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<\/a>\u201cDominoes, Anyone?\u201d<\/h3>\nLectionary Reflection for October 31, 2010<\/h3>\nJesus and Zacchaeus<\/h3>\nLuke 19:1-10<\/h3>\n
This encounter between a popular healer and the least popular member of the Jericho Rotary Club seems coincidental, almost casual on first reading. But there are a couple of not- so- casual details. Jesus seems to know just the right spot under just the right tree. Standing here, he can look up and see somebody not tall enough to see him through the crowd on the ground.\u00a0 Add to that the odd words of Jesus \u201cI must<\/span> stay at your house today\u201d in verse 5. We sense an air of urgency to this seemingly coincidental encounter. Luke believes that Jesus saw this encounter as a reproduction in miniature of his whole mission. Jesus is obeying the command of God in the Hebrew Scriptures that the nation reach out to the poor, the isolated, and the outcast. Zacchaeus is two out of three of those categories. This incident foreshadows the coming of salvation to the House of Israel.\u00a0 (171-172, The Gospel According to Luke<\/em>, E.J. Tinsley) The sense of urgency comes from Jesus\u2019 mission which is to seek out and to save the lost, an echo of the \u201cLost and Found\u201d parables of the sheep, the coin and the two sons of Chapter 15.\u00a0 Jesus is always on his way somewhere; that\u2019s what itinerant preachers, teachers and healers do. But the action of stopping and noticing someone who, the world\u2019s eyes, is an obscure nuisance, epitomizes Jesus\u2019 ministry.<\/p>\nWhen Jesus notices Zacchaeus he announces salvation. It\u2019s an offer to which Zacchaeus needs to make a speedy response. \u201cZacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.\u201d After Zacchaeus, out of gratitude for Jesus\u2019 regard, makes his dramatic pledge of money to the poor, Jesus says, \u201cToday salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.\u201d (verse 9) What is this salvation that has come to Zacchaeus\u2019 house today? Salvation is a reality that is front and center in Luke. Luke expresses the theme of salvation by using four Greek words: soter<\/em>(savior), sozein<\/em> (to save), soterion<\/em> and soteria<\/em> (salvation).\u00a0 The infancy narratives announce God as Savior (1:47; 1:69, 71, 77), and the birth of a savior to the world (2:11). Salvation is the message of Peter\u2019s and the apostles\u2019 preaching (Acts 5:31) as well as Paul\u2019s (Acts 13:23). The very name Jesus means Yeshua<\/em>, savior. (John Navone SJ, Themes of St Luke<\/em>, 144)<\/p>\nHere are some characteristics of salvation I find helpful to keep in mind while reading the story of Zacchaeus. They help specify and personalize the good news, and that is always a good thing to do in preaching!<\/p>\n
For Luke, salvation is initiated by God and will be accomplished according to God\u2019s plan which encompasses the passion and the crucifixion, the resurrection, the Ascension and the proclamation of the Church.\u00a0 (See Acts 2:23; 4:28; 20: 27).<\/p>\n
Salvation is associated with deliverance from death [Jairus\u2019 daughter (8:50) and the man with the withered hand (6:9)]<\/p>\n
Salvation is associated with healing [Luke\u2019s account of Peter and the lame man (Acts 4:9-12)]<\/p>\n
Salvation is associated with freedom from diabolical possession (Luke 8:36)<\/p>\n
Salvation confers the remission of sins [the woman who anointed Jesus (7:50) and Zacchaeus (19:10)].<\/p>\n
Salvation has to do with a way of life that involves losing one\u2019s life in order to find it both now and in the life to come (9:23-27). It points toward eternal life with Christ in the life to come (thief on the cross Luke (Luke 23:43).<\/p>\n
Salvation is connected with faith in four instances in Luke<\/p>\n
\n- Woman with flow of blood (8:48)<\/li>\n
- Woman who anoints Jesus (7:50)<\/li>\n
- Leper (17:19)<\/li>\n
- Blind man (18:42)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Says biblical scholar John Navone, SJ, \u201cLuke clearly shows that the \u201cfaith\u201d which has saved is not restricted to a purely internal conviction\u2026genuine \u201cfaith\u201d is manifested in the public expression of gratitude evoked by the saving words and acts of Jesus which have changed the human heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
So as Zacchaeus sits at his empty table after Jesus has gone on to Jerusalem, he experiences a salvation that God has initiated, that will deliver him from death, that will heal him of his spiritual maladies, that will free him from his demons of greed and remorse, that forgives his sins, that calls on him to give up that which has kept him from following Jesus and to express his gratitude to Jesus for his mercy, not by lip service but by life service<\/p>\n
I wonder if he ever had second thoughts about what he promised Jesus as his feet first met the ground and his eyes first met Jesus\u2019 eyes.
\n
\n******************************************************<\/p>\n
The afternoon sun dappled through the palladium windows in Kirby Parlor at Perkins School of Theology one autumn afternoon a couple years ago. It lit up the rugged, handsome features of an athletic 60 year old man seated in a circle of about 30 young preaching students. He was John Irving, the novelist, author of The World according to Gap<\/em>, Cider House Rules<\/em>, and A Prayer for Owen Meany<\/em> among other novels. He was on campus to do the Tate lectures at SMU and graciously agreed to spend an hour with my preaching students. They provided the topic: What do sermon writing and novel writing have in common?<\/p>\n\u201cWhere do you start when you write a novel?\u201d asked one young student.<\/p>\n
Leaning forward, he said, \u201cI always begin at the end, with the last scene. I put in it, in excruciating detail, what I want the reader to see, smell, taste, feel, hear \u2026Then I flashback to the very beginning,\u00a0 to what I call the inciting incident that jumpstarts the whole plot. Then I flash forward, scene by scene, each scene a domino that hits the next, that hits the next, that hits the next, each domino absolutely necessary to the next one, all crucial to the final one, until I arrive once again where I began, at the end.<\/p>\n
Leaning forward even further, with an almost religious zeal in his fine brown eyes, he said: \u00a0\u201cThe trick is, friends, to make people realize there is so much at stake that they must keep reading, from one scene, one domino to the next, with each one asking \u201cWhy?\u201d and \u201cWhat is next?\u201d, feeling that life as they know it can\u2019t go on until they reach that final scene that they<\/span> read last but that I wrote first<\/span>.\u00a0 That\u2019s how I write a novel. You preachers should try it sometime.<\/p>\nWho am I am to ignore John Irving\u2019s advice? Think about preaching a \u201cJohn Irving\u201d sermon on Zacchaeus. You could use this form on lots of different texts- probably narrative texts would work best.<\/p>\n
Start at the end and flash back to the beginning and show how the ending depends on every scene that precedes it.<\/p>\n
**********************************************<\/p>\n
The things we say in a moment of gratitude. I sit at my table, alone now, shaking my head in disbelief, but with a sort of smile on my face. The voice of Jesus had faded and his footsteps receded as he went on his way to Jerusalem.\u00a0 Jericho will seem forlorn without his voice and tread.\u00a0 Servants quietly move around the room, clearing scraps of bread and half filled glasses. Still I sit, shaking my head. What was I thinking? What did I promise? How will I ever give away half my possessions to the poor and repay those I have defrauded four times over? The things we say in a moment of gratitude!<\/p>\n
I wouldn\u2019t be sitting here stunned and yet smiling if Jesus had not entered Jericho and passed through it on his way to Jerusalem. That\u2019s how all this came about. But Jesus is always on his way to Jerusalem, always on the way to his death, but also to his life. His path to his crucifixion and resurrection always passes through my town.<\/p>\n
I had heard about this healer and teacher, this one who ate with sinners and who touched the unclean.\u00a0 But if he had not entered Jericho and been passing through it, he would have been only a distant rumor. I would never have been able to see who he was. I would have heard his stories about a shepherd leaving 99 sheep behind and seeking the one, a woman sweeping the house for a lost coin, and a father seeking to save two lost sons. But if he hadn\u2019t bothered to come through my town, I would never have met my Shepherd, my Homemaker, and my Father.<\/p>\n
It was as if he came looking for me. Oh, I guess I did my prior part as well. I was looking for him. If I had not had such a yearning to see who Jesus was, I would not have climbed a sycamore tree to see him. And, if there had not been a sycamore tree handy, I would not have been able to see him. None of the taller townspeople was likely to put me on their shoulders! I ran and I climbed, undignified behavior for one already disdained in the town. I ran and I climbed- why? Because Jesus was going to pass that way. That\u2019s the \u201cwhisper down the lane\u201d news I had heard. \u201cHe\u2019s coming this way. Line up along the parade path. He\u2019s coming this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
If I had not been high in my perch I would not have been able to see the top of his head and the sweep of his robe as he went by. That would have been enough for me. Just to see him from a distance. If he had not stopped right under my tree and looked up at me, I would never have seen his face. I would never have met those searching eyes.<\/p>\n
If he had not stopped under the place where I was perched, he would not have seen me, would not have been able to direct his invitation to me. Never been able to instruct me to hurry. I did my part. I hurried. There is an air of urgency about an unexpected invitation, an unannounced guest.\u00a0 If he had not stopped under my tree I would not have felt that stomach lurching sense of dismay, followed by elation. \u201cHe not only notices me, he forgives me. He sees me as worthy to host him in my home!\u201d As I clambered down, I remembered the story Jesus once told about an unforgiving servant whom a king forgave of a great debt, who then turned around and would not forgive another. I would be the forgiving servant. His invitation said so much about his respect for me despite all I have done, all that still needs to be forgiven.<\/p>\n
As soon as my feet hit the ground, I heard the grumbling of my neighbors. They hate me. They resent me. They call me a sinner. Sinners are those who are ill or disabled or poor, or, who, like me, though rich, are ritually unclean because of what we do for a living. I take their money for the Romans. Others are unclean because they dye cloth or tend sheep or have to sell their bodies for their daily bread. \u201cYou\u2019re right,\u201d I feel like saying. \u201cHe is going to be the guest of one who is a sinner\u2026 But a grateful one, a repentant one.\u201d<\/p>\n
What if Jesus had listened to their grumbling and said, \u201cOh, my bad. He is a sinner, isn\u2019t he? Bad choice for the first stop on my progressive dinner. I\u2019ll move on to someone else.\u201d He would have rescinded the invitation and gone on to Jerusalem, gone on to dine in someone else\u2019s home.\u00a0 But he didn\u2019t listen to them.\u00a0 Instead, he listened to me and to what I said next.<\/p>\n
If I hadn\u2019t said \u201cLook, half my possessions I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much,\u201d my life wouldn\u2019t now have to change.<\/p>\n
The things we say in a moment of gratitude. I sit at my table, alone now, shaking my head in disbelief, but with a sort of smile on my face. The voice of Jesus has faded. His footsteps have receded as he went on his way to Jerusalem.\u00a0 Jericho will seem forlorn without his voice and tread.\u00a0 Servants quietly move around the room, clearing scraps of bread and half filled glasses from the table. He is gone, and yet, he is somehow still present, still here to guide and energize me. Still I sit, shaking my head. What was I thinking? What did I promise? How will I ever be able to give away half my possessions to the poor and repay those I have defrauded four times over? The things we say in a moment of gratitude!<\/p>\n
Sources cited:<\/p>\n
E.J. Tinsley, The Cambridge Bible Commentary on Luke<\/em><\/p>\nJohn Navone S.J., Themes of Luke<\/em><\/p>\n Alyce M. McKenzie <\/a><\/em>is Professor of Homiletics, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The afternoon sun dappled through the palladium windows in Kirby Parlor at Perkins School of Theology one autumn afternoon a couple years ago. It lit up the rugged, handsome features of an athletic 60 year old man seated in a circle of about 30 young preaching students. He was John Irving, the novelist, author of The World according to Gap, Cider House Rules, and A Prayer for Owen Meany among other novels. He was on campus to do the Tate lectures at SMU and graciously agreed to spend an hour with my preaching students. They provided the topic: What do sermon writing and novel writing have in common?<\/p>\n
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Dominoes, Anyone? Lectionary Reflection on Zacchaeus, Luke 19:1-10<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The afternoon sun dappled through the palladium windows in Kirby Parlor at Perkins School of Theology one autumn afternoon a couple years ago. It lit up the rugged, handsome features of an athletic 60 year old man seated in a circle of about 30 young preaching students. He was John Irving, the novelist, author of The World according to Gap, Cider House Rules, and A Prayer for Owen Meany among other novels. He was on campus to do the Tate lectures at SMU and graciously agreed to spend an hour with my preaching students. 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<\/a>\u201cDominoes, Anyone?\u201d<\/h3>\n