I always like it when this Gospel today comes around because it can teach us much about our relationship with God.  Zacchaeus merely wanted to see Jesus—he climbed the tree to get some height that his physical stature didn’t allow him.  Up the tree, he could see Jesus, safely, from a distance.  But Jesus had something else in mind—he wanted to know Zacchaeus in a more personal way—he wanted to come to his house—eat with him—talk with him—get to know him.  It is the same with us—Jesus wants to get to know us and share our lives—a concept we shouldn’t miss when reading this gospel. 

   On a deeper level, the story of Zacchaeus tells us something about the culture of the time and within that culture is where Jesus was able to reach Zacchaeus and enter into his life, giving him true life.  Zacchaeus, we know, was a tax-collector; a profession despised by any respectable Jew.  Being a tax-collector meant that you worked for the occupying Romans.  You were not salaried but took your living out of the extra taxes you demanded from your neighbors.  There was no limit on this—Zacchaeus merely had to pay a set amount to the Romans and anything above that was his. We know that he took care of himself because, as the Scriptures say, “he was wealthy.” 

   There are many interesting twists in this story and Jesus uses them all to teach those gathered, along with offering Zacchaeus something he could not buy through his tax-collecting. First, recalling that Zacchaeus was despised by his neighbors for his profession—he joined a group of others—Samaritans, prostitutes, and lepers, also looked down upon.  It was custom/culture to shun people who certainly weren’t living very good lives; it was thought, as to end up in such places and predicaments.  It would be the same if we were to assume that any of us who live with an ailment in life are getting what we deserve.

   Now we might look down on this kind of behavior, but in our day, has the mindset changed that much in dealing with people we don’t understand, can’t accept, or don’t approve of? We may ignore, refuse to listen, even judge them, taking comfort in a group of people who think and act as we do, telling ourselves that we are right and they, the “different ones,” are wrong.  We don’t wish to really hear a dissenting message, as it disturbs our comfort level.  

   Jesus, we know, was one to turn things upside down.  Everyone knew that respectable Jews didn’t enter the home of a known sinner and all the above mentioned; tax-collectors, prostitutes, and lepers, were in that category.  Who are the outcasts in our society, we might ask, that we choose not to be seen with? Jesus, our brother doesn’t let these culture mores stand in his way but enters Zacchaeus’ house anyway.  Jesus always looked deeper, wanted to get to know people; not just assume them worthless because of what they did.  He wanted to talk with them, hear their stories, love them where they were and then call them to be more. 

   We had a lovely example of the above last Sunday when we attended our friend’s Unitarian Universalist (UU) service.  The minister for the day—they are lay-led, prayed a beautiful beginning prayer welcoming all present, “just as we were,” sad, happy, depressed—whatever described us that day.  

   By the very fact that Jesus wanted to come to Zacchaeus’ house already told Zacchaeus that he was dealing with someone a cut above the rest, and one who could offer him true meaning in life.  One of the interesting twists in this story is that even though Zacchaeus was wealthy, which would indicate some power-over-others, he was short in stature—an issue, or it wouldn’t have been mentioned.  We know it impeded Zacchaeus from clearly seeing this important figure to his town, Jesus.  People in Zacchaeus’ time looked at any physical impediment as most likely caused by sin.  Being that Zacchaeus was a tax-collector, a despicable profession, to many, probably was a reason for his shortness, culture dictated.

   Once again Jesus calls the lie to such narrow thinking.  I want to come to your house today Zacchaeus—to dine with you.  I want to know you.  Jesus’ sentiment comes right out of the Wisdom reading for today, “You love all things that are created and loathe nothing.  Because Jesus looked into Zacchaeus’ heart, Zacchaeus found the strength—the grace, to change his life.   Jesus always chose the compassionate, understanding response—not the easier one that so many in his day and we too, at times choose.  If we can categorize those that aren’t like us, put them in a box—because they are wrong and we are right, we don’t need to ever grow closer, ever come to understanding.  And during this election year, there is plenty of grist for such “easy” sizing up of people.

    All the readings today are about salvation—not in the narrow sense of saving folks from their humanness—but in a much broader sense.  Jesus wants people to know, as described in the Wisdom reading, the Creator “loves all of creation,” or would not have made it!  We might also say, “God created only that which is loved!” Think of all the people in this world, categorized in any way—our God simply looks on with love. 

   Jesus, in the great heart of God, knows and understands Zacchaeus—he knows what he does for a living, and he knows why he does it—he knows all that makes up Zacchaeus’ life.  He doesn’t judge but moves to the next step—he respects Zacchaeus and loves him to be more than Zacchaeus thought was possible. 

   With Jesus, simple acceptance of Zacchaeus where he was, then gave him the strength through Jesus’ love to change his life—that is what salvation is really all about—finding the strength to be all we were created to be. No doubt, the idea behind the lovely welcoming at the UU service. 

   We have to smile when we think of Zacchaeus, the wealthy tax-collector, wielding, no doubt a good bit of power around Jericho, by nature of his occupation, climbing the sycamore tree like an excited child to see someone, he knew was important for reasons he wasn’t totally aware of.  He had the misconception that, up the tree, he probably wouldn’t be seen. Little did he know that Jesus was about to teach him and all of Jericho a significant lesson—God loved him right where he was and for what he was. 

   Certainly Jesus knew all that Zacchaeus was capable of and through love, selflessly given, compassion and understanding, Jesus brought about the transformation in him that at some level Zacchaeus was looking for when he climbed the tree that day. 

   For each of us friends, Jesus is on the look-out each and every day of our lives to enter in through the sorrows, the joys, the “ah-ha” moments.  We try to hide, in safe places too, up our own “trees”—behind our names, our situations—our pain, the people we know—thinking that God won’t find us or probably doesn’t care.  And if we think that, we would be wrong.  Let me say that again—if we think that our God doesn’t care—WE WOULD BE WRONG!  All we have to do is reflect on all the Scriptures where Jesus goes out of his way to make a difference in people’s lives like today with Zacchaeus.

   This gospel story tells us in no uncertain terms that our God wants to be part of our lives, wants us to be our best selves.  And it all begins, simply, with love.  Once we know we are loved and accepted, we can then share that love with others. 

   Paul prays today with us that God will continually make us worthy of our call as followers of Jesus, the Christ—that by his power in our lives, all good and works of faith will be accomplished through us.  On this next Tuesday, the Church will celebrate the feast of All Saints. No doubt, we will reflect on some of our favorite saints through the years, who have touched our lives. I think it is important to remember that we are all saints in God’s eyes—we all have that inherent goodness that our God created us with—we just need to show the truth of that each day in our lives. 

    On Wednesday, the Church will celebrate the feast of All Souls—a day we remember all those who have gone before us—many who have shown us the way. It is significant that near the end of the church year, we reflect on who we are in God’s eyes, who have been the people who have touched and mentored us in life and make a resolution to be all that we can be in their memory, going forward.

   Each week we pray for those who have died when we gather here for liturgy. As a community we have created a book that we can open each year during the month of November and remember in a special way all those who have gone before us who have helped make us who we are. So, beginning next Sunday and throughout the month of November, I will invite you to record the names, birth, and death dates of your loved ones. This special book is our parish’s Book of Life.

   Paul’s prayer today, that all good and works of faith be accomplished through us is a mighty challenge. My friends—let us pray for the grace to be faithful to this call.   Amen? Amen!

   My friends, it seems that we are often called to “faith” in the Scripture readings given us to reflect on each week.  Faith, we can then assume, must be very important in our walk with our brother Jesus to be mentioned so many times.

   Therefore, it is important to have a working definition of just what, “faith” is in order to reflect on, talk about, and determine why it is so important.  Very simply, “faith” is believing in something or someone for which we don’t have the “whole story,” we might say, yet we believe anyway. 

   We might also say that every belief system, Christianity included, has aspects about it that just can’t be known, yet again, people believe anyway.  This is curious, and probably the only way to make sense of it all is to look within ourselves and ask, what we believe and why we believe it. 

   Those who look at the world in a rather, “black and white” way are prone to say, by way of explanation, not, what “faith is,” but what it is not.  They might tell you, “If you doubt” that something is “true,” then you are lacking in that elusive quality, faith. 

   Someone wise once said, “the opposite of faith, is not doubt, but “certainty.”  Therefore, if we know something to be “certain,” we have no need of faith.  Dan Schutte, composer, and presenter of much, faith-filled music has said, “Faith is a matter of heart and mind.” 

   I believe it is important that he began with “heart,” instead of, “mind,” because going through the heart first, it seems to me, allows us, more readily, to accept what may not be clear at first glance.  Example: “Jesus rose from the dead.” If I were to ask each of you, if you believe, in fact, that, “Jesus rose from the dead,” you would probably say, “Yes, I believe that!”  And this may be true for a number of reasons, among them, the fact that you have heard this all your life and don’t question it, or, on some spiritual level, you do really believe. 

   Now if we were to come at this tenet of our faith through our minds first, we would have to deny the legitimacy of the claim as we have nothing in our “black and white” world to compare it to.  Dan Schutte has shared in the past his gratitude to religious sisters and priests along the way who taught him to question.  He put it this way: “Don’t leave your brain at the door of the church.”  Too many present day, church “leaders” are wont to have us do just that—disconnect our brains and just accept rules and regulations that, for the most part, are meant to “keep us in line,” rather than grow in our faith. “Doubting” something my friends, is really a challenge to make us grow. 

   Perhaps the reason that only one leper returned to Jesus to say, “thank you” for their cure, in today’s gospel was because of looking at the gift they received in a very “black and white” way, through their minds alone.  Looking through their hearts would have opened up so much more—love, gratitude, and ultimately, “faith” in something they couldn’t totally understand. 

   And the added piece which this gospel doesn’t address, is that the “cured one,” looking through their heart, loving the giver of so great a gift, can go out and do likewise for others.  Looking to the first reading from Kings in the story of Naaman, a non-Israelite, cured of leprosy by the prophet, Elisha, we see this more expansive response when the gift given is reflected upon through the heart first, rather than the mind.  And in order to totally understand Naaman’s response to being cured, a bit of explanation is necessary. 

    Naaman shows us the way when he sees what has happened—he praises the God of Elisha and takes it up a notch, wanting to gift Elisha for his goodness, his compassion toward him.  Because Elisha will take no reward for what God has called him to do, Naaman makes a strange request—that he be given two mule loads of earth.  It makes sense though, you see, when we learn that Naaman not only chooses to now follow and believe in Elisha’s God, but he wants to take some of the ground of Israel back to his own country where upon it (the ground) he can praise this God who was so gracious and compassionate as to cure him of his affliction.  A true “faith” response should always move us to, “pass it forward,” as it were—to do good to others as good has been done for us.

   If we are truly responding in faith to life around us, there should always be “growth.’  The action should never be just about us. In Paul’s letter to Timothy we hear this truth in another way— “there is no chaining the Word of God[!]” And Paul goes on. [Even]if we are unfaithful, Christ will still remain faithful [to us].

   Our whole journey in this human experience that each of us has is about striving, evermore completely to follow Jesus, the Christ in our walk of faith rather than that of the nine lepers who took the gift and ran. 

   One final thought that I would raise for us to reflect on is something that Jesus thought important to say in his time and therefore it would be good for us to consider as well.  It seems that the “cured one” who returned was a Samaritan—a cultural and social outcast in the minds of most law-abiding Jews in Jesus’ time.  Is it possible that “good” can be found in the likes of a Samaritan, Jesus seems to be asking.  In our own time, who are the “Samaritans” that we may not accept, trust, or want to reach out to in faith? —immigrants, Native peoples in our own country, women, LGBTQ+ folks.  Faith, my friends, calls us into areas of “doubt” if it is the true article.

   In conclusion then, there are no assurances, but faith will lead to some awesome places if we can let go of our need for certainty and our response to this new-found freedom is likely to be that of the one, returning leper—now cured—gratitude.  Amen? Amen!

Friends, once again today, the Church Season of Ordinary Time calls us to be our best selves, not by sitting on the sidelines, waiting for someone else to actively follow our brother Jesus, the Christ, but in fact, for each one of us to step up and fulfill our baptismal call.  Jesus, we know, became “the Christ,” “the Anointed One” through his faith-filled life, death, and resurrection, and in so doing, he became a God big enough, inclusive enough, to be a source of strength for all people.  We, friends, as his followers, are called to the same in the time that we occupy space—here, on this earth. 

   The readings for this week’s ponderance are basically about, “faith”—believing in something that we can’t totally explain, but through the strength of Jesus’ Spirit, we move into each day, trusting that, as 12^th Century mystic, Hildegard of Bingen was fond of saying, “All will be well.”  And truly believing and trusting that, “all will be well,” calls us to do our part.

   It would be true to say, I believe, that we all wish that our world could be a more peace-filled, and safe place—that the cares and needs of all could somehow be addressed.  And the truth of the matter is that this can only happen through each of us, in our lifetimes, making it so—we have to be the change we want to see, a wise one said. 

   The prophet Habakkuk in today’s first reading is speaking to the anxiety the people in his time are feeling over the violence in their world.  Our God, through this prophet, speaks words of comfort to the people then, and to us, “Though the vision [of whatever good it may be] awaits an appointed time, it will certainly be fulfilled…”  But we also hear that there is work on our parts—basically a stance that we must take in life.

   Habakkuk goes on— “Arrogance” he says cannot be our stance as part of our human experience, if being our best selves is what we are after.  Those who are “arrogant,” this prophet says, “have a soul that is not right within them.”  Additionally, he says, “Those who are just, will live by their faith.”  Let’s look at that a bit…To me, this says that I cannot consider that I am better, more worthy, more privileged than anyone else. And all of us would probably say, if asked, “I don’t consider myself better and try not to be that way.”

   We have talked about “white privilege” in the past and it is important for us to remember—at least to be cognizant of the fact that some of us have a “step up,” in this world by the very nature of how and where we happened to have been born!

   The psalmist today cries out, “That we would not harden our hearts, if today we hear God’s voice.”  This is great confirmation, isn’t it, that our stance in this world should be to, “lead with our hearts?” I am presently working my way through a lovely book that some of you may be aware of; Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer, that I would highly recommend.  She makes a strong case, coming from the Native people, Potawatomi, by name, for the importance of respecting all life, animals, plants, the environment—being grateful for each, and all. 

   She further teaches through her writing and speaking of the importance of having gratitude for all of life—animals and plants and all, and likewise, respect and appreciation for each.  She further teaches that as, “we use life in whatever form, we need to, give back, to sustain all life.  Practically speaking, we are talking about, “giving thanks” for members of the animal world that sustain our human lives through feeding us—for plants too, through giving their lives, and never wasting these gifts.  Keeping animals for this purpose and growing edible plants makes this all the more, “up close and personal.”  Perhaps if we all had more appreciation for “what” feeds and sustains us physically, destruction of our planet through global warming would not be an issue. 

   Often when I walk through the woods on the Redig Family Farm, I am amazed with the wonderful, tall trees there—some, 100 feet and more, and I consider them, “marvelous creatures,” almost, in a different sort of way!  It would seem that as God created us spiritual beings and gave us this, “human experience,” we should do all in our power to indeed, “not harden our hearts,” but each day to attempt to love and respect all the life, in all its forms, around us—be grateful and “give back,” in response—in the very least, with our gratitude. 

   So my friends, this business of “being our best selves,” leading with our hearts, which ultimately will mean that we will need to be just, good, kind, and merciful in our world, will, as you know, not always be easy—it will drop us into some “gray areas” that won’t always be simple to navigate around—and, we may have to jump into the fray.

   Paul assures us in his letter to Timothy today that “the Spirit of God is no cowardly Spirit, but One that makes us strong, loving and wise” and additionally, he says, as Jesus’ followers, we need to “bear [our] share of the hardship that the gospel entails.” Perhaps speaking up when everyone else is going along with something that they shouldn’t be going along with.  Each of us friends have a special gift to do our part.  Paul reminds Timothy and us, “to stir into flame the gift God bestows on [us].

   Our final encouragement is Jesus’ call to each of us, an assurance really, that, “faith the size of a mustard seed, can uproot trees” and in another place, “can move mountains.”  And doesn’t much of what plagues us in this world feel like, “uprooting trees, trying to move mountains,” at times?  For me friends, I do place my continued trust in Jesus’ words and hopefully, you can as well, “though the vision awaits an appointed time, it will certainly be fulfilled…”  Amen? Amen!

Today then, in the footsteps of Francis of Assisi, we will virtually bless and be thankful for the pets that share their lives with us.