2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12, Luke 19:1-10
Climb a Tree!
When was the last time you climbed a tree or looked down from a great height? For me it was this past summer while serving as a chaplain at the Barbara C Harris Summer Camp. I was there to help with bible study and the twice-daily worship, to provide pastoral counseling to the campers and the staff and be a calming presence to homesick kids. But there was another part of the job that was unexpected. It involved joining right in with the kids no matter what activity they were doing that day. Some how the kids convinced me to do the high ropes with them. I awkwardly climbed a tree and walked across a rope that were entirely too high and too narrow for my liking. It is one of my best memories from camp- even if I did wake up the next day with sore muscles and a massive bruise on my leg!
Climbing a tree is something normally reserved for kids. Certainly not an activity for dignified adults. This was just as true in Jesus’ time as it is now. People were not often running through town and climbing trees. But that is exactly what Zacchaeus in today’s Gospel story did. Now, Zacchaeus was a tax collector, the chief tax collector. His job required maintaining a certain reputation and perhaps a level of fear in the people of Jericho. In first century Palestine the Roman government contracted with private individuals to collect taxes. As long as the government got its proper payment, the tax collector could charge whatever amount he wanted. As you can imagine this made the tax collectors quite rich and quite unpopular. They were seen as thieves and traders. Devout Jews would have avoided all contact with these known sinners. As the chief among these tax collector Zacchaeus was not on many people’s top ten list of favorite people.
But none of that mattered to Zacchaeus on the day Jesus passed through Jericho. Everyone in town had probably heard about this man named Jesus and wanted to see him. People talked of him raising a widow’s son from the dead, they curing Simon’s mother-in-law and the paralyzed man who was lowered to Jesus from the top of a roof. And just a few weeks ago we heard the story of Jesus healing the 10 lepers. Pretty unbelievable stuff. A crowd gathered in Jericho to see this infamous man pass by. Maybe they would witness or be a recipient of one of his miraculous actions. Zacchaeus was one among many in this crowd. Scripture tells us that he was short of stature and not able to see over the growing crowd. If he wanted to see Jesus he was going to have to do something.
So, he decides to climb a tree. As a professional businessman Zacchaeus took a risk by running through the crowd and climbing the sycamore tree. Imagine it. It probably looked a bit ridiculous. There is no graceful way to climb a tree. I can imagine someone in the crowd pointing at Zacchaeus and laughing. But he isn’t thinking about the people around him. Their jeering doesn’t bother him. Instead there is a sense of urgency and need that drives him to put his reputation aside and climb the tree.
This summer I realized that climbing a tree has the potential to change our perspective. Once over that initial fear of being so far above the ground I began to look around. In the distance the cabins, the chapel, and the fields were visible, as were groups of happy kids running around laughing and having a wonderful time. I could see the beauty of the campgrounds and the great attention paid to its care. There was something about seeing all of this at once that opened my heart to God’s presence surrounding me in nature and in each of those campers. Climbing to new heights can be both terrifying and amazing. Whether it is on a high rope course, a mountain peak, or in our imagination, we get a new perspective on life. It opens us to new ways of seeing and experiencing God. Was Zacchaeus similarly struck by this changed perspective, by the people he saw and the landscape that surrounded him?
Regardless of what urged him to climb that tree or what happened once he was nestled onto a branch I’m guessing Jesus’ words nearly knocked him out of the tree. “Zacchaeus,” Jesus calls, looking right up at him. “HURRY and come down; for I MUST stay at your house TODAY.” Jesus calls him out by name. Jesus looks up, over the crowds and into the tree and calls him down. It is almost as if Jesus is looking for him, as if he came to Jericho for Zaccaeus.
There is a sense of urgency for Zacchaeus and for Jesus. Zacchaeus must see Jesus and Jesus must go to the house of Zaccaeus TODAY. It can not wait. Jesus is entering Jericho. His journey to Jerusalem is coming to an end. We know that he is walking towards his passion and death. He’ll soon be nailed to the wood of a tree, he’ll soon be crucified. Time is running out. He must get the message of God’s saving love to everyone open to hearing and receiving it. And Zacchaeus is ready to hear and receive it.
Zacchaeus, as the chief tax collector, is a man marginalized from his own Jewish community. He may think no one is desperately seeking him. But Jesus is. Just as Jesus calls Zacchaeus by name, he calls each of us by name. We may need to change our perspective in order to hear his voice. Maybe what we need to do is climb high into a tree in order to see with fresh eyes and to hear in new ways. A new perspective comes by making time in our busy lives for God, by venturing to new and unsettling places, by reaching out to people in need in our Christ Church community and beyond. Many of us have also experience a changed perspective through unexpected moments of joy or sorrow. These moments are important because they break us open in new ways and open us to the voice of God. And it is this voice that leads us on the journey of discipleship.
When Jesus looks at Zacchaeus he doesn’t see a sinner without hope of salvation. He sees a beloved child of God. From the vantage point of the tree, Zacchaeus experiences the loving expression on Jesus’ face. He hurries down the tree and with happiness welcomes Jesus to his home. Without hesitation he gives away half of his possessions to the poor and vows to repay four times what he has defrauded anyone.
The crowd watches this happen and grumbles to one another. How can Jesus seek out this known sinner and go to his house? To this crowd Jesus announces the good news of salvation. “Today salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham.” A son of Abraham, a member of the community, a member of the family of God.
Jesus seeks out each one of us, and calls us by name. And this doesn’t happen just once in our lifetimes. It happens over and over again. Being open to these encounters will change us, as it changed Zacchaeus. These encounters will call us to mend broken relationships, to risk knowing and being known in community, and to move out of our comfort zones in service of God’s kingdom of justice and peace. They’ll lead us deeper into community and deeper in our relationship with God.
And for all this we give thanks. We give thanks to God. And we remember the words of Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians where he writes: “We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing.” We give thanks for our changing perspective because these changes open the way for our faith in God to increase and for our love for another to grow abundantly.
