to their son first.
The Bible tells us that God is love. And love does not fulfill its nature by existing by itself. Love can be fully realized only when there is another person in a mutual relationship. And that is why God created everything in the beginning because God yearned relationship of love because God is love. However, since sin came into the world, we all suffer its consequences, which is the opposite of a relationship. Separation. In this world, we are born and love our families and friends. But we all are bound to say farewell eventually and suffer separation from those we love. Just like the family whose tombstone I met, we come from dust, we go back to dust. (Genesis 3:19)
Of course, some people might argue that death is natural for all of us. It is the existential condition of human beings. The Bible also acknowledges that death is part of our life cycle as the author of Ecclesiastes says, “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter. A Time to be born and a time to die.” (3:1-2) But ultimately, death is not natural because God meant our lives to be immortal, as God is everlasting. Death is the ultimate illness that separates us from God and those we love. Whether it is peaceful, violent, or traumatic, death is the ultimate enemy to be destroyed, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians.
In our reading from the Book of Revelation, John shares an amazing vision looking at a great multitude that no one could count. These were people that came from every nation, from all tribes, from all languages. They were robed in white waving palm branches in their hands. They all stood and praised, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.” When John was curious about who these people were, one of the elders told him, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. They hunger no more, thirst no more. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
In 2006, I had an opportunity to accompany the Dean of School of Theology to the World Methodist Council held in Seoul, South Korea. Now, the World Methodist Council has 80 Methodist churches that represent 80 million members in 138 countries.[1] This first meeting was held in London in 1881 and has taken place every 10 years. As I was sitting in the gathering held at one of the largest churches in Korea, my heart was so moved as a Korean soloist came forward and sang “Amazing Grace” in Korean. And about 500 attendees, who came from different countries, had different skin colors, started singing in their own languages.
And I realized that I was not there on my own. I was there because of the people who lived out the love of Christ with me. There is a story about a couple who took their young son and went to Europe for a trip. They visited many cathedrals during their travel. When they came home, the little boy’s Sunday school teacher asked him, “Did you learn what a saint is?” He remembered all those stained-glass windows with Christian saints. So, he answered, “A saint is a person who the light shines through.” Just like us, saints are human beings with many strengths and many flaws. But they still listened to the whisper of the Holy Spirit and reached out to us when we were lonely, comforted us when we were struggling, and told us about the love of God.
We have never met John Wesley, the English revivalist in the 18th century who started Methodism. But his conversion experience led him to go to the market, fields, mines, and houses to preach and rekindle the love of God. Methodism started to spread not just to Europe, but also to America, Africa, and Asia. At the end of 19th century, Henry Appenzeller, an American Methodist missionary from New Jersey, came to Korea, started schools and churches, and preached the gospel. In 1902, he drowned in the ocean trying to save a little girl. Tertullian said, “The blood of the martyrs is seed for the church.” And his sacrifice and love for God spread all over Korea, later leading my grandmother to the Methodist church and later praying for my father to become a pastor.
Although we struggle on this earth with division, illness, war, hunger, and inequality in the present, we are also children of God who yearn for tomorrow, the future. Through the vision of John, we glimpse the future God holds for us. Anyone who has finished their race on this earth, who struggled with the great ordeal, injustice, hunger, tear, war, illness, or persecution, they are comforted by the Lamb who wipes every tear from their eyes. I can see the spouses, children, and parents coming together and being reunited with tears of joy in their eyes. I can see all those who have died lonely during the pandemic will be reunited with their families. I see the soldiers at war, women, and children who died during these wars coming together one day and be reunited where God wipes their tears.
Yes, we may suffer from separation, injustice, and persecution for now, but the love of God will bring us all together and heal us. Love is what lasts forever, even longer than faith and hope. Love is the very essence of who God is. And God has shown how much God cares about us and loves us by giving God’s only Son, Christ, to us. John says in 1 John 3, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” Love is why God first created us and gave us the breath of God. Love is why Christ died on the cross so that we can cross over to God and be reconciled with God by His mercy and forgiveness. Love is also what will bring us together with those who have gone before us and live together in a world not defined by tears, death, and separation, but joy, love, and celebration.
I invite you to look at one another. I also want you to look at yourself. Do you whom you see? You are looking at a precious child of God. You are looking at a saint of God. I once heard the sermon from the late Rev. Gardner Taylor, who was a mentor to Dr. King, pastored Concord Baptist Church in NYC, and is known as the Dean of Black Preaching. Looking at his fellow African Americans, exhausted and bruised by racism and discrimination, Taylor said, “Did you know that you are destined as a child of God one day to become so much like Jesus Christ? When we all get to heaven, angels looking at one another and looking at you, looking at me, and looking at Jesus, and the angels will ask, “Which one is Jesus? When Christ appears, we shall be like him!”
Dearly beloved, I know that life can be hard. Life can be exhausting and meaningless. But you are here because you have met Christ through someone who showed you who God is like. They held your hands, they prayed for you, and they gave you a hug. We call them our saints who shined the light of Christ. And we do the same, while we run this race faithfully. You all are saints to those who are sitting next to you. We look to Jesus who is risen from death and boldly proclaim that death does not keep us separated. There is resurrection in God who will bring us together.
Amen.
RAIN OF GRACE 