When Jesus Comes to Town
My first sermon for my preaching class at Princeton Theological Seminary. The assigned text was the familiar story of Zacchaeus, from the Gospel of Luke.
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Luke 19:1-10
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
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Do you think they did it on purpose? It’s hard to tell after all, we don’t know how it all happened. Maybe it began with a quiet rumor - he’s coming - maybe a friend in the doorway sharing the news, maybe it was shouted from the rooftops, but however it happened, people knew. And people came. They came because they were curious, or sick, or bored. They came because they wanted to see. So, they poured into the streets and plazas, lining the route the man was likely to walk, pressed together, just wanting to catch a glimpse. Some had heard the stories - this man was holy - some even whispered that he had once healed a woman in a synagogue, on the Sabbath! Others just saw the crowd and wanted to see what all the commotion was about. But, no matter how or why, they were there. So, do you think they did it on purpose?
I know I didn’t do it on purpose. Before I came to seminary, I was a high school debate coach. It was not unusual for me to be in my classroom ten or more hours a day, six days a week. During our seven-month tournament season, the hours were even longer. One of the few distractions I allowed myself was singing in my church choir. We rehearsed Wednesday nights, and I would rush from school to make it. It was a place where I could forget about the stress of the day, even if for a little while. It was, even more than worship, where I felt the presence of God.
I know almost nothing about the two guys that sat by the sycamore tree in front of our church every Wednesday evening. I assume, from their uniforms, that they worked for the retirement community across the street, which, unlike our tree, had a very strict no smoking policy. Every week, as I rushed by to my place of peace, the two of them would be sitting on milk crates, smoking. Most of the time, I didn’t even notice them.
Maybe it is just that simple: the crowd didn’t notice Zacchaeus. They were so caught up in their own desire to see Jesus that one more person in the crowd didn’t even register. It didn’t matter how badly he needed to be found; they didn’t even know he was lost.
Or maybe they did notice. Maybe, like me, as they were rushing to catch their glimpse of the holy, they noticed him at the edge of the crowd. In that split second there was a decision: press forward to make sure that they could see or turn back and maybe miss the chance of a lifetime.
And after all, they would have known who he was and what he did, why would they ruin their chance at fulfillment for that!
It doesn’t really matter if they did it on purpose. It doesn’t matter if the crowd just didn’t notice Zacchaeus or if they all simply looked at him and decided he wasn’t worth their time. Because, when Jesus Christ walks into your town, salvation has arrived, whether you want it or expect it, and no crowd, no matter how well intentioned, can stand in the way of his radical grace and overpowering love.
It doesn’t really matter if they did it on purpose, which is to say that it matters a great deal for us. If we take seriously the claim that we are the body of Christ, then friends we can no longer simply press forward for our own glimpse of the holy. For we have each been called here to this place so that we might be empowered to open our eyes and truly see the world around us in all of its majesty and all of its brokenness. All around us are people just wanting to catch a glimpse of the radical grace that is Jesus, people wanting to know that they are seen. They are in our precepts, our church pews, and waiting by every tree.
Jesus Christ has arrived, sons and daughters of Abraham.
Salvation is here.
Amen.