A Cycle – Feast of All Saints 26
Rev.7:2-4, 7-14
One of the techniques used during spiritual direction is to have the person visualize an encounter with God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. They emotionally, physically, and personally experience an encounter with the power of God’s forgiveness, mercy, and love. John in today’s first reading is describing his encounter with a reality we will one day experience – eternal life with Christ. His vision provides us with a powerful picture of how resurrected souls respond the reality of what Christs death made possible for all of us who believe.
John was one of the first disciples invited by Christ to follow Him. He is described in the scriptures as the one Jesus loved. During his three years following Jesus, John would have experienced the highs and the lows of Jesus’s discipleship. He was often confused and uncertain, yet he believed. He experienced the rejection of Christ by the religious leaders. He witnessed Jesus willfully breaking the law to heal a paralytic on the sabbath. Witnessed the transfiguration and the agony of Christ prior to His arrest. He witnessed the raising of the girl Tabatha and Lazarus as well as Christ healing a Canaanite woman. He was, as were all the disciples, confused about the mission of Christ and had to constantly reflect on what he heard and witnessed. He knew Saul of Tarsus was arresting the so called “Christians” and brought them back to Jerusalem to be imprisoned, killed and would have had problems believing Saull’s conversion.
He wrote his gospel so that we would overcome our own lack of understanding and stand firm in what we hope for is an absolute truth because God’s plan is for none to perish but all to experience eternal life.
John Hs a radical conversion experience as the Holy Spirit came upon them on Pentecost. That was an experience that emboldened all the disciples and fueled their belief until they were martyred except John. He is now old man on the island of Patmos, and he is still encountering the living God. Did you ever wonder why John survived and continued to record is experience with Christ? Perhaps it was because we have trouble believing Christ paid the penalty for our sins. It is a shame we have doubts about forgiveness. It is a shame we often overlook what the vision says about us because we are caught up in the external visions of Angels, destruction and the righteous being marked with the seal of God.
Yes, we are sinners and we readily admit our failure to root sin from our lives. We carty the guilt of past sins even as we admit God promised us forgiveness if we just return to Him. The prodigal son parable is all we need to know about how God responds to our sins. He is overjoyed by our decision to turn to God for forgiveness. It demands we willingly and deliberately stands before God believing we are his sons and daughters we will be embraced and restored to righteousness.
In this vision by John, he sees four angels who were given the power to destroy the land and the trees but not those how bear the seal of God on their foreheads. Those are the people the church has declared “sants.” The John Pal’s, Francis, Therese of Lisieux. We readily acknowledge those the church has named as saints. We hold them as models, take their names as we are confirmed and know we are not like them. We are weak, self-centered and wish we were not that way but fail to change ourselves.
What we have failed to adopt in our lives is the one thing that will change us, the very thing which God is eager to pour upon us. The powerful experience of the Holy Spirit changing our hearts and pouring the love of God int our hearts. If we would embrace that gift of God, we would realize the vision of John includes us.
We are the multitude, whom John We are the multitude who have survived he “distress” and have washed our robe in the blood of the lamb. We are the people who embraced the salvation won for us by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. That vision is our destiny, and it will be our destiny if only we believe. Jesus said, I have come that you may have life and life in abundance, if only you believe.
Believe never doubt, appropriate not striving to achieve. We must act on and live what we believe. Believe our sins do not condemn us. Salvation is a gift and received by allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed by God’s grace. Tat vision of John is our destination by allowing the grace of forgiveness to wash over us. B inviting the Sprit that to motivate our worship and reprogram our thinking. It is the Spirit that will motivate us to love God with all our hearts, minds, strength, and soul. Enabling us to love God not fear God. Enabling us to begin to live as disciples whose destiny is to stand before the throne of God.
Today is your day, All Saints’ Day. Do not leave this church today without taking a moment to stand before Christ and give thanks for the gift of holiness.
