THE EXAMPLE OF THE SAINTS
The church calendar is full of saints’ days. On
June 29th we celebrated the day of Sts. Peter and Paul. Last month in August we celebrated St.
Bartholomew. This month St. Matthew
will fall on a Sunday, as well as the festival after which our congregation was
named, The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
on September 14th. Throughout the years I have sought to celebrate a
saint’s day if it fell on a Sunday because there is much that we learn from the
saints and apostles of Christ Jesus. Our Lutheran Confessions address how we
ought to view the saints rightly. From the Apology:
Our Confession approves honors
to the saints. For here a threefold honor is to be approved. The first is
thanksgiving. For we ought to give thanks to God because He has shown examples
of mercy; because He has shown that He wishes to save men; because He has given
teachers or other gifts to the Church. And these gifts, as they are the
greatest, should be amplified, and the saints themselves should be praised, who
have faithfully used these gifts, just as Christ praises faithful business-men,
Matt. 25:21, 23.
The second service is the strengthening of our faith; when we see the denial
forgiven Peter, we also are encouraged to believe the more that grace truly superabounds over sin, Rom.
5:20. The third honor is the imitation, first, of
faith, then of the other virtues, which every one should imitate according to
his calling.
(Apology XXI.4-6)
We honor the saints in three ways. First we
remember the saints so that we might give thanks for them. After all, where
would we be without the teaching of the blessed Apostles? Where would the
church be without the martyr’s blood? Where would the church be if men and
women of God had not boldly confessed the faith in times of persecution and
danger? We do not worship the
saints and Apostles. Worship belongs to the
Triune God alone. The witness of these men and women remind us that God wants
to provide for the church in all ages. The Lord wants to save men through faith
which is brought about the preaching of the Gospel. The Apostles and
Evangelists especially are to be viewed as gifts from the Triune God because
they were the eyewitnesses of Christ and caused that witness to be written in
the form of the four canonical gospels. Even though these men have long since
been called to eternal rest, “their line has gone out through
all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” (Psalm 19:4) Again, imagine the dire straits we would be in if the Lord
had not provided these men to witness these things and write them down for our
learning nearly 2000 years later.
The second way we honor the saints is when our
faith is strengthened by their interactions with Christ. When the sinful
conscience burdens us with guilt over our utter unworthiness to be God’s
children, the example of the saints and apostles shines forth to strengthen our
faith. Consider Peter, the example Melanchthon uses in the Apology. Peter was
not a ‘super-Christian.’ He began as a simple fisherman and was called by
Christ to be an Apostle. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter reacts to the
battalion of soldiers in fear:
Then Simon Peter, having a
sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear.
The servant's name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword
into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?" (John
18:10-11)
Peter is reprimanded by Jesus for his quick-temper,
his fear, and his violent outburst. A scene later, Peter lingers in the
courtyard of the High Priest. He
was too cowardly to go with Jesus to His trial. He
then denies His Lord three times, as Jesus has foretold. Immediately a rooster
crows a second time. Then “Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had
said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ So Peter
went out and wept bitterly.” (Luke 22:61-62) Peter cared more for his own life
than his Lord and friend Jesus. He cared more for his own reputation than a
good confession of Jesus.
Earlier in Matthew 16, Peter confesses Jesus as
the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus then teaches His disciples how the
Son of God must suffer and die and rise again. But Peter has to know better
than Jesus and says, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to
you!” (Matthew 16:22) Jesus then
must chastise Peter for having in mind the things of man rather than the things
of God.
Yet in spite of Peter’s cowardly nature, his fearfulness of losing his
reputation, and his temper, Jesus made him an Apostle. He forgave Peter all
this, especially his threefold denial.
So when they had eaten breakfast,
Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than
these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You."
He said to him, "Feed My lambs." He said to him again a second time,
"Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes,
Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Tend My
sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you
love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time,
"Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all
things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him,
"Feed My sheep. (John 21:15-17)
Peter is not morally qualified to be an Apostle of Jesus. None of them are.
Nor is any called and ordained Servant of the Word qualified or sufficient to
be “in the stead and by the command” of Jesus. Nor is any person worthy of the
name Christian or the title “child of God.” And this is the point of the
example of Peter. If the Lord forgives Peter his sins, which were many and
publicly known, how can our Lord Jesus withhold forgiveness from you and me,
indeed, from all who call on Him in true faith? Answer: He won’t. Peter is the
example. He was a liar and a traitor. But he was justified by faith in Christ. As
St. Paul tells Timothy, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all
acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
chief.” (1
Timothy 1:15)
The reason the Lord allowed all of these men’s sins to be recorded in
Scripture is for our learning and comfort. The saints and apostles were not cut
from a different cloth. They are flesh and blood sinners just as you and me. So
we are able to rejoice in their example, or rather the example of how Christ
deals with sinners to absolve them and use them for the sake of His kingdom. We
ought to take great comfort from all the saints and Apostles, for they are
given to us to teach us the Gospel. We can say, “My sins are great. But if
Jesus willingly forgives these men, He will not forsake me in my sins. His
grace is sufficient.”
The third reason for honoring the saints is that we may imitate their
virtues in our own callings. But we have run out of room for this month so
we’ll talk about the example of the saints in our vocations another time. Until
then, let us honor the saints because they teach us Christ Jesus our Lord and
the forgiveness of all of sins. Amen!
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