Over the course of the last two weeks we have heard messages from Luke's gospel about the
difference between getting what one wants and what one really needs, and the danger of making distinctions between
people on the basis of self-assessed righteousness.
Much of today's message is about the fact that it is never too late to turn one's life around. Nothing can stop
the power of God! Past sins, lack of education or finances, being "short" of anything…none of these are
problems for God. BUT…we can lose sight of that, or fail to see it at all if we are not intentionally looking…and
others, who are seeking that same kind of encouragement may at this very moment in history be looking for those
signs in YOU.
Our gospel story begins as we are nearing the end of the journey to Jerusalem in the town of Jericho. The last
anecdote Mark tells of this final journey also related to Jericho and the healing of blind Bartimaeus as Jesus
left the town. Luke however knows another story and so he rearranges the itinerary slightly. In Luke's gospel the
encounter with the blind man occurs on the way into town which enables him to slip in the story of Zacchaeus as
an event which took place while he was passing through.
All Saint's is a time when we reflect on the activity of lifetimes that took place in that in between time, "while
passing through." On this occasion we reflect in our hearts on some of the high points of those lives so dear
to us…and we remember them even now and give thanks for their presence among us.
For Luke, this incident with Zacchaeus is the perfect climax to Jesus' earthly ministry; a conversion of the highest
magnitude for one who was "small in stature." It is at this point that Jesus declares: "The Son
of Man came to seek out and to save the lost" (19:10). Something Luke feels future followers will also need
to reflect on and remember as well.
So Luke has the blind beggar calling out to Jesus in the events just before Zacchaeus encounters him. Strange isn't
it, that both are moved to action because they are unable to see Jesus? One because he lacks vision and the other
because he lacks stature.
How much of our action is truly motivated by our desire to "see Jesus" more clearly? What prohibits us?
Luke tells us plainly that Zacchaeus "was trying to see who Jesus was," an interesting contrast to the
gumbling crowd who lined the streets as he passed by, but who later saw only a rabbi going into the home of a man
who was a sinner. That word, "grumbled," is the same Greek word used in the Parable of the Vineyard,
where the early workers "grumbled" when the late pickers were paid the same wage. It just wasn't fair
as they saw it, and they, like we too, expect God to know the rules! Wouldn't we grumble if Jesus passed us by
and went instead to the home of an enemy of the people? A Muslim fanatic for example? A Taliban supporter? Someone
who was in this country illegally? Someone who was living a lie?
I think we often feel that way about anyone who has covered up their deficiencies with wealth and power, with degrees
and titles? After all, take Zacchaeus for example. He was not just a tax collector, but the chief tax collector!
No wonder Jesus knew him by name. It's plain to see everyone would.
What do you see when you hear this story?
I will always see a large tree in the heart of the present day city of Jericho, now a rather ramshackle Palestinian
controlled town specializing in fruit production just as it did in Jesus' day. It's a favorite spot for tourist's
pictures and thus a popular hang out for street vendors who throng the buses that stop there. Supposedly…it's THE
tree.
It was his own personal "watch tower," just like the one in Habakkuk's vision. A place where one watches
for God, looks for God. The kind of place where one will keep watch to see what God will say to me, and how God
will answer concerning my complaint. One can only wonder how long he may have been looking,…and why?
Most of us first heard of Zacchaeus when we learned that little song as children in church school. You know, "Zacchaeus
was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he." A "little man," perhaps we thought bearing a
striking resemblance to Danny DeVito? But there is good reason to believe that Zacchaeus may have been someone
not so much lacking height as lacking character or any sense of self-esteem.
That's why a face to face encounter with TRUTH was so life altering. Some people call your name, and some people
call you by name, with an intimate, and compassionate tone soul to soul tone. "Zacchaeus…come down."
Did that make it easier for Zacchaeus to reveal the depths of his past?
William Bausch in his book "Telling Stories, Compelling Stories" says that after Jesus came in and supped
with him Zacchaeus only said "if I have defrauded any...." He may in fact not have done anything wrong.
He might only have been the victim of the communities' wrong assessment of him. So, Bausch says, Jesus may not
so much have forgiven him as vindicated him. "He too is a son of Abraham"..is another way of saying..
"Hey, he's one of us!" God keeps an open table.
But people,everyday people, like you and I may not always do the same.
Whereas Jesus, by his actions said: "You know, you are not really what they say you are. You're all right
in my book. I'll dine with you." This same savior who in the Revelation (3:20) will say "Behold I stand
at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens to me, I will come in and stay with them."
Who are people who have been misjudged among us? When are the times when we have misjudged others? There is a phase
called "Contempt, prior to investigation." People had contempt for Zacchaeus perhaps without the benefit
of true knowledge.
To add credibility to that theory, the Holeman Bible Dictionary notes that the name Zacchaeus is the Greek form
of the Hebrew name meaning..."Innocent. "
Sometimes there are "small people" and sometimes there are people we minimize for our own purposes. Short-changed
by life in so many ways, marginalized by society as a whole, we may prefer they remain unseen, but they are never
unnoticed by the one who comes to be the savior of the world.
The effects of self-hatred, and low self-esteem are very often addictions and abuse. We know that the child of
years gone by is still contained in the adult, and that we pass on to our children what we have been taught. Far
too often we do to our children what we had done to us.
Good self-esteem and the feeling of self-respect are precious gifts indeed. Self-hatred on the other hand can destroy
the life of many an individual. Both are generational.
What keeps us blind-sided to those we judge to be of lesser importance? Sometimes it is almost unconscious behavior.
Have we for example said many prayers for the Pakistani Christians, our brothers and sisters in faith, who were
murdered in church last Sunday? Or for all the innocent people around the world caught up in the same kind of persecutions
that have plagued society from the beginning?
It is never too late. "If the vision seems to tarry, wait for it.....the righteous live by their faith."
This is such important advice for those of us who want all the answers immediately. There is great comfort and
hope to be found in living by faith, and we already have the answer - we have seen the Word made flesh, in Jesus
Christ. The answer, written large enough "for a running person to see," the cross of Christ which demonstrates
both the degree to which God is present with us in our searching and engaged with us in our own ministry of affirmation.
It is specifically in Christ that for us the answer is found, as we carry our own crosses, and take up our own
ministries of reconciliation.
In these troubling times one often hears people say that they long to get "back to normal." What is "normal"?
The vision written is one of being dependent on God. "Normal," I believe is being dependent on the work
of the Holy Spirit in and through us. Yes, the social and cultural world has changed. For the first time perhaps,
many of us live more closely to the possibility of physical or mental harm from things we cannot control. This
is truly difficult for many of us to adjust too.
We must stand at the watchpost, and then hear again the message of hope found in Christ, because it is in Christ
that the reality of what "normal" is can be found. It is normal to build the Kingdom in all kinds of
weather!
Zacchaeus is now prepared to give half his wealth to the poor and to make fourfold restitution (an echo of Exod
22:1's requirement). Morality can be the fruit of attitudinal change, conversion, a changed relationship to God.
It is just as likely that Luke also had in mind Christians who needed a better understanding of salvation than
the earlier gospel implied. It is one of his constant themes. Change, conversion, needs to incorporate a changed
attitude and behavior in relation to wealth. In fact it is striking that Jesus' declaration that 'salvation' had
come to Zacchaeus' house follows immediately after the report of his new 'financial management plan'.
This is a fitting climax to Jesus' public ministry - at least Luke must have thought so. So many of those early
"Christ followers," like so many Christians today saw salvation as a ticket to heaven or as a recipe
for inner tranquillity, with little or no thought for social justice, for distribution of resources, and especially
for the poor.
Conversion here means transformation which includes the budget! It is not just about a soul being saved, as one
popular translation puts it, but about revolution with revolutionary implications. The issues have not gone away
in today's world and we continue to reap the whirlwind from our inattention to these cries of the oppressed.
We are the Zacchaeus's, and our eucharistic feast is the model and food of transformation! It goes against the
grain of prevailing values to recognize the need to retell the story as it was meant to be told!
Let us hope, however, that "little people" will still go out on a limb in their desire to see the truth.
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