Sermon: Preparing the Way (2025)

Delivered at Few's Chapel United Methodist Church in Greer, South Carolina on December 7, 2025, the Second Sunday in Advent

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Preparing the Way

Audio Version

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.’”

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.  Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruit worthy of repentance.  Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.  Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 3:1-12 (NRSV)

These are the days of Elijah
Declaring the word of the Lord
And these are the days of Your servant Moses
Righteousness being restored
And though these are days of great trial
Of famine and darkness and sword
Still, we are the voice in the desert crying
“Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”

From “Days of Elijah” by Robin Mark

As you probably know, there are two high holy days on the Church calendar: Christmas, when we celebrate the birth of Christ, and Easter, when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.  Each of these times of great joy is preceded by a more somber season of preparation.  Though many people jump straight into celebrating Christmas at this time of year, people who follow the Church calendar observe Advent, a season of waiting and longing.  Some people also consider it a season of penitence like Lent.  The word advent is derived from the ancient Latin word adventus,¹ which, in the days of the Roman Empire, referred to the visitation of a ruler.  In those days, rulers sent messengers ahead of them to the places they were planning to visit, so that people could prepare for the ruler's arrival.²

During Advent, we hear stories of characters from the Gospel who are associated with the coming of Christ, and we hear readings from the Old Testament that are thought to point to the event.  One of these characters is a messenger named John, and one of these readings describes a highway to be built in the wilderness.

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The second part of the Book of Isaiah begins with a scene that some commentators have described as a “heavenly council.”³  Amid this divine gathering, God calls for words of comfort to be spoken to God's people, who are currently far from home.  “Comfort, O Comfort my people,” God says.  “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.”⁴  The people of God repeatedly broke God's law and ignored God's prophets, and, as a result, they found themselves as exiles in Babylon.  Now God is saying that they have already paid double the price for their unfaithfulness and that their long exile is finally coming to an end.

Another voice in the heavenly council cries out, “In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”  The voice says that mountains must be leveled, that valleys must be filled in, and that rocky ground must be made smooth, so that all people may see the glory of God.⁵  God is at work, and there are to be no obstacles in the way.⁶  God is going to God's people in exile to gather them, as a shepherd would gather a scattered flock, and to lead them home through the wilderness.⁷

In the Gospel of Matthew, we read a quotation from this very scene:

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.’”⁸

St. Matthew uses these words from the Book of Isaiah to describe a voice in the Judean wilderness named John, who cries out, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  People come to him in the wilderness to confess their sins, and he baptizes them in the Jordan River as a sign of their penitence.⁹

It could be said that John is a bit eccentric.  He lives in the wilderness, wears strange clothes, and eats strange foods.¹⁰  Scholar William Barclay suggests that every aspect of John's life is an act of protest against society.  John lives in the wilderness, away from the hustle and bustle of civilization, so that he may hear God's voice in the stillness, silence, and solitude.  By rejecting comfortable clothing and donning the garb of the prophet Elijah – a robe of camel's hair and a leather belt – he reminds people of the ancient prophets who called people to repent.  The food he forages, like locusts and wild honey, are the kinds of simple foods the poor of his day would eat.¹¹

John is a fiery preacher.  To the religious leaders who come to him in the wilderness, he says, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruit worthy of repentance...  Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”¹²  St. Luke tells us in his Gospel that, when the people who come to John ask him what they should do, he offers them practical ways of “bearing fruit worthy of repentance,” ways that they may demonstrate that they are indeed turning their lives around.  He encourages people with excess to share with people who do not have enough, saying, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.”  He also urges people in authority not to abuse their power.  To tax collectors, he says, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.”  To soldiers, he says, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”¹³

God is at work once again, and, in the same way that the voice in the heavenly council calls for the removal of all mountains and valleys to build a highway in the wilderness, John, the voice in the wilderness, is calling people to build a highway into their hearts by removing the sinful obstacles from their lives.

In the Gospel of Luke, we read that John was born under very unusual circumstances to an elderly couple who was previously unable to have children.  One day, a priest named Zechariah was burning incense to God in the temple, when a messenger of God named Gabriel appeared to him.  The messenger told the priest that he and his wife Elizabeth would soon have a son who would be filled with the Spirit of God, even before he was born, and that their son would grow up to “turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God” and to “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”  At first, Zechariah wouldn't believe what Gabriel told him, so he was struck mute.¹⁴  Nine months later, Zechariah regained the ability to speak upon naming his son John, and he began to prophesy.  He proclaimed that the dawn was about to break upon his people, who had been sitting in darkness, and he prophesied that God had “raised up a mighty savior” for them.¹⁵  To his newborn son, he said,

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.¹⁶

Something big is on the horizon, and, as Zechariah prophesied, John has a role to play in it.  Scholar N.T. Wright suggests that John is essentially waking people up, “splashing cold water all over them and telling them to get ready for the greatest moment in Jewish history, in world history.”¹⁷

The Jewish people of John's day have been suffering with the proverbial boot of the Roman Empire on their necks, in the same way that their ancestors suffered as exiles in Babylon.  For a long time they have awaited a Messiah, a leader anointed by God to drive out their Roman oppressors, to restore their kingdom to it's former glory, and to reign during an age of peace and prosperity.  John, who understands that his role is to prepare the way, points beyond himself to Someone greater, lest anyone starts to believe that he might be the Messiah.  He says, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”¹⁸  John is saying that the One to come is so great that he does not consider himself worthy to serve as a slave to Him.¹⁹  It could be said that, while John only pours water on people, the One to come will pour out the very Spirit of God upon people.

The Gospel writers believe, as do we, that the One for whom John came to prepare the way is Jesus, who will go to John to be baptized before He begins His earthly ministry.²⁰  Jesus is the Anointed One sent by God, not to save one particular people from the oppression of an evil empire, but rather to save all people from the oppression of sin and death.

John is not the only voice who is sent to prepare the way for Jesus, for Jesus calls others to do the same.  For example, in the Gospel of Luke, we read that, at one point, Jesus sends out as many as seventy-two messengers in pairs to all of the places He is planning to visit.  He authorizes them to heal people who are sick and instructs them to proclaim to all who will listen, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”²¹  When these messengers return and joyfully report the miracles they have witnessed, Jesus says to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.”²²

In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that one day, after Jesus has ascended to Heaven, His disciples are gathered together in their meeting place when they hear the sound a loud rushing wind.  Suddenly, tongues of fire appear in their midst and rest upon each of them, and they find themselves speaking fluently in languages they did not know previously.²³  The Disciples have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, just as John prophesied, and now they are able to use their voices in new ways.  They begin to proclaim to people of all nations that the crucified and risen Jesus is the true Lord of this world;²⁴ they invite people to be baptized in His name so that they too may receive the Holy Spirit;²⁵ and they urge people to repent in preparation for His return.²⁶

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Advent is a time of longing, waiting, and preparing.  In the same way that the Jewish people of John's day long to be set free from their oppressors, we long for the day when the world is set to rights.  In the same way that they waited for a king to come and save them, we wait for Christ, our King and our Savior, to return.  We prepare not just to commemorate Christ's birth on Christmas but more importantly to celebrate the day when, at long last, Christ's kingdom is fully realized on earth.

So how can we “prepare the way of the Lord” this Advent season?

First, we can prepare the way of the Lord by heeding the voices in the wilderness who are calling us to change our ways.  John's announcement that “the kingdom of heaven has come near” comes with a call to repent, because the reign of Christ will bring great change.  John's urging people to “bear fruit worthy of repentance” teaches us that true repentance is not merely feeling remorseful for our wrongdoings but also taking action and making substantial changes in our lives.²⁷  The Greek word metanoia, which is translated into English as “repentance,” describes a change of mind and heart that results in a change in behavior.  In the Common English Bible, John's call to “repent” is translated, “Change your hearts and lives!”²⁸  Perhaps the best way to prepare for the reign of Christ on earth is to live as if Christ to reigns in our lives right now.

Remember that the Holy Spirit, with whom Christ has baptized us, is the One who enables us to change.  Drawing from the imagery of the wilderness highway in the Book of Isaiah, John Wesley once said,

So shall the sense of the sinfulness you feel, on the one hand, and of the holiness you expect, on the other, both contribute to establish your peace, and to make it flow as a river.  So shall that peace flow on with an even stream, in spite of all those mountains of ungodliness, which shall become a plain in the day when the Lord cometh to take full possession of your heart.²⁹

In other words, when we are confronted with our sinfulness, we can experience peace if we remain focused on the grace of God and on the change it will effect in our lives.

Second, we can prepare the way of the Lord by being voices in the wilderness.  As followers of Jesus, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit who has been poured out upon us.  We too can challenge people to do what is right, like John; we too can act as agents of healing, like Jesus' messengers; and we too can offer good news to all who will listen, like the Apostles.  As we look to the past and future actions of God in Jesus Christ, may we not forget that God is always at work, even now.  God was at work in the days of the Exile; God was at work in the days of Jesus; and God is at work today.  A certain morning prayer I like begins, “New every morning is your love, Great God of light, and all day long you are working for good in the world.”³⁰  People need to hear the good news that, as St. Paul writes, “God works all things together for good.”³¹

Many people feel as if they are, in a spiritual sense, living in exile or trudging through the wilderness.  They need to hear the good news that, in the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep,”³² and the good news that the trials they face are not the end of the story.

Many of us need to be woken up to the truth that we have reasons to repent.  When difficult times call us to put aside our differences and work together, we manage to become even more divided.  When we need to put aside our own preferences for the sake of the common good, we proclaim, “My will be done!”  When we are asked to endure mild inconveniences for the sake of our neighbors, we act as if grave injustices have been inflicted upon us.  When we cannot support our actions with the facts, we embrace lies.  Many of us with the audacity to call ourselves Christians are “chief of sinners” in this regard.  A “brood of vipers” we are indeed!  It would seem that we still have a lot to learn about denying ourselves and taking up our crosses, as Jesus taught.³³

God is always at work, redeeming the world.  As you remember God's sending us a Savior two thousand years ago, may you remember how God has saved you personally.  As you look forward to our Savior's return to reign and to set the world to rights, may you anticipate how the Holy Spirit will continue to set things right in your own life.  As you ponder how God is at work right now, may you consider how God might be calling you personally to help “prepare the way of the Lord.”

Amen.


Notes:

1. Wiktionary: “Advent”
2. Adam Hamilton.  Prepare the Way for the Lord: Advent and the Message of John the Baptist.  2022, Abingdon Press.  pp. xiii-xiv
3. Joel B. Green, William H. Willimon, et al.  The Wesley Study Bible (NRSV).  2009, Abingdon Press.  p. 860
4. Isaiah 40:1-2 (NRSV)
5. Isaiah 40:3-5 (NRSV)
6. The Wesley Study Bible, p. 861
7. Isaiah 40:10-11
8. Matthew 3:3 (NRSV)
9. Matthew 3:1-2, 5-6 (NRSV)
10. Matthew 3:4
11. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Mark.  2001, Saint Andrew Press. pp. 16-17
12. Matthew 3:7-8, 10 (NRSV)
13. Luke 3:10-14 (NRSV)
14. Luke 1:5-20
15. Luke 1:59-79 (NRSV)
16. Luke 1:76-77 (NRSV)
17. N.T. Wright.  Mark for Everyone.  2004, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 2
18. Matthew 3:11 (NRSV)
19. Barclay, p. 18
20. Matthew 3:13
21. Luke 10:1-9
22. Luke 10:17-18 (NRSV)
23. Acts 2:1-4
24. Acts 2:36
25. Acts 2:38
26. Acts 3:19-21
27. Hamilton, pp. 85-86
28. Matthew 3:2 (CEB)
29. John Wesley.  Sermon 42: “Satan's Devices.”  sec. II.2
30. https://ministrymatters.com/2020-03-03_an_order_for_morning_and_evening_prayer/
31. Romans 8:28 (CEB)
32. From the poem “Christmas Bells” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
33. Matthew 16:24

St. John the Baptist Preaching was painted by Mattia Preti in the 17th century.

Sermon: The Man in the Tree (2025)

Delivered at Few's Chapel United Methodist Church in Greer, South Carolina on November 2, 2025

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

The Man in the Tree

Audio Version

[Jesus] 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.”

Luke 19:1-10 (NRSV)

Oh Jesus, friend of sinners
Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners
Break our hearts for what breaks Yours

From “Jesus, Friend of Sinners” by Casting Crowns

Jericho was, at one time, a cursed city.  When the Israelites entered the Promised Land after their long journey through the wilderness, Jericho was the first city they attacked.  Led by Joshua, the Israelite soldiers circled the fortified city once per day for six days.  On the seventh day, they circled the city seven times; the priests blew their horns; the soldiers shouted; and miraculously “the walls came tumblin' down.”¹  The Israelite soldiers then invaded the city and slaughtered all of the people and livestock, sparing only the family of the woman who harbored Joshua's reconnaissance team.  They took no spoils but instead burned the entire city to the ground.  Joshua then declared that anyone who dared to rebuild the city of Jericho would be cursed by God.  At the cost of his oldest child, he would lay the foundations, and, at the cost of his youngest child, he would build the city gates.²

Centuries later, a very wicked king named Ahab came to power, and, along with his wife Jezebel, he turned the people of Israel against their God.  At that time, a man named Hiel oversaw the reconstruction of Jericho, perhaps as an act of rebellion against Israel's God and heritage.  Just as Joshua had prophesied, Hiel lost his oldest son when the foundations were laid and later lost his youngest son when the gates were built.³  After the city was established, the people of Jericho found themselves with a serious problem.  Contaminated water made people deathly ill, caused miscarriages, and rendered the soil unfit for growing crops.  Perhaps, rattling around in the people's minds was Joshua's curse.⁴  When the people turned to the prophet Elisha for help, he dumped a bowl of salt into the city's spring and pronounced the water clean.  Miraculously, the water no longer made people sick or caused the land to be unfruitful.⁵

By Jesus' day, Jericho has become prosperous.  Dates and balsam trees from the city are exported throughout the Roman Empire, generating a lot of revenue, and the location of the city within the Jordan Valley makes it a gateway to Jerusalem and to the lands east of the Jordan River.⁶  This city also happens to be one of Jesus' last stops on His way to Jerusalem.⁷

In the once-cursed city of Jericho, there lives a man named Zacchaeus, whom most of the residents probably regard as a curse.  An old children's song tells us that “Zacchaeus was a wee little man... and a wee little man was he.”  This “wee little man” might have a below-average height, but he has an above-average bank account.  He has amassed a great deal of wealth, presumably by working as a tax collector, and a prosperous city like Jericho is a great place to work as a tax collector.⁸  In the days of the Roman Empire, tax collectors bid on a district, and the one who can promise the most money to the Empire will be assigned to the district.  Any money he collects in excess of the amount he has promised the Empire is his to keep.  This system, which obviously lends itself to abuse, allows tax collectors to line their pockets quite nicely.  Some speculate that this broken system has been retired by the time of Jesus, but it has still shaped people's opinions of tax collectors like Zacchaeus.⁹

The Jewish people resent their Roman oppressors, and, because Zacchaeus is an employee of the Roman Empire who has presumably profited greatly from the Roman occupation, he is naturally regarded as a traitor by his fellow Jews.  Zacchaeus is not just any tax collector but rather the chief tax collector of his region, meaning that, if he profits from his own collections, he surely also receives a cut of the profits of all the tax collectors who report to him.¹⁰  As chief tax collector, he is, in the eyes of the people, chief scumbag.  In the eloquent words of scholar N.T. Wright,

One can only imagine the reaction of neighbours, and even of friends and relatives, as Zacchaeus's house became more lavishly decorated, as more slaves ran about at his bidding, as his clothes became finer and his food richer.  Everyone knew that this was their money and that he had no right to it; everyone knew that there was nothing they could do about it. ¹¹

Zacchaeus has undoubtedly become the most hated man in Jericho.

As the town pariah, Zacchaeus longs for something that all the money in the world cannot buy.  It is this longing that draws the chief tax collector to the traveling teacher, healer, and prophet known as Jesus of Nazareth.¹²  Perhaps he has heard something about Jesus' strange stories of lost sheep and wayward sons.¹³  Perhaps he has heard that Jesus routinely risks uncleanness to heal people whose medical problems have made them untouchable.¹⁴  Perhaps he has heard that Jesus has a heart for people with bad reputations, like the “sinful woman” who crashed a Pharisee's dinner party and made an awkward scene at the dinner table.¹⁵  Perhaps he has heard that Jesus shares meals with undesirables like tax collectors as if they are some of His best friends.¹⁶  Perhaps he has even heard rumors that Jesus has chosen a tax collector like him to be one of His closest pupils.¹⁷

Whatever Zacchaeus has heard about Jesus, when he learns that Jesus is passing through Jericho, he knows that he has to catch a glimpse of Him.  When he goes out to see Jesus, he cannot see because of the crowd.¹⁸  Naturally, he cannot see because he is, as some people say, “vertically challenged,” but it is also quite likely that the crowd does not want him to see Jesus.  All things considered, Zacchaeus demonstrates a great deal of bravery by going out among the crowd.  The size of the crowd would offer any angry resident of Jericho the opportunity to give him an anonymous shove, kick, or punch.¹⁹  Determined to see Jesus, Zacchaeus employs a skill he might not have used since the days of his childhood: he runs ahead of the crowd and climbs a tree.²⁰  He probably just wants to catch a glimpse of the mysterious Jesus of Nazareth and maybe even glean some words of wisdom as He passes by.  He surely has not anticipated what will happen next.  As soon as Jesus arrives at Zacchaeus's location, He stops at the tree, looks up at Zacchaeus, and says, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.”  As Zacchaeus gleefully climbs down the tree to welcome Jesus into his home, the people in the crowd begin to murmur with disgust that Jesus would associate with such a clearly despicable person.²¹

Zacchaeus is profoundly affected by his encounter with Jesus.  According to the New Revised Standard Version, he announces, “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.”²²  According to the Jewish Law, anyone who confesses to fraud or theft is only required to repay the amount of the damages plus one fifth.  Fourfold restitution is reserved for deliberately destructive actions.²³  Zacchaeus seems to be confronting the destructive nature of his actions, taking ownership of all the ways he has wronged the residents of Jericho, and committing to set things right.

So what does Jesus say to Zacchaeus that affects him so profoundly?  All we really know Jesus says to him is, “Hey, Zacchaeus!  We need somewhere to stay tonight.  Mind if we crash at your place?”

Jesus has a way of making the excluded feel included.

In the Gospel of John, we read that one day, while passing through a Samaritan town, Jesus sits down beside a well to rest while the Disciples go to the market to buy food.  When a woman comes to the well to draw some water, Jesus asks her for a drink.  Women normally draw water in the morning, but this woman has waited until noon so that she can avoid her peers, for a string of broken marriages in her past has given her a bad reputation.  It is remarkable that Jesus, a Jew, would even ask a Samaritan woman for a drink, since Jews and Samaritans generally hate each other, but Jesus is speaking with an outcast among outcasts.²⁴  Jesus takes the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart conversation with her that leaves her a changed woman.  She forgets all about her shame and tells everyone in town about the man she has come to believe is their long-awaited messiah.²⁵

Never underestimate the power of a simple act of inclusion.  Simply sitting with someone, talking with someone, sharing a meal with someone, asking someone for help and gratefully accepting their help, or doing anything that says to someone, “I'm with you, and I'm for you,” has the potential to make an impact in a person's life.

During my first two years of college, I was, for the most part, a loner and a hermit, mostly because I was a commuter.  Though I occasionally hung out with some of my high school friends who also attended the same university, I typically drove to campus every day, attended my classes, and then went home.

At the beginning of my Junior year, I learned about the Wesley Fellowship, the Untied Methodist group on campus.  The young men and women in this group knew how to make a person feel welcomed, included, and loved.  During the fall, I joined the group for a retreat at Lake Junaluska, and, during the retreat, we had a healing service.  When my turn came to sit in the middle of the circle, everyone placed their hands on me, and I felt the love of everyone in the room.  On one Friday evening, I went to the campus chapel to attend a lecture.  I saw some of my friends from the group sitting together on one of the pews, but, because the pew was full, I took a seat on the pew behind them where I would still be able to talk with them.  Three of my friends – Kim, Ginger, and John – stood up and moved back to sit with me.  I doubt they even remember doing this, but this small act of inclusion meant a lot to me.  Another friend turned around and said, “We could have squeezed you in.”

Being involved with the Wesley Fellowship changed my life.  For years, I had known that I needed to be a Christian, but this group made realize that I actually wanted to be a Christian.  I began to see church less as an event I attended every Sunday morning and more as a community built on love.  I think that maybe the inclusive nature of the group is part of what gave me a desire to make sure that the people around me feel included.  Is there any wonder why I would remain involved with the group for a few years after I graduated?

Theologian Paul Tillich describes God's grace as that which reaches out to us in our darkest moments, when we are at our lowest, and says, “You are accepted.  You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know...  Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!”  According to Tillich, in the moment we are “struck by grace,” nothing might seem different, yet somehow everything is changed.²⁶  To receive God's grace is to accept that we are accepted by God, and to extend that grace to other people is to accept them just as they are.

Does it sound offensive to you that someone as criminally unacceptable as Zacchaeus should be accepted just as he is?  If you find such an idea repugnant, you would be in good company among the crowd in Jericho that day.  Grace can be offensive to us when we become a little too sure of our own presumed goodness or a little too fixated on someone else’s supposed badness.

What if the people of Jericho are dead wrong about Zacchaeus, and what if we have been misreading the story of his encounter with Jesus?

Ancient languages like biblical Hebrew and Greek have ambiguities that require translators to make judgments regarding how to best translate a piece of ancient writing.  For example, there is a particular Greek word used throughout the New Testament that may be translated into English as either faith or faithfulness.  Reading a passage of the Bible from two different translations can show us how different translators have made different judgments.²⁷  Because so few of us can read the Bible in its original languages, most of us are dependent on the work of translators.  The judgments translators have to make directly affect how we read the Bible and how we interpret what we read.  There is one such ambiguity in the story of Zacchaeus’s encounter with Jesus.

According to the Common English Bible, when the people of Jericho begin expressing their outrage that Jesus “has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”  Zacchaeus announces, “Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor.  And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.”²⁸  Maybe Zacchaeus is telling Jesus what he has decided to do, or maybe he is telling Jesus what he already does.  Maybe Zacchaeus is turning over a new leaf.  Maybe he is leaving behind a life of greed and extortion and starting a new life of honesty and generosity.  Maybe Zacchaeus is already honest and generous.  Maybe he already makes it a habit to give to people who are in need, and maybe he already goes above and beyond what is necessary to make restitution to anyone he has accidentally overcharged.  Since names and their meanings are very important in the Bible, it is worth noting that the name Zacchaeus means “innocent” or “pure.”²⁹

One thing that is not at all ambiguous about the story of is the character of Jesus.  He sees Zacchaeus in the tree, knows who he is, and cares about him, regardless of what he may or may not have done.  Jesus says, regarding Zacchaeus, “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.”³⁰  Maybe Zacchaeus is lost because he has strayed from his faith, or maybe he is lost because he has been forsaken by his community.  Maybe he needs to be saved from his own worst impulses, or maybe he needs to be saved from other people's mistreatment of him.  Maybe Jesus’ acceptance saves him because it inspires him to become a better person, or maybe it saves him because it gives the people of Jericho the opportunity to see that they are wrong about him.  In either case, Zacchaeus’s life is forever changed by the grace Jesus shows.

It is not our job to change people, for that job belongs to God, and to God alone.  Our job is to follow Christ’s example by loving our neighbors and even our enemies as Christ loves us.  Loving other people and accepting them as they are has the power to change them, because it gives them a safe space to take a good hard look at their lives and reevaluate their choices, and it inspires them to become more loving as well.  Loving and accepting other people has the power to change us as well, because it enables us to see them in a different light.

We cannot change people, and, if we attempt to change people, we will only do more harm than good.  We can only love people and accept them just as they are.  Ironically, knowing that we're loved and accepted just as we are can change us in profound ways, and loving other people and accepting them just as they are can change our perceptions of them.  We, who have received the love and grace of God, must extend this love and grace to others.  When we love other people as Christ loves us, allowing God to work through us, there is no telling what kind of miracles God might work in their hearts or in ours.

Thanks be to God.  Amen.


Notes:

1. From an African-American spiritual
2. Joshua 6
3. 1 Kings 16:29-34
4. Rob Bell.  “Salt in the Water.”  Mars Hill Bible Church Podcast, 05/02/2010.
5. 2 Kings 2:19-22
6. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke.  2001, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 276
7. Luke 19:1
8. Luke 19:2-3
9. Barclay, pp. 76-77
10. N.T. Wright.  Luke for Everyone.  2004, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 222
11. Wright, pp. 222-223
12. Barclay, p. 278
13. Luke 15
14. Luke 5:12-16; Luke 8:43-48; Luke 17:11-19
15. Luke 7:36-50
16. Luke 5:29-32
17. Luke 5:27-28
18. Luke 19:3
19. Barclay, p. 278
20. Luke 19:4
21. Luke 19:5-7 (NRSV)
22. Luke 19:8 (NRSV)
23. Barclay, p. 278  (See also Leviticus 6:2-5 and Exodus 22:1.)
24. Adam Hamilton.  The Way: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus.  2012, Abingdon Press.  pp. 127-128
25. John 4:1-42
26. Paul Tillich.  The Shaking of the Foundations.  ch. 19
27. For example, see how Romans 3:22 and Galatians 2:16 are translated in both the Common English Bible and the New International Version.
28. Luke 19:7-8 (CEB) (emphasis added)
29. Blue Letter Bible: “zakchaios”
30. Luke 19:9-10 (NRSV)

Zacchaeus was painted by Niels Larsen Stevns in 1913.

Perspective: Feasting in God's Kingdom

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Feasting in God's Kingdom

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."

Matthew 4:17 (NRSV)

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now, in the morning, I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

From "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay

The next time you attend a church service, listen closely as the congregation prays the Lord's Prayer.  You might hear some people in attendance putting a little extra emphasis on the word thy as they pray, "Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."  Some of us realize that we often need to remind ourselves that the Kingdom for which we pray is not where all of our own hopes and dreams will be realized but rather where God's hopes and dreams, which are greater than ours, will be realized.

In the Gospel of Luke, we read that on one Sabbath day, Jesus is invited to attend a dinner party at the home of an evidently well-to-do religious leader.  The other people in attendance are watching Him closely to see if He says or does anything problematic, but He also happens to be watching them closely.  Jesus notices that some of the other guests are competing for the seats of honor at the table, as if they are trying to prove their importance to each other.  He also notices that all of the other guests are people of means who are likely to invite their host to dinner in return for inviting them.¹

At one point, one of the guests, who has been listening to what Jesus has been saying, says, "Happy are those who will feast in God's kingdom."²

In response to this seemingly obvious and innocuous comment, Jesus tells a parable about a rich man who once prepared a large banquet.  When he sent out one of his servants to let the people he invited know that dinner is ready, the servant reported back with excuses.  One of the guests could not attend because he had just bought a farm he needed to inspect.  Another guest could not attend because he had just bought a number of oxen.  A third guest said that he could not attend because he had just gotten married.³  Evidently all of the guests were wealthy or, to some degree, fortunate.

The rich man was angry that he was snubbed by all of the people he invited to his banquet.  He instructed his servant to go out into the city streets and to invite the people at the bottom rungs of society - people who normally would not be invited to lavish banquets.  The servant followed his instructions and reported that there was still room for more guests.  The rich man then sent him back out to invite to his banquet anyone who would attend.  Speaking of the people he originally invited to his banquet, he said, "I tell you, not one of those who were invited will taste my dinner."⁴

So, at a dinner party full of "important" people, one guest remarks that "those who will feast in God's kingdom" are "happy" or "blessed."⁵

And then, for some reason, Jesus feels the need to respond to this comment with a parable about a feast that all of the "important" people who were invited couldn't be bothered to attend.

I cannot help but think that Jesus might be making some counterintuitive statement about the Kingdom of God.  Could He be suggesting that the Kingdom of God might not be what the good, upstanding religious folk surrounding Him at the dinner table that Sabbath day expect it to be?  Could He be suggesting that, if some of them knew what the Kingdom of God really was, they might be as disinterested in feasting there as the people the rich man in the parable originally invited to his banquet?

I suspect that a lot of religious people, if they were honest, would have to admit that they expect the Kingdom of God - or Heaven or whatever they want to call it - to be like an exclusive club or a gated community for people who act like them and believe like them.  Maybe Jesus is suggesting that people who have this mindset are going to walk through the pearly gates and find themselves seriously disappointed.

Like the man at the dinner party, Jesus also likes to make announcements about who should be considered blessed.  At the beginning of His famous Sermon on the Mount, He announces that "blessed are the poor in spirit" because "theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  He goes on to announce blessing upon the grief stricken, the timid, and those who are desperate to see some justice, among other people.  Finally He announces that "blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake" because "theirs is the kingdom of heaven."⁶

It is as if Jesus is saying, "Blessed are you who are in crappy situations right now, because the Kingdom of God is for you."⁷

The Kingdom of God is where God reigns.  It is, as the prayer Jesus taught us to pray implies, where God's will is done "on earth, as it is in heaven."⁸  In one sense, it is anywhere there are people who truly strive to do God's will.  In another sense, it is a world restored to what God intended it to be.  The people who will be most receptive of the world to come are not the people who would consider themselves #blessed in the world as it is but rather the down-and-outers.

To pray for the coming of the Kingdom of God is to pray for the downfall of the kingdoms we design.  In the words of Richard Rohr, "To pray and actually mean, 'Thy Kingdom come,' we must also be able to say, 'My kingdoms go.'"⁹  It is worth noting that when Jesus announces the coming of the Kingdom of God, He also calls people to repent.¹⁰  If we really want to see God's will done in our lives and in our world, we need to be willing to rethink everything.


Notes:

1. Luke 14:1-14
2. Luke 14:15 (CEB)
3. Luke 14:16-21a
4. Luke 14:21b-24 (CEB)
5. Luke 14:15 (NRSV)
6. Matthew 5:3-10 (NRSV)
7. As Scholar Frederick Dale Bruner more eloquently states, "First and literally the Beatitudes are Jesus' surprisingly countercultural God-bless-yous to people in God-awful situations."  (Matthew, a Commentary: The Christbook, Matthew 1-12.  2004, Eerdmans Publishing Company.  p. 165)
8. Matthew 6:10
9. Richard Rohr.  "The Joy of Simplicity."  Center for Action and Contemplation, 05/01/2024.
10. Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:14-15

The photograph of the banquet hall has been released to the public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.