This week, we hear the story of Zacchaeus, a vertically-challenged tax collector whose life was changed by an encounter with Jesus, as well as the testimony of the apostle Paul’s encounter with Jesus. These examples of Jesus seeing and changing the most unlikely of people invite us to consider, how has encountering Jesus changed your life?
The Scripture readings for this service are 1 Timothy 1:12-17 and Luke 19:1-10. The quote from Jeff Chu comes from the devotional included in A Sanctified Art’s Everything [in] Between Lenten theme.
Here’s the livestream from Living Hope and the sermon audio from Christ the King.
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Grace to you and peace from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
Every so often, usually around the time I’m working on invitations and publicity for something like Christmas or Easter, I start wondering, “What motivates people to come to church?”
Why do we many of us show up week after week? What are we looking for? And for people who are newcomers, who might come for the first time on Easter (or today), what is it that gets them in the door?
I think you all know I’m paid to be here, so I might not have the best perspective. I did spend a lot of time and money going to seminary before I started getting paid, and I do sometimes find a church to go to on my weeks off, so I think I still get to have some opinion. But I’m still probably not the best person to ask.
I know you might be here out of habit, or because your spouse or parents said we’re going to church, but at some point, you made a decision to come to church, to make being here a priority. Even if you’ve been here for a few decades now, you decided to show up again today.
So what are you looking for? What brings you here today? I think it’s worth reflecting on. You can’t invite someone else to come with you to church if you can’t answer why you’re going yourself!
I want to ask Zacchaeus the same question, because all Luke tells us in this story is that Zacchaeus “was trying to see who Jesus was.”
I hope that’s our goal as well. We’re here to see Jesus. Zacchaeus had heard something about this Jesus person, or maybe he just saw a crowd gathering, and he wanted to see for himself.
Before he can see Jesus, there’s an obstacle to overcome: He’s not very tall, and there’s a big crowd, so he can’t see. His solution is to run ahead and climb a tree. And then he encounters Jesus. Or rather, Jesus encounters him. Jesus notices him. Jesus looks up and sees him. And the result of his encounter with Jesus changes his life.
Last Sunday, I talked about the worst professions I could imagine, highlighting John Newton’s history as a slavetrader. Well, most people in Jesus’ day would have considered Zacchaeus to be in one of those deplorable professions. Part of it is simple: He collected more from people than they owed.
Christin discussed this story with the first communion students, and the kids were all in agreement; it was unfair for him to take other people’s money for himself. There’s no ambiguity here. Stealing is bad.
But Zacchaeus’ situation was even more complex. Israel was under the control of the Roman empire, and Zacchaeus—who was a Jew himself—was collecting taxes on their behalf. Not only do people generally dislike paying taxes anyway, they were being forced to pay taxes to their enemies, funding an oppressive empire who’d taken over their land.
So Zacchaeus is a collaborator, he’s representing the oppressors. Perhaps he had to go ahead and climb a tree because the people in the crowd saw him coming and closed ranks to block him out.
But Jesus sees him. And forget the modern idea of inviting Jesus into your life, Jesus invites himself into Zacchaeus’ life. He invites himself over for dinner and for the night! I suspect that’s more than what Zacchaeus was looking for.
Encountering Jesus can be dangerous, because sometimes Jesus isn’t content to let you just watch from a distance. Sometimes, Jesus invites himself into your life. And perhaps that’s what we’re looking for when we come to worship.
We are here to encounter the living God revealed in Jesus Christ. And if that’s not what you’re here for this morning, Jesus doesn’t necessarily let you just watch for a distance.
Sometimes, encountering Jesus changes your life. Sinners repent. Priorities change. Sometimes people travel to the other side of the world because they’ve encountered Jesus.
I wish Luke gave us a bit more of the conversation between Jesus and Zacchaeus, because we don’t get very much detail here. Jesus goes into his house, Zacchaeus welcomes him, they eat (I assume) and next thing we know Zacchaeus is changing his life. No longer is he going to skim off the top of the taxes he collects, instead, he’s going to repay four times to anyone he’s defrauded. The rich man is giving away half his possessions to the poor. Something happened when he encountered Jesus. Salvation has come to his house.
In our other reading from 1st Timothy, we heard a similar testimony. You can read the whole story in Acts 9, but the short version is Paul was not curious about Jesus. He was not watching Jesus from a distance. Instead, he was actively persecuting the people who followed Jesus, arresting the early Christians. And then he too encountered Jesus. Or rather, Jesus encountered him. And his whole life changed.
Jesus made him righteous, no longer in the self-righteous way of getting stuck in following the right rules, but the righteousness that is a right relationship with Jesus, the kind of righteousness that leads to doing what Jesus says to do, that leads to caring for neighbors and giving away possessions.
Of course, not everyone’s happy about it. It takes a while for the Christians to figure out they can trust Paul—he’s the last one they would have expected God to redeem. When Jesus goes into Zacchaeus’ house, his good, righteous neighbors grumble. Jesus shouldn’t be associating with people like that.
But Jesus chooses mercy. Instead of sticking with the righteous people, he goes out looking for the sinners, offering mercy. And we don’t get to choose who’s included.
There’s nothing sadder than when the church stands guard between people and Jesus, when we get in the way of people encountering Jesus.
In the devotion for this week, Jeff Chu—paraphrasing Rachel Held Evans—says, “God has a really bad habit of loving people we don’t approve of. Or maybe this: God has a really bad habit of showing mercy to people we don’t approve of. Or maybe: God has a really bad habit of extending grace to people we don’t approve of.”
Listen to Paul’s testimony: “I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy…”
I think people come to church—on Easter, or Christmas Eve, or some random Sunday—people show up to encounter Jesus and receive mercy. We realize something is missing in our lives. We need Jesus to change our hearts and our lives.
Maybe that’s why people stay away sometimes too. Because being in the presence of God is dangerous. God loves the people we despise. God forgives the people we hate. God uses the people we write off. And God calls us to do the same.
Jesus changes Zacchaeus’ heart so he is moved to generosity. Not just reparations for what he’s done wrong, but full repentance, going a totally different direction and generously giving to the poor.
Paul moves from persecuting Jesus’ followers to planting churches, sharing the good news of the grace he’s received so that more and more people might know the love of Jesus.
I wonder this morning, how has encountering Jesus changed your life? I know some people here have particular moments to point to, clear, visible, tangible ways Jesus has saved your life, carried you through a hard time, changed who you are.
For others of us, it takes some imagination and reflection to see what would be different if we didn’t know Jesus. I grew up in the church; I don’t have a conversion moment other than baptism.
But I come to church, to the table, to the community that is the body of Christ again and again to encounter Jesus because I believe Jesus makes a difference in my life, I believe Jesus alone makes me righteous, and I pray God will continue changing me.
Are you here today to encounter Jesus? Will you let Jesus change you? Will you let Jesus shape your life?
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, come into our lives today. Help us to see the ways you are working among us. Make us more loving, more generous, more forgiving, more like you. By your Holy Spirit, fill each person in this room. Thank you for the mercy you give us, for all the ways you love us even when we turn away, even when we try to be righteous on our own. Help us to love you more and more. Amen