Well, howdy. When I was growing up, we had a
joke in the family, and you may have had the
same one as well. Hearing your middle name in
public from your parents was not a good thing.
If a parent were to say, Jason, well, that could
be a good thing. Jason, here's a toy. Jason,
happy birthday. Jason, good job. But if they
said, Jason Marino. That meant something wasn't
okay, especially if it were in public. I know
my last name They know my last name, but if it
goes Jason Marino Oh I did something wrong now
they were to say Jason Abelardo Marino Then things
were going downhill fast and yes Abelardo is
my middle name. The a does not actually stand
for awesome Sorry that I lied to a few of you.
And for the record, my cousins heard their middle
names much more often than I did. But here's
what's funny. When we baptize someone, we also
say their full name. Only this time, it's not
for scolding, it's for blessing. Today, we are
baptizing one of our babies. When babies are
baptized, there's always this moment when the
pastor says their full name out loud. It's not
a nickname or a shortened version. It's the full
name, spoken carefully and clearly, followed
by, I baptize you in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. That
name, spoken with the water, becomes part of
their story. These are such tiny people. What
sins could they possibly need forgiving though?
But the reality is that we are born into brokenness.
And we need to be immersed in the Word of God
from the very beginning. See, we are born into
sin. From that moment on is that we're realizing
our need to be forgiven. But from the moment
when we are baptized onward, no matter where
life takes them, that name is wrapped in the
name of Jesus. It's a naming and a washing. both
at once. We may not understand the words that
are being spoken yet, but the water is still
on us. As Christ says that he is bringing salvation
to those born in sin, good news that is announced
to all, even those who cannot yet see or hear
before Christ reaches them. See, this is not
about saying that we can only believe whenever
the words are making complete sense. As their
parents raise them to know Christ from then on,
there is no point at which these children are
led to believe that grace is not theirs yet.
See, their confirmation of faith later affirms
that God has been speaking into their hearts
and minds from the very beginning. This is not
something where they would be able to then wonder
Did I accept Jesus enough for him to be there
with me, but rather that God has always been
speaking to them even before they understood
the words? That's what sainthood really is. Not
perfection, not recognition, not achievement,
but being named and washed by God. Let's start
at the end of the story. to really understand
what's going on. The vision from Revelation.
Remember, this is a vision of what will happen
when Christ returns and makes all things new.
This is the time when the resurrection brings
us back to celebrate with Christ no matter what
happened before. See, John looks and sees a great
multitude that no one can count from every nation,
tribe, and language standing before the throne
dressed in white robes. It's easy to imagine
that this crowd is full of perfect people dressed
in white, people who got everything right, who
lived these flawless lives and did amazing things.
This is often what we get from some churches
that venerate the saints. But when the elder
asks, who are these? The answer has nothing to
do with their own works. These are the ones who
have come out of the Great Tribulation. They
have washed their robes. and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb. These are people who
have been through it. They've known suffering
and loss, doubt, and failure. They're not perfect
people who finally earned a seat in heaven. See,
in the midst of all those struggles, I am positive
that they did not do everything perfectly in
their lives. But you see, they're forgiven people
who were carried there by grace. They're not
shining because they were sinless. They are shining
because they were washed. Their robes are white,
not from their own effort, but from the blood
of Christ. Did you catch that? Their robes are
white because of dipping them in blood. What
kind of a washing is this? It's like when you
try to scrub out the yellow dinginess of white
clothing, trying harder cannot make them white.
I always wondered why it was that there were
those little bottles in the store that said,
Bluing. Not bluey. Bluing. See, the bluing of
royalty is needed to counteract the stains. But
what about the red of blood? It counteracts the
green of envy, jealousy, decay, mold, sin. Only
the red of the blood of Christ can cleanse them.
Their story didn't end in perfection. It ended
in grace. But notice that they were coming out
of the great tribulation, the tribulation of
a world caught up in sin, a world that attacks
anything made of light with darkness. These are
people who know what it means to struggle, to
suffer. How many of them were mistreated in a
world that only values aggression and cruelty,
a world that ignores those who cannot pull themselves
up by their own bootstraps and force their way
along? How many of them died in the midst of
exhaustion, maybe even died from exhaustion?
How often do people find themselves wondering
if God even remembers their name, remembers their
turmoil and strife? If we rewind from that vision
of glory though, we find Jesus on the mountain
in Matthew, speaking words to ordinary people,
fishermen, mothers, wanderers, doubters, words
that sound upside down because he calls them
blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed
are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Can
we imagine what all they have said and done in
their lives? The times out on the ocean when
they can't catch any fish, they still have bills
to pay and the words that come out of their mouths
are things they wouldn't want their mothers to
have heard. The times when mothers wondered how
their children are going to turn out and cry
out when their children seem to forget who had
named them. And why it is that they're not meant
to be disconnected, but rather belong. But what
about the times when the wanderers wish they
felt like they belonged? The wandering children
who went off on their own, doubting whether they
had a place. Or the times when doubters look
at the world and think that nothing makes sense.
And yet, how can they be blessed? The world calls
people blessed when they're powerful, successful,
and admired. But Jesus calls people blessed when
they're humble, grieving, and hungry for righteousness.
That's not weakness. That's belonging. See, the
blessed are those who have nothing left to prove.
The ones who depend on God because they know
they cannot do it alone. The blessed are those
who admit when these things are true, even as
so many other people act rich. happy and bold
and things that have no real consequence. The
blessed are the ones who don't have anything
to hide behind or help them to avoid reality.
This means that being a saint, being blessed,
isn't about achieving holiness. It's about receiving
mercy. It's about living life with open hands
instead of clenched fists. It's about trusting
that even in mourning, even in hunger, even in
struggle, You are still named and loved by God.
So the saints are not people who got it all right.
They're people who learned to live by grace,
trusting there was still life on the other side
of death and suffering. And that means every
one of us who clings to Christ is included in
that word, saint. So if we rewind even further,
before the struggle, before the sorrow, before
the strength, We come to the beginning baptism
Every baptism begins with a name God doesn't
say get your life together and then I'll claim
you and you know Make a strong enough effort
to to really really get me and love me enough
God says your name first and then he makes you
new No one baptizes themselves. It's I mean,
could you just imagine? a little baby trying
to come up and like climb up the baptismal font
and kind of dunk himself in there, you know,
get all washed around. Thing is, we are all brought
by parents, sponsors, family, friends, the church
community. We're brought to the water because
others have been brought before us. See faith
is always passed down Grace always reaches through
the generations one generation to the next the
next someone always is the one bringing us to
know Christ Jesus Someone is always bringing
us there See We're brought Because that's what
it means to be part of all the saints See in
baptism God gives us a new name His own. He marks
us with the cross of Christ forever. We are washed,
not because we're ready, but because we're His.
And that's where the life of blessing begins.
Not in earning, but in receiving. It's a place
where God says, you are mine. And that's what
makes baptism such a powerful picture of grace.
We don't climb our way to Christ. Christ comes
to us. We don't achieve sainthood by striving.
We receive it by being brought. Every saint before
us was carried the same way by those who had
been carried before them, and even for those
who were baptized as teenagers or adults. We
know Jesus because someone brought us to him
just as they were once brought. We were all brought
when we had nothing, when we knew nothing about
God, and God had to speak into our hearts before
we could speak in return. Even Billy Graham,
for all of his proclamation, he had to first
be told of who Christ was in that tent he stumbled
upon before he could ever share Christ with anyone
else. So if we move forward again from the font
through the struggle toward the glory, what does
it mean to live as those who are named and washed?
It means remembering that your worth is not in
what you've done, but in who calls you his. It
means knowing that when you stumble, when you
sin, when you fall short, you don't lose your
name. Think of Peter. He denied even knowing
Jesus. Not once, but three times. When the rooster
crowed, Peter saw himself for what he was. A
failure. A coward. A sinner. But when Jesus rose,
he didn't come back with anger or shame. He came
back with Peter's name. Simon, son of John, do
you love me? He said the name out loud as if
to say, you are still mine. Peter's name didn't
depend on his success. It rested on Christ's
forgiveness. And that's what grace looks like,
a name that stays even when you've fallen and
then calls you back into righteousness. Or take
Jacob. Jacob's whole story was built on running,
tricking, deceiving, grabbing blessings that
weren't his. But in the middle of a long night,
God met him and wrestled him to the ground. And
there, right in the middle of his struggle, God
gave him a new name. Israel. The name didn't
come after Jacob got his act together. It came
in the middle of the wrestling. And that's what
grace does. It meets us in the struggle and names
us anyway, giving us a new future. Or David,
a man after God's own heart, and yet a man who
committed adultery, who arranged a death to cover
his sin, who broke nearly every commandment he'd
once sung about. Yet when he finally collapsed
before God, he prayed, created me a clean heart,
O God. And God did. David didn't lose the name
of being beloved. He didn't lose his place in
God's story. God's mercy covered him. Not by
erasing his past, but by redeeming it and then
changing him. And it's not just ancient saints.
In every generation, people get marked by failure.
Once upon a time, it might have been a divorce,
a scandal, not fitting the mold that society
called respectable. Today, it might be not measuring
up to perfection, the perfect parent, the perfect
marriage, the perfect career, the perfect track
record, the perfect faith. We live in a culture
that loves to define people by what went wrong,
but Grace refuses to use that ink. In baptism,
God writes his name over yours in water and promise.
He doesn't erase your past. He renames your future.
He doesn't wait until you're spotless. He washes
you while you're being a flawed human. The name
you receive there, beloved, child of God, saint,
that name holds even when life gets messy. So
when you fail, when you fail, When you're marked
by something you wish you could undo Remember
you are still named when the world calls you
by your mistakes God still calls you by the name.
He gave you at the font his own That's why All
Saints Sunday. Is it just about remembering those
who've gone before us? It's about remembering
who we already are the named and watched people
of God So on this All Saints Sunday this baptism
Sunday. We don't wait until someone has died
to call him a saint. We live our sainthood now.
Not because we're finished products but because
God has already begun his work in us. The same
God who washed us in the beginning will one day
welcome us at the end and in between he gives
us the grace to live each day as his blessed
named and washed people. So someday We'll see
that multitude dressed in white and when we do
I think we'll notice something Those robes are
not bright because the people were spotless They're
bright because of the one who washed them and
each voice in that crowd from every time and
place Will carry the same name the name of Jesus
the lamb who calls us blessed And when that day
comes and the lamb calls you calls out your name
It won't sound like judgment. It'll sound like
home. Thanks be to God.