Advent Lutheran Church

"Used by God - Reformation Sunday"

             “It was a dark and stormy night” almost 500 years ago, on a Halloween night.  A young, German monk, a professor of Old Testament at Wittenberg University, hustled through the darkness and nailed a list of items for conversation on the campus bulletin board, the door of the Castle Church at the entrance to town.  These statements for debate – the 95 Theses - once discussed, fueled the Protestant Reformation in Europe and changed the world forever.

            The night might not have been dark, and it was more than 2,000 years ago when a young rabbi was teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem.  Jesus, speaking to a crowd of those who had believed, or at least were curious enough to come and hear what he had to say, called forth a kind of faith they hadn’t known.  These were Jews, who had begun to follow, and would soon be confronted with a powerful truth. “You will know the Truth, and the truth will set you free.” But what was this truth that would make them free?  Jesus was revealing to them that God is Love, not primarily Law, and he was about to show them with his life and death what that love meant for them.

            The Question which this raised for them is raised for us through history as well:  “What will you do with this God truth?”  Will you continue as you have - depending on yourself and the structures you live by, or are you willing to be freed to trust in something greater, and to allow God to use you?  It is the same question that Luther posed, in a somewhat different form, and that our Confirmands attempted to answer as they wrote their Statements of Faith:  “What do I believe?  Who is God for me?  How does God expect me to live and what does God want from my life?” 

            These were the same questions for Zacchaeus.  Now, the Zacchaeus story from Luke is a children’s favorite, but it is only heard rarely from our pulpits, because it comes late in the Pentecost season, and often falls the same day we hear those Statements of Faith, or it is set aside for Reformation or All Saints readings.  But this year, it seems so well suited to our lives, that I just had to work with it for this very special day of Reformation and Confirmation.  For the day that Jesus came to town was the day Zacchaeus’ life turned upside down, because Zacchaeus was confronted by a living God in Jesus Christ.

            It’s difficult to forget the illustrative details here, many of us learned them along with a kid’s song in Sunday School:  Zacchaeus was a “wee little man” (he was short of stature.)  Zacchaeus climbed up in a sycamore tree to see Jesus.  Zacchaeus was a tax collector, and he was rich.  These details are memorable, but not too helpful to the story!  Because before Jesus can change him in any way, Zacchaeus tells him right up front that his “practice” is to give away half of his money to the poor AND he exhibits a willingness to make good any errors, repaying FOUR TIMES whatever error he might make!

            This is not what we expect from the story:  no repentance called out or faith required, no conversion or healing or call to greater discipleship, as we would expect from the stories that appear in Luke’s gospel. 

            Perhaps you have seen the Liberty Mutual commercial on television.  It’s the one where a woman is standing at an intersection and grabs a pizza delivery guy before he steps into traffic.  Someone sees this act of kindness, and is inspired to do a similar good deed, which is seen by someone else.  The chain reaction of random acts of kindness is exactly what might have been going on here in our story.  Perhaps Jesus is in this town just for one man, but perhaps the “salvation,” the “restoration to wholeness” that will come about this day is not simply for Zacchaeus, but for the whole town of Jericho.  Why would they need to be saved?

            Consider this:  If Zacchaeus's habit was to give regularly and pay back in abundance, why is there so much grumbling from crowd?  It is clear that Zacchaeus was NOT Jericho’s favorite son, but this seems like MORE than sour grapes about who gets to have Jesus to their house for dinner.  I think it might have been that Zacchaeus was a tax collector, and not just any tax collector, but the CHIEF tax collector, which immediately made him the “bad guy” in town – immediately branded him as “Sinner.”  AND he was rich.  Now this complicates matters, because to be rich in this culture was understood as a blessing from God. Wait! This is confusing!  As I’m sure it was to his neighbors. You see, Zacchaeus was an enigma to the crowd, and they could not reconcile his status with his job.  This is the culture of retributive just, and they understood that “Those who Have” (status, riches, property) have obviously pleased God.  And “Those Who Have Not” (wealth, health, position) must have displeased God!  This guy doesn’t fit into their little boxes!  This guy is not playing by their rules!  Or perhaps, just maybe, those RULES need an update…perhaps, just maybe, a reformation is in order in Jericho!

            Jesus said, “The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”  And lost doesn’t mean unsaved here, as modern Christian vocabulary might express it.  “Lost” in this use means “one who society has shunned.”  In which case, Zacchaeus was the poster boy of being shunned.  He was short, he was different, he was a tax collector and a sinner.  Zacchaeus was a little "lost" sheep, and he was out of the fold.  But he was outside of the fold not because he had strayed, but because the fold wouldn’t let him in. The fold had different rules, different norms, different ways of measuring truth.         

            That day in Jericho, God brought a lesson on Truth to Jericho, that righteousness comes as a gift from God, not through the Law or obedience to rules of culture, but through the presence of Jesus.  And Zacchaeus got a private introduction to the God of Love by Jesus, God’s Word made Flesh, coming to his house to dine. 

            God used Zacchaeus to open the eyes of the town to a God who loves no matter what.  Just as God used Luther to open the eyes of Europe to a God who comes to us through grace, not our works. And just as God used his only Son, to open our eyes to the Truth that God is LOVE, not LAW.  So, what will you do with this GOD TRUTH?  Is your faith for you and your own fulfillment, or is your faith the way God calls you into his service?          Are you using God, or is God using you?  Well, welcome to the Lutheran Church – always updating, always reforming, always seeking ways to include everyone in the fold, and to be used by God to bring in the Kingdom.  Amen.