Reflection for All Saints Sunday

“Simul justus et peccator”

The phrase above is one that is known throughout Lutheranism. It is a major component of Luther’s theology and what we as Lutherans believe today. It is Latin, and means “simultaneously saint and sinner.”

            simul       = simultaneously

            justus      = justified/saintly

            et            = and

            peccator  = sinner

We are, at the same time, both sinners deserving of God’s punishment, and saints, forgiven and saved by Christ. In the waters of baptism we are saved, we are forgiven. In the bread and wine we are saved, we are forgiven. And yet, as we know all too well, we are all still human, and fall short of what it would truly mean to deserve God’s love.

No one is perfect.

No one, no person, no human being, is worthy of God’s love, and there is nothing that anyone can do to get to a point of worthiness. Even the thought that we would be worthy is prideful and knocks us down. However, we are not worms in God’s sight, either. To only ever degrade ourselves and to talk only about our sinfulness is not honest to our relationships with God.

We are, at the same time, both saints and sinners. We are sinful saints who can never do enough to earn God’s love, and we are saintly sinners, loved and forgiven.

What does this mean for us? Well, it means that we are free to see the world in this way as well. We no longer need to look on the world as only a sinful, horrible place, but as a place that is loved by God, made beautiful by God’s love. That does not mean that we turn a blind eye to the difficult and painful parts of the world, but that we can hold them with love that comes from the love that God has for us.

To be called saint alone or sinner alone would, in both cases, be difficult. To be called a saint only would put incredibly high expectations on us. To be called a sinner only would be just seeing the painful and awful parts of being. Recognizing that we are both together, simultaneously saint and sinner, means that we know that we have no power to earn God’s love, and yet we have it anyway.

Thanks be to God!

Amen.