Hanging Out with the Wrong People

Transcription

1 Hanging Out with the Wrong People Text: Luke 19:5 First Baptist Church, KCMO Dr. Stephen D. Jones, preaching Sept. 27, 2015 Parents of teenagers worry more about the friends of their sons and daughters than almost anything else. We parents do a lot of quizzing about what kind of person your new friend is, what s their background, what s their interests. Have they ever been in any trouble? We warn our kids, If you hang out with the wrong friends, you can find yourself in a great deal of trouble. You will be blamed for your friends behavior, and you will be influenced by their behavior. Take care to make wholesome friendships. If you remember back to high school, you ll probably recall that high schools are typically divided by friendship groups. There s the in-crowd and the out-crowd and the inbetweeners. The Jocks and the Techies. The athletes and the artsy-crowd. In my high school, it was the farm kids and the town kids. I was a town kid. Today, I am embarrassed to admit that I had almost no friends who lived on farms, and never once during my high school years did I visit a friend who lived on a nearby farm. That seems incredible to me! How could we have been so cliquish? Today, my best friend in Eldon is someone with whom I have much in common. His mother and my mother both entered the Snyder Home at the same time. It was the home of a mid-wife. He was born on December7, 1948 and I was born on Dec. 9. He devoted his career as a thoughtful, moderate, compassionate and highly educated Southern Baptist pastor and I as an American Baptist pastor. I have so much respect for him. During high school, Randy and I were friends in the halls of the school. But we never carried it outside the school. Why? Randy lived in the country. That line of separation seems so stupid today. Yet, everyone is tempted to hang out with their friends, with people most like us. We are drawn to those whom we respect and who respect us. That s human nature. But, we are called to do something more: we are called to hang out with all God s people, even the ones we don t find very appealing, even the ones we find annoying, even the ones quite different from ourselves. Our little congregation has such a wide diversity. We have people from all walks of life, from varied racial and ethnic groups, from all income levels, from all educational levels, from various political affiliations, with birthplaces from Canada, India, Japan, Haiti, China, Nepal, Mexico. And every time we gather as God s people in this place, we hang out with people we might not normally affiliate with. The only thing we have in common is our allegiance to Jesus Christ and our membership in this church. Beyond that, we a diverse mix. And there are people who visit us who do not want such a mix who want things more homogeneous. They want to hang out with people who look or act like them.

2 Stop to think about it: are any of us here among the most desired people in society? Would hanging out with me elevate anyone s social status? We don t have anyone particularly famous, no one particularly powerful, no one in the top echelon of society. Jesus life implores us to hang out with the wrong people! One of my most prominent images of the church occurred in Dayton. That church had historic connections to the Wright Brothers and the closest living relative, Ivonette Wright Miller, was a niece of Orville and Wilbur. Ivonette was a member of my congregation. Ivonette was a very dignified woman and was one of the city s leading ladies. She belonged to the most exclusive clubs and organizations. She was often asked to lead charities and she always dressed the part of a woman of style and class. I remember one Sunday when the worship service ended and I walked back to the Fellowship Hall for a reception. Standing there by the cookie table was none other than Ivonette Wright Miller. And beside her, was a homeless man who lived on the street. He had a large urine stain that covered his entire front side and he wreaked of urine. I rushed over to the table to come to Ivonette s aid, and as I stood there and listened to this aristocratic woman and this homeless man, it became obvious that something special was happening between them. They actually were having a credible conversation and I was intruding. I quickly backed away but watched them out of the corner of my eye as they continued their animated conversation. And I remember thinking, This is as close to a Gospel parable as you can get. It isn t likely that this conversation could have happened anywhere else but in the safety of Ivonette s church. But the important thing is: it happened. Bill and Pat Betteridge sent me this wonderful story this week. It s about a young man whose name is Tim. He had wild hair, never combed, a t-shirt with holes in it, jeans and no shoes. This was his wardrobe for his entire four years of college. And, Tim s brilliant, profound and very funny. And Tim became a Christian while in college. Across the street from the campus was a very well-dressed, formal church. One Sunday, Tim decided to go to church there. He walked in with no shoes, jeans, t-shirt and wild hair. The service had started and Tim started down the aisle looking for a seat. But the church was crowded that Sunday and he couldn t find a seat. By now, the well-dressed crowd was really looking uncomfortable, but no one said anything. Tim got closer and closer to the pulpit, and when he realized there weren t any seats, he just squatted down on the carpet and made himself comfortable. He never liked chairs much anyway. But now, the people were really uptight, with tension in the air. About this time, the pastor realized that from the back of the sanctuary, a deacon was slowly making his way down the aisle to Tim. Now the deacon was in his 80 s, dressed in a tailored three-piece suit. A godly man, very elegant, very dignified. He walked with a cane, and as he started walking toward Tim, everyone was saying to themselves that you can t blame him for what he s about to do.

3 How can you expect a man of his age and background to understand some college kid sitting on the floor? It took a long time for the deacon to reach Tim. The church was silent except for the clicking of the man s cane. All eyes were focused on him. The pastor couldn t even begin his sermon until the deacon did what he had to do. And now they saw the elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With some difficulty, he lowered himself and sat down next to Tim to worship with him, so Tim wasn t alone. Everyone choked with emotion. When the pastor gained composure, he said, What I m about to preach you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget! There are Sundays when we have people visit us who dress differently, or act differently, or smell differently, and it is a joy to watch you reach out and embrace them to overcome differences so that everyone feels God s welcome in this house. We aren t stand-offish. We get compliments all the time from visitors who tell us how engaging we are as a congregation. Zacchaeus was definitely the wrong person for Jesus to meet, let alone to enter his house and certainly not to dine at his table. Zacchaeus was despised because he was a Jew who had sold out to the Romans for his own personal gain. He did the dirty work for the Romans by collecting their oppressive taxes and he was handsomely rewarded. He was under no obligation to be fair or merciful and it is clear that he was neither. There was no ombudsman and no place to file a grievance. Whatever tax Zacchaeus assessed, you paid. And if you didn t, he would confiscate everything you owned and there was nothing you could do. He deployed the brute force of the Roman Army to get the governor and emperor the funds they needed. It was a given: tax collectors were unjust and corrupt. Jewish tax collectors were among the wealthiest in their society. The tax collectors all over Judea and Palestine collected enough money to make them rich and also hated. Once, John the Baptist called upon tax collectors to Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you. But it was the common practice to collect far more. And so the expression, tax collectors and sinners, is used throughout the four Gospels (Mt 9:10) as if they were one and the same. Tax collectors were unwelcome in the synagogues and the Temple. Jesus disciples were asked, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? (Mt 9:11) And those who criticized Jesus said, Behold, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. (Mt 11:19) And again, This rabbi welcomes sinners and eats with them. (Lk 15:2) Perhaps because they were held is such low esteem, some tax collectors were open to a message of repentance. They were wealthy; they were miserable. Their job was disgusting. When John the Baptist preached, even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, Teacher, what shall we do? (Lk 3:12) In another place it says that tax collectors in the crowd acknowledged the justice of God. (Lk 7:29) Another time it says, Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. (Lk15:1) And Jesus said, Those who are well

4 have no need of a physician, but those who are sick For I have come to call not the righteous, but sinners. (Mt 9:12, 13b) Jesus told this story: Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, God, I thank thee that I am not like other people, thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Amen I tell you, this man went home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be exalted. (Lk 18:9-14) In the story of Zacchaeus it says, He was Jericho s tax collector, and he was rich. (Lk 19:2) It was just another way of saying how corrupt Zacchaeus was. And Zacchaeus knew it. Later, he freely admitted, If I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay them back Obviously, he had defrauded lots of peasants in Jericho. Two men were at home, getting ready to retire for the evening. One of the men, Ted, had a business meeting early the next morning and he needed a full night s rest. A few hours into sleep, there was a knock at the door. The other man, Kevin, didn t need to get up early, rolled over in bed. Well, aren t you going to answer that?, Ted asked, annoyed that he had been awakened. Oh, alright, Kevin dragged himself out of bed and went downstairs and opened the door and there was a man standing in the door. Kevin quickly recognized that the stranger was drunk. Hi, there, slurred the stranger. Can you give me a push? Kevin was truly ticked off. No, get lost! It s three in the morning. He slammed the door and went back to bed. Now, Ted turned on the light. Kevin, I can t believe you did that. What if that was you outside needing a push? Now do I have to go downstairs and help out the poor man, or will you? Kevin argued, But the man is visibly drunk! Ted said, It doesn t matter. He needs our help or he obviously wouldn t be knocking on our door at this hour. So, Kevin dragged himself out of bed a second time. He pulled on his trousers and went to the door, and he can t see the stranger anywhere. Kevin shouted, Hey, do you still need a push? He heard a voice call out, Yes, please. Where are you?, Kevin shouted. The stranger called back, I m over here, on your swing.

5 There s always a surprise when we hang out with the wrong people! Indeed, when we hang out with the wrong people, the expected thing rarely happens. No one could have imagined repentance from Zacchaeus. No one could have imagined a tax collector as unjust as Zacchaeus acknowledging the justice of God. (Lk 7:29) When we opened our church to the public to celebrate our 160 th anniversary, it was an amazingly diverse crowd that showed up. Several Native Americans came on their own initiative. Several people interrupted some of the performances injecting their own issues when it was off-topic. One woman stopped the Bacone Choir at the end of their performance. She had raced forward and asked to speak to them all at once. She said, I don t go to church. Haven t for years. But I have to tell you how much your singing and words meant to me. I breathed a sigh of relief, afraid of where her comments might lead. When we open our sanctuary to jazz lovers, it attracts a lot of people who don t go to church. Often, I have people say to me after the vespers, It surprised me. I thought the worship interlude would be boring. In fact, I almost left. I actually enjoyed it. You got me thinking. I will never forget the day I first met Morgan. I was taking our church youth group to Cedar Point Amusement Park. Our son, Brian, had had a difficult time finding friends in an elite community and school like Birmingham, Michigan. It s probably the most expensive community in which we have ever lived. And we moved there when Brian was in middle school and it was a very challenging transition for him. At that time in his life, Morgan wore a tattered terry cloth bathrobe no matter what else he was wearing underneath. It was a humid day and the bathrobe looked really out of place in an Amusement Park. Morgan had bright blue hair before colored hair was common. And, besides the bathrobe, he was dressed in black gothic. If that boy didn t look strange, then I haven t seen strange. When I finally set the kids loose on Cedar Point, amidst a crowd of thousands around them, I watched as Brian and Morgan walked up the main concourse. It was like watching the parting of the Red Sea. I stood there as father to one of those boys while the crowd walked widely around them, stopping and starring as they passed. It was exactly the statement that Morgan wanted to make, and exactly the opposite of the statement I wanted them to make. Fast forward to the last meal we had with Brian s friends around our dining room table in Birmingham. We had an open door policy that our home was open to any friends of our children. We expected certain behavior, but they were always welcome. They enjoyed our cooking, and they came that night for their favorite, a fondue dinner by candlelight. Jan sat at one end and I sat at the other, and we were surrounded by young people, all of whom had, at one time or another, exhibited rebellious behavior. Most of the boys had been kicked out of their homes at one time or another and that meant that all of them had slept overnight in our home when they had no other place to go. What struck me that evening is how much they had matured. And how respectful they were of Jan and of me. We had, in some strange way, become a community. And there likely wasn t another home in Birmingham where that friendship circle felt welcomed.

6 Our son, Brian, made his share of mistakes during those years, but he was the resident therapist of the group, counseling his friends, often with unconventional techniques such as shouting at them, but compassionate nonetheless. And that evening of the fondue dinner, I no longer resented Brian hanging out with the wrong people, even though I had complained to him about it repeatedly. He had made our home a safe refuge for young people who would otherwise not have had a safe refuge. And I realized that the wrong people in my eyes aren t necessarily wrong at all. Indeed, we are all right people in God s eyes. And we re all sinners, which puts us all on the same level. When we hang out with the wrong people, we learn that they aren t wrong at all. They may not have made good decisions; they may be fighting demons within, but they each have an unexpected goodness, sometimes hidden, just as Jesus recognized in Zacchaeus. Today, Pope Francis will go to jail to visit with 95 inmates. He could have met with wealthy Catholic benefactors, or the top echelon of Wall Street bankers, or America s business titans all of whom would have been delighted to meet him up close and personal. Instead, he is visiting a prison, where of those chosen to meet with Francis, 9 are charged with murder, 15 with rape, five with robbery and 12 with assault. Eighteen face drug offenses and six prostitution charges. They are male and female; white, black, Hispanic; Christian and Muslim. On Thursday, Francis told the U.S. Congress, in opposing capital punishment, Everyone has the potential of rehabilitation. Everyone has the potential to bring about something unexpected and good. Everyone is created in God s image. Jesus said of Zacchaeus, Today, salvation has come to this house; for this outcast man is once again a child of Abraham. The Son of Man has come to save the lost. (Lk 19:9) Amen.