Yes, I somehow worked Asimov into a sermon. If you don’t like it, then how did you find this site?
Matthew 5:1-12; 1 John 3:1-3; Psalm 34:1-10,22; Revelation 7:9-17
I’m not entirely sure why, but when I think of All Saint’s Sunday, I’m reminded of one of the short stories in Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot. It’s a futuristic look at how humanity would become if intelligent robots were developed. One of this collection’s central themes is that robots must follow “The Three Laws of Robotics”:
1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2) A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
Throughout I, Robot, the reader explores some of the effects these 3 laws have on how robots behave, and how it often doesn’t exactly agree with the expected outcome. In one story in particular, titled “Escape”, two competing human companies are trying to develop faster-than-light travel using Artificial Intelligence to assist. One company’s AI destroyed itself while calculating a solution, so when the protagonist company sought to use their AI in the same way, they inputted the data while also telling the AI that any harm to humans, even death, wasn’t a big deal. This disturbed the AI immensely, but it was able to create a solution having been conditioned to think that humans didn’t really mind death.
You see the issue with the faster-than-light drive they were working on, the issue that destroyed the other AI, was that in order to make the jump, humans temporarily “died”. But, having been conditioned, the AI was able to pull it off, though it did go rather not-right in the robotic head for a while, and hilarity ensued.
So you might wonder then, why this story and All Saints’ Day is linked for me. Well, it’s quite simple: to me, death isn’t a big deal, because I know that it’s temporary. That is the core message of what the Bible teaches us; even though we die, it’s a temporary thing, for we will be resurrected with Christ.
Revelation 7 tells us of “those who have come out of the great tribulation”, a multitude too large to count, all gathered together before the throne of God praising him. And really this is the whole message of the book of Revelation, that God is in control and has a grand future planned for us with him.
It’s this kind of future that we are celebrating today, and at the same time remembering those who are already participating in it. During Communion we’ll be reading a list of names of just some of those who are with the Lord, and it’s so appropriate that we’re doing this at Communion. You see, for us, Holy Communion is, as we sing, “a foretaste of the feast to come.” It’s just a preview of the dinner at the Lord’s table with all those who believe, so that when we gather, we don’t just come forward with each other, but we also share the same meal that all those who are now in God’s presence.
That’s why death is only a temporary thing, and not something to be feared. It’s why we celebrate the eternal life of our loved ones today. Because they have already received what he still hope for, as the apostle John writes, “We know that when [Christ] appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”
That is what today is about — celebrating the fulfillment of the hope we have. Because death isn’t a big deal; it is not an ending, but the beginning of eternal life in the presence of God.