Date: August 26, 2012
Scripture Lesson: Luke 19:1-10
Sermon: Jesus Saves!
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells
In the fabulous novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, Christopher Paul Curtis tells the story of an African American family living in Flint, Michigan in the 1960’s from the perspective of a young son in the family named Kenny. Kenny is smart and so his older brother, Byron, and others at school take to calling him, Poindexter or Professor or Egghead. He got teased for being smart and more until the day he was saved. Listen as Kenny tells us about it:
The other thing that people would have teased me a lot more about if it hadn’t been for Byron was my eye.
. . . Ever since I’d been born one of my eyeballs had been kind of lazy. That means instead of looking where I tell it to look, it wanted to rest in the corner of my eye next to my nose. I’d done lots of things to make it better, but none of them worked. . .when I went to look in the mirror the eye still went back to its corner. . .
Even though my older brother was Clark Elementary School’s god that didn’t mean I never got teased or beat up at all. I still had to fight a lot and still got called Cockeye Kenny and I still had people stare at my eye and I still had to watch when they made their eyes go crossed when they were teasing me. It seemed like one of these things happened to me every day, but if it hadn’t been for Byron I know they’d have happened a whole lot more. . .
The worst part about being teased was riding the school bus on those mornings when Byron and Buphead [his best friend] decided they were going to skip school.
We’d be standing on the corner waiting for the bus. . . When we saw the bus about three blocks away we all got in a line – old thugs, young thugs, regular kinds, then me. It wasn’t until the bus stopped and the door opened that I knew whether By and Buphead were going. I hated it when By walked past and said, “Give my regards to Clark, Poindexter.” Some of the time those words were like a signal for the other kids to jump me.
But the day I stopped hating the bus so much began with those same words. . . “Give my regards to Clark, Poindexter,” By said, and disappeared. . . I got on the bus and took the seat right behind the driver . . for the most protection. . . . after everyone was picked up we headed toward Clark. But today the bus driver did something he’d never done before. He noticed two kids running up late. . . and he stopped to let them get on. Every other time someone was late he’d just laugh at them and tell the rest of us, “This is the only way you little punks is gonna learn to be punctual. I hope that fool has a pleasant walk to school.” . . .
That was part one of my miracle, that let me know something special was going to happen. As soon as the doors of the bus swung open and two strange new boys got on part two of my miracle happened.
Every once in while, Momma would make me go to Sunday school with Joey. Even though it was just a bunch of singing and coloring in coloring books and listening to Mrs. Davidson, I had learned one thing. I learned about getting saved. I learned how someone could come to you when you were feeling real, real bad and could take all of your problems away and make you feel better. I learned that the person who saved you, your personal saver, was sent by God to protect you and to help you out.
When the bigger one of the two boys who got on the bus late said to the driver in a real down-South accent, “Thank you for stopping, sir,” I knew right away. I knew that God had finally gotten sick of me being teased and picked on all the time. . .
As I looked at this new boy with the great big smile and the jacket with holes in the sleeves and the raggedy tennis shoes and the tore-up blue jeans I knew who he was. Maybe he didn’t live a million years ago and maybe he didn’t have a beard and long hair and maybe he wasn’t born under a star but I knew anyway, I knew God had finally sent me some help, I knew God had finally sent me my personal saver!
As soon as the boy thanked the driver in that real polite, real country way I jerked around in my seat to see what the other kids were going to do to him. . .
I knew they weren’t going to waste any time with this new guy. . . He was like nobody we’d seen before. He was raggedy, he was country, he was skinny and he was smiling at everybody a mile a minute. The boy with him had to be his little brother, he looked like a shrunk-up version of the big one.
Everyone had stopped what they were doing and were real quiet. . . The older one got an even bigger smile on his face and waved really hard at everybody, the little shrunk-up version. . . did the same thing. Then they said, “Hiya, y’all!” and I knew that there was someone who was going to be easier for the kids to make fun of than me.
Then Larry Dunn said, “Lord, today, look at the nappy-headed, down-home, country corn flake the cat done drugged up from Mississippi, y’all!”
. . . Larry Dunn threw an apple core from the back of the bus and the new kid got his hand up just in time to block it from hitting him in the face. Little bits of apple exploded all over the kid, his brother and me. The other kids went wild laughing and saying to each other, “Hiya, y’all!”
The bus driver jumped out of his seat. . . “You see? You see how you kids is? This boy shows some manners and some respect and y’all want to attack him, that’s why nan one of y’all’s ever gonna be nothin’!” The bus driver was really mad. . .
The bus was real quiet. We’d never seen the driver get this mad before. He pushed the two new kids into the same seat as me and told them, “Don’t you pay no mind to them little fools, they ain’t happy lest they draggin’ someone down.” Then he had to add, “Y’all just sit next to Poindexter, he don’t bother no one.”
I sat there and looked at them sideways. I didn’t say anything to them and they didn’t say anything to me. But I was kind of surprised that God would send a saver to me in such raggedy clothes.” [p.25-31]
You know, Zacchaeus might have said the same thing. He knew God would send a savior, but it didn’t happen as he expected, and he probably didn’t expect the raggedy clothes, either. So what do we expect and what does it mean to be saved?
We say, “Jesus is my savior.” “The Lord is my salvation.” We talk about Christianity as a path to salvation but what is salvation? Who is our savior?
The story of Zacchaeus is one of my favorites and always has been, since childhood. What child doesn’t resonate to the prominent business man who climbs a tree with the street urchins. And he is short, which children can identify with. And when I was growing up, “The Singing Nuns” were popular, and they
had a song about Zacchaeus that I loved! Zacchaeus, unpopular with his people, yet singled out by Jesus for special favor. And in the story, we are told that after eating at Zacchaeus’ house, Jesus says, “Today salvation has come to this house.” There’s that word – salvation. And this story illuminates the concept beautifully. The word that is translated as “salvation” implies rescue, deliverance, safety, and health. In other places in the New Testament, it is translated to be cured, to be made well, to be whole, to be healed. So this word, “salvation”, implies all of these things. Jesus is telling Zacchaeus, you have been made well, you have been cured, you are healed, you are whole, you have been delivered. You are healthy and safe.
What has happened to Zacchaeus? The story tells us about a change of attitude, a change of heart, a change of circumstances that is made manifest in a joyful outburst of economic re-orientation.
You see, Zacchaeus is a tax or toll collector. He is a Jew who is working collecting taxes to underwrite the Roman occupation of Israel. Here’s how that works: The Romans would contract with a tax collector to collect taxes, tolls, tariffs and fees. The tax collector would pay the Romans in advance. Then the tax collector and others he would hire, would collect the fees plus as much as they could possibly extract out of the people, keeping the take over and above what went to the Romans. So the system was set up for corruption and abuse. And evidently, Zacchaeus is good at it because he is rich and he is hated. He is seen as a sinner and he is ostracized, excluded, and condemned by the community. Did people spit on the ground when they saw him? Hurl epithets at him? Or just mutter obscenities under their breath? He may have been rich, but I can’t imagine that he was happy when he was hated so. The crowd grumbles that Jesus is going to HIS house. Why not to the house of someone righteous and upstanding? Why bring honor to the house of a corrupt, despicable cheat? Why not reward someone
who is busy trying to be good?
Because, we are told, that Jesus has come, “to seek out and to save the
lost.” [v. 10] And that is just what happens with Zacchaeus. And how do we know that Zacchaeus is saved? He doesn’t have a physical ailment that can be seen to be healed. Perhaps the evidence of his healing, his salvation, is even more impressive. He presents a dramatic monetary commitment as evidence of his transformation.
Evidently it is this economic reorientation that signals a change of heart and values and identity. He goes from being a crook to being a generous, compassionate, just philanthropist. That’s a pretty big change. And there is more: Zacchaeus goes from being a nobody or worse to the people of Israel to being a child of Abraham and Sarah. He goes from being ostracized and vilified to being part of the community. He goes from being greedy to being generous. He goes from taking advantage of his power and position at the expense of others to empowering others. “Today salvation has come to this house.”
Jesus says this in response to Zacchaeus’ drastic reorientation and transformation. This tells us that salvation is about being changed and transformed here and now. Today. In ways that are clearly evident in new behavior. And the drastic transformation is marked by joy, happiness, and delight.
This story provides a marked contrast to another story just a chapter earlier in this gospel, the story of the rich young man. In that story a devout, rich young man comes to Jesus seeking salvation. Jesus tells him he must sell all that he has and give the money to the poor and the man walks away sad. But in the case of Zacchaeus, supposedly a bad man, he embraces Jesus’ invitation and willingly, of his own accord and initiative, joyfully gives away half of what he has and volunteers to compensate anyone he may have cheated four-fold, well more than required restitution by the law.
Zacchaeus’ salvation is evidenced in his reorientation including his joy. He abandons his identity as one who is greedy, dishonest, and an oppressor, and embraces generosity, honesty, justice, and community. His salvation is evidenced in his economic activity and in his joy.
We see similar instances of such salvation, such reorientation, in the lives of other important Christian figures. We are told of St. Francis of Assisi, from a wealthy, noble background, taking off his lavish clothes and stripping naked in the town square to show his renunciation of wealth and the power that goes with it. From then on Francis led a materially simple life and was filled with joy and peace.
In modern times we think of the story of Millard Fuller who founded Habitat for Humanity giving up his considerable wealth, and choosing a materially simple life devoted no longer to making money but committed to making shelter for every person on the earth as a sign of the divine dignity and worth of each person.
So what about our salvation and re-orientation. Are we saved? Is there evidence in our economics, in our service, in our joy?
A recent survey of senior financial services executives in the US and the United Kingdom indicates that 26% have observed or had first hand knowledge of wrongdoing in the workplace. Twenty-four percent thought that financial services professionals need to engage in unethical or illegal activity to be successful. Thirty percent said their compensation packages pressured them to engage in unethical or illegal behavior. [The Christian Century, 8/8/12, p. 8] It sounds like the corrupt tax collecting system of the Romans. A system set up to foster greed and graft. And where is the joy? Relatively speaking, people in the finance industry are comfortable and well off, yet where is the joy when so many feel they have to resort to unethical behavior to stay above water? There is certainly room for transformation, healing, and deliverance of our financial system, our financial expectations, and of the power we give to money and wealth. And the gospel offers the invitation to just this kind of transformation. We can imagine a mortgage banker paying off the mortgages of all who were take advantage of. Now that’s salvation!
In the story of Zacchaeus, we see that salvation can alter our relationship with money, with morals, and with others, as well as with ourselves. Think about being asked, “Are you saved?” and giving your checkbook, your credit card statements, and your tax returns as evidence one way or the other. How many of us could say that salvation has come to our house? Most of us are scraping by with too much, while many others are not scraping by with enough. And given what the world needs from the church, as we mentioned last week, are we really funding the ministry of the church as people who have embraced Jesus’ salvation with its life-changing world view?
If the Christians of this country embraced the life-saving, health giving power of the way of Jesus, the way we see it in the story of Zacchaeus, I think we would have a vastly different society. Can we say, given that the majority religion in this country is still Christianity, that we as a country are embracing the economic view of Jesus and Zacchaeus? Are we helping the poor and exhibiting extravagant generosity? What would it be like if red states and blue states were focused on using public money where there is human need not human greed? What if the focal point of government and politics was truly the common good, not popularity, getting elected, gaining power, building a stock portfolio, or garnishing kickbacks?
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. observed, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” While we have been sitting here this morning, the US has spent $88 million for war and defense. [Statistics from the American Friends Service Committee] Where are the millions for the jobless, those who are hungry and homeless, those without healthcare, the drug babies, and all of the other human needs that surrounds us? In the proposed budget for 2013, 60% is designated for defense with only 6% designated for health and human services and 6% for education. [American Friends Service Committee] Remember those gospel words, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” As a country, our heart is evidently in the military. And yet, sadly, we read of the increasing suicide rate among those serving in the military. Where is all that money going if it is not even helping those most in need within the military? As a country, our heart needs to be transformed and re-oriented. We have definitely not accepted the salvation, the healing, and the deliverance of the way of Jesus as a country because salvation puts the focus on need not greed.
When Zacchaeus encounters Jesus, the love, the respect, the invitation, the grace, the hospitality, the friendship that he experiences is transforming. His life will never be the same again. That is salvation. Today, here and now. Jesus rescues us from whatever is holding us back from being filled with generosity and joy. He saves us from being absorbed by greed and self interest. He saves us from being captivated by power. He saves us from taking advantage of others. He saves us from isolation and pride. He saves us from victimhood and self-pity and despair. He saves us from our past and from what others think of us, and even from the negative view we may have of ourselves. Salvation is about overcoming addiction, despair, and all the other things that deprive us and drain us of full and abundant life. With Jesus, transformation is possible. True healing, rescue and deliverance can take hold. Salvation is about major conversion and transformation of every aspect of the living of our lives – so that it is congruent with the life and values and teachings of Jesus and consistent with the ways of God that honor each and every person as a precious child of God. Zacchaeus gives us the assurance that this is possible because we see where his treasure is. He gives it away. It no
longer controls him or defines him.
Jesus frees us by inviting us to be fair and honest in our dealings. By calling us to be generous and invest ourselves in the well-being of others and of the community. He saves us and offers us healing, wholeness, rescue, protection, and safety by freeing us from the tyranny of self-interest and self-absorption. Jesus invites us to be transformed by the gospel to a life of joy and generosity of spirit, time, and, yes, money!
So, are we saved? Has salvation come to our house? We can look at what we are doing with our money. We can look at how we are connected to others. We can look at how we feel about ourselves. We can examine what we are doing for the betterment of the community at large. And we must not forget to assess our joy. If we have truly accepted the salvation offered by the gospel of Jesus Christ, our lives will resonate with JOY! We will be excited, energized, and inspired. Jesus has offered us salvation. Like Zacchaeus and like Kenny in The Watson’s Go to Birmingham, it may not be what we expected. And we may be surprised by a saver in such raggedy clothes, but nonetheless, the rescue, the deliverance, the healing, and the joy abound. Jesus does save! Amen.
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