21 Pentecost/All Saints Sunday/Year C - November 2, 2025
Scriptures: Isaiah 1:10-18; Psalm 32:1-8; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12; Luke 19:1-10
Rev. Deacon Kathryn Snelling
Yesterday it was All Saints Day, and a few of us gathered here in the sanctuary and had a quiet service of prayers and the reading of the names of all of Saint Peter’s saints through the years.
And today it’s All Saint Sunday.
In the lessons assigned for All Saints Sunday we heard from the book of Daniel. A book filled with miracles and visions. This one, about beasts that will rise up out of the sea. And it is interpreted as nations that will rise one after another and for a time are a powerful force in the world.
And yet Daniel concludes with-
But the holy ones of The Most High will receive and possess the kingdom.
The Hebrew word used for “holy ones” does not mean “ the pious” but rather those set apart, made holy by God’s calling and naming.
Paul writes to the Ephesians, first praising them for their steadfast faithfulness after receiving the gospel, and then he urges them that with the eyes of their hearts enlightened, they may know the hope they are called to by Christ's redemptive work and his authority over all.
And the Psalm 149 begins with praises to God, and then at verse six makes a very sharp turn and speaks of wielding a two edged sword and wreaking vengeance on the nations and those that are in power.
Unfortunately, this Psalm and scriptures like it have been used as a call to arms and a waging of holy war against perceived enemies.
But as Christians, we must read these kinds of scriptures through the lens of Jesus’ teaching.
Which brings us to our reading from Luke. This passage is often referred to as the sermon on the plain, as in contrast with Matthew’s recording of the sermon on the mount.
And they begin with very similar words: blessed are the poor, the hungry, those who are oppressed. Your reward will be great.
But unlike the sermon in Matthew, Luke has Jesus go on with “the woes”, that mirror the blessings.
Woe to you who are rich now and think you are sitting pretty and have it made, for you are missing out on what is important and you will suffer for it.
(My paraphrasing)
One commentator that I read noted that anytime we read of the poor being lifted up we can expect that someone else is coming down
But rather than a call to pick up arms. Jesus goes on with, “and I say to you who listen, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”
Do not repay evil with evil
And he wraps it up with those well-known words: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
If today had been an ordinary 21st Sunday after Pentecost, we would’ve heard very different readings.
I looked them over and I was a little dismayed because the gospel reading is among my favorites.
It’s the story about Zacchaeus. You remember the fellow who climbed the tree in order to get a view of Jesus as he was entering Jericho.
We are told a few things about Zacchaeus. He’s a tax collector and he is rich.
We know that tax collectors were despised by their fellow Jews. Looked upon as an enemy, an agent of the occupying Roman Empire.
They collected the imposed taxes to the emperor and a bit more as their wages. For the Romans didn’t pay them for their work.
So, by all appearances, Zacchaeus sits squarely in the woe side of the blessings and woe sermon.
We are also told that he was short.
What isn’t stated outright, but I feel is implied, is that something was stirring in Zacchaeus’ heart. Something gave him a burning desire to see this Jesus, who he has certainly heard about. All the healings he has done and talking in a new and radical way about the Kingdom of God.
He abandons all dignity and scrambles up a sycamore tree to get a clear look.
And he sees Jesus. But more importantly, Jesus sees him. Not the tax collector. He sees Zacchaeus.
And tells him to come down out of the tree because he is going to have dinner at his house.
Zacchaeus, overjoyed, scrambles down, only to be met by the grumbling of the crowd.
“He’s going to go eat with that sinner?”
And Zacchaeus blunts out, “I will give half of all that I possess to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone I will pay back four times as much.
To which Jesus says, ”Today Salvation has come to this house because……..
Not because he’s going to give to the poor or pay back for any fraud.
But “Salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham.”
He too is beloved by God.
We can’t look into the hearts of others, and Jesus doesn’t ask us to.
What he does ask of us, is to love one another.
So we stand with the poor, the downtrodden, the oppressed and all who are in need. And do what we can to help.
We strive for justice and an end to unjust systems.
And we do it through the lens of Jesus’s teaching and from the foundation of God’s Love.
Let us pray
Dear Lord, today we remember your saints who have persevered steadfastly and quietly, many known only by their families or close friends or the community where they lived.
And God we ask for your help, to persevere with the eyes of our hearts enlightened by your way of love, and to bring Christ’s light to the dark places of the world.
Amen