The Man Who Came To Dinner

Scriptures:       Isaiah 1:10-18,  Psalm 32:1-7

                        2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12, Luke 19:1-10     

Today is Reformation Sunday.  On Reformation Sunday, we remember those theologians who in the 1400’s and 1500’s felt that the Roman Catholic Church had become corrupt, and proposed various reforms.  In response, the Roman Catholic church rejected their criticism and came to expel most of the reformers.  The reformers came to be known as Protestants because of their protests against the Catholic church.  In particular, on this day we remember Martin Luther, founder of what came to be the Lutheran church, who on October 31, 1517, nailed what are called the 95 theses, or 95 statements of where he thought the church was in error.   Next year, October 31, 2017, will mark the 500^th anniversary of this act, and I’m sure the Lutherans will celebrate in grand style.  Our tradition, the German Reformed tradition, came not from Luther, but from the writings of Ulrich Zwingli, and particularly Zacharius Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus, who wrote the Heidelberg Catechism, which our longtime members used during their confirmation class.  Our Presbyterian friends on Pratt Street come from the tradition started by John Calvin.

Today’s Gospel reading is a reformation story of a sort….but it’s a story of personal reformation, not church reformation.  It’s a story about a man who wanted to meet Jesus, and his life was changed as a result.

The title of my sermon is from 1942 movie – a comedy, starring, among others, Bette Davis – about a theatre critic who visited a couple, and slipped on a patch of ice on the steps outside their house.  The man is moved into the house of the couple, and with insults and an overbearing personality proceeds to take over the household.  The couple finally almost manages to get rid of their houseguest, who had truly become a housepest – except when he steps outside the house, he slips on another patch of ice.

In today’s Gospel reading, we read about a very different man – Jesus – who basically invited himself to dinner at the house of Zacchaeus, a prominent if unpopular person.  We’re told that Zacchaeus is not only a tax collector, but a chief tax collector.  Of course, tax collectors were collecting taxes from Jews to pay to the Romans, who occupied the land – so tax collectors were seen as collaborators and sell-outs to the hated Romans, forcing the Jews to pay for their own occupation and oppression.  Also, they were assigned an amount to pay to Rome but allowed to keep anything they could collect over and above that amount – and so tax collectors often added generous “commissions” for themselves to the taxes they collected.  And this man, Zacchaeus, being a chief tax collector, was probably being paid part of the commissions collected by those who worked for him.   We’re told he was very rich.  Nice work, if you can get it.

Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem, and somehow Zacchaeus hears that Jesus is coming his way.  We don’t know why Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus – maybe just curiosity – in our day maybe Zacchaeus would have wanted to take a selfie of himself with Jesus -  or maybe something deeper.  One problem – a crowd always surrounded Jesus, and Zacchaeus was short, and so he wouldn’t have been able to see over the shoulders of the crowd…and since he was disliked, the crowd surely wouldn’t have cut him a break and let him up front.  So Zacchaeus climbed into a sycamore tree along the route Jesus was taking.  Likely he’d hoped not to be noticed, but Jesus looks up and, what to his wondering eyes should appear, but a little rich man staring down at him from the branches of the tree.

It’s a funny image, this picture Luke gives us of a powerful but very unpopular official up in a tree, like a squirrel.  At that moment, I’m sure Zacchaeus didn’t look particularly impressive…while unlike a squirrel, he would not have been foraging for nuts…but he probably looked a bit like a nut himself. 

I’m sure the crowd was pointing and laughing at Zacchaeus, but at this point Jesus invites himself to dinner at Zaccheaus’s house.  “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”  In fact, Jesus invited himself not only for dinner, but for an overnight stay at the Hotel Zacchaeus. 

At this point, the crowd’s mood changes.  “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner,”  they grumble.  Doesn’t Jesus knows what a snake this guy is.  But Zacchaeus responds extravagantly:  “Look,  half my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I’ve defrauded anyone of anything, I’ll pay back four times as much.”  And Jesus says, “‘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.’”  Zacchaeus had started out by wanting to see Jesus, but it turns out Jesus wanted to see Zacchaeus, and not only see him, but turn his life around.  Jesus came to seek and save the lost, even if the lost was a little rich guy in a tree. In that moment Zacchaeus was reconciled with God, and in contrast to that reconciliation, his wealth meant little indeed.  Undoubtedly Zacchaeus would still have had some problems with his neighbors, those who condemned him as a sinner, but perhaps his change of life might eventually change their minds as well.  No matter:  ultimately it was what Jesus saw when he looked at Zacchaeus that mattered.

Zacchaeus’ offer of paying more than he defrauded wasn’t just something off the top of his head – it comes from Scripture.  The books of Leviticus and Numbers have provisions stating that if someone steals something, he has to pay it back plus an extra 1/5 of the value.  In Exodus, there are regulations specific to oxen and sheep, that one who steals an ox is to give back 5 oxen, and one who steals a sheep to give back 4 sheep.   So there are a number of standards by which Zacchaeus could have made restitution, but he chose one of the most costly.

It’s striking to compare Zacchaeus’s response to the response of the rich  young ruler who asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus told that man that he should sell what he had and give to the poor – and the man walked away.  Following Jesus was too costly a commitment for him.  But while Zacchaeus did not promise to give away everything he had, he certainly would have been reduced to a much lower standard of living than that to which he’d been accustomed.  The rich young ruler responded with sadness, while Zacchaeus responded with extravagant joy.  Of course, today being Reformation Sunday, it’s important to stipulate that Zacchaeus’ generosity came as a result of his change of heart, not because he was trying to buy his way into heaven.  For Protestants, good works are a result of salvation, a result of having already been saved, not a way to buy salvation for ourselves.

Now, there’s nothing to make us think that Zacchaeus stopped being a tax collector.  We know that Peter and Andrew and James and John left behind their fishing business, and another tax collector, Matthew, left his tax collection booth behind to follow Jesus.   But Zacchaeus may well have continued as a tax collector – but as a very different kind of tax collector, one who wanted to ease the burdens of the people by collecting only what was necessary rather than grabbing what he could for himself.

Following Jesus meant that Zacchaeus couldn’t keep on doing business in the same way.  And I’d like us to think of our own jobs, and ask ourselves, “Does following Jesus make any difference in the way I do my job?”  Of course, there are some jobs and activities that are off limits to Christians – we likely wouldn’t take seriously the profession of faith of a drug kingpin who called himself a Christian.  We may chuckle at the mafiosos in the Godfather movies who would put out orders for hits on their rivals, and then go to Mass.  In the years leading up to the Civil War, many came to feel that being a slaveholder was in conflict with being a Christian, that one or the other had to go – and they chose to be Christians and not slaveholders.  In the early days of the church, a soldier couldn’t be a Christian; if he wanted to follow Jesus, he had to put away the sword, forever…..and while this changed when Constantine converted, I think it’s important to remember, that Christians once refused to kill under any circumstances – they’d rather die than kill – and perhaps we Christians have become altogether too comfortable with killing.  Amish and Mennonite and Quaker Christians still hold to the ban on killing.  Much more recently, Pope Francis has said that weapons manufacturers cannot call themselves Christian.   From the Pope’s standpoint, we can’t serve the Lord of Life a couple hours on Sunday morning and serve the forces of death and destruction the rest of the week.  For Pope Francis, the contradiction is just too great.

So there are some jobs that Christians can’t or shouldn’t do, because they are just too corrupting, too damaging, to one’s faith.  But if we have a job that’s perfectly permissible for a Christian, there are ways to work that glorify God, and ways to work that don’t.  In Colossians 3:23, Paul says, “Whatever you do, do it wholeheartedly, as to the Lord, and not just unto people.”  I would also say that if we have a position of authority, we can use it to help people rather than burden them.  I’m reminded of Cheri Honkala, an activist friend who visited here once a year or so ago, who ran for Philadelphia sheriff precisely so that she could stop foreclosures on homes.  Of course, she lost, but still…a different way of being a sheriff.   A banker or a landlord can work with struggling homeowners or renters to work out alternate payment schedules and keep people in their homes or apartments rather than taking the first opportunity to foreclose or evict.  An employer can be understanding of employees’ personal circumstances rather than firing them for being 5 minutes late, and pay them a living wage, and not just the least they can get away with.  An attorney can work for mediation and reconciliation, and not just the biggest possible settlement. Of course, some renters or borrowers or employees have bad motives and have no intention to hold up their end of the bargain – they’re just trying to get over on others - and there are times even the most merciful landlord or loan officer or the most benevolent, patient employer has to tell somebody, reluctantly, it’s time to leave – but that’s after many attempts at working with the person – a last resort, not a first option.   Jesus wants our whole lives, not just our Sunday mornings, and so even at work, we can ask, “What would Jesus do?”  

“The Son of Man came to see out and save the lost.”  May we proclaim what Jesus has done for us, not only in our words but in our actions on and off the job.   And may we never stop seeking out and welcoming the lost in Jesus’ name. Amen.