All Saints' Sunday: A Set-Apart God, A Set-Apart People

Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18

Psalm 149

Ephesians 1:11-23

Luke 6:20-31

The word “saint” has a fascinating pedigree, both etymologically and historically.  It is most often used to translate the Hebrew kados and the Greek hagios, and their derivatives.  We actually get our English word from sanctus which is the Latin translation of both kados and hagios.  In all cases, the word is really better translated as “holy”, and its connotation is that of something or someone “set apart”, set apart by their nature, or set apart for a purpose.

In the Hebrew Bible kados is used initially exclusively for God.  God is holy, set apart; firstly different from all the other local gods and deities, but also “transcendent over everything in the created order, and…therefore uniquely worthy of awe and worship.”  At the same time, some places, people and even nations can be holy too, as they are set apart by God and stand in a special relationship with and to God.  Indeed, the act of the set-apart God calling to God’s self a set-apart people is at the center of salvation history.  In the book of Exodus God says to Israel shortly after their deliverance at the Red Sea, “Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. (Exodus 19:4, 5b, 6a)  And later in the Book of Leviticus,  “I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt, to be your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:45)  So, the Israelites understood themselves as a people set apart, and expressed this by their devotion to the set-apart God and their commitment to that God’s law.  Still, none of this was for themselves only, but rather ultimately so they might be “a light to the nations,” a light to which both peoples and kings should one day come. (cf. Isaiah 60:3)

The New Testament word hagios means exactly the same as the Hebrew kados; for the early Christians too believed that they were “set apart”, continuing in the tradition and call of Israel, to be, as the first letter of Peter describes it “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9).  And so in various places in the New Testament the Christians are generally called hagios, the holy ones, saints.  At the same time, like the Israelites, they too are urged also to be holy: “As he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ ” (1 Peter 1:15-16)  There is also for Christians a path to holiness, this path is most clearly exemplified in the life of Jesus, and always resolves itself in love and mercy.  The letter of Jude expresses it this way:  “Beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.  And have mercy on some who are wavering.” (Jude 20-22)

What we have in the Tradition are two inter-related understandings of sanctity, of holiness.  In one sense there is nothing that we can do to become holy.  It is God who invites us and sets us apart to share in the divine work and purposes.  It is God’s own voice that calls us out of darkness, and God’s own spirit that leads us into his marvelous light, that forms us into a people.  Everyone of us here was called at our baptism to share in the holiness of God by being joined into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and through it God’s identity becomes our own.  It is God who sets us apart, makes us holy.  On the other hand, the Scriptures clearly call us to holiness, speaking about it as if it there is something we can do to become holy, or at least grow in holiness: “be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ ”  They continually exhort us to grow in holiness.  Someone articulated it like this: “We are ‘set apart’ or dedicated to God, yet we must also ‘set ourselves apart’ or dedicate ourselves to become closer to God.”  The fact is that while God may call, the ways in which we respond are rarely full-bodied or full-throated.  We may be called out of darkness, but are often slow to declare the truth and the works of the one who has called into his marvelous light.  So, we are saints – holy ones, set-apart ones, in so far as God has called us to share in his holiness and the extent to which by his grace we do share in it.  But, we are not yet saints in so far as we are not fully perfected in the holy life of God.  And here we come to still a further understanding of what we Christians mean by “saint” and the way in which we most commonly use the word, that is, those persons who have been completely perfected in holiness, completely perfected in God; those whose very being is totally and entirely shot through with the holiness of God.  It is something which cannot happen this side of eternity, and so eventually the Church began to use the word “saint” exclusively for those who had already passed into the nearer presence of God, having led exemplary lives of holiness; who through their actions, through their ministries, through their devotions, through their very lives had been perfected in God’s initial call, been transformed into signs of God’s real and immediate presence, and who had ultimately been taken up completely into God.  It is they who in the love of God could love their enemies, do good to those who hated them, bless those who cursed them, prayed for those who abused them, and thus proclaimed the works of the God who called them and set them apart at the start. (cf. Luke 27b, 28)  Their holiness on earth, was only and ever a reflection of God’s own holiness made manifest in the world, and in heaven they share totally, utterly, completely in that same holiness.  These saints “above” represent what we, the “saints below”, are all called to in the end – to be completely perfected in the holiness of God.

Each of us has been called by God.  At baptism each of us has been set apart by God; not set apart from the world, but set apart for the world.  And in this regard we are already saints.  This is the work of God in us, God’s initiative.  But we are also invited, exhorted, to grow in holiness, which means to grow more deeply into that call made by God at out baptism.  Growing in holiness means growing in faithfaulness to the baptismal covenant entered into at that first call.  You’ll find them on pages 304 and 305 of the Prayer Book: faithfulness in worship, resistance of evil, proclamtion of the Good News, love of neighbor, working for justice.  It is not accidental that along with Easter, All Saints’ Day was one of the days in the early Church for celebrating the sacrament of baptism and bringing new members into the Church, as God set them apart and made them holy by his call.

As we celebrate today with all the saints above and saints below, let us bear in mind not only the call made to us when we were baptized, when were set apart joined to God’s holy people, but also examine how, if at all, we are growing more deeply into that call.  As we renew our baptism covenant today, may we know that while its demands may seem beyond our power, in the power of God, and sharing in his holiness, we can live them out faithfully, gracefully, joyfully; and let as pray that by that same power we may come to share completely in God’s own holiness, which is the inheritance of the saints in light.