24th
Sunday after Pentecost – Year C October
30. 2016
Luke 19:1-10 St. Paul UMC,
Spartanburg, SC
Guess Who’s
Coming to Dinner?
So be honest… how many of you are
humming the Zacchaeus song in your heads right now? I admit it took a while for
me to get it out of my head when I was preparing for the sermon today.
Zacchaeus is one our favorite characters from the New Testament because it
feels like a story of the little guy getting a big win… most often we have heard sermons that go
something like this: Zacchaeus, a notorious sinner has turned his life around,
made amends with those he has wronged, and is getting right with God so he can
be a part of Jesus’s crowd. So if we turn our lives around and do the same, we
can get right with God, too.
But is that what the story is all about?
The main problem with that
interpretation is that Jesus and Zacchaeus never talk about repentance…
Zacchaeus’ willingness to turn his life around is not a prerequisite for
spending time with Jesus – who never got an invitation but came just the same.
In fact, it seems that the bible translators may have contributed to our
confusion. In the Common English Bible translation, it reads like this:
7 Everyone who saw
this grumbled, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stopped
and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor.
And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.” (CEB)
So with this
new insight, we have to believe that Zacchaeus is already living the kind of
life that Jesus has been teaching about, despite the crowd’s willingness to
believe the worst about him because of his profession. And it doesn’t help them
respect Jesus either, because the Scribes and Pharisees are complaining again
about the fact that Jesus doesn’t hang out with the right kind of people.
So if this
isn’t a story about forgiveness and repentance, what is it about? If we have to
adjust to this new interpretation, what is it that we are supposed to
learn?
I think the
key is all in the tree… the one that Zacchaeus climbs in order to see Jesus
better. I think this is a story about sight – about someone who believes that
just being able to see Jesus better will change his life. And in the process,
Jesus sees him – I mean, he really sees him, past the assumptions that people
make about Zacchaeus and into his heart. Salvation has come, in spite of
whether or not those around him approve.
Our gospel
writer, Luke, has a history of being sensitive to issues of money. Previously,
he has told Jesus’ story in such a way to bring what we think we know about
wealth into question. In the biblical era, it was common to think that money
and power were signs of God’s blessing. But Jesus turns that idea on its head,
in fact saying that it is very difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of
God (Luke 18:25).
In this story,
Jesus seems to contradict himself, declaring that Zacchaeus, a wealthy chief
tax collector already despised by his neighbors, is also a child of God and
recipient of God’s salvation. So when we read the stories about how Jesus talks
about wealth, we have to make sure that we understand that wealth in and of
itself has neutral value. It’s what we do with our wealth that Jesus cares
about, and Zacchaeus does good things, paying back in excess those from whom he
has taken more than he should have.
In addition,
Jesus cares about those who live on the fringes. He encounters those who
society has declared unfit and ignored and he sees them,
recognizes them, seeks them out, spends time with them, and in all these ways
honors and blesses them.” All of this drives the Jewish religious community
crazy. The Pharisees and their followers continually throw the rules in Jesus’
face… often saying to him, “You can’t do that – it’s not fair!”
We all have
our ideas about what a messiah – a savior - should do. We read the Old
Testament and we remember the standards that were set forward for the
Israelites – who incidentally were terribly stubborn and had really short
attention spans.
When Jesus
contradicts our expectations, we want to ask him, “Hey, God, if you’re not
going to stick to the rules, punishing sinners and reward the righteous, then
what can we count on?” We get stuck in
our Old Testament narrative, forgetting that Jesus came to fulfill the law, not
to enforce it. The God we encounter in Jesus doesn’t care about fulfilling our
sense of justice or fairness, or in any of the other ways that we choose to
make order in our world. All God cares about it seeing and seeking out the lost
and bringing them home again. God’s love trumps our understanding of justice
and God’s compassion overrides all of our beliefs about fairness. In God’s
world, all are welcome just because of who they are.
And more often
than not, this is upsetting to us, because we have been trying to play by the
rules and want to make sure that our efforts are rewarded… until we are the
ones that are down and out. Then we are happy the Jesus welcomes us just the
way we are, and invites us to come and join the party.
In Germany,
the congregation where I worship celebrated Reformation Sunday. The year 2016
marks the 499th anniversary of Martin Luther’s act of rebellion
against a Roman Catholic Church that has exploited their authority to become
more powerful and richer than most of the countries in the realm. Luther never
intended to start a new religious tradition. He just wanted the one he was part
of to live according to the gospel principles we had experienced today. In his study and translation of scripture,
Luther realized that righteousness isn’t the standard God sets for us, but is
instead the gift that God gives us, because we just aren’t able to be righteous
all on our own. [Lose]
Maybe the
question we have to ask is this: Have we been worshiping the wrong God? Is our
faith based in fear of God and what might happen to us if we don’t measure up,
or is it based in receiving the love that God has for us, and in turn,
extending that to all those around us so in need of that grace?
Many of you
know that I came back to the US to help my mom move into her new apartment. It
was always the plan to downsize, and she is settling in very well. But I must
admit that I was not excited to come back in the 3 ½ weeks before the US
election. At least in Germany, I can only understand about 50% of what the
German TV and radio report about our election process. And our German friends
wonder about how we can endure a season that goes on for so long without there
being damage done to the society... and I don't know what to tell them.
I am saddened
by the level of dis-grace I hear surrounding the elections, on every level. I
think this passage has reminded me that no matter what differences I might have
with those who have different opinions than mine, all of us are children of a
loving God. We are all Zacchaeus. We are
all sinners, some taller, some shorter, some richer, some poorer, inhabiting
all regions on the political spectrum. We might feel better about ourselves by
believing differently, but this scripture reminds us that we don’t make the
rules.
When we host a
dinner, we expect to have total control over the way that the evening
progresses. We choose the food and the guests, the theme and the decorations.
We start the evening with the illusion that its success or failure is a
reflection of something inside of us, but often focused on the most unimportant
things. This summer my husband turned 50, and in great Rundgebertstag German
tradition we invited both local and American friends to celebrate the day. The
planning was meticulous… would we have enough to eat and drink? What would we
do if it rained? Would the evening meet
our expectations and those of our guests?
Here’s what we
learned: 14 pound of baby back ribs and 10 pounds of wings was not enough….
Germans friends are prepared for every possible need, including a tent that
will seat 40 guests in the rain…. And we had the wrong expectations if we
thought that any of those things would matter to our friends. It was such an
amazing night, mainly because all of these people came together to celebrate a
person they love and admire, and in turn, assumed the best about one another.
New friendships were born that night, and old friendships renewed. And what is
better than friends who stay well past midnight to help clean everything up
because they know that you have to get up and preach early the next morning?
Jesus doesn’t
come as a tourist to check out the fall leaves or see the sights along his way.
He doesn’t come as a spectator to the human condition – he comes as the one who
saves us from our sinful conditions and from ourselves. He knows us by name and
loved us forever. And he looks past all of our faults and what we and everyone
else thinks about us to invite himself into our hearts. [Sellery]
The next few
weeks may be stressful for us, but if we remember to see others as fellow sojourners,
to look for the best in them, even if they think or worship or speak differently
than we do, we will be that much better… We will be living in the way that
Christ has called us to live and love.
I’m going to
end today by quoting one of the most leveled headed theologians of our day,
even though we usually think of him that way. From Dan Rather:
Please do not forget to breathe.
I understand that these final days of this unprecedented election season are sending many of us into a frenzy…The stakes are so high - the uncertainty so untenable. We wonder and we worry. We refresh our social media feeds and favorite news sources by the minute looking for affirmation of our hopes or amplification of our fears. There is always more information - always more spin. And the latest news cycle and ricocheting polls only exacerbate the anxiety…
I have a deep belief that most of my fellow countrymen and women are good, decent, hardworking people - that they go to bed each night with similar prayers for their family, even if they pray in different faiths (or no faith), even if their words are in English or one of the countless languages spoken in American homes. I believe that we as a nation will make the right decisions in our long and imperfect march towards justice. But I believe it is a journey that requires work and sacrifice, from all of us. (Dan Rather on Facebook)I chose our closing hymn because for me it summarizes completely the Church and world in which we are called to live. Believe the good news! Come with Joy!
the life of Jesus to recall, in love laid down for me.
I come with Christians far and near to find, as all are fed,
the new community of love in Christ's communion bread.
As Christ breaks bread and bids us share, each proud division ends.
The love that made us makes us one, and strangers now are friends.
The spirit of the risen Christ, unseen, but ever near,
is in such friendship better known: alive and among us here.
Together met, together bound, by all that God has done,
we'll go with joy, to give the world, the love that makes us one. (Brian Wren, 1971)
Peace, Deb
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This sermon
was heavily influenced by this blog post by David Lose – In the Meantime http://www.davidlose.net/2016/10/pen-24-c-reformation-the-unexpected-god/
And the work
of David Sellery - This Week's Focus - "The Most Gracious Guest"
http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=dbffd2070718c7bb6a1b9b7e0&id=0a005cf45d
Brian Wren – “I Come With Joy” Hope
Publishing Co., 1971
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