In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
“Every one who acknowledges me before men,” says the Lord,
I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven.
And this is clear to us and is concise, we confess Christ and he will remember us in his Kingdom. But this translation lacks a little precision, for when speaking positively, the Lord does not say, “acknowledges me,” but, “acknowledges in me.”[*] We are not merely to give a mental assent to the proposition of Christ, the concept of Christ, the idea of Christ, the Lord is calling you and he is calling me to be in Christ. For our faith is not an idea but is founded on the very person of Christ: “For as many of you,” says the Apostle, “as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ.” (Galatians 3:27) We have not agreed with an idea, we have “put on Christ” so that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)
Today we celebrate All Saints who,
through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
These holy ones—men and women, rich and poor, free and slave, Jew and Gentile—have acknowledged in Christ and Christ has acknowledged in each one of them before the Father since when we are in Christ he is in us. But the reverse is not possible, we cannot “deny in Christ” because we cannot deny ourselves, we cannot deny the one to whom we are truly joined, so the word “in” cannot be used for the negative.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, may we not solely acknowledge Christ but acknowledge in Christ. To be in Christ means we remain faithful in him. If a man is faithful in his marriage he honours his wife and is dedicated to her, serving and caring for her. If a man is faithful to his wife he loves her, even to the laying down of his life for her sake, (see John 15:13) that she might have Life. This is the example of faithfulness we must follow in Christ and in his Church that we abide and remain in him and he in us.
Let us, therefore, receive him as he receives us, as he has taken on humanity let us take on his divinity, let us participate together with him in his death that we may rise with him in Life. Let us, even here and now in these islands in the Western Ocean, draw near to the Lord in our hearts through hearing his Word and receiving the Mysteries of the Church. “Every one who acknowledges in me before men,” says the Lord, “I also will acknowledge in her and in him before my Father who is in Heaven.”
To our incarnate, crucified and risen God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is the “one Mediator between God and men,” (First Timothy 2:5) be all glory, honour and worship, together with his unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
[*] “ὁμολογήσει ἐν ἐμοὶ”
Brethren, all the saints through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated – of whom the world was not worthy – wandering over deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
— Hebrews 11:33–40; 12:1–2
The Lord said to his disciples, “Every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Then Peter said in reply, “Lo, we have left everything and followed you. What then shall we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many that are first will be last, and the last first.”
Matthew 10:32–33; 37–38; 19:27–30