The God Possibility

 March 21 2021

Luke 19:1-10

         As I’ve said before, I love to read. The hard part, as any reader knows is picking out the right book. There is nothing worse than starting a book and getting half way through it only to find out that it is a story that you could care less about. Then you have to decide if you are going to forge ahead and attempt to finish it or just quit and have to live never knowing just how the story ends. So, choosing the right book is really an important decision if you don’t want to end up wasting your time. Reading the reviews can be helpful but you have to always keep in mind that opinions can be pretty subjective; what one person thinks is great material another might find that same material to be pretty awful. Perhaps it is better to do as I have heard one reader does and read the last chapter of the book that way if you know the book ends well you can be pretty sure the rest of the story is going to be alright.

         It might be hard for us to realize, but in our story about Zacchaeus what we are in fact doing is reading the last chapter of a story, seeing the final act of a play, you might say, that Luke crafted together. As we can tell, the story of Zacchaeus is a pretty great story, an ending that tells us that the rest of the story must also therefore be pretty good and so it is. Midway through this story what we also find is that Jesus once again tells his disciples that he must be delivered over to the Gentiles and that he was going to be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And, Jesus continues, he was also going to be flogged then they would kill him but on the third day he would rise. We don’t have to wonder just what his disciples thought of such depressing news because Luke tells us that none of them understood what Jesus was talking about; what Jesus had said was hidden from them and they just could not grasp what he was saying.Yet we still have to ask why would Jesus tell them of his coming demise here, in the middle of these events that Luke has formed into a cohesive story? The answer obviously is that there is something here that Jesus wants his disciples to remember when on that fateful day that these words of Jesus suddenly become clear. On that day they would almost assuredly remember also that Jesus had told him that they too had to be prepared to carry their own cross. So, on that day their thoughts would hopefully go back to this time when they were going through Jericho preparing themselves to walk the last leg of their journey to Jerusalem. This is why this story is important for us as well because during this season of Lent we too are journeying with Jesus and the disciples toward Jerusalem. We too once again hear the words of Jesus that we like him must be prepared to carry our cross day by day if we are to be his followers. Once again we are called to remember how Jesus taught that for us to not be tripped up by the possibility of persecution and suffering on account of the word which Jesus has planted in our hearts then we must have a deep rooted faith in the God we profess to believe in. It is not for us to merely be joyous in our new found relationship with Jesus; no, we must also be ready in the heat of the moment if we are to endure to the end. This is why Lent is so important for us as those who call ourselves Christian. Now is the time to examine our hearts and to ask the tough question are we really ready to follow Jesus all the way to Calvary, to pay the price of the loyalty we confess to give to Jesus, to suffer at the hands of our enemies because love will not let us do anything more than that? 

         We remember how our journey began on the mountainside where Jesus shone with his eternal glory and the Father spoke telling the disciples to listen to Jesus for he was the very beloved Son of God. This meant that in order to love God we must also love others which is the command of Jesus. Then as we went along we learned that God has set us free through his grace in order that we might be responsible to love all that we meet. This teaching begged the question just why would we love with such an extravagant love and the answer that we discovered in the parable of the prodigal son was that what motivates us is that we treasure our relationship with our Heavenly Father more than anything also in the world. Finally, we learned of how our actions of today affect our future destiny. God compels us to use what he has given us to act righteously so that we are united together in a peace that lasts for all eternity. It is because we treasure God that we take the treasures he gives and use them to treasure others by caring for them. And with all of that we come to the story of Zacchaeus which as we said earlier is really just the last part of an intricate story that Luke has put together.

         The place where this story begins is at the beginning of the eighteenth chapter where Luke records of how Jesus once again tells his disciple a parable, a story that helps explain real life events. What we have to keep in mind is that Luke often uses opposites to develop contrasting ideas. Luke as we recall, had the parable of the prodigal son which was the parable of two sons, one who treasured his relationship with his Father and one who did not. Then Luke told the story of the rich man and Lazarus, a poor man who ended up with two very opposite destinies. Today again, Luke is using the same technique and it begins with this parable of Jesus about a Pharisee and a tax-collector. Both of these men went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed like this, “O dear God I am so thankful that I am not like all these other scumbags in the world. I am so thankful that I don’t cheat on my taxes, I don’t cheat on my wife, and I don’t cheat the people I deal with like so many others do. I’m a great guy. I fast twice a week, I give my tithe of all I get” With that we come to the tax-collector who stood apart from everybody else, not even lifting his eyes to heaven but instead he beat his hands upon his chest crying out, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” Jesus concluded that it was the tax-collector not the Pharisee who went home accepted and approved by God. Jesus ends the parable by saying for the one who lifts himself up will be humbled but the humble one will be lifted up. Now we have to hang on to what we have heard here because it sets the stage for what happens in the rest of the story.

         The next thing Luke records is that people were bringing infants to Jesus and the disciples were a little weirded out by this and that began to tell people to go home and take your babies with you because of course what they were doing was big boy stuff. But Jesus told them to stop that, let the children come he said because the kingdom of God belongs to children because this is how the kingdom is entered, just like a child. Once again, hold on to this because it is important to what occurs later in the story. What we must also do is to think just what does it mean for us to enter the kingdom like a child?

         So, without much ado, Luke tells us that a ruler came to Jesus to ask him just what is it that he needed to do in order to inherit eternal life. Now in order to understand the contrasting opposites that Luke is setting up here we must know that the Greek word for “ruler”, arch, found here is almost the exact same word used to describe Zacchaeus who was the chief or in the Greek, “arch” tax-collector. So, Luke is contrasting two people of authority, people who might be thought of as being some of the most difficult people for God to save because it is hard to bring one who has authority to sit under the authority of God. One more thing we can observe as Jesus begins to talk to this ruler is what Luke wants us to not forget, that those who are lifted up will be humbled and those who are humbled will be lifted up. Now to be lifted up is the same as being prideful and this pride comes from being impressed by the things that we do. And what do we hear the young ruler ask Jesus? Jesus, what is it that I must do? This, at its core is a prideful question. Jesus recognizes this and Jesus also knows that when this ruler calls Jesus good he is hoping that Jesus will extend to him the same favor and declare him good as well which Jesus, of course does not do instead pointing out the fact that God alone is good. Jesus is telling this man the good you think you are is nothing in comparison to the good that God is and always has been. In other words, let the humbling begin. Jesus goes on to ask if he knows the commandments which of course he does, come on Jesus what kind of question is that. All these commandments the ruler tells Jesus he has faithfully kept since he was just a pup. So, once again,  the pride in his accomplishments becomes oh so evident. Jesus replies to this man’s pride filled statement of himself that if he wanted to inherit eternal life all he had to do is to sell all that he had and to come and follow Jesus.Now, we have to pause our story here to ask just what is Jesus up to? I don’t think he is stating a blanket statement that in order to be a disciple of Jesus that one has to sell all that they have. I believe that he is instead telling this man to do so in order to bring him at last to the place where he is able to enter the kingdom as a child. Now, there are many things this statement could possibly mean but I believe the most important fact about being a child is that they depend entirely upon a parent to take care of them. What a humble existence to be unable to do anything for yourself and to have to rely upon someone else to do everything for you. This is where Jesus knew that he had to bring the ruler, to a place where once again he remembered that he, like a child, needed to rely upon God for everything. This ruler had to learn that life was not about what he could do but rather what God could do for him.This is why Jesus told his disciples that it was so difficult for rich people to enter the kingdom of God because they most of all have a tough time not making life all about what they have done. This is why when people heard Jesus say how difficult it was for people to enter the kingdom of God they wondered just who can be saved. Jesus answered them saying, “That what is impossible for men is possible for God. In other words, people can no more save themselves than a child can go to town buy some groceries and take them home and make themselves a meal. Now, it is right here that Luke is setting the stage for what is coming next. Luke is getting ready to present what seems like an impossible person to save and how God made it possible for this man to be saved.

         So, in the first act we had a story of a Pharisee who took great pride in just how great and wonderful he was and if you had any doubts just ask him. That was the jist of his prayer to God. Then we had the tax-collector who simply prayed for God to be merciful to him because he knew there was nothing he could to set himself right with God.It was this tax collector who we are told went home alright in the eyes of God. Then the second act was the encounter with the ruler who was pretty impressed with what he could do, he was good and he wouldn’t mind if you told him that he was good. He had done everything right since he could not remember.He was so good he even thought he could save himself all he needed was to know what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus burst his bubble by telling him he had to get back to a child’s state of mind. To do so meant he would have to take all he owned and give it away and follow Jesus.The rich man found that to do as Jesus had told him to do was for him the real impossibility. 

So, with all this we at last come to the third act the story of Zacchaeus. The story begins as Jesus and his followers are entering Jericho. There they encounter a blind man who cried out for mercy much like the tax collector we heard of earlier. Jesus heard this man’s plea for mercy and he stopped and commanded that this man be brought to him. Jesus very politely asked the blind man just what he wanted Jesus to do. The blind man replied that he wanted to recover his sight. Jesus told him to recover his sight because his faith had made him well. This theme of sight and seeing is important because as Jesus and his troupe continued on their way they encountered a man named Zacchaeus who also wanted to see, but what he wanted to see was this man called Jesus. The only problem was that Zacchaeus was a little short. And as we know all so well, what Zacchaeus does next is that he runs on ahead and he climbs a sycamore tree. Now, I believe that Luke in giving us the details that he does is making it clear just what the status of Zacchaeus is, I mean think about it, he is short, he runs and he climbs trees, it sounds rather obviously like a description of a kid. The other thing about Zacchaeus climbing a tree is that it would be very humbling for a grown man wearing a robe to start shimmying up the nearest tree.But Zacchaeus does so because there was something about Jesus he just had to see. Just what was it about this man that so many were clamoring on about? Why did this very ordinary guy seem to draw crowds where ever he went?Whatever the reason as to why Zacchaeus climbed the tree what was evident was the fact that he had a deep unanswered longing, a longing that his riches and his title of being the chief of the tax collectors simply did not satisfy.This is perhaps what Jesus sensed when he looked over and saw a man dangling from a tree limb. Jesus pleaded with Zacchaeus to come down because he had to stay at his house that very day.We have to wonder just why Jesus told Zacchaeus that it was absolutely necessary for him to stay at his house? What was the urgency, the necessity of it all? The answer is that as we are told in the end of Luke’s story, that this is what Jesus came to do, to seek and to save the lost. Unlike the eldest brother in the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus was an older brother who knew the heart of his Heavenly Father. Jesus knew how his Father’s heart ached and yearned for the children that he loved to come home. Jesus knew that his Heavenly Father had cared for each person whether they acknowledged him or not and he waited patiently for the day when at last they would at last come home to him.All this must have been what Jesus talked to Zacchaeus over dinner. We know this to be true because we learn that Zacchaeus declared to Jesus that he was going to give one half of all he owned to the poor and to those he may have defrauded he would give them back four times the amount that he took from them. Just why would Zacchaeus do such a crazy act of charity? Zacchaeus gave away the treasures that he had because he at last understood that he had a Heavenly Father who treasured him. Now, instead of needing wealth to prove how great a little man could be he understood that he had always been great in the eyes of God.

You see, what is impossible for us to do as people is to change our hearts, the place where true change begins. The original sin of pride this desire to lift ourselves up has its roots in our original anxiety, the worry of sustaining life in the face of death. The only cure is that we know that we have a Heavenly Father who values us above everything else in this world, a Father who understands our needs before we even utter them, more willing to forgive than we dare imagine. This is a Heavenly Father who prepares a place for us to draw close to him, this is what is meant when the scriptures speak of mercy. There in that place where we can draw close to our Father, hearing that his heart beats for us is where at last our hearts are healed. This is why Jesus came from the very heart of our Heavenly Father to seek us out and to take us there, to live where in that place we can hear the heart of God which beats for us. This is where we know we can enter God’s kingdom like a child, crying Abba, Father.

So, in this story of the story of Zacchaeus we see that he is contrasted with the ruler who was seeking to appease his anxiety through what he could do which as Jesus told is an impossibility. No matter what you do on the outside the heart is left unchanged. Jesus who came from the heart of God came with the story on his lips of a Heavenly Father who treasures us, who seeks us and who saves us. Jesus went to the cross to prove just how much we can trust our Heavenly Father, that he can be trusted even unto death. There on the cross Jesus condemned the prideful efforts we try to save ourselves in order that we might see three days later that only by trusting the Father are we forever secure and safe. Life out of death is impossible for us but what is impossible for us is always possible for God. Amen!