On Seeing What Could Be
November 2, 2025
Traceymay Kalvaitis
Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18
In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head as he lay in bed. Then he wrote down the dream: I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. As for me, Daniel, my spirit was troubled within me, and the visions of my head terrified me. I approached one of the attendants to ask him the truth concerning all this. So he said that he would disclose to me the interpretation of the matter: “As for these four great beasts, four kings shall arise out of the earth. But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever—forever and ever.”
Luke 19:1-10
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “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.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
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Today’s sermon is titled On Seeing What Could Be.
One of my earliest memories has to do with Zacchaeus. There was a song I learned in Sunday School (you may have learned it, too). It goes like this:
Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he.
He climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see.
And as the Savior passed that way he looked up in that tree,
And he said, “Zacchaeus, you come down. For I’m going to your house today. I’m going to your house today.”
Theologian Frederich Buechner calls this story, “The best and oldest joke in the world.” We have Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector and he is, like the unnamed tax collector in last week’s story, the man everyone loves to hate. The crowd is not pleased that Jesus is choosing to honor Zacchaeus by visiting his home. We read that, “All who saw it began to grumble.” The crowd is probably suspecting that when Jesus stops and looks up at Zacchaeus in that sycamore tree, he is about to give him a dressing down for being in league with the Romans, for cheating his neighbors, for hoarding his wealth, but instead Jesus says he will go to Zacchaeus’s home. That’s why Frederich Buechner calls this “The best and oldest joke in the world.” The incarnation of God chooses the home of the despised.
Jesus senses the crowd’s disapproval and he says, I have come “to seek out and save the lost.” Jesus saw the possibility of goodness in all people, especially the ones who were on the fringe, on the margins, under the hand of judgement and oppression. He refused to play the popularity game which was all about stroking the egos of those in power. Instead, Jesus was always looking for those that needed him the most, those like Zacchaeus.
Look what happened, right there in front of everyone, the scriptures tell us, “Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘…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.’” Jesus says, “You have been saved.” Biblical scholar McLean Seymor writes of the following of Zacchaeus, his encounter with Jesus and his subsequent liberation, “Straight across his life one day a line was drawn when Zacchaeus came face to face with Jesus of Nazareth. The whole impact of the gospel was in that meeting. It redeemed the past, transformed the present, and redirected the future.”
Jesus did not stop with Zacchaeus, though. He had a message for the crowd. And then, turning to the crowd, and (I imagine) nodding to Zacchaeus, Jesus says, “He, too, is a son of Abraham.” In other words, Zacchaeus is one of you…he is one of us, he has changed his ways, he is making amends, accept him, cease and desist in your judgement, see him for who he is now, not for who he has been.”
Why are we so adept at putting people into categories and then holding them there? I find this an insidious trait in myself and in humanity in general. We establish a pecking order, like we really are hens in a barnyard. Birds of a feather do flock together; there is always a hen or two or three that get pecked, sometimes ruthlessly, sometimes pecked to death. The only solution is to separate them, one from the other. Sound familiar? Isn’t this what we do? We draw some people closer and we push other people farther and sometimes, maybe even oftentimes, the pushing is subtle, almost undetectable on a small scale and blatantly, painfully, sickeningly obvious on a large scale. Why do we do it? It must be an impulse rooted in fear. Only fear is capable of narrowing our vision, and shrinking our hearts.
Fear is the theme of the scriptures we heard today of Daniel’s dream. This story of Daniel’s dream is the suggested scripture for the observance of All Saints’ Day, which we lift up today as we recognize “the manifold gifts of all the faithful, both living and deceased.” Daniel describes his terrifying dream where four winds of heaven stirred the seas and four beasts that arose from the turbulence. In his dream Daniel asks an angel what it all means and the angel says, “…four kings shall arise out of the earth. But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever—forever and ever.” The message is clearly, FEAR NOT. Fear is referenced over 500 times in the bible; love is referenced 310 times. 365 times the scriptures say, “Do not be afraid” or “Fear not.” Fear is a big deal; fear is a formidable foe. It’s a good thing that love is ultimately stronger.
So why are we given Daniel’s scary dream for All Saints’ Day? I think it is to remind us that fear is an ever-present force in our lives; it always has been and it likely will always be. But because of the “manifold gifts of the faithful, both living and deceased,” when we are in our darkest, most desperate places, there is someone we know, or someone we have known, or someone we have learned about that can hold the light for us. They are our Saint. They hold the light that can help us see past our fears. They hold the light that allows us to see one another for who we really are and who we may yet become. They hold the light that can help us to see past our mistakes and our short-comings. Saints hold the light of Christ so that we may see.
In closing now, I remind us that we are all called to be saints. I write it here with a lower-case “s” not an upper-case “S.” We are called to hold the light of Christ that allows us to see more clearly. Holding the light of Christ may allow others to see more clearly, as well. Pay attention, though, careful attention. If differences and division is mostly what is seen, check the batteries in that light. Maybe too much national news is draining them. Eye-to-eye and face-to-face contact will recharge those batteries. Fear separates us but love restores us. We are not so different. Lord, help us to see, help us to remember we are not so different. Help us to see ourselves and others not just as we are, but as we could be. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer
Lord of all things, we find ourselves in tumultuous times. Your presence is often difficult to sense among the news headlines and stories from around the world of wars and disasters, and yet Your Presence is in us and among us in ways we can not comprehend. We pray for a heightened awareness of how we may be instruments of your goodness and your peace. Help us to see ourselves and others not just as we are, but as we could be. Spark our memories, that we may be reminded of the power of prayer, as we pray for ourselves, and as we pray for all of humanity, all around the world. Amen.
Benediction
I leave you with these words from the book of Ephesians, chapter 3: May you “be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, in order that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God…Amen.