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November 4, 2007 Rev. Steve Gehlert You probably know this beloved story of Jesus and the little man named Zacchaeus. You probably remember that, he was short, and that everybody hated him because he was a tax collector. Just how much they hated him, is harder for us to imagine. He was hated for lots of important reasons. First of all, tax collectors were collaborators with the hated Roman oppressors. Second, because they worked with the Romans, who were Gentiles, they were seen as ritually unclean. Third, since they were not paid by the Romans but were entitled to collect whatever amounts they chose from the people, paying the Romans the required amount and keeping the difference, most of them got rich by greatly overcharging everyone. The text says that Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, and very rich. So clearly he must have defrauded and jilted just about everybody at one time or another. Probably, he was the most hated man in town. Being hated is no fun. We all know what it's like to have someone do everything possible to let you know that: the avoidance, the snubs, the hostile glares, and of course the negative comments to others. It's hard to take, if just one person's doing it. Imagine how draining and demoralizing it'd be to have everybody treat you that way. But how it was for Zacchaeus. Everybody loathed him, and given how he'd cheated so many people, he knew he deserved it. That's why, when Jesus came through Jericho that day, everyone was scandalized that Zacchaeus, a notorious sinner, had the nerve to climb up a tree to get a look at Jesus. "What's he doing here, with the rest of us who want to meet this prophet?" But their scandal intensified when Jesus stopped, called Zacchaeus down out of the tree and, rather than give the little sinner the tongue-lashing he deserved, invited himself to Zacchaeus' house. The crowd (that's us) were shocked. "He's gone to be a guest at the house of a sinner!" Jesus extended God's grace to Zacchaeus by being willing to engage in that initimacy of sharing a meal in someone's home. Sharing a meal brings Zacchaeus into community with Jesus. That touches Zacchaeus. He knows what he deserves, the good religious people in town who've been hating him for years have made that loud and clear. Nobody in town would've been willing to come into his home, much less share a meal with him. But Jesus doesn't care about what he deserves, Jesus only sense that his heart is open. Jesus shows him far unimaginable grace and mercy. Zacchaeus is grateful. And gratitude changes him. Gratitude changes everything. During the course of the meal at his home, Zacchaeus expresses that gratitude. He shows how it's changed him. He puts his money where his heart is. He doesn't simply give what the law requires, but goes far beyond that. The response is overflowing, large and generous. During the meal Jesus makes a startling declaration: "This day salvation has come to this house." Jesus, the Savior, the salvation of the world, has come to Zacchaeus's house. And Jesus has the last word in the drama, "Today salvation has come to this house." Earlier in Luke, the angel announced that a savior had been born "this day." And when Jesus preached in Nazareth he said, "Today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." This is one of those days when salvation comes close. And when Jesus speaks, he is not speaking to Zacchaeus, but to the bystanders, to the sniveling, judging crowd, to us, instructing us that, "He too is a child of Abraham." And the great verdict on the story is that, "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost." We need to hear this story from the point of view of Zacchaeus, who's so far down, there's no way for him to get up. He's defrauded so many, committed such deep sins against others, how on earth will he be saved? Yet the good thing is that he's a seeker, he's at least curious, he's at least there, straining to look over the crowd, to see Jesus. And that's a wonderful place for Jesus to see you. But it's also important to hear this story from the point view of the crowd. Here, in a Gospel that's so very critical in its treatment of the rich, is salvation coming to a very rich man, a very bad rich man. But the qualification to be embraced by Jesus is not that one be good or poor. The one qualification to be found by Jesus is to be lost. Both rich and poor can receive that grace. And the crowd (us) is just shocked that Jesus could dare to embrace the bad, rich person as much as he has embraced us. It's at that point that little Zacchaeus begins to show us a thing or two about Jesus. There are consequences to Jesus' intrusion into his heart, and a price on this grace, specific monetary, financial consequences. This grace isn't cheap. He comes to us just as we are, but he does not leave us just as we are. Zacchaeus is transformed from a taker to a giver, a most generous, gracious giver. I hope all of us can find ourselves in this story in little Zacchaeus. I hope, that like him, we're eager to learn from Jesus. I hope that no matter what our life choices have been before, whether we've been able to convince ourselves that we're good, or we're beyond convincing ourselves of that, and we're convinced that we're pretty bad, we see that we fall far, far short of who God created us to be, that we don't deserve a place at the table with our Lord. And I also hope that through Jesus' openness to Zacchaeus, his willingness to enter his home and share a meal with him, that we see that he welcomes us, with all our failures and short-comings. He offers grace to us, grace that we need to save us, just like he did to Zacchaeus. Because, if we really experience that grace, we'll be changed, just like Zacchaeus. We'll be grateful. And gratitude will make us different people. Change us from takers to givers, joyful, generous givers, just like Zacchaeus, who, after all, was simply doing his best to imitate the greatest giver of all – God, who gave us what's most precious in Jesus. I also hope that we'll see ourselves as part of the crowd. We've been tight with Jesus for a long time, for maybe as long as we can remember. If Jesus is going to have dinner with anyone, it ought to be with us, at our house. I hope that we'll feel what they felt when Jesus reached out into the crowd, reaching beyond us, reaching as far as a notorious sinner whom we think is beneath us? "I can't believe that Jesus has shown grace to somebody like him!" we complain. This story leaves us with two assignments. First, to recognize our own sin and the grace God gives us that we can never deserve. Second, to offer the same grace to those we find difficult or disappointing, that we've received from God, who surely finds us difficult and disappointing. If we're going to be with Jesus, eat at his table, we better be willing recognize our own sin and to be close to sinners – sinners, inside and outside the church. He has come to seek and to save the lost so, if we want to be close to him, we'll have to be willing to share him with the lost. By such sharing, such scandalous grace, salvation comes to my house and your house this day and always. Amen. |
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