21st Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. Cameron Ayers
The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, October 30, 2022
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 • Luke 19:1-10
Who is your favorite saint? Stop and think about it; perhaps you will respond quickly with a beloved saint from your childhood like St. Francis of Assisi or St. George, slaying the dragon. Maybe you have recently developed a devotion to a more contemporary figure like Bishop Desmond Tutu. Anyone who has spoken with me on the topic know that I am always holding up St. Joseph as an awesome saint to have as a patron. I could not decide when I pronounced my final vows as a Jesuit, so I took both Joseph and Michael the Archangel as my vow names.
Stories of heroes, of saints, of inspirational figures are important to us. They can motivate us to live as better Christians and remind us of the goodness and love of God. Today’s Gospel account of Zachaeus presents us with a very unlikely saint, yet he is a saint in the best tradition of the word. Saints are not perfect, clean as a whistle, “holier than thou” people. Saints are ordinary folk who have had an experience of the call of God, who have felt the pull of the Transcendent. The famous tax collector in Luke was not a nice man before he met Jesus. He was greedy and extorted money from his fellow Jews. Zachaeus had a true conversion. Jesus changed him by showing him acceptance and love. Because of Jesus invitation, Zacchaeus turned away from his greed and his mistreatment of his neighbors. His encounter with Jesus left him a profoundly changed man. He still probably wrestled with the same issues he had before, and he was still short. Becoming a saint does not take away our temptations or our character flaws. It means that we deal with them in a new way.
This month of November we celebrate our saints. We celebrate all the saints, living and dead, past and present. The month begins with the Feast of All Saints on November 1st and the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed on November 2nd. It seems fitting then that we spend some time during this month reflecting on the saints in our lives, both the official saints like our Blessed Mother and the Holy Innocents, but especially the people that reflect the love and glory of God to us by their lives.
I am particularly reminded of my godmother, Mary Kearin. She was what my mom called “salt of the earth.” She was a person of deep faith, but you saw that in her actions, not by her always talking about Jesus or God. Hospitality and humor were two of her best virtues.
Sometimes we need to be re-inspired by stories about the wonderful folks in our faith family. May I recommend a book by Jim Martin, a Jesuit who has worked on the staff of America Magazine, the Jesuit weekly. It is called My Life with the Saints. He actually interweaves his own autobiography and how he came to join the Jesuits with about twelve different saints and blessed.
As we come to worship each week, we are surrounded by saints. We may not recognize the cross that others bear. We might not know the secret struggles and sufferings of our sisters and brothers in this church. But it remains true, nonetheless, that the Communion of Saints is not just a belief in those who have gone before us; it means we believe that we are each called to be saints. The Eucharist is the nourishment that we need to continue the journey. Let us support one another and may all the Saints, living and dead, pray for us!