Sermons/10072007 1 What Does It Mean to Be Saved? Psalm 32:1-7; Luke 19:1-10 October 7, 2007 NRS Psalm 32:1 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3 While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6 Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. 7 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. NRS Luke 19:1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 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." 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." 8 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." 9 Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."
Sermons/10072007 2 A young Scottish lad made the move from home and established himself in a town far enough away that his mother had to phone rather than visit. She worried about him, so she called him to see how he was doing. I m fine, he told her, but there are some peculiar people living in my apartment building. His mother, apprehensive for her son asked, What do you mean, son? How are they peculiar? Well, her son responded, it sounds like the woman above me lies on the floor and sobs a great deal. In the unit below the woman and her child seem always to be yelling. I think the man beside me beats his head against the wall, often for long periods of time. His mother was shocked, and her son could hear the anguish in her voice. I hope you stay away from those people; don t associate with them in any way! she said emphatically. Don t worry, mother. I ll continue to stay in my room and practice my bagpipes. I begin with a confession. Perhaps it s my perspective that s a bit peculiar. It s more than a bit arrogant to assume that I or anyone else could define what salvation means. The best I can offer is my own peculiar notion, practice my bagpipes here in this room, so to speak, while you respond in whatever way you think appropriate. The story of Zacchaeus has captivated my attention and imagination since I was a child. Like many of you I learned that Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he. Let s sing it together: Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he. He climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. And when the Savior passed his way he looked up in the tree, And he said, Zacchaeus, you come down; For I m going to your house today; For I m going to your house today. As I remember, I also saw the story more than a time or two on a flannel board; silhouettes cut from brightly colored cloth were placed and moved upon the board as the story unfolded. We had a diminutive man in our church, Mr. Livesy, who was not much larger than some of us children, and he thought of him as a Zacchaeus look-alike though it was difficult to envision him up a tree. Like many of the stories in scripture we are given little more than the facts. I don t know why Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, don t know what else had been going on in his life, have no idea what his family, if he had a family, was like. What the folks in the village thought of him comes through a bit. He was a chief tax collector, which indicated something more than
Sermons/10072007 3 that he was simply a tax collector like the Apostle Matthew had been before Jesus tapped him on the shoulder. It sounds to me like an administrative position; perhaps others worked for him, though they all worked for the Roman government. In large measure that s why tax collectors were hated; they were in cahoots with the enemy, with the oppressor, with the ones who were in charge. Some who were very religious saw the Roman presence as an affront to the authority of God; perhaps some saw the Romans as God s judgment on the sinfulness of the people; some believed the Romans insulted the dignity of the Jews. Some just didn t like to pay the onerous taxes exacted by a people who had come by violence and stayed by force. Tax collectors made their livelihood on the margins; their compensation was whatever they collected over and above what the Romans required. It literally paid and paid well to cheat and rob people out of their funds, and the Roman oppressors winked before they turned a blind eye. If Zacchaeus was seen as a leader in the extract all you can from your neighbors movement, I imagine he was greatly hated. When Jesus walked by Zacchaeus was above the crowd, a position he couldn t manage without the benefit of a tree, though it may well have been a spot he thought he merited. Others most likely thought Zacchaeus considered himself better than others; when he branched out for Jesus visit Zacchaeus may have considered his perch his due, an elevated throne of sorts made of rough sycamore. There s Zacchaeus! Who does he think he is! Jesus refuses to participate with the crowd s prejudice. Instead he beckons for Zacchaeus to come down from the tree so that they can meet face to face. I must stay at your house today, Jesus said, and you can almost hear the groan that erupted from the group and the gulp that made its way down Zacchaeus throat. Some of what the crowd thought came to expression; He is going to a sinner s house! they whispered, not knowing there weren t any other options in town. It s clear they thought Jesus made a mistake. The crowd doesn t celebrate that Zacchaeus has the chance to be with Jesus; they bemoan that Jesus messed up and chose a sinner over one of them. I told you he would do something peculiar like this, something outrageous, something inexplicable. We waited out here in the hot sun, craning our necks to see Jesus, and then he chooses to have a meal with the sawed-off tax collector. He probably went to Zacchaeus house because it s the best house in town; he is wealthy and will have the best food. If money doesn t matter, how come Jesus went to the rich guy s house who everyone knows is an extortionist and a thief.
Sermons/10072007 4 When Zacchaeus climbs down he makes an announcement. As best I can tell he makes this declaration before Jesus goes to his home, before dinner was served. Jesus and Zacchaeus haven t spoken with one another, unless you consider Jesus pointing at him in the tree and telling him to come down a conversation. Zacchaeus stands before the one he wanted to see and decides he wants to talk with him, too. I m sure Zacchaeus had heard the crowd s grumbling, that it wasn t the first time he had listened to what people thought of him. He clears his throat and makes an announcement: Half of what I own I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything I will repay them four times as much. I don t know if Zacchaeus grew a little taller as he stood there, but I think the people must have been in shock. Some began to calculate in their heads what they were sure Zacchaeus owed them. Some now may have thought that Zacchaeus house had been a great choice and began to look around to see if there were any other sinners up any other trees. Today salvation has come to this house, Jesus said. I have wondered what that means. For Zacchaeus it meant he was liberated, I think. He was set free from his desire to measure life by the money he had, by the power he wielded, by the amount of fear he instilled. I am pretty sure salvation had to do with breaking the shackles of what oppressed him, and since money was what he mentioned I suppose it was money that comprised the links of his chains. Turning loose was what helped make him whole, which is what the word save literally means to make whole. Jesus didn t say salvation spared Zacchaeus from the fires of hell, though that may have been what he meant. Jesus didn t talk about eternal life, though it may have been implied. Jesus didn t tell Zaccaeus he was a miserable sinner, though he may have thought the crowd had done that so often he need not add his voice to theirs. Jesus didn t ask him to close his eyes or to offer a prayer, to say a certain thing or believe a certain way. I suppose one might argue Jesus could see Zaccaeus heart and didn t need to ask questions to which he knew the answer. However, I get the impression what Zacchaeus said that day beneath the sycamore tree surprised Jesus. I think Jesus smiled when he told Zacchaeus and the crowd that salvation had come. Growing up I thought salvation was a kind of protection. Since I was saved I wouldn t go to hell when I died. I was saved from the ultimate consequences of my sinfulness, my transgressions, and, with apologies to Zacchaeus, my short-comings. My decision to be saved, to give my heart to Jesus, was eternally binding. Once saved, always saved, was the
Sermons/10072007 5 dogma, a theological truth that was usually trotted out to explain why cousin George, a womanizer, drinker, gambler, charlatan, thief and two-bit thug was going to escape hell. When George was a boy he gave his heart to Jesus, and Jesus was bound by George s decision and God s grace to take him to heaven. I suppose one might think heaven hell for cousin George since he wouldn t be able to continue his sinful ways in the constant presence of the Almighty, so in a way I guess George ultimately gets what he deserves, which is the antithesis of grace after all. Jesus didn t ask Zacchaeus what would happen if he died tonight, if he knew he was a sinner. Jesus didn t even tell him that he was about to die on a cross. Jesus didn t tell Zacchaeus to give away his money or to reimburse folks. The only thing Jesus told him was to come down out of the tree so that they could share conversation and a meal. Salvation wasn t a goal or a prize; it was the consequence of truly meeting Jesus. Apparently every person who saw Jesus that day was not saved, or at least Jesus didn t notice if they were and they didn t either. Consider other stories in Luke in which a person is saved or experiences salvation. In the seventh chapter a woman anoints Jesus feet, and though she is greatly criticized, Jesus tells her that her loving act, her deed of compassion and mercy, has helped make her whole. Your sins are forgiven, Jesus said to her, and the folks at the house were outraged he dared forgive sins. Your faith has saved you, he told the sinless sinful woman. She gave her heart to Jesus when she broke the jar of perfume and anointed his feet. Another time, Jesus and his disciples met a rich, young man who wanted to take part in the Kingdom of God. When he asked what was still lacking in his life, Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and follow Jesus. The man decided that he couldn t and left filled with sorrow and riches. The disciples thought wealth a manifestation of God s favor and were stunned. Jesus mentioned it was more difficult for a camel to pass through a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. This prompted the disciples to ask who could be saved? The next story is about a blind man who hears that Jesus is passing by. He calls out to Jesus asking for mercy. Finally the blind man is brought before Jesus and Jesus asks what the man what he would have Jesus do, a question almost the same as the rich man asked of Jesus. The blind man said he wanted to see, and unlike the rich man Jesus did what was asked of him and the man s sight was restored. Your faith has saved you, Jesus told him, which was a way of saying that the rich man s faith hadn t saved him since
Sermons/10072007 6 he came to Jesus blinded by his possessions and left the way he had come. Salvation, it seems to me, is about wholeness, about the restoration of life, of living life as God calls us to live. It s about integrity, about trying to fit all the pieces together. A sinful woman finds forgiveness because she dares to believe that Jesus might receive her act of mercy and compassion. A blind man receives his sight because he dares believe that Jesus might enable him to see. Their faith helped make them whole. They gave their hearts to Jesus when by their actions they declared Jesus offered forgiveness and life. Jesus never mentioned heaven or hell to them, perhaps because they had been living in hell, and salvation acceptance and sight was indeed heaven for them. Zacchaeus probably knew a bit about hell, too. Perhaps that s where he lived when he extorted people and listened to them criticize and complain about him and his methods. Perhaps he often felt smaller than he was. Maybe he was miserable and climbed up that tree to try and find relief from the crowd and relief from the life he was living. Perhaps he offered his wealth as atonement for his sinfulness. Perhaps he knew it would never be enough. Perhaps he was surprised to hear that salvation had come to his house because he was sure it never could. I think salvation always comes as a surprise, otherwise it sounds as if I might think I earned it or deserved it somehow, that God was bound to me because of something I said. Perhaps salvation isn t protection from something as much as it is preparation for something, preparation for life, preparation for what we are to value, who we are to trust, what we are to believe about living. A sinful woman is saved so that she might live without the fear of recrimination for her past; a blind man is saved so that he might see and follow after Jesus. A tax collector is saved so that money falsely taken can be restored, so that he might live ethically and morally treating all as children of Abraham. Jesus pointed out that Zacchaeus was a child of Abraham because the town s people probably didn t think he was, and he could steal from them because Zacchaeus didn t think the town s people were God s children, either. Zacchaeus was saved so that he and people in the village might know they all were brothers and sisters. I was saved so that I might not be bound by false notions of what really matters, so that I might have my eyes opened to what is important, so that I might not limp along always unsteady and unsure, so that I might continue to struggle with giving all that I am and all that I have to the One who gives me life. I don t doubt that God s grace and mercy are eternal. But I think they are also temporal and have a bearing on life here and now. Giving my
Sermons/10072007 7 heart to God doesn t insulate me from life but challenges me to live life to its fullest, always seeking to be aware of what truly matters. God s grace and mercy prepare me for that kind of living, and I need that grace and mercy constantly so that I might live and serve and share. I sometimes find myself up a tree. Perhaps you find yourself there, too. I ve climbed up in the tree for a different perspective, to get away from everyone else, to see God and myself in a different light. At odds with my children, my spouse, or with you or a stranger I sometimes find that I have made my way up a sycamore. Jesus calls to all of us up a tree and tells us to come down, for we are going to his house to eat. It s a simple meal of bread and juice. It s a meal of salvation offered to all who have faith and believe that Jesus lived as we are called to live. Today salvation has come to your house! Jesus says as he passes the plate. Join me in the supper. The Lord s Supper Each Sunday at this time I ask if anyone has a decision to share. It s a time to give your heart to Christ, to say that you believe life is found in living as Christ called us all to live. That declaration is prelude to the journey of faith, sealed with baptism to indicate that the one who travels that path never travels alone but always goes with God. It s an opportunity for you to say that you would like to journey with this fellowship, too, that you are willing to join with those who call this home as we make our way with and toward the Kingdom of God. Salvation isn t an award; it s a gift. It isn t an achievement; it s a surprise. It isn t a destination; it s the journey of a lifetime. If today salvation has come to your house, if you have begun that journey, would you share that great news with us all as we sing.