Rev. Peter M Preble – Page 56 – Open-Minded, Open-Hearted Minister & Soul Friend

Discernment

Posted on November 14, 2016 by Fr. Peter

discernment

He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. Luke 21:8

It has been my experience that when a discussion reaches a point where one said has nothing left the judgment accusation gets thrown around. I cannot begin to count the number of times I have been accused of judging someone or something they said or some action they took or did not take. Well, there is a difference between judgment and discernment, and discernment is a task that we are all called to perform.

When Paul wrote to the members of the church in Thessalonica, he told them to test everything so they would know what was right and what was wrong. Failure to verify the spirit so to speak leaves us open to false teaching, and false teaching leads us to an unbiblical mindset, and this is what we have to avoid.

“But test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22

In the passage quoted above from the 21st chapter of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is warning is followers that there will be many that come after him claiming to come in his name, we call these false prophets. But how are we to know who is and is not a false prophet? It is not always easy to distinguish because they false prophet usually comes wrapped in the mantle of some church or para-church operation.

The first test I use comes from the 12th chapter of the Gospel of Mark starting with the 30th verse:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

If what is being professed does not show love for God or love for others than it is my discernment that what is being professed is not from God. Notice that there are no conditions associated with this command, and yes it is a command from the very lips of Jesus, love God, Love neighbor, or as I like to say love others.

This can be taken a step further by reading from the 6th chapter of the Gospel of Luke starting with the 32nd verse:

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

We are told that we even have to love those who do not love us back and that we are to show mercy. So if what is being professed as the word of God does not show mercy or is not in keeping with the loving those who do not love us back, it is false.

But what of our enemies, or those we perceive as our enemies? We are to love them as well. Turn to the 5th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew starting with the 43rd verse:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Calling for the destruction of those who oppose us is counter biblical. Now there is nothing that says we have to let our enemies roll over us, but we are people of peace first and foremost, and all attempts to resolve differences with love and understanding is what we are called to do.

The final, and perhaps the most important analysis for me comes in knowing politically what is a Christian position and what is not a Christian position. Does the candidate or the legislation help or harm;

The poor

The immigrant

The hungry

The thirsty

The homeless

The widow

The orphan

Those in prison

The 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew tells us that nations will be judged and the separation of the sheep and the goats will take place. This judgment will not be based on how full our churches are how many copies of the Ten Commandments we have carved in stone but by how we treat the least among us. Starting with the 34th verse we read:

“Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick, and you took care of me, I was in prison, and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave me no food, I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger, and you did not welcome me, naked, and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison, and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Candidates who call for cuts in programs that help the poor, refuse to fight for a living wage, disenfranchise voters, mostly the poor ones, do not welcome the stranger among us, will be judged for their actions and those who support such actions are following a false prophet.

Religion was used a lot in this last election cycle and most of it, not for good. Many religious leaders sold their souls for political gain and became Judas to those who look to them for comfort and guidance. The role and obligation of the church are to seek to bring peace not division. If the church brings division, it is not from God! When politics and religion are mixed all, we are left with is politics.

The role and responsibility of the church is to accept those the world does not accept. To love those the world does not love. And to speak for those the world wants to silence. Unconditionally. Why? Because this is what Jesus did.

Blog

The Fog is Lifting: Some Post-Election Thoughts

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Fr. Peter

Then Came the Morning.

I believe it was the Bill Gaither Trio that made the song that these words come from famous. It is a song about the despair that the Apostles and other followers of Jesus felt when they witnessed the crucifixion of their friend. They did not understand what had just happened and they had no idea what was going to come next, then came the morning, and the stone was rolled away, and death had been defeated. I know sappy words from a song is not what is needed right now, but it seems to fit.

I will admit that I am no supporter of Donald Trump and I will also admit that seeing him elected president of the country I love, and gave most of my adult life defending, affected me in a profound way. I was angry; I don’t think I had been that mad in a long time and that anger turned to depression and then to despair. I worry, I worry a lot about what is going to happen in the next few years. I worry for my Muslim friends who Trump has vowed to round up and deport. I worry for my LGBTQ friends who he has promised to have their marriages annulled and his Vice President who believes in shock and conversion therapy to “change them.”

I also worry about the damage this has done to the body of Christ. The white evangelical church got into bed with Trump a long time ago. I am not sure how they were able to reconcile his cheating, on two of his three wives, and all of the other comments he has made about women, immigrants, the disabled, and anyone who disagrees with him politically. I honestly believe they sold their soul, and the souls of their churches, on the promise that he will appoint judges to the Supreme Court that will roll back our country to the 1950’s when they were able to control people. But at what cost has this come?

I listened very intently to his speech on election night, and he said all of the right words and promised to unify the country, but I am not sure how he can this. During his speech, someone yelled out “Hang Obama” and all along the campaign trail there were shouts of “lock her up.” How does he walk that back? He made a promise that if he were elected, he would “lock her up.” How can unity be achieved with a man who called Senator John McCain a loser for getting captured, made fun of a disabled journalist and talks about women as if they are items that he can use and throw away?

I was in a very dark place the day after the election, and I was unable to form the words of prayer. I was genuinely surprised by my reaction, and as a community leader, I knew that people would be turning to me for answers and some signs of hope and I just did not have any, so I withdrew and I went to the woods. I took a long walk through the woods listening to music, and it helped to focus my attention on the task ahead of all of us.

When I emerged from the woods, I had a new sense of purpose. I was renewed in my spirit and ready to take on the task that is ahead of me as a Christian, as a Pastor, and as an American, and that is resistance. I accept that Donald Trump will be the President of the United States, but I do not have to like it. Is he the legitimate President, sure he won the election, will his presidency have legitimacy, I do not believe so for the reasons I stated above, and I will resist with all of my power any legislation that marginalizes people.

One of the first things I read after I emerged from the woods was a Facebook post by the Conference Minister of the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ Rev. Kent Siladi. He wrote about the promises we make when we are ordained into the ministry. Although I serve a church in the United Church of Christ, I was not ordained in the UCC, so I did not have the opportunity to make these promises. So I took out my service book and looked them up, and there are two that caught my eye.

“Will you be zealous in maintaining both the truth of the gospel and the peace of the church, speaking the truth in love?”

“Will you seek to regard all people with equal love and concern and undertake to minister impartially to the needs of all?”

I am a progressive Christian and theologian, and as such, I have a certain biblical and word view. I believe that God is still speaking and still revealing himself in ways that we have yet to comprehend. I believe that the best way is to show love for those that Jesus taught love for, the improvised and the marginalized. I believe that we have to be the voice of those without a voice, but that we also have to show love and respect for those who disagree with us and that will be the challenge for me but one that we have to embrace.

One part of the church, namely evangelicals, got into bed with Donald Trump as a candidate and it is my belief that in the final analysis, it will burn them. All through history when the church has combined itself with politics it has turned out bad. The church needs to be the voice of opposition, and that opposition is more important today than it has ever been. But being that voice is no good if we compromise on the message of the Gospel to make that change come about and this is what I think has happened.

So where do we go from here? We become the opposition; we become the resistance. We love more, and we show respect for those we disagree with, and we become the burr under the saddle. Yes, Donald Trump is the President of the United States, and yes that makes him my president. I will pray for him, and when he is right I will say so, but when he is wrong, I will be right there to speak for those who have no voice.

Blog

Some Words of Hope

Posted on November 9, 2016 by Fr. Peter

Love and Justice in an Age of Grief

This morning, our personal vocation and our collective calling to make God’s love and justice real is being tested like never before. All at once we find ourselves lost without a map or compass in unfamiliar and threatening territory… and we read the headlines and realize that our commission – our role – our calling – remains unchanged.

Our calling and challenge is to assure that love wins and to make real the assurance that the moral arc of the universe – while it may at this moment seem infinitely long – bends towards justice. Amidst division that has never been more plain – this is God’s calling for all of us.

Now is the time for spiritual preparation so that when opportunities for witness emerge, we will be ready to bring unfailing hearts of love along with untempered insistence on justice. Our preparation must include coming together to better understand our own white privilege, racism and classism. Our preparation must include waking up to and understanding what our country and culture are telling us. Our preparation must include a sober recognition that God’s creation – our home – is collapsing all around us. We must shed our cynicism. If despair propels us to disengage, let us instead draw upon courage to meet dysfunction with hope.

For months the media has made clear that millions are angry. If hope and change describes the mandate of 2008, anger and a longing to restore what once was is this morning’s headline. I believe that anger is rooted in grief – grief for a world that is no more; grief for a world to which we cannot return. Our God is a God of hope. Yet the prophets teach us that we get to hope only by facing reality and moving through our grief.

Join me in responding to God’s call to continue to testify to truth. Let our churches each find a way to create a safe enough space to engage “Truth and Reconciliation Conversations” so that we can leave behind the divisions and denial we are drawn to. May our confidence in God’s loving embrace allow us to welcome lamentation and grief for a world that no longer exists – for time we cannot turn back. If we find ourselves awash in fear, let us risk sharing with one another our gratitude for ordinary and extraordinary blessings until our hearts conform to a life of thanksgiving. Let us bear daily witness to the single garment of destiny that binds us together in an inescapable network of interdependence. And let us reawaken our imagination so that the new creation God is calling us to become may be awash in the love and justice we, with God’s help, will make real.

Faithfully,

The Rev. Dr. Jim Antal,

Conference Minister and President

Blog

Election Day Prayer

Posted on November 8, 2016 by Fr. Peter

Lord,
This election season is over.
All that remains is for voters to cast their ballots.

Let wisdom guide them.

It is the end after a long season.
What has been done has been done;
What has not been done;
has not been done;
Let it be.

Receive all our fears and anxieties about the future
into your transforming presence.

Give us rest to prepare for a new day
New joys, new challenges, new possibilities.

In your name we pray. Amen.

From UCC.org

Blog

The Election Day Sermon

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Fr. Peter

Election Day of the 18th and early 19th century was very different than it is today. In Colonial New England, Election Day was a holiday, and there would be grand pageantry in cities and towns all across the colony. The day would begin with cannon fire and military exercises by the local militia, and then the politicians would process through the streets to the church. Once gathered in the church a service would be held and a sermon preached.

Standing in the center of most colonial towns stood the meeting house that on Sunday functioned as a gathering spot for the religious community but also served as a gathering place for community meetings and other important events in the life of the colony. The white clapboard building stood in the center of the town, with its tall spire, to remind the inhabitants of the essential nature of religion in the community.

It was the Calvinist belief that all human activity fell under the jurisdiction of God’s word so gathering at the church on special occasions such as anniversaries, days of thanksgiving, days of fast, as well as on Election Day would not have been unusual. The sermon was essential to people’s lives and was the central focus of the Congregational worship service. It is estimated that the average person would have listened to 7,000 sermons in their lifetime that would amount to about 15,000 hours.

The sermon in Colonial New England was not only preached on Sunday but also on special days such as anniversaries, days of thanksgiving, fast days, and of course election day. Preachers would not have used the pulpit on Sunday for political purposes, but that was certainly different on Election Day. In true Calvinist thought, New England Congregationalist would have preached sermons to inform and convince while their Church of England Counterparts would have preached sermons that would please and inspire.

The typical Election Day sermon would follow a set pattern and focus on two important elements.

The civil government is founded on an agreement between God and the citizens governed to establish political systems that would provide for the common good. The idea being that when humanity and God acted as one society was at its best. It was also understood that the government had certain responsibilities toward the people and the people had certain responsibilities toward the government.
A reminded that the citizens had an obligation to follow those they had elected, whether they voted for them or not and reminded to those elected that they made a promise, by their election, to act for the good of all the citizens they governed. As long at those elected continued to act in “the proper character” those ruled were obligated to obey them and submit to their rule.

Those listening would be reminded of the duty to pray for and to submit to the authority of those chosen to govern us so that, as Paul wrote to Timothy, “so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” (1 Timothy 2:2.)

In the end it is important to remember that these sermons were not about endorsing one candidate over another, although I am sure that happened, but these sermons were preached in the presence of the government as a reminder to them, and to the governed, about their responsibilities as citizens and to act for the betterment of all of the society and by doing so we would all be able to live godly lives. The sermon was designed to remind the citizen of the importance of their vote and that their responsibility should not be taken lightly something we all need to be reminded.

Blog

Max Lucado’s Prediction for November 9th

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Fr. Peter

Pastor Max Lucado has a prediction for what will happen the day after the election in the United States.

We are really ready for this presidential election to be over. We’re ready for an end to the rancor and tackiness. Voters on both sides feel frustrated, even embarrassed by it all. There is a visceral fear, an angst about the result. What if so and so wins? When we wake up to November 9, post-election, when the confetti is swept away and the election is finally over, what will we see?

I have a prediction. I know exactly what November 9 will bring. Another day of God’s perfect sovereignty. He will still be in charge. His throne will still be occupied. He will still manage the affairs of the world. Never before has His providence depended on a king, president, or ruler. And it won’t on November 9, 2016. “The LORD can control a king’s mind as he controls a river; he can direct it as he pleases” (Proverbs 21:1 NCV).

On one occasion the Lord turned the heart of the King of Assyria so that he aided them in the construction of the Temple. On another occasion, he stirred the heart of Cyrus to release the Jews to return to Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar was considered to be the mightiest king of his generation. But God humbled and put him in “detention” for seven years. “The kingdom is the Lord’s, and He rules over the nations” (Psalms 22:28).

Understanding God’s sovereignty over the nations opens the door to peace. When we realize that God influences the hearts of all rulers, we can then choose to pray for them rather than fret about them. Rather than wring our hands we bend our knees, we select prayer over despair.

Read the Rest Here

Blog

The Next Reformation

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Fr. Peter

October 31^st saw the 499^th anniversary of the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg church in Germany and, as some would say, lit the fuse that started the Reformation. I would argue that the Reformation began sometime before this and that Luther just added fuel to the fire so to speak. It is always difficult to date these things in history. Events such as the Reformation do not usually have hard and fast start and end dates but yet a long line of events strung together.

Phyllis Tickle in her book The Great Emergence, writes about the 500 year Rummage Sale of the Church. Tickle points out that since the legalization of the Church by Constantine every 500 years the church shifts. It is not that the old gets thrown out or is no longer valid it just loses its place of primacy in the life of the people. Tickle suggests that from Constantine in the late 4th century, the Great Schism of the 11th century, the Reformation in the 16th century, and now the Postmodern era in the 21st century this rummage sale has been on going.

As Luther’s Reformation comes to its 500^th year (in 2017) the question is are we starting a new Rummage Sale or has it already begun?

Josh Daffern, on his blog New Wineskins, proposes another 95 Theses for the next 500 years. I do not agree with all of them, just as I believe not all of Luther’s were agree with, but it is appoint of discussion. What will the Church look like in another 10 years? Are we, as Church, prepared for what is coming? We are already into this shift and how the Church reacts now will determine her future.

Check out the list and see what you think.

Blog

Characteristics of a Healthy Church Community

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Fr. Peter

Here is a question, are we more interested in large communities or healthy communities? This is an important question for those of us in leadership in the church to ask ourselves. We can have both but if we build a large church before we care for the health of the present community, we will only amplify the problems with larger numbers.

On his blog Pivot, Karl Vaters asks this question and provides some answers. He writes after meeting with about 60 church leaders at a conference where the participants developed a list of the Characteristics of a Healthy Small Church. The list is not complete by any means but it is a good start and Karl did not just leave it with the list he also includes six lessons about the health of a church. I will list the six here but you should take the time to read and meditate on the article.

it’s not about numbers
None of them were about events or programs
it’s not pastor dependent
A Church can be healthy with limited resources
Health looks the same in churches of any size
The list is big, but doable

Each one of these lessons could be a post all on its own but it will take some time to unpack them.

Blog

Sermon: The Sin of Pride

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Fr. Peter

Pride is one of those things that can be a positive and a negative it is however in inwardly directed emotion. If we view this from, the negative meaning of the emotion pride refers to a foolishly and irrationally corrupt sense of one’s personal value, status, or accomplishments this is often used with hubris. But if we look at pride from the other side, the positive side, pride refers to humble, and content sense of achievement towards one’s or another’s choices and actions and comes from a sense of praise, independent self-reflection, and a fulfilled feeling of belonging.

Pride can be viewed as a corrupt vice or a proper virtue. It is like most everything, what is the result of the pride, what is the goal? We can be filled with pride at our accomplishments, but if we boast about them to bring another down, then we have quickly gone from virtue to vice. And that is what we see on the Gospel passage from Luke today.

First, a little background to set the stage. The law required three daily prayer times, 9 am 12 noon and 3 pm. It was important that the prayer is held in the Temple. Now one could pray where ever they were at those particular times, but there was a better chance of your prayer being heard by God if you were standing in the Temple. It was at one of these times that we find the two men in the Temple praying.

First, we have the Pharisee. As we know Pharisees were, and are, distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law, and commonly held to have pretensions to superior sanctity. Now he did not go to pray to God; he prayed with himself. True prayer is always offered to God and God alone. We may ask someone to pray for us, but the prayer we offer, or a prayer that is offered for us by another, is always directed towards God. What the Pharisee was doing here was giving himself a testimonial before God.

The law also prescribed only one obligatory fast, the one on the Day of Attornment. But those who wished to gain special favor fasted on other days. In the Orthodox Tradition that I came from before coming here, fasting was a large part of the religious and spiritual practice of the people. Orthodox Christians fast from all meat and dairy products on Wednesday and Fridays as well as during the preparation periods of Advent and Lent. If one was to count the actual fast days, there were far more than non-fast days. I used to sit with people and discuss the fast; the first thing was that most were guilt ridden because they did not adhere to the fast as best as they should. Okay, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is a spiritual practice and one that, well, needs to be practiced won’t be perfect from the start. But the second most common discussion was around the hypocritical nature of the fast. The people who claimed to be the best at fasting, wait the pride thing again, were often the most hypocritical. The second definition of Pharisee if hypocrite, and these were the ones that Jesus was speaking the most harshly too when he was talking to the religious leaders of his day.

Fasting, by its very nature, is supposed to change a person spiritually. The ancients believed that if we could control what we put in our mouths, we would be able to control what came out of our mouths. It’s not that the food was unclean but what came out of our mouths that are often unclean.

But the Pharisees often take the fasting a bit further; they would paint their faces white and wear disheveled clothes and would show great piety to those who would see them. This was not done out of some form of penitence; this was done to draw attention to themselves a “look at me and how pious I am” sort of thing. Not only did they fast more they would tithe more than required.

Scripture demands that we give 10% of what we have to God, that’s pretax by the way, we render to God before we render to Caesar. The Pharisees would give all they had and make a great show of it so others would be able to see how great they were. The Pharisee did not go to pray; he went to inform God how good he was.

Then there is the tax collector. Keep in mind that tax collectors were the most despised in society. They worked for the Romans, and so they were considered traitors by their fellow Jews. They also took more than the tax allowed. They would charge more and keep the difference for themselves.

He came to the Temple, and stood afar off, in the corner maybe, and would not even lift his eyes to God. Notice the words he spoke in his prayer, “O God be merciful to me – the sinner.” In his mind, he was not just a sinner, but the sinner, the chief sinner if you will. “And,” Jesus said, “It was that heart-broken, self-despising, prayer which won him acceptance before God.” What we see here are two very different people.

This parable is a parable about prayer, and it teaches us a few things to keep in mind about prayer and how we should pray.

No one who is proud can pray. The gate of heaven is so low that none can enter except upon our knees. Now this can mean physical or spiritual; I tend more towards the spiritual here. We should be humble in the presence of the King when we pray. Keep in mind we are addressing God, the creator of everything and the author of life; we are not speaking with someone down the street. We should have a certain familiarity with God, but there also needs to be a sense of awe and wonder. When we are in the presence, we humble ourselves before it.

No one who despises others, humanity, their neighbor, can pray. Now you did not think I was going to preach and not mention love your neighbor did you? We are all in this together, and we need to be mindful of one another. We need to pray for one another as well as we pray for ourselves. The Jewish ritual law required before you could make your sacrifice, to go and make peace with all you have harmed and who harmed you, then come and make your sacrifice. The law stated that if you did not do this, your sacrifice would not be acceptable to God. We cannot pray with hatred in our hearts.

True prayer comes from setting our lives beside the life of God. There is no doubt that what the Pharisee said was true. He did fast; he did give his tithes; he was not as others are; he was less like the tax collector. But the question is not, “Am I as good as my fellow-man?” The question is, “Am I as good as God?” We are called to follow Jesus not follow other Christians. We should not compare ourselves to other human beings for they are as flawed as we are, the marker of our Christian journey should be are we following Jesus?

I have mentioned this before. Years ago those little bracelets with the “WWJD” written on them were all the rage. The question should not be “what would Jesus do?” for we are not Jesus, the real issue is “What would Jesus have us do?” Jesus left us an example in word and deed, and that is what we should be asking, how does this apply to my life in my situation.

The sin of pride is comparing ourselves to others rather than simply laying our lives at the feet of God and asking for forgiveness. All of us need forgiveness, and I hope we have the knowledge that if we ask for it, God will give it. On the day of His crucifixion, Jesus was hung between two thieves. One of them asked him for forgiveness and Jesus granted it and told him “today, you will be with me in paradise.” There was no other requirement than for him to ask for forgiveness. Jesus did not require him to go to the altar and weep for his sins; he did not require him to sing three verses of Just as I am or anything like that. The thief asked for forgiveness and Jesus granted it. He did this because as the famous verse for the Gospel of John says, “God so loved the world that he sent his Son, so that all who believe may have eternal life.”

Know this; God loves you each and every one of you. Know this, if you ask God to forgive you, God will forgive you, in fact, he already has. There are not many things in this life that I am certain of But I am certain of the fact that God loves each and every one of us right here and right now.

Blog

Sometimes we Have to Climb Trees

Posted on October 21, 2016 by Fr. Peter

The 19th Chapter of the Gospel of Luke contains the story of Zacchaeus and is a story that points out to us that the grace of God can accomplish what humanity can never hope to achieve.

As with all of Scripture, this passage contains a lot of symbolism that applies to our lives each and every day. The writer of the Gospel points out that Zacchaeus what short of stature and that for him to see Jesus as he passed by he had to climb a tree that was on the side of the road.

The shortness of the stature of Zacchaeus is related to the depth of his faith and virtue. Zacchaeus is not only a tax collector, but he is the chief tax collector and not the most honest man. Tax collectors were notorious for taking more than the tax and keeping the difference for themselves. Although he is a Jew he cheated his fellow Jews and worked for the Roman Authorities this would not have placed Zacchaeus high on anyone’s list of virtuous people.

But something inside of his started to change and when he heard Jesus was coming he ran out to see him. There was a stirring inside of him that told him his life was not heading in the right direction and he needed to make a change and get his life on track. This would not be easy for him to do since truly for this to happen he was going to have to leave his job.

So he rushes out into the street and finds that the crowd has already assembled and he cannot see from where he is standing. I imagine a group on the side of the road like there would be for a parade going by and the poor, short, Zacchaeus is in the back. He spots a tree and climbs to the top so he can see over the crowd. Zacchaeus had to throw off his attachment to earthly things, and in this case, the earth itself, to see God. Sometimes the call of the material world is far stronger than that of the heavenly and our desire for material possessions, comfort, and power keep us from seeing God and hearing God’s voice in our lives. It’s not that these things in and of themselves are bad, it is what we do with them and they prevent us from doing that becomes the problem.

As Jesus passes by he sees Zacchaeus in the tree, calls him down, and then does the most extraordinary thing for someone in Jesus line of work would do, he tells Zacchaeus that he will have dinner with him tonight. For a Rabbi such as Jesus to enter the home of a tax collector was just simply not done. But Jesus was not an Orthodox Rabbi, and so off he went.

Notice Jesus did not condemn Zacchaeus; he did not even tell him that he had to get his life back on track. He was nonjudgmental and only said, I’m coming to your house tonight. Jesus treated Zacchaeus as a human being, and Jesus treated him with love and understanding. Who knows why Zacchaeus ended up in the profession he was in? Perhaps he fell on hard times, and this was his only way out. None of this mattered to Jesus all he saw was a man that was willing to change and he helped him do that.

Because of this loving witness Zacchaeus was converted and told Jesus that he was giving half of his goods to the poor and that if he had wronged anyone he was going to make it right, but not just right fourfold rightness was what he was going to do. Half of what he had, not everything, we are not called to impoverish our families, but we are called to help.

How different this story would have been if Jesus, when seeing Zacchaeus in the tree, stopped and pointed at him and called him a sinner. Yelled that he was going to hell for his choices in life and just walked past in righteous indignation. Tradition tells us that Zacchaeus, who was surnamed Matthias, is the one selected to replace Judas Iscariot after he betrayed Jesus. Tradition also says that Zacchaeus preached the Gospel in what is not the Republic of Georgia and was stoned to death for doing so.

This story teaches us that God does not call the equipped he equips the called and that the Grace of God can do far more than we humans can ever think of doing. Because Jesus showed love and understanding to Zacchaeus, he went on to be one the greatest evangelists in Church history. As you often hear me say, and as we have seen in this passage, love is the answer.