The Uncertainty of Surrender
Zacchaeus and the Uncertainty of Surrender
Transcription:
Welcome to worship at Dearborn First UMC. I am Pastor Suzy Todd. This is week 5 in Lent, the season of preparation for Easter. We have been preparing ourselves for the joy of resurrection by sitting in the discomfort of uncertainty.
Last week we talked about the uncertainty of immortality, the week before that was the uncertainty of worry. We’ve also looked at the uncertainty of forgiveness. If you missed any of those, they are available on YouTube.
There is actually a lot of uncertainty within the Christian faith, at least for those of us who ask a lot of questions.
When I lived in Plymouth there was a group of people who would go on mystery trips together. Anyone ever heard of that? Apparently, the facilitator only tells the travelers the cost, the weather to pack for, whether they need their passports and what time to be at the airport. The rest of it is a mystery.
In my estimation, the only way to truly enjoy that is if:
You have great faith in the facilitator. AND
You are confident in your own adaptability.
Hear this story about a man who placed a lot of trust in someone he barely knew:
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through town. 2 A man there named Zacchaeus, a ruler among tax collectors, was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was; but, being a short man, he couldn’t because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to that spot, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down at once. I must stay in your home today.” 6 So Zacchaeus came down at once, happy to welcome Jesus.
7 Everyone who saw this grumbled, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this household because he too is a son of Abraham.10 The Human One came to seek and save the lost
Rijksmuseum, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Description: Two scenes. Left: Christ at the table with Zacchaeus and disciples. Right: Zacchaeus in tree, Christ and disciples looking up. Late 15th century print from woodcuts.
Every time I hear this story I can’t help but think of The Price Is Right – “Zaccheus of the Sycamore, come on down” And like a contestant on The Price Is Right – Zaccheus hurries down to greet his host – not Drew Carey – but Jesus. And like the contestants on The Price Is Right, Zaccheus has no idea what is in store for him.
Here’s what we know about Zaccheus – before he meets Jesus.
Zaccheus is a Chief tax collector, which means he has a group of tax collectors who work for him Jericho was a prosperous area, so Zaccheus’ income was high.
He has nice a house, probably not as nice as yours or mine, but all the bells and whistles of a good life in the first century.
But behind the veneer of having “the life,” Zaccheus feels a lack, a hunger.
He is a sellout to the Roman empire. He’s getting rich by taking from his fellow Jewish folks and giving to the oppressive Roman Empire.
Zaccheus is rejected, even despised, by the very people he worships with at temple.
Here’s what we DON’T know about Zaccheus: Whether he really was corrupt, like the people said.
Did you notice the way that this translation – the Common English Bible – renders verse 8?
8 Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.”
Lots of other contemporary translations render it, “I WILL give half of my possessions” and “I WILL repay them.” In the 16th and 17th century, the Geneva Bible and the King James Bible agree with the Common English. “I give half my possessions” “I repay them four times.” But most contemporary translations, like the NIV and the NRSV add the word “will,” indicating that Zaccheus’ encounter with Jesus is the impetus for this generous life.
These verbs in ancient Greek, which is the original language of the NT, use the present tense, not the future.
Perhaps, Zacchaeus isn’t actually admitting any guilt. But instead, defending himself to Jesus against the grumbling of the crowd. It’s possible Zacchaeus is saying: “Jesus, you hear the nasty things these people say about me, but truly—I give half of everything I have to the poor. And if anyone can show me that I’ve cheated them, I return four times as much. I’m an honest man, Lord, in spite of what they say.”
A Case for Zaccheus’ defense
Some things seem to support this understanding of the story:
In nearly all of Luke’s other stories where repentance is the theme, either the person seeking repentance outright asks for it, “forgive me!” Or Jesus says, following their confession, “You are forgiven”. But that doesn’t happen in this story. The word forgiveness is never invoked.
PLUS Zaccheus’ name means “pure.” It could be irony, we certainly see plenty of that in the Bible. But it could also be an indicator of the identity Jesus recognizes in him.
A middle ground might be that Zacchaeus had been corrupt; but had already encountered John the Baptist who preached to tax collectors in chapter 3, which reads:
12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. They said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 He replied, “Collect no more than you are authorized to collect.”
Is this story of Zaccheus about a man who repents of his ways upon encountering Jesus?
Is it a story about a man who has changed his ways but hasn’t yet found his people for this new life – until he meets Jesus?
Or is it a story about a man who has been ostracized unjustly and Jesus welcomes him, embraces him and gives him community?
I’m uncertain.
But I know one thing – it’s a story of a man whose life was changed when he decided to “Come on down!”
The Comfortable Nature of Tree-Sitting
The church – meaning the people who want to follow Jesus in The Way, is called to be a people transformed by God to transform the world. But we’re way more comfortable being tree sitters.
Tree sitters are folks who elevate themselves above the crowd. They only need to worry about their own security. They’re not getting jostled by the needs and desires of the crowd following Jesus. They’re not mingling with folks who might be messy and expect things from them.
Tree sitters have strong opinions and offer their critiques readily. They get a good view of the crowd but have little ability to see the pain on the individual faces.
Tree sitters don’t have to worry about being wrong, after all the risks of having a wrong opinion are low compared to the risks of doing the wrong thing among God’s people.
But Jesus called Zaccheus down out of the tree. And he calls us, individually and communally, out of our trees too. “Come on down!”
I don’t know about you, but when I first realized that Jesus was calling me out of the safety of my tree, I had a lot of questions.
Where are we going?
What’s going to be expected of me?
What am I going to lose?
How much is my life going to change?
What if I prove to be incompetent?
There were no answers to these questions. There still aren’t answers to these questions.
We don’t know what will come next when we choose to follow Jesus.
Coming down out of our trees and entering the fray of Kin-dom living is messy. It requires having great faith in the one facilitating the journey. And it requires some level of confidence in our own adaptability – or at least ability to survive.
I am not someone who believes that God has an individual narrative that each of us is destined to follow. I am too big of a proponent of free will for that. I believe that our life circumstances and our free-will mean that we all have an array of possibilities in this world. And that whatever path we find ourselves on, whatever destination we land in, whatever joys, regrets, fears, failures and successes we encounter – God will be there.
I believe that the Holy Spirit is an echo in the universe that is gently calling each of us into a sacred dance with God. Always! No matter what our last decision. No matter what our abilities. No matter what our fears.
Can you hear it? God calling us out of our trees and into the rhythm of God’s song?
“Can you hear it? God calling us out of our trees and into the rhythm of God’s song?”
When we choose to come down and join the sacred dance, things change.
Zaccheus climbs the sycamore tree, looking for something (or someone). He feels like his life lacks something.
We can be like Zaccheus, from the outside, appearing as if we have it all: a good job, a beautiful home, a great spouse. Perhaps we don’t even know why, but there is a hollowness, a loneliness inside. And like Zaccheus, we’re faced with a choice. Hang onto our tree, this thing that we know, that is solid and firm but leaves us feeling hollow OR come on down and see what Jesus has to offer.
Following Jesus has no guarantees. No certainty. We step into a moving, changing, morphing, growing new reality. We join a crowd of equally confused, broken, hollow, seeking people.
We’re going to step on toes and get our toes stepped on. We’re going to have moments of perfect rhythm and moments that are so out of step we’re horrified.
Are we bold enough to come on down, into that uncertainty?
Choosing God over tree sitting is a very personal decision – it changes who we are on the inside. But it’s not a private decision. It’s one that the witness of our lives will broadcast to the world. When we make that choice, it impacts the way we live in community.
Zaccheus, as he sat in the tree, was not a Roman citizen. He was a useful tool for them, enriching their treasury. While Zaccheus was a Jewish man, he was ostracized, never really belonged because of his work.
Whether Zaccheus was corrupt or not, it’s likely that the only people whom he felt welcomed among were the other tax collectors. Until he came down out of his tree.
At which time, the followers of Jesus immediately embraced him???? Probably not.
If you’ve ever had to make amends to people, if you’ve ever had to overcome a bad reputation (deserved or not), if you’ve ever just been a stranger among a crowd of church people who’ve known each other for decades – you know it can be awkward.
They all know each other’s spouse’s name, grandkids and kids’ stories. They go out to breakfast together, text through the week and have learned how to roll with each other’s quicks. And now the newcomer, the Zaccheus tries to build a relationship with just 0.1% of that history and knowledge.
New communities are hard. We vacillate between feeling included and excluded; valued and invisible. We’re going to make missteps and try too hard. We’re going to grow frustrated and want to quit. But like Zaccheus, we’re going to have Jesus rooting for us. We’re going to know we are beloved children of Abraham – part of God’s tribe of people – whether anyone else recognizes it or not.
Are we bold enough to come down into that uncertainty?
This mystery trip with Jesus is a lifelong journey.
There is nothing more about Zaccheus in the Bible. There’s some church history that claims he was renamed Matthias and went on to replace Judas Iscariot after Jesus’ death. There are also some writings that claim he went on to become the Bishop of Caesarea. I’m not sure we can say either of these with certainty.
We can say with certainty that God as facilitator of this crazy mystery trip, loves us more than we can imagine. We can be certain that God desires goodness and wonder and grace and awe for us. Even as we lack certainty about our ability to hear God’s word, we are certain that God’s ability to redeem all things is greater than our ability to mess-up all things.
And as we journey on, we’ll grow in certainty about our own adaptability.
That mass of folks we’ve been staring at from the perch of our trees may look scary today. But in 6 weeks or 6 months we will know the names of their kids and they’ll be texting us midweek with TikTok recipes.
The idea of joining a book or Bible study may intimidate us today, but one day we will realize that we can lead a class not because we have a ton of answers, but because we can facilitate a conversation as well as the next person.
The commitment of giving up half of a Saturday for Hands with Detroit mission day may seem unreasonable today. But by next year we’ll be eager to spend half a day working around the tiny houses or shredding documents or making welcome mats.
It’s a journey. We move forward. We change. We grow. If we’re not growing, then we’re dying.
We may not know the destination of this mystery trip, but we know the facilitator. We know the Jesus revealed in scripture. We know the God revealed in creation. And we know the voice of the Spirit that is echoing in our hearts. We can survive, live and thrive within the uncertainty because we have faith in the one who leads us.
Come on down!
Praying for Strangers Week #5
As we move through this second to last week of Lent, let us continue in our “praying for strangers” adventure. This week, let’s pray for people who are like Zaccheus, looking for something. Every time you use your GPS – pray for people who are lost. Every time you use Google for a search engine, pray for people who seek wisdom. Every time you text a friend, pray for the people who are looking for community.
Amen
Prayer
Like Zacchaeus, help us, O God, to lose our fear of coming down out of our trees, free us from our hollow security and embolden us to do things differently.
The Holy Spirit invites us into a sacred dance where we can
start anew,
make amends,
live in Christ’s way
God of change and renewal, we give thanks for your love that makes this possible for each one of us.
Each of us has a different story
Of happiness, heartache, and health,
wealth, weariness, and worry,
sadness, solitude, and sickness,
energy, encouragement, and excitement.
And there is a place for each one of us in your kin-dom and in this community.
We pray for those within our church family.
We pray for family members who seek your healing.
We pray for those beyond our families who need comfort:
Victims of the earthquake in Myanmar
Victims of storms in our own country
We offer to you in silence, those whose challenges are private. You know their names and their burdens.
May they know your loving presence. Amen
Benediction
People of God,
Come on down!
Come along on this great mystery trip
And delight in the confidence that you are God’s people
And may the grace of God,
the love of Jesus Christ,
and the presence of the Holy Spirit
go with us all.
Amen.
