September 10, 2017
Me and Barbara
Recently
I had some friends drop in unexpectedly.
I had been texting my friend about colors and designs and she was out
with her husband and they decided to stop by so we could have a real
conversation about that, and then we did a check in about our kids and our own
psyche’s and then well, a few hours had passed.
So all
this was just fine with me however it was getting close to the noon hour and as
we were talking I began to think in my mind, I have got absolutely nothing in
this house to eat. Nothing to
offer, I just had tea or coffee. I
finally admitted this to them and they said, no problem! Come over to our house, we can make
some sandwiches. At first in my
mind I thought, no I can’t do that; impose on them at the last minute like this
but just as soon as I was thinking that thought the words, ‘Oh that sounds like
fun’ came rolling out of my mouth.
We
hopped in our cars, drove to their house which is very close, made sandwiches
and watched some TV as we looked at paint swatches. My friend is an interior designer. It was a complete and wonderful day of hospitality and love. It was unhurried and really nothing
fancy at all. We just opened our
homes and our hearts to one another.
I
wonder if either one of us would have been so casual about it though if it had
been Jesus who said, ‘hey, I’m coming over to your house today’.
Let’s now take a look at
Luke, the 19th chapter:
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.”
Jesus and Zacchaeus Exegesis
In the Gospel of Luke we find
this story, which, throughout the years, has become somewhat endearing. As a child I used to sing a song about [Zacchaeus,
a wee little man who climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to
see. And as the Savior passed that
way he looked up in the tree. And
he said, “Zacchaeus, you come down! For I’m going to your house today.” The song is cute and gets a kid going
yelling out ‘Zacchaeus, you come down’, as they point their fingers in
exclamation at Zacchaeus.] Except
this little song leaves out some critical points of the story. Points that are the exact message of
the Gospel.
Jesus by now, well on his way
to Jerusalem for his final entry, happened by Jericho which is about 22
kilometers northeast of Jerusalem on the other side of the Judean hills. A short ride really. Jericho was a large city so it was a
major center of taxation. It’s
quite a beautiful place which is why Herod had built one of his palaces
there. So there was a lot going on
when Jesus arrived and entered Jericho. Street vendors and shop owners, mothers
and children, beggars, tax collectors and Pharisees, everyone came to the
entrance of the city to greet or if not to greet, to at least get a glimpse of
Jesus, this man who by now had quite a reputation in first century Palestine.
Zacchaeus was a chief
tax collector – (read) he had gobs of money. He was a man of means thanks to the all of the people that
he had collected taxes from throughout the years. You see tax collectors would purchase the rights to collect
taxes then they could turn around and charge and tax the people whatever they
wanted and after they paid the Roman Empire what was due they could pocket the
rest. Clever system if you’re the tax
collector or the Empire. No wonder
tax collector’s back in Jesus’ day were despised and counted as public sinner
number one.
He might have been a big-wig
in town however he was short so with all of the people crowding in to see Jesus
that day it prevented him from doing so.
So he climbed up into one of the sycamore trees at the entrance of the
city. Jesus takes note. I guess he didn’t always see people
hanging out in the trees.
Intuitively Jesus engages Zacchaeus. It’s Jesus who initiates the conversation, “I see you
Zacchaeus, I know you Zacchaeus, come down, let’s go have a bit to eat at your
house, let’s ‘reason together’ like God once said to the prophet Isaiah (Is
1:18) ”.
Zacchaeus, happy as the IRS on
April 15, scampered down the tree and took Jesus to his comfortable home. But, adding drama to the story, the
crowd was not happy; they began to grumble and nothin’s worse than a grumblin’
crowd on a hot day in Jericho. A
person who steals from you is not beloved and so tax collectors, even though
they were rich and powerful, were outcasts.
We don’t know the nature of
the exchange between Jesus and Zacchaeus, whether it was hostile and strained
or friendly and honest but Zacchaeus repents. After seeing Jesus, Zacchaeus’ repentant heart pushed him
further into action, which is the way it should be. ‘Shuv’, the word for
repentance in Hebrew, also means to turn around. He repents and then makes plans for restitution to the
people. He did the right thing,
the ethical thing. He turned from
his old ways and he distributed the money that he had to the people he
swindled, over above what his fair wages should have been. Salvation had come
to Zacchaeus.
In the Gospel of Luke faith
and repentance are ethical issues.
One’s life must reflect in action and words, one’s confession. Ethics plays a role. Otherwise, what good is it? Zacchaeus get’s it. He’s a little man who puts into action
some grand plans for giving back the money that he had taken from people. For that sunny day in spring when it
was getting close to the Passover, Jesus, Zacchaeus’ salvation had come to Jericho
and sought out to bring him back.
Zacchaeus was saved and brought into the proverbial fold and enacted the
message of the Gospel.
Lens of Hospitality
If we look at this story
through the lens of hospitality I think we see some interesting twists. Let me remind you that we are embarking
on thematic preaching this year and September’s theme is hospitality. I hope
that you have begun to think more deeply about hospitality, what it means, how
it’s exhibited here at OCC, in your life, and in your home.
Generally when we think of
‘providing hospitality’ we think of preparing our space, you know vacuuming the
floors, dusting the furniture and there might be some sort of food preparation
involved to feed the guests. But
we see from the story of Zacchaeus that sometimes you just don’t have the time
to prepare because the opportunity for hospitality presents itself very
unexpectedly, in unusual moments when you might least expect it.
I think that fundamentally Zacchaeus
was a good guy who got stuck in a bad system – he jumps at the chance to
entertain Jesus in his home. He
didn’t hesitate one iota. Who
knows what the condition of his household may have been. He didn’t bicker with Jesus, he just
hops out of the tree without hesitation and was open to receive Jesus and
whomever else might have been travelling with him just as they were, probably
dusty and tired from the journey.
And in that open spirit of
hospitality Zacchaeus was changed.
That is the power of deep rooted hospitality it has all the potential to
transform your spirit if you are open to it. We have so much to learn from one another and in learning
about one another we learn more and more about the God who lovingly crafted us. Everyone has a story to tell through
honest, open and inviting hospitality it can be told.
The Monastic tradition is infused with hospitality,
it is the basis for The Rule of St. Benedict. Br. David Vryhof of the Society of Saint
John the Evangelist in Cambridge, MA says this of
hospitality, “True Christian hospitality requires a giving of ourselves, an
opening up of who we are, a willingness to stretch our sometimes-narrow lives,
to step outside of our comfort zones. If we truly try to follow Jesus, our
outlook on the world – especially its strangers, its poor, its homeless, its
helpless, its needy, even its enemies – will be forever changed.”[i]
So hospitality in the Christian sense is more of
a mindset, and a ‘heartset’ than a physical act. We give of ourselves to make room for others. It is acceptance and it is love. I think that’s what Jesus did when he
engaged Zacchaeus in the first place.
He took notice of Zacchaeus’ contemptible little self and made him
honorable. He loved him as he was with all of the
potential for a changed spirit so sometimes these unexpected events for
hospitality can be the key that unlocks grace filled living.
It is my prayer that you will be blessed to
receive hospitality and to give hospitality in ways that will make for a
transformative life that echoes Jesus’ acceptance and love.
Amen.
[i] Vryhof, Br.
David. From ‘Brother – Give us a
Word’ meditation for September 4, 2017.
Society of Saint John the Evangelist, Cambridge, MA.
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