All Saints – even Zacchaeus
Isaiah 1: 10-18 Luke 19: 1-10 Today is the nearest Sunday to All Saints day (November 1 st ) and so I thought we could think about ‘saints’ today. But the readings we heard are the ones chosen for this Sunday, and not specifically chosen because they are about saints. Yet in reading these – both the gospel story of Zacchaeus and the teaching of Isaiah – I realised they had a lot to teach us about saints. I only learnt this week that Zacchaeus is considered a saint by the Orthodox church – he has his own day – April 20 th – and he even figures in some icons. This print out is a bit blurry – but it shows a bearded man with a halo and the words ‘hagios zakaios’ – saint Zacchaeus – or ‘holy Zacchaeus’. The crowd who surrounded him when he climbed the tree to see Jesus were very clear that they did not think Zacchaeus was a saint. Quite the opposite – when Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house they grumble “ He has gone to stay at the house of a sinne...