Uncountable Saints from All Peoples

Revelation 7:9-17

Rev. Dr. Mary Alice Mulligan

            The Book of Revelation was written to be read in public worship, so people could share explanations of the meanings. The book title, Revelation, indicates people are to hear an unveiling, a revealing of the way the world looks when viewed through the eyes of God. John paints dramatic images to show God’s vision of encouragement to Christians to stay faithful, to call them to resist the unholy values of the empire which spread injustice, violence, and oppression. In the first part of the 7th chapter of Revelation, we see 144,000 people receiving the seal of the living God. These are the faithful, sealed from every tribe of Israel. And then suddenly John sees there is also a great multitude, so large no one could count them. We hear these are the ones who have groaned in agony, who were tortured for their faith but are now singing praises to God. God’s triumphant Realm is established, which means the earthly Empires have no power because there are no national distinctions before the throne of God. Holy peace and justice reign. Listen for the word of God in Revelation 7:9-17.

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

            All Saints Sunday. We do not hear the term “Saint” in today’s passage, but we call those persecuted for the faith “saints” don’t we? Actually, the biblical terms we translate as Saint mean those who are dedicated to service of God. They are so closely related to God they are destined for righteousness. We think of saints as holy people, those who belong to Christ, God’s beloved. Paul’s letters often refer to saints as Christians of a particular area; but in the book of Relation, written years after Paul’s letters, saints is a frequent term for Christian martyrs. So we are most used to “saint” meaning a persecuted Christian, or at least someone completely devoted to God.            Some saints are martyrs. We refer to those who were killed for believing in Jesus Christ as “saints.” We are shown John’s vision of an uncountable multitude of people who came out of the “great ordeal.” History isn’t clear whether there was widespread persecution at the time of John’s writing, but we know it was always dangerous to refuse to pay homage to the Emperor, to refuse to call him Lord. John paints the scene of those who have been tortured and killed for the faith, probably wearing clothing drenched in their own blood. In the vision, the multitude washes their bloody garb in the blood of the Lamb (that is Jesus) and their robes come out perfectly clean. The point being, obviously, that those who shed blood for remaining faithful to the Lamb are presented clean before God’s throne.

One of the early martyrs, a young woman named Perpetua, when led into the arena where she would be torn apart by wild animals, expressed great joy at being able to witness to her faith with her life. If we imagine her at the throne of God, not only would her clothing need to be washed clean from her blood, but her body would need to be mended back together.

Of course, murdering people for their faith did not stop in the second century. The power of the state is always in a tussle against how God calls us to live. When the poor are oppressed by unfair taxation or the vulnerable cannot receive the care they need, attempts are always made to silence Christians who call for justice. In sixteenth century Europe, Catholics and Lutherans hated each other, but they agreed on killing all the Anabaptists (people who chose to be baptized by immersion as adults). They could be arrested to undergo what was cruelly called a third baptism – they would be tied up and thrown into the river to drown.

We also know in the so-called New World, those who called for justice for indigenous people could be killed to silence them. And we know killing continues, when strong Christians speak against modern empires. We know some of them: Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King Jr., religious worker, Jean Donovan, and a multitude of others. Some saints die for their faith.

            But other saints live for their faith. We know saints whose lives are connected so closely to God, they seem to live and breathe with Jesus. We sense they are truly God’s beloved children, who are crowned with righteousness. Saint Teresa of Kolkata was one of those people, who could kiss people who were oozing death. Her sense of loving acceptance extended to every person, no matter how smelly or disgusting. She was a saint.

But it isn’t only the well-known holy people. Sometimes it’s a person like the regular guy who paid for someone’s groceries. He didn’t know her; he noticed she was carefully counting her money as she stood in line, so he just paid for her groceries. And then that woman’s brother, out of gratitude, paid for someone else’s groceries. And that person, out of gratitude, gave their minister money to pay for someone else’s groceries. What a precious wave of saintly generosity.

At other times, a saint looks like the Indiana church member, Doug, who fought demons of mental health every day, but in the midst of his personal battles, took care of his frail mother, month after month, being her chauffer and making sure life’s details got taken care of. Most people would say such people are not performing earth-shattering acts of sainthood. Yet in their own way, these saints are also standing against the empire with their lives. When the empire says, “Get everything you can for yourself,” these saints focus on the value of other persons, recognizing that every person is precious to God, knowing the love of Jesus extends especially to the vulnerable and the least. These saints are making the entire Earth holier, one little act at a time.

A nearby minister begins worship each Sunday saying, “Good morning, Saints.” He wants to remind the congregation that how we live matters. Jesus expects us to live saintly lives, standing against the ways of society and supporting the ways of God. We are to be saints, the saints who witness to Christ by their lives.

            But John’s vision of the uncountable saints worshipping shows us that everyone gets to the throne. We hear in the passage – the number at the throne is uncountable. People from every tribe, nation, language, and culture, which also means, every religion. God casts a tabernacle of protection over everyone. The whole Earth is included in John’s description of salvation. The theological term for this is “universal salvation,” which means whatever good stuff God has planned for the end of the age, everyone is invited. The Book of Revelation shows us John’s imaginative creation. When God gathers everyone for eternity, here’s what John thinks it will be like. An uncountable crowd worshipping at God’s throne.

Gandhi had a different idea. He said something like, “God would not dare appear to starving people in any other form than food and meaningful work.” And Jesus imagined the end of the age as a messianic banquet. Obviously, each of these images is imaginative. No one has a certain picture.

But we can trust that Divine Goodness, Compassion, and Grace will rule at the end of the age, so gratitude and joy will be overflowing. Will we have these bodies? No idea. Will we be able to find everyone we yearn to see? No idea. Will the singing sound like Rosemary Clooney, David Crosby, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? No idea. Will there be a real throne? I doubt it. How about an actual banquet, or a Florida early winter evening yard party, or a huge family reunion? Probably not. But I suspect since God is in charge it will be glorious. But here’s the most important thing. No one is turned away! No sign at the door says, “Irish need not apply.” Or “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” Or “White men have had their reward.” Or “You must be this tall to enter.” Every tribe, language, identity, and culture – all welcome.

John’s vision is not supposed to be taken literally. He wants us to envision with him the future of our faith. Christ makes us a new creation. Just imagine the uncountable gathering where no one is turned away. In the early part of chapter seven, John sees 144,000 servant/saints, those we might expect to be there – the apostles, early church martyrs, Hildegard von Bingen, St. Teresa, Michael Servantes, Susannah Wesley, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jr., Medger Evers, Jean Donovan, Dom Helder Camara. We could almost count 144,000 of them. But suddenly John sees an uncountable number including people from every tribe, nation, era. One of the commentators said, “They are everybody!” Lots of people have assumed at the final tally, those who did more good in their life will be rewarded and those who tipped the scale to the bad will be punished, but God’s glorious surprise is, the whole Earth is included in God’s final scene of eternal grace. Everyone gets to the throne in the end.

            All Saints Day invites us to honor saints, calling to mind how their lives touched ours with compassion and grace. Contact with them helps us want to be like them. These precious saints model a way of living we can emulate. Not so we can earn God’s final reward, since everyone is invited to God’s final party, but we move toward living like the saints because as we share those behaviors now, we find ourselves being made right, quenched with the water of life, and made whole in Jesus Christ. And when we behave in saintly ways, we actually catch a taste, a glimpse, a momentary experience, of God’s eternal party now. God bless you, saints!