Isaiah 1: 10-18                                                                                                             Rev. Dr. Galen E. Russell III

Luke 19: 1-10                                                                                                                                 November 2, 2025

“Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”

Prayer: Please come into our hearts, O God, so that we may we be the ones to share your gifts. Amen.

 I love “Christmas in November” Sunday. It never fails to blow me away about how the gifts keep coming and coming. Wasn’t that great? All the kids! The gifts! So, permit me to toot our own horn a little… because I’d never heard of “Christmas in November” until I came here to Christ Church. And over the years, this project simply has touched my heart. I’m so glad to be a part of such a wonderful outreach endeavor. Thank you to all of you who contributed to this project.

I don’t know who ever came up with the idea, but kudos to that person or that group of people. Because the project itself is thinking large. It gives us a chance to go big, to be a part of a larger vision. To help many people all at once. This year it’s the residents at Our Home of Hope. Last year it was helping to help supply Pennsylvania Furniture Mission. The year before that was Habitat for Humanity. Next year it will be another place where there is need.

Now, some would say, “Well, you’re church people. You’re supposed to help the needy. Give to the poor. Do good. And all that.” And they would be right. Charitable giving is most likely to come from church people. People who understand that God desires to use us by tending to those in need. To seek justice. To rescue the oppressed. Defend the orphan as Isaish says. Plead for the widow. God as a soft heart for anyone in need.

But what stood out for me this week from the Zaccheus story was how he was perhaps the most unlikely person to be helping someone else. How it seemed totally implausible for Zaccheus to give half of his possessions to the poor. How paying someone back four times as much as he ripped off that person would blow people away. I mean I think they’d be like, What? Zaccheus, you mean the rich guy whose fortune was acquired by exploiting the poor and profiting even during the government shutdown? The chief tax collector who’s an agent for the Roman Empire’s IRS and skimmed off the top of other’s people’s income taxes? That Zacchaeus is giving away half his possessions? That Zacchaeus is paying people back? I think I’d be like to Zacchaeus, who are you? And what have you done with the real Zacchaeus? So obviously, something happened to Zacchaeus. Well, I’ll tell you what happened. He encountered God in human form, that’s what happened. Zacchaeus, whose small physical stature I think metaphorically reflects his small spiritual stature, encountered Jesus whose spiritual stature was large.

Such a large spiritual statue, a spiritual capacity allows Jesus to have a big soul. To think big. To see with a wide berth. It allows for Jesus to be inclusive, to see and welcome those who are deemed as lost by the rest of the world. To be broad-minded with grace to those who are frowned upon by the rest of society.

So, I think Jesus’ large soul, his large spiritual stature allowed him to see Zacchaeus for who he was, to welcome him and eat with him, and recognize him as a child of God, part of the family.

And a spiritual transformation begins. Oh my! Jesus sees him. Zacchaeus grows. Jesus invites himself over to Zaccheus house. Zacchaeus spiritual capacity deepens. He moves from a small spiritual state of being that doesn’t see the unjust financial impact he’s had on people’s lives, he doesn’t see his privilege might be a problem, to a larger spiritual stature that inspires him to act responsibly and make restitution. His transformation changes him from an unlikely source of grace and benevolence to a very likely one. He acts and makes amends, paying people back, after ripping them off. It reminds me of steps 8 and 9 of AA’s 12 steps. 8) Make a list of who you’ve harmed and 9), willingly make amends. I know some of you know how difficult those two steps are. But you’re growing spiritually when you do them.

Even the people who grumbled because Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ house I think demonstrates a small spiritual stature. Maybe that’s why they saw Zacchaeus as a sinner? Maybe a small spiritual stature is what pushed them to think that it was unconscionable for Jesus to have dinner at someone’s home whom they hated so much? Small spiritual stature, small scope of view? Perhaps.

But here’s the thing… this story feels like a reminder that God invites us to have large spiritual capacity. That God can transform any of us to have bigger souls. That God can take anyone of us, no matter how far off the faith-path we may have wandered, and see us, up in our tree, on matter how far we’ve distanced ourselves from God, and touch us so deeply that we want to come out of our tree, make things right where we went wrong. To make amends.

So, Maybe, that looks like in our privilege, we may see someone else not as the enemy, but as a child of God. That even though we may not have measured up, God sees us. And we grow. God wants to enter our house and will make our lives new, if we desire to be new. “Even though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow,” is the way Isaiah says it. Even though sometimes we may be unlikely people where grace comes forth, but grace still come forth from us.

 

In light of yesterday being All Saints Day, I became aware that Pope Leo XIV already canonized a person as a saint. Even though this is a something we protestants don’t practice, it is interesting to see what kinds of people become saints in the Catholic Church. So, Pope Leo’s first person’s name was Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old computer whiz kid who died of leukemia in 2006. Carlo was known in social media as a “God Influencer” because of his savvy use of information technology to spread the Catholic faith (“Seen and Heard,” The Christian Century, November 2025, pp. 11-12). Very Interesting!

So, I wonder can we be God Influencers because we’ve grown in spiritual stature? I have to believe, my dear friends, that the Holy Spirit of God is using more people than we can imagine, sinners and righteous ones alike. All of us are both. Because when we encounter God each day, when God sees us and wants to come into our lives, we are invited to enlarge our spiritual stature. To have bigger souls. Which can increase the likelihood that God’s spiritual gifts can come from us. Making us a conduit for God’s love to flow to others. To our world.

In our tradition, we won’t get sainthood status from the church for letting God’s love flow from us. Heck, we won’t get sainthood status from the church because we do things like “Christmas in November.”

But I’m willing to bet we get sainthood status in God’s sight because when God comes into our spiritual house, when salvation comes to us, when God transforms us, changes our sedateness to action, enlarges our spiritual capacity, we become the conduit God’s looking for.  Because we are the ones God can use. We are the grace practitioners, the sharers of holy love, the God-Influencers, no matter how unlikely.  We are the saints of the Christian scriptures that say anyone who has Christ in their hearts is a saint. Anyone whom God’s light shines through. Like the symbolism of stained-glass windows.

Let’s let God’s light shine through us. Because the world needs us. Now. God’s gifts come from unlikely places, Likely. Amen.