Two Wolves - All Saints' Day

Brad Sullivan
All Saints’ Day, Year B
Thursday, November 1, 2012
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm 24
Revelation 21:1-6a
John 11:32-44

God will wipe away every tear.  God will destroy the shroud that is cast over all peoples…he will swallow up death forever.

We’re still waiting.  We will wait.  We’re with Mary and Martha…Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

Raising Lazarus, Jesus’ resurrection.  Shows us that our waiting will not be in vain.  The one who had power over death, Jesus, is the same one who was raised from the dead.  “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:5)

How do we know?  We don’t.  We believe, and we allow that belief to be real enough to change our lives. 

One evening, an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside of people.  He said, “The battle is between two wolves inside us all.  One is evil.  It is anger, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, self-pity, guilt, inferiority, lies, superiority, and ego.  The other is good.  It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, truth, compassion, and faith.”  The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”  The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

“The Two Wolves,” (based on an old Cherokee folktale)

Sometimes we may feel crazy for believing in the resurrection, for believing in Jesus, for believing that one day God will wipe away every tear.  Look at the death and destruction all around us.  Look at hurricane Sandy.  How can we believe that God will destroy the shroud that is cast over all of us, that God will swallow up death for ever?  Sometimes I wonder, how can we believe this.  How can I believe this?  Doesn’t it make more sense not to? 

We could believe in waiting on God.  Doing so gives us hope.  We could, stop believing.  We could believe that waiting on God is simply waiting on a train which doesn’t come.  We could find such belief to be ridiculous. 

Two beliefs.  Two worlds.  One in which death has the ultimate victory over life, one in which life has the ultimate victory over death.  Which world becomes alive in us and changes our life?  The one in which we choose to believe.  Amen.