Vampires and Saints

One of four sermons picked "out of a hat," suggestions offered by the congregation.  This topic, "Vampires and Saints: Who Live Longer," was based on two scripture passage: Leviticus 17:10-14 and Matthew 16:24-28.  The sermon was delivered on July 23, 2017.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life: John 3:16

I am one of those people who enjoy books and programs on the supernatural.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of my favourite shows. “In every generation there is a chosen.  She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness.”  I read books about werewolves, ghosts, and other supernatural beings.  I like the mythology around the characters and the creativeness that people use to tell the human story through supernatural characters. 

Character created by Joss Whedon

As most of you know, the topic today was chosen out of a hat a few weeks ago.  It read, “Who lives longer: vampires or saints?”  Afterwards, I had a recommendation from someone to watch a program called, “What We Do in the Shadows.”  It’s a film created in New Zealand that feels like a documentary about four vampires who are flatmates.  One of the characters, Nick, is invited to the flat as a meal, but is instead turned into a vampire by one of these flatmates.  He is thrilled by this new journey.  He can fly, he can do a bit of hypnosis, and he can change his appearance, like turning into a bat.  He eagerly shares with regular people this new life, although he is told how important it is to keep it secret.  One day though, he tells the wrong person.  It turns out to be a vampire hunter who comes to their house and kills the oldest of the flatmates.  He’s devastated by what he’s done.  At one point, he’s is in a cafe with a friend and picks up a french fry.  One of the vampires says, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you?”  Nick responds, “Why?” and eats it anyway.  He is then violently ill   He begins to feel that being a vampire is the worst thing that could have happened to him.  He will never see a sunset, he can’t ever eat his favourite food, and his life has to be kept secret.  

Eternal life holds a kind of fascination for many.  The idea of never growing old and living forever seems attractive or sometimes it’s spending eternity with loved ones.  For some, the supernatural expresses this fascination and for others,  this fascination is around eternal life with God in heaven.  What would it mean to live forever?  Like Nick, we might discover it’s not all we hoped.  

One of the books in the bible, Leviticus, carries some of the first laws that God gave to the people of Israel.  In it, we hear of this prohibition on the drinking of blood.  “For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and…the life of every creature—its blood is its life.”  Blood is life.  It’s what flows through our bodies.  If it’s not flowing, we’re dead.  During the time of these laws, it was blood more than anything else that indicated life.  If you lost enough of it, you died.  It makes sense that this would be the one thing that would keep a vampire alive after death.

We even hear this in Jesus’ words before he died.  During the last supper with his disciples, he held up a glass of wine and said, "This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many."  It’s interesting to have an old law about not drinking blood and then in the gospels hear Jesus, a Jewish man, symbolically talk about drinking his blood.  Blood though is all about life and death.  Jesus knew he would die soon but Jesus also knew that this ritual was a reminder to his disciples that this sacrifice was for them, that his blood, his life, was being poured out for many, so that they might live.  Does this mean life after death or is he talking about life while we’re living?

And what about saints?  In the United Church, and many Protestant churches, saints are seen as those who have gone before us.  When we die we join this communion of saints or we use a phrase from the book of Hebrews, “cloud of witnesses.”  We remember and we honour all those people who have gone before us and who have brought us to where we are today.

In the Catholic Church though saints are seen very differently.  There are particular people who are made saints, which means one can pray to them and they can intercede on our behalf.  Some pray to St. Anthony to help them find lost objects or St. Jude for lost causes.  St. Francis of Assisi is the saint of animals and to whom we attribute the words, “Make me a channel of your peace.”  I read that there are estimates of more than 10,000 people being made saints.  These saints are held up as extraordinary beings and as those who can continue to make a difference in this world after death by performing miracles and hearing and responding to our prayers.

These people are usually remembered as saints after their death because they made such a difference in the world before their death.  They are revered and some are worshipped.  They are seen as performing acts of miracles.  Some even see the line sometimes as being blurred between a god and a saint, but these were regular people. They weren’t perfect people.  Their faith wasn’t perfect.  People often refer to Mother Teresa’s journals expressing her doubts.  People venerated them because they lived their lives in such a profound way that people felt that their ministry must be continuing in some way after death.  They strived to make a difference in the world and must have made quite an impression to be considered as living on in such an extraordinary way.

So who lives longer, vampires or saints?  It’s an odd questions.  My first thought was that vampires aren’t technically alive.  They are dead or “undead”.  Saints are also dead but they live on in a different way, in the hearts of many.  From the stories, I also know that vampires are creatures that keep to the shadows, and most would say they don’t exist.  In a way, this is another kind of death.  They survive, if that’s want you want to call it, by feeding off the blood of other living beings.  While saints survive through story and tradition and the longing by people to connect with the divine, with God.  But who lives longer?  Do you actually know the name of any vampires that aren’t works of fiction?

Let’s look at the root of the question though.  Let’s look at what we mean when we talk about life, living, or even eternal life.  I want to share with you some words by someone who is one of my favourite people right now, Peter Rollins, a philosopher from Ireland.  He

Peter Rollins

talks about Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher from the late 1800s, who tells a story about the secret to happiness.  A mythical figure is asked about the secret to happiness and the answer is to have never been born.  The second secret, because we can’t help being born, is to die quickly.  

It sounds morbid, and defeatist but the point is that we all suffer.  There is no pure happiness in this world.  We all experience pain and loss in our lives.  The point is to a accept that there is this pain, that it cannot be avoided, and then to live life to its fullest anyway.  Rollins wonders whether those who long for life after death aren’t enjoying their current lives and are striving to find this pure happiness.  Rollins expresses the thought that maybe eternal life is a transformation of the very way we experience life.  In fact, he says, we don’t experience life; it’s life that allows us to experience.  

In Matthew's gospel, Jesus tells his disciples, ““If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”  

This is Rollins’ theory:  We all feel this emptiness, this lack, that we try to erase, try to get rid of, try to fill with shiny cars, a bigger house, money, success, sometimes drugs, and sometimes even religion.  The irony is that simply by being and accepting this lack as a part of you, you become more whole. We all have this fantasy that others have achieved happiness. Rollins calls it “the unhappy tyranny of happiness.” We think others have found a way of getting rid of this emptiness. We imagine that our neighbours must be happy with their beautiful house and perfect family.  We imagine that the movie star must be happy with all of his or her success and good looks.  The truth is that we are all trying to find the secret.  We are all trying to fill this void inside of us.  Sometimes when we actually do achieve all our dreams, it’s worse because we realize this wasn’t the solution.  We still feel the emptiness.

Sometimes it’s the dark places that bring us to a whole place.  Sometimes its the places of darkness where we find light and wholeness, or, in Jesus’ words, sometimes we have to lose our life to find it or in order to save your life, you have to lose it first.  

Can we live forever is a medical question, not a theological one.  The theological question is not is there life after death but is life possible before we die.  Death is not the end of life.  Death is what infests life.  It’s not about finding the meaning of life but can we find meaning in life.  

I do not know what happens after we die.  I don’t know if we live forever in another existence, supernaturally or eternally with God.  I don’t know if vampires or saints live longer.  I know that I don’t want to be a vampire and I know that I will never be a saint.  What I do know is that I want to live and live life to it’s fullest.  I want to enjoy every day without longing for a bigger home or more money and success.  I know that life can be full of pain and hurt and that sometimes I will cry out in frustration or in sorrow and curse this life.  But that’s part of being alive.  It’s the highs and the lows of life that give my life meaning.  Instead of questing for happiness or eternal life, I’m going to appreciate the life I’ve got.

What about you?  Are you on a quest for happiness?  Is your goal eternal life?  Are you anxious to leave this life for a new one?  What gives meaning to your life?  Do you need to lose your life to find it?  May God be your guide in this life.  May the Spirit give you strength as you live into those dark places to find your wholeness.  May Christ be with you as you carry your cross and join him on this journey we call life.  May it be so.  Amen.