I bet you can guess what gospel lesson I am about to read- the familiar story of Jesus finding Zacchaeus in a tree. I ask you to listen to this story with new ears. This time around as I look at this text, I do not believe this encounter is about his lack of height, his being a sinner, or climbing a tree. If all of those distractions are taken away, try to figure out what this gospel is teaching us. Listen now to Luke 19:1-10
Zacchaeus was lost. He had all the money he could ever want or need, he was at the top of his career as a tax collector, in an area the early writer Josephus called “a divine region,” “the fattest in Palestine” (Barclay, Luke, 234). He was making money hand over fist. But as a tax collector he was a traitor of the community, a Jew working for Rome, believed to be a sinner for taking money that did not belong to him. Zacchaeus was lost.
Yet Zacchaeus went searching for Jesus. He wanted to see with his own eyes who Jesus was. He does not try to get close to him, or touch him. Rather he climbs up a tree to see him, maybe because he did not feel worthy to get close.
James Moore remembers the time when he got lost at the Ringling Brothers Circus. It was a frightening experience for a seven-year-old boy in a crowd of over twenty thousand. Jim and his older brother, Bob, went to the concession stand to buy some cotton candy. People were pushing and pressing toward the counter. Since Bob was taller he was waited on first. After Bob got his cotton candy he stepped aside for his brother. Just then loud laughter came from the arena. Bob wanted to see what was going on. Certainly he didn’t mean to leave his small brother alone. He simply got caught up in the excitement listening to the crowd laugh at the clowns.
Little Jim also got his cotton candy and then he looked around for his big brother. His brother was gone. In that moment of panic nothing looked familiar to this little fellow. He was lost. At that point he wondered if he would ever see his family again. “I started to run,” he recalls, “trying to fight back the tears. Everyone was laughing loudly at the antics of the clowns, but they weren’t funny to me at that moment.” In this young boy’s moment of panic and confusion he thought, “How can they laugh at a time like this? How can they laugh when I feel so lost?”
Just then Jim felt a touch on his shoulder. He turned around and saw his father. “My father had come after me and had found me. He held me, reassured me, then bought me a Coke, a hot dog, a Yo-Yo, a lizard, a little stuffed bear, and a candy apple. I learned a valuable lesson that day: Being lost is terrible…being found is wonderful!” (sermons.com Arthur G. Ferry).
Being found is wonderful. I remember finding Parker at Disney world when he was three years old and I would have given him anything that day. I was so happy, so thankful to have found my son, to hold him in my arms. Do you recall a time you were found? I time when you were brought back to the place you belong, reunited with the people who love you. Being found truly is wonderful.
Jesus found Zacchaeus in a tree and invites him home. The same house Zacchaeus had gone home to every night, but this time when Jesus is with him, when he is in the presence of God’s Son, he has the joy of being found. Zacchaeus welcomes Jesus joyfully and this joy is expressed in two ways: being restored to community and extravagant giving.
Zacchaeus is brought back into the fold of the Jewish community, he is welcomed home. We see this in Jesus’ words, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.” The son of Abraham only makes sense when we know that 6 chapters before Jesus heals a crippled woman on the Sabbath. When she is healed, made whole, she is called a “daughter of Abraham” by Jesus (Luke 13:16) who thereby removes her from her marginalized position due to her infirmity and places her within the community of the saved. Zacchaeus is welcomed into the same saved community as the son of Abraham. His place is restored, he has a sense of belonging, he has been found.
You have been found, you have a place of belonging at St. Andrew. As part of the stewardship team Dorothy Glaum expressed her sense of belonging as she writes about giving to our church, “I pledge because I want St. Andrew to exist and given your generosity, to thrive. Because if I didn’t, there would be so many things about it I would miss terribly. I would miss that hour of time on a Sunday that I can spend thinking about God in a place where I feel accepted and loved. I would miss my community of friends and neighbors that I have developed through this church that I call my church family; a family who cares deeply about each other…I would miss the music. St. Andrew is where I receive my spiritual nourishment and have a chance to be a part of a strong community of faith. Pledges make these things happen.” Dorothy expressed how lost she would feel without St. Andrew, because this is where she belongs, where she has been found by Jesus. Even if this is your first time here, you belong. Maybe for only an hour, but we would love for this to be your spiritual home, the place you feel welcomed and found all the time.
Dorothy also invited us to be generous in our giving. I invite you to consider your giving from that place in your heart where you feel found, loved and accepted by Christ. Being found is wonderful!!! Belonging is sweet. Knowing God’s grace is priceless. When Jesus found Zacchaeus, he became extravagantly generous! That is what knowing Jesus does, it opens our hearts, and our hands. Much like the father who found his son bought him so many things, the joy of being found makes us generous; extravagantly generous. Zacchaeus showed his generosity in two ways. First he gave half of what he had to the poor. The other half he did not intend to keep for himself but to make restitution to those he cheated. Even there he was extravagant. The law only required that you repay two fold when you steal from someone (Exodus 22:1). Zacchaeus decides to give them four times- that is double what the law requires. That is how much being found by Jesus means to him. When he was lost, money and power mattered. Once he is found community and belonging, being loved and accepted by Jesus matter most.
I ask you to be extravagantly generous with your financial commitment to this church, your spiritual home. If you have already turned in your pledge card thank you for your generosity. If you have not turned it in, you can find one in the pew, and help to keep the ball rolling as together we unite in prayer and commitment to Jesus Christ. Please complete it and place it in the offering plate, concluding our pledge drive. With each one of you we can move us along as together we express our grateful hearts for being found by Jesus and living within this wonderful spiritual home, we call St. Andrew. AMEN.
