Sermon – All Saints – "Saints – Holy Fools" – Matthew 5:2-11 – 11/4/07
November 5th, 2007Click play to listen to the audio version of this sermon.
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A. Saints and Saints There are saints and then there are saints. It all depends on the angle you’re looking from. From our angle, we see saints in heaven. From God’s angle, He sees saints in heaven and on earth. It’s always best to try to see things from God’s angle.
Saints are “holy ones.” “Set apart ones.” Saints are men and women, boys and girls whom God has set apart from sin, death and hell. God has made them holy by washing them in the holy water of holy baptism. To the saints, and only the saints, God says, “They shall be my people and I shall be their God.”
When God looks down from heaven on His Church He sees the “communion of saints.” He sees you and me, His holy ones, His righteous ones, His sinless ones. He sees you and me all covered in the holy skin of Jesus –painted with the Passover blood of Jesus. Jesus is the holy One of God. He’s the saint, we’re the sinner. But through Holy Baptism, God has hidden you in Christ. When God looks at you He sees Jesus, He sees holy one, He sees saint.
From our angle, we don’t see it. We don’t see it in others or ourselves. We see it in some more than in others.
If you have Roman Catholic friends you have probably heard them invoke the name of a particular saint. These saints are men and women who have led a faithful and godly life, at least from our angle, as far as we can see.
Isn’t it interesting that God calls us “saints” before we’ve ever done anything to prove it. We call a person a “saint” only after they’ve proved themselves by a very special life.
Today in the Russian Orthodox Church there are 30 saints on the roster. Men and women who have walked a path through life so aligned with God’s will that they’ve been awarded the honorary degree of “saint.”
There’s something very interesting however in the Russian word that is used for saint. It’s a word which I can’t begin to pronounce, but which is literally translated, “Holy Fool.”
A saint is a “holy fool.” Now that’s looking at it from both angles – from heaven and from earth. God sees holy. We see fool. We see fool because he’s too holy. God sees saint. We see “religious nut.” God sees someone who just loves being called a “my people,” “my child,” “my beloved.” We see someone who’s our of touch with reality because they’ve gone overboard on religion.
There are saints and then there are saints.
B. Fools and Fools Likewise, there are fools and then there are fools.
There are Holy Fools who, from our angle, are fools because they’ve lost all regard for themselves in their devotion to God and in the love for others. Foolish husbands who think nothing of themselves but lay down their life for their wives. Foolish parents who sacrifice their own life for their children. Foolish citizens who work to protect their fellow citizens from danger, even at the risk of their own lives.
Yes, there are unholy fools too. Men and women who act like fools and who really are. People who think that they’re smarter than God. Who do what seems right in their own eyes no matter how wrong it is in God’s eyes. Who think that God doesn’t see what we don’t see.
I. God The Fool A. We Think We’re Wiser Than God Then there’s you and me. People who have been made saints in baptism by the grace of God. People covered in the skin of Jesus and painted with His blood, yet who, for the most part, still act like fools – unholy fools that is. Like fools, we keep trying to come out from our hiding place in Jesus and stand on our own before God. “Look what a good person I am God!” “Look what good works I’ve done God!” “Give me what I deserve God!” How foolish is that?
Fools that we are, we think we’re wiser than God. In our wisdom, we think that God’s ways are foolish. In fact, we think that God Himself is a fool.
God says, “Thou shalt not… for your own good.” And we reply, “God, you fool. That won’t hurt me.” God says, “Thou shall… for your own good.” And we reply, “God, you fool.” “I don’t need to do that. And besides, do you know how foolish I’d look if I did.”
B. We Are Wiser Than God. Luther once wrote, “We are accustomed to admit freely that God is more powerful than we are, but not that He is wiser than we are. To be sure, we say that He is, but when it comes to a showdown we do not want to act on what we say.”
God says, “My ways are not your ways,” and we say, “how right your are and I think Your ways are foolish.” That may not be the prayer from our lips but our actions speak louder than words.
Again, Luther says, “Is this not disgusting? And should not God lose his patience because of it? Should He be pleased with people who are just too smart and wise for him and always want to take Him to school? A pretty situation when the egg wants to be wiser than the hen; a fine mastery when children want to rule their father.”
Eve “saw that the fruit of the tree was… desirable for gaining wisdom, and she took some and ate it and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate it.” And ever since, men and women have thought they were “like God” only wiser. But, as St. Paul says, “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools…” (Romans 1:22).
There are fools and then there are fools.
II. God The Wise A. God Has Turned the World Upside Down The trillion dollar question then is, who is right? Who will have the final say? Who will be the final judge? We’re betting our eternal life that God’s good ways are really bad or that He can’t see what we can’t see. Make no mistake about it, this is a bad bet that ends in death. Or in the life – depending on what angle you look at it from.
In the wisdom of worldly wise men and women just like you and me, Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom of God had to go. So, Christ was crucified. Fools thought it was the wise thing to do. And if we had been right, if that had been the end of God’s foolishness, then we would all today be celebrating the triumph of man and the death of God. We would have judged God and found Him to be guilty of being a fool and the wisdom of man would rule the world. We’d be free of God, free of God’s constant efforts to impose His will upon us…
… and free of His constant presence with us, and of His constant mercy toward us, and of His constant love for us; and His constant protection over us; and His constant caring for us. Oh, maybe our wisdom wasn’t isn’t so wise after all. For if that had been the end of it all, we would be the victors alright, but by our victory we would have killed the author of life and been left with nothing but death. We’d be stuck on this little island of a planet with no way off and no God to cry out to come and rescue us.
The great Russian chess master Boris Spasky was touring an art museum in New York City. There was a large painting of a chess board with it’s pieces arranged so that it was obvious that the match had been played and was over. The painting was titled, “The King’s Defeat.” Studying the painting for some time with the wisdom of a master, Spasky turned to the guide and said, “the king has another move.”
The King has another move alright! It was a move that in all their wisdom the worldly wise never considered. “He is risen!” “He is risen indeed!” On the 3rd day after the cross of Christ, God’s promise made through the prophet came true, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; and the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate’ (Is. 29:14). On the 3rd day after the cross of Christ crucified comes the victory of God over all of our foolish wisdom. On the 3rd day after the folly of the cross comes the verdict which exposes all of our wisdom for what it really is – utter folly. For on the 3rd day after the cross the crucified One, lives and reigns to all eternity.
God has shown us true wisdom in His Son, Jesus Christ. A fool in the eyes of the world, the victorious, wisdom of God to all the saints. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom…”
God has turned the wisdom of the world upside down in Jesus Christ. Man’s wisdom says, “foolish are those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn and the meek.” “Stupid are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful and the pure in heart.” “Ignorant are those who seek peace.” And to those who would rather suffer and face persecution than deny the name of Jesus in whom they are hidden – the world cries, “loser!”
B. His Actions Speak Louder Than Ours But God has turned our wisdom against us – or for us, depending on the angle your looking from. God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise…” In our wisdom we said, “Crucify Him!” But by His crucifixion, Jesus says, “blessed are you…”
For His actions speak louder than ours. And His Word speaks louder than ours. Our conscience screams, “I am a fool.” But the still, small voice of His Word speaks forgiveness and mercy and grace and life. “I forgive you all of your sins.” “Yes, you are a fool. A holy fool. You are my blessed saint.”
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» Sermon – All Saints Sunday – "The One Holy Christian Church" – Revelation 7:9-17 – 11/2/08
» Sermon – "Victory's Spoils" – Revelation 7:9-17
» Sermon – All Saints – "The Spoils of Victory" – Revelation 7:2-17 – 11/1/09
» Sermon – Pentecost 17 – "Family Cares For Family" – James 5:13-20 – 9/27/09
