Lectionary Readings for Sunday, November 4, 2007

Lectionary Readings for Sunday, November 4, 2007
Proper 26, Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4 with Psalm 119:137-144 or
Isaiah 1:10-18 with Psalm 32:1-7 and
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 and
Luke 19:1-10

Life has a language.
And scripture has a word for us.

This week it is a word of healing. If there is a common ground that connects all scripture it surely must be healing. We heal from slavery, we heal from rebellion, we heal from an exile that might well have destroyed our soul, and we seek healing when circumstance does its level best to break us. Over and over again we heal as individuals, as churches and temples, as a people.

The need for healing does not, and cannot, disguise itself.
“Look at the proud!” Writes Habakkuk in his unforgettable three chapters.
“Their spirit is not right in them,
but the righteous live by their faith.”

When the spirit is not right within us it is time for healing to happen. And how does healing happen? We move towards it, summoning the courage to act. We connect with others: sometimes a nurse, sometimes a neighbor, sometimes a physician, sometimes our conscience and sometimes, Jesus. So it was with Zacchaeus.

Luke 19:1-10

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.’

Over the last month or so we have caught the cadences of Luke's ironic reversals. The publican turns out to show us the path to authentic prayer. The Samaritan leper shows us the exuberant joy of gratitude. Rich man Dives showed us what happens when we fail to notice what's happening around us. And today we find a curious Zacchaeus climbing the same kind of tree that the prophet Amos once dressed in order to see the Jesus he had undoubtedly heard so many rumors about. We find life speaking on all sides. A crowd and a chief tax-collector are all searching for “something.” Perhaps the crowd wanted deliverance from injustice. Perhaps a politically savvy Zacchaeus wanted to crowd to see he wasn't as bad as they thought he was, that he was interested in their interests. We do not know the motivations. But we do know setting the spirit right was the draw for Zacchaeus, the crowd and Jesus.

The spirit cannot be set right unless three things happen:

Zacchaeus must come down from the tree and dine with Jesus. In a very small church I once asked one of the elders, “What do you think is going to help this church grow?” She answered in one word. “Food.” It is no wonder churches often have not one, but two or three kitchens, that office buildings have a cafeteria, an arcade of food shops, and a coffee area complete with a refrigerator and well-stocked cupboards. And it is no wonder the sacrament involves the breaking and sharing of bread and wine. Connection has a way of giving life. Zacchaeus had to reconnect with the crowd, connect with Jesus and then connect with those he had fleeced over the years.

The second thing is just as clear. The crowd's murmuring needed to subside if they were to recognize the depth of Jesus' connection with all of the children of Abraham. Coherence is a tricky and somewhat elusive cause of life. By its very nature it unites us. But, by its very nature it can turn “our group” into a grumbler about “your group.” If the mumbling does not subside, the encounter with Zacchaeus, and the crowd's curiosity about Jesus will be no more than a momentary event.

And that leads us to the third. There must be restorative justice. What will it take to set the spirit right within us? It requires the presence of the Son of Man. Without Jesus we have a treed tax collector who knows all is not well within his soul; and a grumbling crowd. Not much to build on there. With Jesus we have broken bread with a son of Abraham and rejoiced that one who was lost is found.

The implications for us are guaranteed.

To the parishioner who finds your sermon unpalatable, we say, “I must dine with you today.”

To ourselves, “What must I restore?”

To our congregation, “With whom must we connect if the spirit is to be right within us and well with the world.

Larry