Not Who You Might Think

Zaccheus is a tax collector.  We’ve heard about them before…it was 4 weeks ago when we heard about another tax collector, Levi,…they’re sinners.  They’re liars and thieves…they take from their own, skimming off the top before they pay Rome….or rather, inflating the amount due, before they hand anything over to Rome.  These guys are bad.  Do you remember Levi?  The one who was supposed to be a priest?  The family failure who not only didn’t become a priest, but became a crook?  Well, it’s another one of him.  And we all know about them.  

We really don’t need much more explanation at this point…Zaccheus was a tax collector… that means, he was a sinner of the worst kind. (sigh) another one of those people that Jesus decides to go hang around with.  And not surprisingly when it happens, everyone around them, balks saying, “seriously?!?  A sinner?!”  Three years into Jesus’ ministry and it still doesn’t make any sense…why would this guy, this rabbi, this man of God, insist on wasting his time with the sinners.

Now, while the crowd might not get it…we do.  We understand who Jesus is…he’s the one who forces us out of our comfort zone to deal with people we normally leave out of our inner circle.  We might not like it, but we get it.  But, if we dig a little deeper into the text, I think we might find something all together different.  

The scripture tells us that after Jesus calls him from the tree and invites himself over for dinner, Zaccheus tells Jesus he’ll give half of what he has to the poor and pay back anyone he’s cheated 4x’s the amount.  Now, that seems appropriate seeing as how he’s a lying scumbag.  But, there’s actually another way to look at it…2 ways actually.  

#1  Think about what Zaccheus is offering to do.  He’s going to give HALF of what he has to the poor.  AND THEN he’s going to give 4x’s what he owes to anyone he owes anything to.  Now, either he’s an incredible investor and grew the money he took from people in some incredible ways…all before the stock market or flipping real estate.  OR…he’s actually been a reasonably decent guy such that he hasn’t defrauded many people…so he’s willing to take the risk of offering 4x’s what he does owe.  MAYBE Zaccheus isn’t as bad as we thought.

or #2  there’s a translation issue from the Greek to the English.  Most of our translations say he “will give and will payback”. But the way the Greek is, there’s actually the possibility that it says “I’ve been giving half of what I have to the poor and have been giving 4x’s what I owe to anyone I’ve defrauded.”  He has been  doing these things…and, by translation, will continue to do these things…

So, it’s not that he’s some marvelous convert who has a big come to Jesus moment and his life is changed (and we all scoff under our breath doubting that anything will really change for him).  But instead, it’s this guy that we’ve known  was a sinner…a liar and a thief who doesn’t turn out to be any of those things.  We’re forced to immediately re-evaluate him for all the things we thought we knew…but really, then we have to re-evaluate us…because now we have to admit we are prejudiced.  And that recognition hurts.  We judged him based on superficial things…things we thought defined his character.  

I’m sure none of you have ever made assumptions about someone, believing you knew them, or at least knew enough, because you knew a certain something.  Well, since I’m normally one of the lead sinners in a congregation, I’ll just own it.  I’ve dealt with racism, sexism, homophobia, size-ism, classism, and age-ism…and that was just last week!  I’d like to laugh and say no, but, honestly, if I were to think about it, I’m sure I’ve pre-judged someone in each of those categories in the last 7 days and that does not make me proud.  I’ve worked for years to deal with my prejudice that you’d think I’d be a lot further along than I am, but what can I say? I’m a work in progress. 

We all learn to make these quick superficial judgments very early on in life.  In elementary school the kids make judgements based on gender. The girls think the boys couldn’t possibly be fun to play with and the boys make the same assumption.  Hopefully after a few years in class they start to see a little differently but then they adopt other judgements and classifications for one another.  

In high school we had about 550 students. And there were 4 main buildings that sat around the quad.  During break time you could find certain crowds of people in certain areas.  There were the preppy people, the nerds, the indians, the druggies, the cowboys, and the Mexicans.  Our titles were about as sophisticated as our judgements.  And most of us thought we knew people based on where they stood around the quad and the title that gave them.  And, sadly, for us, no one really tried to challenge the titles or the assumptions. I had to wait until college to be challenged on what I thought I knew about people.  

I am not proud of my prejudice, but I share about it to let you know you’re not alone, and to say that it’s worth confronting, every time it comes up.  When we make superficial judgments based on limited facts, we’re setting ourselves up for prejudice.  Before I started at UCLA, we had an on-campus orientation and were placed in various groups.  I don’t remember a lot of people from my group, but I do remember Miguel.  He was a Mexican with long dark hair in a pony tail, thick glasses, and what cholo clothes…he was a gang member from East LA.  At least that’s what I surmised from my 30 second assessment of his outfit and his hair.  To be fair, he was actually from East LA, but he wasn’t a gang member.  Now, it took me awhile to learn that since I was automatically fearful since I thought he was in a gang.  But eventually we started talking and got to one another.  Turns out Miguel had never been in a gang.  His dad was a chef and his mom was a housekeeper.  Miguel was smart and caring and one of the most tender-hearted people I had ever met.  Apparently my snap judgment was a little amiss.  

And, to highlight the irony of my prejudice, after we graduated, Miguel went to work for the Mayor of LA on his gang reduction task force.  Miguel finds creative and fun ways to engage area youth to find connection and value before they get into the gangs.  They’ve shown incredible success with their program…so much that he’s been sent around the country to train others and now he is in Honduras, where there is one of the worst gang problems world wide, training people and beginning to bring peace, and hope, and light into those communities.  

Lots of times we make snap judgements, and Jesus challenges us to see people diffferently. He is always drawing us into the deeper story and helping us see that what we know on the surface isn’t actually the whole story.  If we want to know people…we have to spend time with them, we have to get to know their story.  People are surprising.  They’re rarely everything we think they are…whether that’s kind and prim and proper because we see them well dressed and well spoken, or whether that’s rough and mean and aggressive because they look dangerous, or whether that’s lazy and a drunk because they’re dissolved and spent the night on the street.  People are more than they appear and Jesus wants us to know that.  He models what it looks like to spend time with people…even the people everyone else scoffs at, because he knows that time together is the key to relationships that change us and grow us into better people all around.  

The Spirit of the Law

Sermon Notes

• teaching on the sabbath in the synagogue
• woman who has been ailing 18 years (much like the bleeding woman who suffered for 12 years)
• She didn’t do anything more than “appear” and Jesus told her should would be healed
• too often we get hung up thinking we have to do so much in order to earn Jesus’ healing, but instead he simply offers it….it is a gift of grace. It’s free.  It’s unmerited. Unearned.  And his gift comes before any action on her part.  
• He heals her, touches her, and she is able to stand up and the only thing that came to mind for her to do was to praise God and worship.  18 years of staring at the floor and dirty feet and finally she can stand up and move….of course she praised God.  And there in the middle of her worship, interrupts the synagogue leader
• Hey, wait a minute, you can’t heal on the sabbath, that’s work! you’re breaking the law!  
• explain Sabbath Law
• Exodus 20: 8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
• this is a big deal and by all accounts Jesus did work and thus broke the law…but he clarifies something…which for me sheds light on sabbath law as a whole.  
• He pushes back on the synagogue leader and says don’t you take your animals to get water…you do the work of untying and retying them?  So, you work, in order to preserve life?  
• So, when I “worked” to preserve this woman’s life, I wasn’t really breaking the sabbath law…I was fulfilling it…I was giving life, restoring life to someone…which is the whole intent of sabbath law in the first place. Right?  
• and the leaders while maybe humbled a little, were not willing to admit they were wrong. Instead they turned to the people…the other sick people who were ready to be blessed, touched, and restored to health by Jesus and he says, “all of you, get out of here. there are 6 other days of the week that you can be healed and fixed…pick one of those!”  
• Clearly this guy has missed Jesus’ point. He’s so hung up on what’s “right” on what’s “lawful” that he misses the opportunity to see God at work in Jesus, redeeming, healing and restoring.  
• UNFORTUNATELY, he’s not the only one who gets hung up on such things.  in the midst of witnessing grace, we often like to argue too.  
• not when it’s for us of course, but when it’s for others and it breaks our rules or challenges our beliefs 
• What about when we’re asked to serve a meal to the homeless on our family day?
• or when a pedophile is allowed to worship?  
• or
• Grace interrupts the norms, it breaks the rules.  We like to think of it as sweet and beautiful and something we would all accept willingly. But the reality is, grace is something given freely to those who don’t deserve it.  a gift given freely to those who don’t deserve it.  
• we tend to be ok with good things coming to good people, but what about when good things happen to “bad” people?  to people we think don’t deserve it?  or worse yet, to people we KNOW don’t deserve it?  
• when blessings fall on the mean-spirited and the unkind, what do we say?  
• THAT’S NOT FAIR!!! That’s not right.  
• you’re likely sitting there wondering, “does she think good things should happen to bad people?”  Are you saying we supposed to go out of our way for people who don’t deserve it?  
• well, yes and no.  It’s not exactly me speaking…but that is Jesus’ way.  He is regularly looking for the outsiders…the “bad” ones, the rule breakers and doing good things for them…even though they don’t deserve it. And if we’re supposed to be imitators of Christ, then logic would follow that we are supposed to do that same thing.  
• It’s counter intuitive, I know.  And it doesn’t mean we don’t do good things for those who do deserve it.  But the call to offer grace isn’t about simple and sweet for the people we love, it’s about stepping out to bless someone who is an outsider (to us or to others).  
• in practical terms it can mean stopping on the side of the road when we’re on our way to our thing to help someone in need
• it can be helping to cover the groceries in the check out line 
• it can be inviting the co-worker who’s always a pain to the bbq at our house
• it can mean offering shelter to a refuge
• it can mean sharing a meal with a hard-hearted family member
• it can mean giving up our special coffee to buy someone a meal
• —> sometimes we’ll know how deserving (or not) the person is, and sometimes it’s all left in God’s hands.  But it’s not about us knowing “hey, you’re not worthy, I’ll pick you to bless”.  But it is about being open and receptive to the movement of the Spirit so we can be about God’s kingdom creating work of offering grace—even when it’s inconvenient, even when it breaks our rules, even when the person doesn’t deserve it…probably most especially when they don’t deserve it. 

You Don't Know the Cost

This scene is early in Jesus’ ministry.  He’s eating with a Pharisee and we don’t know where the Pharisee stands in regard to Jesus. We don’t know if he likes what Jesus is doing or doesn’t like it. We don’t know why he invited Jesus…was it to trap him or just to get to know him and see what this guy was really all about?  

The Pharisee, named Simon, invites Jesus to dinner and the scripture tells us they were reclining…that tells us this was a formal dinner—maybe a sabbath meal—so Simon would have or should have prepared the very best for his guests. Now, as part of this formal meal it would have been customary to wash his guests’ feet—well, not him, but a servant, and the host would have greeted his guests with a kiss and would have anointed their foreheads with oil.  It showed hospitality and respect.  

Imagine it in the modern day—you invite over someone of prestige, not a friend or a colleague, but an uppity up—say, the mayor, and when he gets there, he knocks and instead of opening the door you just show, “it’s open.”  He comes in, you say a quick hello and then you leave him to himself.  You don’t offer to take his coat, or show him a place to sit, or offer to get him anything to drink.  

Now, is that the end of the world? No.  But is it really bad manners?  Yes. Maybe not with friends or family, but with a prestigious stranger?  Yes. Simon missed the mark here.  Nevertheless, Jesus was very gracious—he just let it go—he sat on the cushion to eat with his dirty feet and dirty hands.  Maybe he gave Simon the benefit of the doubt and just assumed he was distracted.  I mean, everyone in the room knows it’s weird, but they just played along.  

That is, until this woman comes in—this sinful woman.  We don’t know what she did, only that she’s a sinner. Some people assume she’s a prostitute but the scripture never says that. She isn’t named. So she could be any woman who has committed any number of sins.  She comes in and goes straight to Jesus and begins washing his feet—not with a bucket of water, but with her tears. And not using a towel, but instead using her hair.  She’s washing his dirty, dusty, unwashed feet with her tears and her hair.  Now that may take us back a little, but in the first century it would have taken everyone back a lot.  You see—women wore their hair covered—all the time. and the only ones to see their hair were their husbands.  To uncover your hair was a sensuous thing and there she did it in front of Jesus and everybody.  and then she caressed Jesus’ feet as she wiped away her tears. The scene has just gone from awkward to a bit scandalous.  

Let’s go back to our modern scene—our mayor is sitting awkwardly holding his coat in his lap, with nothing to drink and this woman comes in and pours him her finest wine, takes his coat, and then begins massaging his shoulders.  To say it simply, things are getting a little weird.  Taking his coat would have been one thing but massaging his shoulders pushes the boundaries of decorum. 

So the host intervenes, “Wait a minute! Just what do you think you’re doing?!  How dare you?!” 

So Jesus shifts the conversation. He tries a back door approach to help Simon understand what is happening. He asks this question:  There are two debtors—one who owes 50 denarii and one who owes 500.  (a denarii was worth about a day’s wages…so one owes 2 months wages and one owes a year and a half…say, one owes about $4500 and one owes about $60,000)—both are forgiven their debts….who do you think is more grateful?  

Simon answers easily…the one who owed more.  Of course.  But Jesus’ question wasn’t really who was more grateful….the question was actually who showed more agape—who showed more selfless, abundant love?  The one who had the greater debt.  Who showed greater, more abundant, selfless love?  The one who had the greater debt.

Ok, now, look at this woman….she has washed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair, and anointed my feet with oil.  You’re scandalized and insulted, but look at what she did…what did she do?  

Do you know? What did she do?  She showed great agape love.  Simon, you’re so consumed with what you know she did in the past that you can’t see who she is now.  You know she broke the law and you have that marked in stone above her name.  Her sin seems to trump her person for you.  But you know what?  You’ve missed what has happened…along the way, when you weren’t watching, she repented and has been forgiven…it’s already happened, her sins are in the past, washed away by the forgiveness she received.  Today, she’s not earning my blessing. She’s not making the sins of the past right, she's saying thank you….wholly and fully with a sign of God’s love. 

How many of us have been a bit like Simon?  We know the sins of the past and for some people that’s all we see…their record of wrongs. So when they claim their faith or sing praise to the Lord, we look on with disdain thinking, “mmm…hmmmm, how dare you?  I know what you did. You’re a sinner.”

And Jesus comes in gently and encourages us to look….not just with our eyes but with our hearts.  Do you see?  Do you know?  Their faith and their praises…that’s because of gratitude.  They aren’t pleading for forgiveness, they’ve already received it and are saying thank you.  You’re hung up on what once was and what they did back when, but they aren’t who they were.  Today they’re redeemed. They’re forgiven. They’re saved.  Don’t stand with scorn. Stand with praise.  And know that if you’re burdened by your own sins.  If your heart is heavy with shame, there is forgiveness for you too.  You don’t have to earn it.  You just have to claim you want it and I’ll forgive you.  

After explaining things to Simon, Jesus turns to the woman and says, “You’re forgiven. You’ve been saved—you’ve been redeemed and made whole. Now, go in peace.”  In essence, he’s confirming, you really are forgiven, don’t worry about what this guy says, or the next, or the next. People may try and hold the sins of the past against you. they may not want to see who you’ve become. But don’t look to them, look to me and trust, you are truly forgiven. You are redeemed and made whole. Now, go in peace.”  

And the same is true for us, once we’ve been forgiven, we find our new identity in Christ.  It doesn’t matter what other people think. It doesn’t matter if they’re still keeping tally of the past.  Jesus tells us we are forgiven.  We can go in peace.  Thanks be to God.