October 31, 2004

Wisdom 11:22-12:2 + 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2 + Luke 19:1-10

Nineteen Sundays ago on June 27 Chapter 9 verse 51 of this Gospel said that Jesus:

“resolutely set his face to journey to Jerusalem.”

I was sick that Sunday, less then two weeks out of open heart surgery,

and in spite of how miserable I felt, you will never know how much I wanted to be here,

because these nineteen Sundays are probably the most powerful and significant pieces in the Sunday readings for the whole three-year cycle.

I am sorry to put them down today, not just because next month we get the dire and difficult themes of pre-advent warnings and awakenings; but also because we have hardly begun to reach into the depths of what Luke has to offer in this unique Journey narrative from chapter nine to nineteen.

Be that as it may, we’re moving on; and today comes a story that is unique to Luke and sums up all the qualities of discipleship we have considered the past nineteen weeks.

Unfortunately, we did not get the story that comes just before these verses, and it is important; because Luke is using a contrast here to make his point. Just before this story begins in chapter 18, we get the sad tale of the rich official.

He was law-abiding and upright, but he could not do the one thing that Jesus asked. When challenged to sell what he had and give it to the poor and come follow Jesus, the rich man became very sad, for he was very rich.

What was supposed to make his life wonderful, secure, and comfortable became an obstacle for his future.

Jesus never went to his house.

Then Luke gives us this tale of a man who was not law-abiding, not respected, selfish, unjust, and motivated by one thing: having more of everything.

And as the tale is told, you can almost hear the murmuring.

That crowd; judgmental, aloof, full of themselves, and so much better than this short, arrogant, independent, crook whose wealth has come by his clever, unjust, and ambitious cooperation with the Romans.

Their jealousy is almost palatable, and then the final blow: Jesus comes to his house, not theirs.

They are so close to Jerusalem, so close to the end of the journey, so near to that ultimate and longed for friendship with Jesus.

There is one thing in the way, and Zacchaeus figures it out while the others are too busy with the murmuring.

There is a sequence in this story, a movement we must not miss.

There are steps to be taken by those who want to hear what Zacchaeus heard

and have the joy and salvation he came to receive.

The first step is wanting to see Jesus and being willing to go looking.

In the second step, Zacchaeus makes changes in his life:

         changes that restore justice and set things right that were wrong.

Do you notice that Jesus never asked that of him?

Zacchaeus already knew what was needed – he had been listening.

He knew what was keeping him from Joy, and from salvation.

When there is justice, there Jesus is to be found.

There he will stay.

That does not happen until justice is done and the wrong has been set right.

The Jesus of Luke’s Gospel is still looking, and he stands in our midst today.

The risk and the foolishness of being like those who murmur is great

and the consequences are tragic.

We should listen to this story with the memory of the one that goes before.

We are either like one or like the other,

the rich man who went away sad, or Zacchaeus who went home with Joy.

The difference between them was the issue of justice and stewardship

As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, the one who is sought becomes the one who seeks.

He turns to those who seek him,

looking for a place to stay,

and Zacchaeus shows us how to make him welcome.

October 24, 2004

Sirach 35:12-14,16-18 + 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18 + Luke 18:9-14

The Lukan lesson on prayer continues this Sunday.

Last week in a story about a widow and a judge

we were invited to consider how to pray and what to pray.

This week, two men give us almost a caricature of prayer

with which we can examine our own.

The difference between these two is very subtle,

and we must tune in to the Old Testament reading to pick it up.

We are set up by our culture to approve one of these two and scorn the other, but what if we knew a little more about them………………….

Suppose on the way to the Temple that morning

the Pharisee took groceries to a family where no one had a job,

stopped to see someone recently left alone by death of a spouse,

and picked up a street person and took them to a shelter,

leaving some cash to help feed them.

Suppose at the same time, the Publican

on his way to the temple evicted a single parent from some of his rental property because they were late on rent,

had a huge breakfast and left no tip after being rude and demanding to the server, and on the way into the Temple dropped in only some loose change from his pocket at the offering plate.

With these considerations our first impressions begin to fail,

as well they should.

The issue here is the comparison.

This is that trap in the story that catches us by surprise and teaches us a lesson.

It was a surprise for those who first heard this story from Jesus too.

A surprise twist that leaves you thinking is the whole point of parable telling.

The point here is not that we should pray one way or the other,

that one prayer is bad and another is good,

or that God hears one prayer but not another.

This was a problem for the early church that formed this Gospel.

They prayed differently than the Jews, and Luke would suggest that comparison and judgment about one being better than the other was useless.

We might do well to get the same message.

Where the prayer of the Pharisee goes wrong not in thanking God or acknowledging what he has become by God’s grace; but in comparing himself to another.

It is the word:  “Like” that betrays something out of order.

With that word, he crosses the line from gratitude to comparison.

It is a subtle difference, but we know how it feels.

Suppose we could listen in to the prayers of some who are here this morning:

“Thank God I am not like that one over there who sings off key.”

“Thank God I am not like that liberal who is destroying the church.”

“Thank God I am not like that conservative trying to relive the past that never was.”

“Thank God I am not like those lazy people on welfare stealing my reluctant tax money.”

You see, it is just like the Temple scene,

and all these thoughts betraying a deep insecurity.

The trouble here is that this kind of person, like the Pharisee,

does not know how to deal with God except by comparing himself to others.

For all his faults, the Publican at least has the integrity to look only at himself.

He knew who he was.

He never said, “I’m sorry I am not as good as or “like” the Pharisee.

It does not matter how we compare in the end.

What matters is that we know ourselves and who we really are within.

Because it is God who saves, and God is after us all.

The Publican went home “justified.”

Not because he went to the Temple.

Not because his prayer was better than someone else’s.

He went home justified because he knew that he could not justify himself,

and he was honest about his imperfect self.

We have no idea where the Pharisee went.

Perhaps he went on trying to justify himself or impress God further by other good deeds so that God might not let anything bad happen to him.

That’s the way it often goes with that kind of prayer and attitude —

a sort “Divine Bribery” that will see faith and prayer collapse if some tragedy occurs. They think, after all, “I’ve been so good. I’ve done so much. How could God do this to me?”

Wrong thinking here.

Jesus might well have had the same thoughts if His prayer and relationship to God had gone that way.

Our clue to the understanding of this parable comes in the First reading from Sirach. “The Lord is a God of justice, who knows no favorites……..

Who we are in the sight of God has nothing to do with anyone else.

God cannot, will not, and does compare us to one another.

But God will look for signs of His Son in us.

October 4, 2004

Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4 + 2 Timothy 1:6-8,13-14 + Luke 17:5-10

The plea of the apostles: “Increase our faith.” almost overshadows the rest of these gospel verses in which Jesus shares his vision of the great reversal that will be found when the reign of God begins.Perhaps those apostles were beginning to catch on.We have skipped over some heavy stuff between last week’s Gospel and today’s.There was serious instruction on the gravity of causing another to sin,and on the necessity for forgiving others.With that behind them, and the vision Jesus proposes ahead of them,it is not surprising that these disciples cry out.As always, they fall into the trap of thinking that more is better,and in a sense, the response of Jesus is to suggest that the quality of their faith is more important than the quantity.

However, it is this vision and the challenge of the great reversal that deeply disturbs these apostles and gives them reason to acknowledge their need for Faith.

A master and a slave are put before us with the suggestion that when the reign of God begins, the roles shall be reversed. How you feel about that certainly depends on whether you see yourself as master or as slave. If you are living the life of a slave, the reign of God will come with relief and the joy of finally being at rest and being served by others. If you are living the life of the master, the reign of God will come with some surprises that might be a bit unpleasant.

The vision of Jesus gives us reason to join in the cry of the apostles. When this Gospel is proclaimed in the western world, in “developed” nations of wealth and power, it speaks to people who are accustomed to being the “masters.” Most of what we have and want is available to us because the master/slave distinction is still working to our advantage. Talk of peace in this part of the world , and visions of peace are nothing more than a silly fantasy if we fool ourselves into thinking that “peace” means that everyone stop fighting and go back to work. What Jesus proposes is that the reign of God, which is the only real peace we can hope for, will come when that master/slave distinction is finished and we all sit down at the table of God’s bounty together. Prayers for peace when answered may not find us in power, in control, or having all the wealth and stuff money can buy.

When we pray for the Kingdom to come, we ought to give serious thought about how this might happen and what it may look like. It is probable that we may have less in order for others to have more. In order for most of the world to be fed, we might not be able to have three cars, or maybe even two. In order for there to be a roof over every head every night, we might not be able to have six or seven empty rooms in our homes.

I believe that the apostles were beginning to get the point, and thoughts like these were beginning to go through their minds. They were beginning to see that the reign of God was going to be different than they had thought.

Now they lived in a world and with a faith that held to the notion that wealth and power, doing good works and avoiding evil brought merit and somehow could get more good things out of God. They really did believe that God owed them rewards for being “good.” The news Luke has to share is that there is no special merit to be had from simply doing what is commanded. Keeping the rules is not enough, and God doesn’t owe us anything.

That Old Testament prophet, Habakkuk suggests that we must live by faith if we are to live the vision, and so we might well join the prayer of the apostles.The increase we need however lies in richness and depth; a faith rooted in hope, and able to endure in the face of suffering and delay.

We pray for a faith grounded on the bedrock of fortitude, a source of strength when we might be tempted to grow weary, and losing heart, yield to the “spirit of cowardice” that Timothy warns us against.We pray for a faith that will lead us into the mysterious ways of God’s Holy Wisdom no matter how dark and winding the path may seem.That kind of faith will open us to be transformed by grace and begin to share in the vision of Jesus: a vision that sees us as servants, slaves;people who use what they have for the service of the Master,rather than for the privilege of having even more.Less concerned with having more,we might then be focused on what to do with what we have.When that begins, we will have faith enough to see ourselves into the reign of God.