Jesus Stands Among Us: Saints on Level Ground

Luke 6:20-31

Then Jesus looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. “Blessed are you who weep now for you will laugh. “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Sermon: The Rev. Dr. Maryann Amor

Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

We didn’t hear these verses today, but they come immediately before our Gospel reading from Luke. These verses establish that Jesus is not speaking from on top of a mountain, as he does when he gives the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel. Instead, Jesus comes down and stands with the people on a level place. There are people present from all over the region—those who are desperate to hear him and desperate for healing. And Jesus stands with them, equal to them, as one of them.

And this image of Jesus on a level plain with the masses is the lens through which we might make sense of All Saints’ Day.

Now, I am sure we all know something about saints. In the Catholic tradition, there are very specific steps required for one to be called a saint: A deceased person must be recognized for living a life of heroic virtue and/or martyrdom. The process towards becoming a saint typically begins five years after death, involves an investigation into the person's life, a declaration as "Venerable," followed by beatification (they are called "Blessed") after a confirmed miracle, and finally canonization as a "Saint" after a second confirmed miracle. The Pope ultimately makes the final decision regarding who becomes a saint.

In Catholicism, saints are rare—they are very specific people who are honoured as examples set before us, lifted up as models of holiness.

In the Anglican tradition, however, we hold a broader view: we believe that all who are baptized into Christ are saints—not because of our perfection, but because of God’s grace. We still honour and learn from those whose faith was especially bright, but we also remember that sainthood begins right here, in ordinary lives made holy by God’s love.

So one tradition, Catholicism, celebrates particular lives of holiness; the other, Anglicanism, emphasizes that holiness is the calling of all of us. Catholicism takes more of a Matthean, sermon-on-the-mount approach—the holy one is above. Anglicanism takes more of a Lukan, sermon-on-the-plain approach—the holy one is level.

By viewing everyone as saints, our tradition calls us to see the inherent possibility in each one of us—and this is something we really do need to be reminded of. It is so easy for us to look at those who do what we might call holy work, who give up their lives for others, or who have died for others, and to hold ourselves against their example. It is easy to feel like we are not good enough…that we are not blessed or holy and never will be. That being regular people isn’t as important as being holy people.

Anthropologist Mary Douglas is known for exploring the distinction between the holy and the unholy, or profane—that is, how religious traditions often create categories of what is sacred and what is not. In a way, we do this with the saints: they are held up as holy and sacred, while we are ordinary or profane. But Luke’s Gospel calls us to take a different approach: it suggests that we are all called to holiness, we all bear God’s image, and we are all saints.

When Jesus speaks from that level place, his words make this truth clear. He blesses those who are poor, who are hungry, who weep, who are hated. He looks directly at the people standing beside him—the ones who came to him desperate for healing and hope—and he calls them blessed. He is not saying that they will be blessed in the future, on some far off, later date, but he says they are blessed, right at that moment, exactly as they are. The blessing that Jesus gives in Luke is not for the perfect, those who have been through a process of beatification, but it is for all the broken, hurting people present, standing on level place, right beside him.

This is the radical message of Luke’s Gospel and of All Saints’ Day: the blessed ones, the saints, are not far off or exalted, but they are right here, among us, and within us. The saints are those of us, right here and now who hunger for righteousness, who weep for a broken world, who show mercy and compassion when it would be easier to judge.

So when Jesus ends with that familiar Golden Rule —“Do to others as you would have them do to you”—it is not simply advice, but it is a call to live like saints on a level place: to treat every person as one who bears God’s image, to see the blessedness in those the world overlooks, to honour the holiness that is already present in everyone.

Today, on All Saints’ Day, Luke’s Gospel shows us that sainthood is not reserved for a few people, held up as blessed after they have performed miracles and died, but it is inherent in our lives right now. Jesus stands among us, speaks to us from a level place, and Jesus sanctifies all our lives. We are all God’s saints, we are all blessed right now, in our brokenness and in our imperfection. So let us go out and live this truth. Amen.