All Saints Day has been celebrated on November 1st for about 1200 years (before that, it was celebrated on May 13th). Because it is an important feast of the Church year, we usually celebrate it on the Sunday following Nov 1st, in order to include the largest number of people in this observance. It is based on two beliefs we have: first that all people are made in God’s image, and therefore have a spiritual nature. So all humans are qualified to be saints. And second, we believe that all baptized people are saints. I hope this idea no longer surprises you . . . it does NOT mean that we are perfect. It does mean that we are marked in baptism as belonging to Christ, and that this is an indelible mark, an eternal relationship. So when St. Paul wrote his letters to the churches, he always addressed them to the saints that are in Galatia, or in Phillippi. You and I are some of the saints in Sunnyvale.

What is most unusual about the feast of All Saints is another belief we have. The Communion of the saints, means that we are connected to Christ forever, in this life and in the next. The resurrection of Christ means that death is not an end, but only a transition. Therefore, all the saints who have died, are with Christ in the next life. Their soul or spirit is still alive. When we celebrate the Eucharist, Christ is present, and all those who are with Christ, are also present. About whom am I speaking? Well, certainly St. Thomas, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Francis, as well as Fonny Ho and Chris Peterson and Maria Ridgway and Gary Letson. Today, we also include the new saints who have been baptized recently: Elsa and Kira Weisinger, Jacqueline Jones, Eli and Isaac Roybal, Isaiah Carrion, Sarah, Jasmine and Soraya Shirazi. Among the saints, all are important, but none are perfect. In fact all the saints ARE forgiven sinners.

Today in our Gospel reading, we have the story of a sinner, of how he was forgiven and became a saint. In order to understand the story, I have to tell you what happened in the time--perhaps two weeks--leading up to his big moment of forgiveness. Do you remember my talking about Jesus being on the journey to Jerusalem, which began in the Gospel of Luke, in chapter 9, and continues through to the present chapter 19? This was a journey of approximately 90 miles, which Jesus made by walking: up and down the hills, from village to village. It may have taken him anywhere from a month to 3 or 4 months, depending on how long he stayed in each village. It seems clear he stopped to teach people, and to heal, and to have dinner, and to take time for prayer. St. Luke says that after he was rejected by the Samaritans, Jesus crossed the Jordan River and traveled south on the east side, called Judea beyond the Jordan.

Along the way, St. Luke describes three very important things that Jesus taught. First he told three parables, about the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (Luke 15). You remember he said, if you had a flock of 100 sheep, and one got lost, what would you do? Surely you would leave the 99 sheep and go in search of the one lost sheep! Second, it seems that word had spread about the holiness, and the healing power of Jesus. Many parents decided to bring their children to Jesus, either to be blessed or to be healed. The disciples tried to protect Jesus from all these requests, and Jesus rebuked them. He said, “Let the children come to me, do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, will never enter it” (Luke 18:17).

The third thing Jesus said, was in response to the rich man who wanted to know what he had to do, to enter the kingdom of God. When Jesus told him to sell all he owned and give it to the poor, the rich man turned away, and Jesus was sad. Then Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:25). So here is what I think. Jesus was looking for someone who was like a lost sheep, and like a child, and rich.

Meanwhile, the people of Jericho had heard about Jesus: that he healed the sick, that he taught “with authority”, that the Pharisees didn’t like him, and that he did miracles. So the people of the city of Jericho gathered at the entrance to the city in a big crowd. Now there was one resident of Jericho who wanted very much to see Jesus. Why did he have such a strong desire to see Jesus? Probably because he was an outcast among his own people, the Jews. Zacchaeus worked for the Roman government collecting taxes: in fact, he was the chief tax collector. Everyone knew that all the tax collectors were dishonest: they collected extra for themselves from every household. So Zacchaeus was rich: he may have lived in the imperial residence built in Jericho by Herod’s family. None of the righteous Jews would associate with him, because they believed he had turned his back on the Jewish religion, and given his loyalty to Rome.

Therefore Zacchaeus had a personal interest in a prophet who welcomed sinners. He wanted to see for himself a holy man, with healing power, who forgave sinners! (One of the most famous sayings of St. Augustine is based on this story: timeo iesum praeter euntum et non redeuntum “I am afraid that Jesus may pass and may not come back”.) However, Zacchaus was shorter than most people in Jericho, and quickly realized he would not see Jesus if he stayed where he was in the crowd. Have any of you ever had that experience of being too short to see? So Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed a tree, so that he would be above the crowd. Try to imagine this: an adult man, dressed in expensive clothes, scrambling up a tree. How many of you have ever climbed a tree? When you were a child? When you were an adult? How many have every seen an adult climb a tree?

Along came Jesus, who, remember, had his eye out for someone who is an outcast, who is like a child, and who is rich. There, up in the tree, he saw a well-dressed man acting like a child. I think it very likely that he asked the name of that man, and then he looked directly at him and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, I must stay at your house today”. The people in the crowd reacted strongly: that man is a sinner, he is dishonest, he takes our money, why should Jesus the prophet, the healer, stay with THAT man??

Do you know, now, what the answer is? Jesus chose to stay with Zacchaeus because he was one of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and because he was like a child, and because he was rich. Jesus was showing by his actions, what he had been teaching in his words. And then, after Zacchaeus had had time to talk with Jesus, he repented of his dishonesty, because he was so happy to be accepted by Jesus. He decided to give half his property to the poor, and with the other half, he promised to restore to the people he had cheated, four times what he had taken from them. This is exactly the moment when the rich man has indeed gone through the eye of the needle: he has repented, and he has shared his wealth. “Today” Jesus said, “you have been saved, because you are the child of Abraham”. Jesus chose those words carefully: Abraham was a man of faith, who offered hospitality to strangers, and who was a blessing to others. So now Zacchaeus has demonstrated that he belongs to the family of Abraham.

What does this mean for us? Well, I have every reason to think that you and I are saved, for three reasons. First, we confess our sins and are forgiven. Second, we have been lost, and Jesus has found us, and we have been baptized in his name. And third, even if we are adults, I hope we are able to be trusting, playful, and joyful like a child. Since we are saved, we are part of that Communion of the Saints, which I spoke about at the beginning. We are part of the great fellowship of faith, together with Zacchaeus, who , according to legend, later became the Bishop of Caesarea, and with all those whose names are on the pews in front of us. They are present with us, invisibly, today and whenever we gather to celebrate the real presence of Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

Therefore, let us each say, one after another, the names of one or two of the saints that we can see in front of us . .