Sunday 10/30/22 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “The Guest Of One Who Is A Sinner!”
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 119:137-144
New Testament
Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
Gospel Lesson: Luke 19:1-10
At
one of the churches that I used to serve, one of the church leaders gave me a surprising
compliment one day. This church leader said, “Pastor Paul you have a heart for
the least, the last, and the lost.” A little surprised to hear this, I then
asked this church leader what they meant by that. The church leader then went
on to tell me that I love all people without distinction. I don’t tell you this
little story to shine light on myself, rather it is an example of, as my sermon
title for this morning says, “The Guest Of One Who Is A Sinner.” Sometimes in life and sometimes in the church
we want to see new people that are like us, and maybe sometimes we don’t want
to see people that are not like us. If we dress nice, have a nice house, and a
stable life, etc., we sometimes want to only associate with people like that. I
guess it is human nature, and sometimes we can all be “tribal” in that way.
For example, if I went into a biker
bar, and if the majority of the folks in there talked different and looked
different than me, would I stand out? I hope not, but I might. I am sure that all
of us here have worried at some point in the past if we would fit in somewhere
else. What is it like to be a culture that is unfamiliar to your own?
It is interesting to me that we live
in communities with all different kinds of people. We have people with high
levels of education, people with less, different amounts of wealth, different
cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Yet if we are all made in God’s image, or “Imago
Dei” in Latin, who is of more or less worth to God. The answer is, we are all
made in God’s image, and as such, we all have sacred worth to God.
We certainly live a very politically
correct society today, but many of us can probably agree, for example, that if
we went somewhere new and or foreign, we have or might, initially at least, been
a little uncomfortable. It isn’t necessarily that we wanted to feel this way,
but if you going into a different culture, with a different language, and
different customs that can be a lot to take in.
Maybe you were in the military and
were sent somewhere foreign, maybe you took a trip to another country, maybe
you went somewhere, or to an event where everyone was very different than you.
What I am driving at is this, if we
are not careful, we can rank people higher or lower depending on different
characteristics. This morning in our gospel of Luke reading, Jesus encounters
Zacchaeus, which is not the name of a vegetable your grow in your garden in the
summer. Zacchaeus was a person, and a Zucchini grows in your garden. In similar
way the Jewish Pharisee that came to Jesus at night, Nicodemus, is not the gum
you chew to quit smoking, that is NicoDerm.
Our gospel lesson on Jesus and Zacchaeus
is a story that is only found in the gospel of Luke, and it is a story that
many of us can relate to. How can I personally relate to the story of Zacchaeus?
Well here goes, Zacchaeus reminds me a little of my mother Susan. Why? Well
Zacchaeus was short, I mean vertically challenged, and he was in finance, or a
tax collector. My mother Susan is also vertically challenged and retired from
finance. Since Zacchaeus was not only the tax collector, but a chief tax
collector, he was seen as a sinner by the people in the city of Jericho. With
the Roman Empire’s occupation, some of the taxes being collected, were collected
to support the occupying Roman Empire. This would be similar to a Ukrainian in
Ukraine working for the Russians inside of Ukraine. Yet, even though sin is sin
is sin, Zacchaeus was seen by many as more of a sinner than anyone else. I think
the reality that Zacchaeus was working for the occupying Roman Empire then, was
a bridge to far for many.
As a result, Zacchaeus was seen as
greedy, selfish, and ungodly. These are things that can make people look at you
differently and think of differently. Since the Jewish faith, and now the
Christian, emphasizes righteousness, holiness, and Godliness, Zacchaeus was
seen as not being these things by his people. Zacchaeus was put in a different
category and was shunned, or at the very least avoided.
We hear the Psalmist say this morning
in Psalm 119:142:
142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is the truth (Ps. 119:142, NRSV).
The Psalm is talking about the attributes and the teaching
on God. Unfortunately, in the city of Jericho this morning, most people did not
think Zacchaeus was anything like Psalm 119:142.
While we are all sinners, that are all offered redemption
through our Lord Jesus Christ, sometimes we put people in categories or tiers of
sin. Don’t get me wrong, we need to protect ourselves and others from harm and
abuse, but sin is sin is sin. We are all in the same boat.
This morning in our New Testament reading from the Apostle
Paul’s Second Epistle or letter to the church in Thessalonica, or the Thessalonians,
he says of this church in 11:3, once again:
3 We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing (2 Thess. 1:3, NRSV).
In
this Second letter to the church in Thessalonica or the Thessalonians, Paul,
Silvanus, and Timothy greet the Thessalonian Church. The Apostle Paul says,
once again, in 2 Thessalonians 1:3 that they give thanks for the church in Thessalonica.
Why? Well because the people of the church in Thessalonica or the
Thessalonians, are growing in faith and love. It would seem that when Jesus
entered into the city of Jericho this morning, that the people of Jericho did
not think that Zacchaeus was growing in faith or love.
You
see, if we are redeemed sinners, then Zacchaeus is just as much of a sinner as
anyone else. The problem though, was that the human made category of sin that
Zacchaeus occupied was seen as higher and worse than the others. Yet, sin is
sin is sin. We are all in the same boat.
With
this all said, let us look once again our gospel of Luke 19:1-10 reading about
the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus. Starting in Luke 19:1 it says, once again of
Jesus:
19 He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich (Lk. 19:1-2, NRSV).
So, Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector, and grew financial
wealth being a chief tax collector for the Roman Empire. Zacchaeus collects
taxes for Rome, from his own people. He is like Ukrainian soldier who works for
the Russians. Is he a greater sinner than anyone else? No, but the people of
Jericho seem to think so.
Zacchaeus was also a short man, or
vertically challenged. As a result, when Jesus entered the city Jericho, a crowd
gathered. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, but worried with his smaller stature
that he would not be able to see him. So, what did Zacchaeus do? Well, he
climbed a sycamore tree of course, to see Jesus better.
In fact, picking up in Luke 19:3, it says, once again of
Zacchaeus:
3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way (Lk. 19:3-4, NRSV).
Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus, but he is short, or
vertically challenged. So, he climbs a sycamore tree, so that he can clearly
see Jesus coming into the city of Jericho.
Our gospel of Luke 19:1-10 reading then picks up in 19:5
saying, once again:
5 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.” 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner” (Lk. 19:5-7, NRSV).
To Zacchaeus’ surprise, Jesus walks right up to the
sycamore tree that Zacchaeus was in. He does not say hello or introduce himself.
Instead, Jesus looked up in the tree and said:
“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him7 (Lk. 19:5b-6, NRSV).
So, in front of all the onlookers in
the city of Jericho, Jesus walked right up to Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree,
asked him to come down, and tells Zacchaeus that he will stay in his house
today. Zacchaeus was happy to invite Jesus into his home.
Now I believe that all sin is equal in the eyes of God,
even though the different things that we do on this earth carry different earthly
and or legal consequences. Sin is sin is sin, but stealing a pack of gum or
killing someone has different earthly and legal consequences. That being said,
the people of Jericho had put Zacchaeus into a special category of sinner. They
in fact, though that Zacchaeus was much worse of a person and sinner than they
were. This is because Zacchaeus was a tax collector for the Roman Empire. Have
any of us ever put someone in our minds in a special category of sinner? Do
measure sin in tiers, or do we believe that we all fallen short of the glory of
God in Jesus Christ?
In concluding our gospel lesson from Luke 19:8-10 for this
morning, Jesus has arrived at Zacchaeus’ home. As the door to Zacchaeus’ home
opens, Zacchaeus notices in that moment all of his possessions. In looking at
Luke 19:8-10, it says once again:
8 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.” 9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost” (Lk. 19:8-10, NRSV).
So, when Zacchaeus is standing with Jesus with his front door
wide open, in that moment, Zacchaeus tells Jesus that he will give away half
all of his many possessions to the poor. Zacchaeus also tells Jesus that if he
defrauded anyone that he will back those people back four times what he was defrauded.
We are not given anything in the scriptures themselves, that
have Jesus telling Zacchaeus to do this, or preaching to Zacchaeus. Maybe the
presence of Christ was so overpowering that Zacchaeus was convicted of his
wrong doing and immediately told Jesus I will repent and do right. Afterall,
Zacchaeus calls Jesus Lord, so we could be led to believe in this moment that
Zacchaeus believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the savior. If this is true,
what saved Zacchaeus? Was it simply the giving away of fifty-percent of his
possessions, or paying back four-times what he took?
I don’t think this is what saved Zacchaeus. I think what
saved Zacchaeus was Jesus had just performed spiritual heart surgery on him. In
fact, Rev. John Wesley, who found the Methodist Movement, famously gave a
sermon called “Circumcision of the Heart”. While Jewish boys were and sometimes
still are circumcised at eight-days old according to the Jewish Law, John Wesley
was saying in his sermon that we need a circumcision of change of our heart.
Out of this change of heart, and this new faith in Jesus, I
believe that in that moment Zacchaeus gave generously, because he realized that
his true treasure was in Jesus Christ. As an aside, the reason Melissa and I
give as much this church as we can, is not buy favor with Jesus. Rather, it is
because, Melissa and I have had a “Circumcision of the Heart.” If God owns
everything, we are merely caretakers what God has given us. So, we give. We do
all we can, not to buy favor with Jesus, but we give because of Jesus.
Zacchaeus was truly despised, until he met Jesus anyway, by
the people of Jericho. He was traitor to his own people, but was he a worse
sinner than anyone else? Maybe, if we want to play the categories of sin game,
but this I know friends, the Apostle Paul says in Romans 3:23-24:
23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (Rom. 3:23-24, NRSV).
So, we can play the categories or tiers of sin game, but
know this, when we do, are we completely free of sin? Whoever is without sin cast
the first stone. As Christians, one of our main tasks is to love people into
the arms of Jesus Christ, knowing we all fall short, and that none of us deserve
the abundant, overwhelming, undeserved, and never-ending grace of God in Jesus
Christ. Indeed, dear friends, like Zacchaeus, we are all in the same boat, but
we all have Jesus. Amen.
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