Series C                                                All Saints Sunday      November 7, 2010

Ephesians 1:11-23        Luke 6:20-31

“CRACKED POTS”

Jesus’ Beatitudes speak of the blessed.  The Greek word is makarios.

But through time that word has gone through a lot of different interpretations.  In ancient Greek times, that word referred only to the gods. They had achieved a state of happiness and contentment in life that was beyond all cares, labors, and even death. To be blessed, you had to be a god, living in some other world.

Later that word took on a second meaning.  It referred to the “dead”.  The blessed ones were humans, who, through death, had reached the other world of the gods.  They were now beyond the cares of earthly life.  To be blessed, you had to be dead.

Finally, in Greek usage, the word came to refer to the elite, the upper crust of society, the wealthy people.  It referred to people whose riches and power put them above the normal cares and worries of the lesser folk — the poor, who constantly struggle and worry and labor in life. To be blessed, you had to be very rich and powerful.

When this word was used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it took on another meaning: It referred to the results of right living or righteousness.  If you lived right, you were blessed.  Being blessed meant you received earthly, material things: a good wife, many children, abundant crops, riches, honor, wisdom, beauty, good health, etc.  A blessed person had more things and better things than an ordinary person.  To be blessed, you had to have big and beautiful things.

In all of these meanings, those who were considered “blessed” had a life that was so different from the vast majority of folks.  Like the upper 2% of our country today who make more money that all the rest of the 98% of Americans’ income combined.   They have more than enough to meet their needs and get whatever they want.  They own yachts and airplanes and many mansions and fancy cars.

Then came Jesus who took this word and gave it a totally different meaning.  For him the blessed were not the rich and powerful, the high and mighty, the elite of society with big mansions and expensive penthouses.  In these beatitudes Jesus tells us the blessed are the lowly: the poor, the hungry, the crying, and the hated.  In God’s kingdom everything is turned up-side-down from the way the world sees it.  The blessed are the Saints, but here again, Jesus sees them differently from the rest of the world.

Last week was Halloween which began as a religious observance to honor the faithful dead in Christ.  It was called “All Hallows Eve” and later shortened to Halloween.  Rather than a night of witches, monsters and trick or treat, it was a holy or hallowed occasion.  The only fear it in­voked was that which thoughts of death and the dead always bring.  But people were very superstitious and like all of us, what we don’t understand scares us.  So, to overcome such superstitious fears, Christians began using Halloween to make fun of those things that scared us.  If we could laugh at witches and devils and goblins, and death, they would no longer be feared.  But that was the night before All Saints Day.

For most people, the saints are those faithful Christians who are now dead.  We get this understanding because the word “saint” means “holy”, and since we are not going to think of ourselves as holy, because we “all sin and fall short of the glory of the Lord” that can’t refer to us.  But that is not how Jesus taught his church to see it.

Jesus died to forgive all our sins, and make us holy.  When we put our faith in him, trust only in him, and keep his word, as he commands us, we are made God’s holy ones.  The Gospels and Epistles call all the baptized people of God “the saints”.  Paul regularly addresses the members of his congregations as “saints”.  The saints are those who possess nothing except God’s grace.  It is that grace which forgives our sins and sanctifies us, making us holy, and therefore makes us included in the listing of Saints.  Certainly we celebrate the great men and women of the Bible and Christendom, but we honor them as examples of God’s Grace in Jesus Christ and of what God’s Spirit can do in the lives of baptized people just like us.  The paradox of the Christian life is that we become saintly not by striving for holiness, but by admitting to our unholiness.  Only then can God’s holiness overflow into the emptiness of our lives, making us what we were baptized to be: saints of God, “along with the Church on earth and all the company of heaven.”

Saints are not perfect, only forgiven.  And through them God works many miracles.  That means He works those miracles through us, even when we don’t know or understand it.  Let me illustrate:

A water bearer in India had two large pots that hung on each side of a pole which he carried across his neck.  One of the pots had a crack in it and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.  For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to the master’s house.  Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made.  But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, the cracked pot spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.  “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you.”

“Why?” asked the bearer.  “What are you ashamed of?”

“I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house.  Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”  Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered the pot some.  But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, and not on the other pot’s side?  That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it.  I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them.   For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table.  Without your being just the way you are, the master would not have this beauty to grace his house.

We all have flaws.  We are all cracked pots ( I didn’t say crack pots, Bill!)  But by our staying with the Lord, worshipping with him, participating in the ministry here, the Lord will use our flaws to grace His Father’s house.  In God’s economy nothing goes to waste. Jesus makes us holy through our faith and his grace, and God, who knows our weakness, gives us His strength.  And that is why we are all saints who are disciples of Christ.

Probably the classic comment about saints was made by a little boy who went to church on Sunday with his parents and asked who the men were on the colorful stained glass windows.  His parents told him they were the saints.  A few weeks later, his Sunday School Teacher asked the class if anyone knew who the saints were.  This boy replied, “The saints are people who let the light shine through.”  Saints are people who have let Christ’s light shine on them, and through them upon others….  And that makes us all blessed!  AMEN