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.

Perspective: Surprised by the Spirit

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

Surprised by the Spirit

I have much more to say to you, but you can't handle it now.  However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth.  He won't speak on his own, but will say whatever he hears and will proclaim to you what is to come.  He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and proclaim it to you.

John 16:12-14 (CEB)

I make you uncomfortable
When I'm around
You always find a reason
To shut me out
You don't understand me
So you push me away
And you claim
Jesus lets you live that way

From "Unlovable" by Plumb

In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that one day the apostle Peter, a leader in the growing community of Jesus' followers, finds himself in hot water.  Some of his fellow believers in Jerusalem are appalled by some of his recent actions, so he shares with them a surprising story.¹

One day not long ago, while Peter was staying with a friend in Joppa, he withdrew to the rooftop to pray.  As he grew hungry, he fell into a trance and saw a strange vision.  A giant sheet was lowered to Earth from Heaven, and on this sheet were animals of all kinds.  A voice from Heaven called out to Peter, saying, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat."²

Peter was born and raised in the Jewish faith, so he was taught to faithfully follow the Jewish Law, including dietary rules found in the Book of Leviticus.  Many of the animals on the sheet lowered from Heaven were forbidden to eat or even to touch.³  Surprisingly, Peter was being instructed by God to do something he had been explicitly taught not to do, something contrary to the holy scriptures of his religion.  Naturally, Peter objected to the voice's instructions, claiming that he had never eaten anything "profane or unclean."⁴

The voice from Heaven called out to Peter again, saying, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane."  This verbal exchange happened three times, and then the giant sheet covered with animals was taken back up to Heaven.  Peter sat on the rooftop, trying to figure out what in the world he had just seen.⁵

Peter would soon realize that the strange vision he was just shown was not about food specifically.  It was meant to teach him that God will sometimes call him to do something he had been previously taught was out-of-bounds.

While Peter was still mulling over what he had just seen, some men arrived at the house and started asking for him.  The Holy Spirit said to Peter, "Look, three men are searching for you.  Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them."  Peter met with the three men and learned that they had been sent by a Roman centurion named Cornelius, whom they described as "an upright and God-fearing man."  Peter invited the messengers to stay with him for the evening, and, the next day, he set out with them to Cornelius's house in the city of Caesarea.⁶

Cornelius was a "God-fearer,"⁷ meaning that, though he had not fully converted to the Jewish religion and started following the Jewish Law, he worshiped in the God of the Jewish people.⁸  He was also known for his generosity.⁹  All that said, there were a couple of things that would make Peter hesitant to associate with him.  First, Cornelius was a Gentile, a non-Jewish person.  In the same way that Peter had been taught to not eat any foods considered unclean, he had been taught to not closely associate with Gentiles, who were also considered unclean.  Second, Cornelius was a high-ranking officer in the Roman military, meaning that Peter's people would have considered him an oppressor.¹⁰

When Peter arrived at Cornelius's house, he saw that the centurion, his family, and his friends had all gathered to hear what Peter would say to them.  Peter, who had come to realize that his strange vision was not about animals or food but about human beings, said, "You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean."¹¹

Peter asked Cornelius why he sent for him, and Cornelius revealed that a messenger of God appeared to him and instructed him to send for Peter.  Peter then said, "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him."¹²

Peter proceeded to tell everyone gathered at Cornelius's house about the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  While he was still speaking, the Holy Spirit descended upon the centurion, his friends, and his family and empowered them to speak in languages they did not know previously, in the same way that the Holy Spirit descended upon Peter and Jesus' other disciples on the day of Pentecost.  Astonished, Peter asked, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"¹³

Peter concludes his story, asking, "If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?"  Those who had questioned Peter's actions now find themselves awestruck and full of praise.¹⁴

Peter's surprising story had some profound implications for the early Church.  The first followers of Jesus were Jewish like He was, and naturally they thought that the movement He started was for people of their own faith.  The Holy Spirit called Peter to reach out beyond the boundaries of his own faith tradition and to welcome people he had been taught to exclude, and his story showed his fellow believers that God's intentions for the Church were greater than they ever imagined, that not just their own people but all people were called to follow Christ.

Is it possible that Peter's story also has implications for the modern-day Church?  Is it possible that God is calling us to minister to others in ways that we were taught were out-of-bounds?  Is it possible that God is calling us to start including certain people we were taught to exclude?

I wonder how many Christians nowadays are capable of being led and taught by the Holy Spirit in the surprising way that Peter was, because so many of us assume that God will abide by our theology or our interpretations of the Bible.  Jesus told His first followers that they had not yet learned everything they would ever need to know and that they would need to continue learning from the Holy Spirit.¹⁵  The same is true about His followers today.

---

For more thoughts on including those we've been taught to exclude, see my 2020 perspective "What Matters Most."


Notes:

1. Acts 11:1-4
2. Acts 10:9-13 (NRSV)
3. Leviticus 11
4. Acts 10:14 (NRSV)
5. Acts 10:15-17 (NRSV)
6. Acts 10:17-24 (NRSV)
7. Acts 10:1-2
8. William Barclay.  The Acts of the Apostles, Revised Edition.  1976, Westminster Press.  p. 79
9. Acts 10:2
10. William H. Willimon.  Acts (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching).  1988, John Knox Press.  p. 95
11. Acts 10:24-28 (NRSV)
12. Acts 10:29-35 (NRSV)
13. Acts 10:36-47 (NRSV)
14. Acts 11:17-18 (NRSV)
15. John 16:12-13

The illustration of Peter's preaching at Cornelius's house is from The Story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation by Charles Foster.

Perspective: What Matters Most

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

What Matters Most

Love never fails.  As for prophecies, they will be brought to an end.  As for tongues, they will stop.  As for knowledge, it will be brought to an end...  Now faith, hope, and love remain - these three things - and the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:8, 13 (CEB)

You invite us in
Doesn't matter who we've been
Your arms are open wide
Pulling us to Your side

From "You Invite Me In" by Meredith Andrews

In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that, one day, a man named Philip is instructed by an angel of God to go to a highway that leads west from Jerusalem.¹  On the highway he spots a chariot, which the Holy Spirit instructs him to approach.  In the chariot is a man from Ethiopia who serves as an official in the queen's court.  As a believer in the God of Israel, he has been in Jerusalem worshiping God, and, while he was there, he obtained a copy of the Book of Isaiah.  At that moment, he is reading a passage that is sometimes called the Song of the Suffering Servant.²

As Philip approaches the man from Ethiopia and listens as he reads, he asks him if he knows what he is reading.  At the man's invitation, Philip boards the chariot.  The Ethiopian, who has been reading about someone who was led like a sheep to the slaughter, humiliated, and denied justice, asks Philip whom the prophet is describing.  Philip then tells him about Jesus, who was put on trial by the religious and political authorities, unjustly sentenced to die by a humiliating crucifixion, and resurrected from the dead by God.

Profoundly moved by the Gospel story, the man from Ethiopia wants to dedicate his life to following Jesus.  Seeing some water in the distance, he orders his drivers to stop the chariot and says to Philip, "Look, here is water!  What is to prevent me from being baptized?"

That is a good question.

What could prevent this man from being baptized?

What indeed?

What if I told you that the Bible could prohibit this man from being baptized?

As a man who serves the queen of Ethiopia, the man in the chariot is a eunuch.  In other words, his genitals have been removed.  The Book of Deuteronomy, which is one of the books of the Law, clearly states that "no one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord."³  According to Scripture, this man is straight out of luck.

And yet, despite this biblical prohibition, God has clearly led Philip to this man and to this moment.  Philip, who surely knows what his Scriptures say about eunuchs, says nothing about the fact that the man has been castrated.  At most, he says, "If you believe with all your heart, you may [be baptized]," to which the Ethiopian says, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."⁴  The two disembark the chariot, and Philip baptizes the man from Ethiopia.

By and large, the Church has always affirmed the authority of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament in matters of faith.  That said, what do we do when, like Philip, we believe that God is calling us to do something that, on the surface, seems contrary to the Scriptures we affirm?

A friend of mine who was once facing such a dilemma considered which apology she would rather owe to God, assuming that whatever choice she made turned out to be wrong.  She considered whether she would rather apologize for doing what she wrongly believed God was calling her to do or apologize for not doing what God really was calling her to do.  If Philip had followed such a thought process he would have considered whether he would rather apologize to God for wrongly welcoming the man from Ethiopia into the assembly of God that is the Church or apologize to God for turning the man away from a life of following in the footsteps of Christ.

When facing such dilemmas, we need to remember what matters most.  St. Paul writes that "the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"⁵  St. James refers to this summarizing commandment as the "royal law," as it is the law taught to us by our King, namely Jesus.⁶  Jesus himself names this commandment as one of the greatest commandments, second only to the command to love God with all one's heart, soul, and mind.⁷  "On these two commandments," He says, "hang all the law and the prophets."⁸

Adam Hamilton recently suggested that, when we are unsure of what we should do, we should ask ourselves, "What is the most loving thing I can do in this particular situation?"⁹  For Philip, the most loving thing he could do when he encountered the man from Ethiopia was to welcome him into the community of faith and into a life as a disciple of Christ.  If he erred, he erred on the side of love and inclusion.  Nearly two thousand years later, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church still looks to the Ethiopian eunuch, who could never father children, as a spiritual ancestor.

Life is more complex than we want to admit, and our decisions are more difficult than we want them to be.  Simply knowing which Bible verses to quote in any given situation does not get us out of the hard work of discerning what God is calling us to do.  As Christians, we look not only to the Bible for answers but also to Christ Himself, who taught us that we are called to love our neighbors and showed us what it means to love our neighbors through His life and even through His death.


Notes:

1. A majority of this perspective is based on Acts 8:26-39.  Quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version.
2. Isaiah 52:13-53:12
3. Deuteronomy 23:1 (NRSV)
4. Note that this part of the story is found as a footnote in many Bibles, as it does not appear in the oldest manuscripts of the Acts of the Apostles.
5. Galatians 5:14 (NRSV)
6. James 2:8
7. Matthew 22:37-39
8. Matthew 22:40 (NRSV)
9. Adam Hamilton.  "Testify to Love."  Church of the Resurrection, 10/04/2020.

The Baptism of the Eunuch was painted by Rembrandt in 1626.

Sermon: The Man in the Tree

Delivered at Bethel United Methodist Church and at Salem United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina on November 13, 2016

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 trek through the desert, Jericho was the first city they attacked.  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 the walls of the city miraculously "came tumbling down."  They 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.¹

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 city gates were built.²  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.³  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.⁴

By Jesus' day, Jericho had become prosperous.  Dates and balsam trees from the city were exported throughout the Roman Empire, generating a lot of revenue, and the location of the city within the Jordan Valley made it a gateway to Jerusalem and to the lands east of the Jordan River.⁵  This city also happened to be, according to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus' last stop on His way to Jerusalem.

In the city of Jericho, we meet a man named Zacchaeus, who was probably considered to be a curse by most of the residents.  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 had a below average height, but he had an above average income.  He had amassed a great deal of wealth by working as a tax collector, and a prosperous city like Jericho was a good place to work as a tax collector.  In the days of the Roman Empire, tax collectors would bid on a district, and the one who could promise the most money to the Empire would be assigned to the district.  Any money he collected in excess of the amount he promised the Empire was his to keep.  This system, which obviously lent itself to abuse, allowed tax collectors to line their pockets quite nicely.  Some speculate that this broken system might have been retired by the time of Jesus, but, even so, it still would have shaped the people's opinions of tax collectors like Zacchaeus.⁶

The Jewish people hated their Roman oppressors, and, because Zacchaeus was an employee of the Roman Empire who lived high on the hog thanks to the Roman occupation, he would have been regarded as a traitor by his fellow Jews.  Zacchaeus was not just any tax collector: he was the chief tax collector of his region.  Not only did he profit from his own collections, he also received a cut of the profits of all the tax collectors who reported to him.⁷  As chief tax collector – and chief scumbag – Zacchaeus had likely earned for himself the title of most hated man in Jericho.  In the eloquent words of 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.⁸

As the town pariah, this first-century Bernie Madoff⁹ longed for something that all the money in the world could not buy.  It was this longing that drew Zacchaeus to the traveling teacher, healer, and prophet known as Jesus of Nazareth.¹⁰  Perhaps he had heard something about Jesus' strange stories of lost sheep and wayward sons.¹¹  Perhaps he had heard that Jesus risked uncleanness to heal people whose medical problems had made them unclean and untouchable.¹²  Perhaps he had heard that Jesus once stuck up for a prostitute who crashed a Pharisee's dinner party and made an awkward scene at the dinner table.¹³  Perhaps he had heard that Jesus shared meals with undesirables like tax collectors as if they were some of His best friends.¹⁴  Perhaps he had even heard rumors that Jesus had chosen a tax collector like him to be one of His pupils.¹⁵

Whatever Zacchaeus had previously heard about Jesus, when he learned that Jesus was passing through Jericho, he knew that he had to catch a glimpse of Him.  When he went out to see Jesus, he could not see because of the crowd.  Naturally, he couldn't see because he was, as some people say, "vertically challenged," but it is quite likely that the crowd didn't want him to see Jesus.  All things considered, Zacchaeus was actually quite brave to go out among the crowd.  The size of the crowd would have afforded any angry resident of Jericho the opportunity to give him an anonymous shove, kick, or punch.¹⁶  Determined to see Jesus, Zacchaeus employed a skill he might not have used since the days of his childhood: he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a tree.  He probably just wanted to catch a glimpse of the mysterious Jesus of Nazareth and maybe even glean some words of wisdom as He passed by.  He had not anticipated what would happen next.  As soon as Jesus arrived at Zacchaeus's location, He stopped at the tree, looked up at Zacchaeus, and said, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today."

Zacchaeus turned over a new leaf after meeting Jesus.  He pledged to give half of his possessions to those in need, and he promised to make fourfold restitution to anyone he had cheated.¹⁷  According to the Jewish Law, anyone who confessed to fraud or theft was only required to repay the amount of the damages plus one fifth.  Fourfold restitution was reserved for deliberately destructive actions.¹⁸  Basically, Zacchaeus confronted the destructive nature of his actions, took ownership of all the ways he had wronged the residents of Jericho, and committed to set things right.  He resolved to leave behind a life of dishonesty and greed to embrace a life of integrity and generosity.
   
So what could Jesus have possibly said to Zacchaeus that would have caused such a radical change?  All we really know Jesus said to Zacchaeus is, "Hey, Zacchaeus!  We need somewhere to stay tonight.  Mind if we crash at your place?"

Jesus had 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 sat down beside a well to rest while the Disciples went to the market to buy food.  When a woman came to the well to draw some water, Jesus asked her for a drink.  Women normally drew water in the morning, but this woman waited until noon so that she could avoid her peers, for a string of broken marriages in her past had 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 hated each other, but Jesus was speaking with an outcast among outcasts.¹⁹  Jesus took the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart conversation with her that left her a changed woman.  She forgot all about her shame and told everyone in town about the man she had come to believe was their long-awaited messiah.²⁰

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 his or her 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 not too long afterward, 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."

It it any wonder that I would remain involved with such a group for three years after I graduated?

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 the desire to make sure that the people around me feel included.

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.²¹  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 have been in good company among the crowd in Jericho that day.  When Jesus made His request to stay at Zacchaeus's house, people began grumbling about the fact that He would be willing to associate with such a despicable sinner, but, to borrow a phrase from St. Paul, "where sin abounded, grace abounded much more."²²  Grace can be offensive to us when we become a little too sure of our own goodness and forget that we too are in need of grace.

It is not our place to change people: that job belongs to God, and to God alone.  Our job is to love our neighbors and even our enemies as Christ loves us, following His example.  In the words of John Pavlovitz, "It's a really bad idea to set out to change another person.  Instead, set out to love them, and they will become whatever they are supposed to become"  Jesus did not tell Zacchaeus that he needed to change; instead, Jesus simply reached out to him and accepted him just as he was.  Zacchaeus was changed by the grace Jesus showed him: he saw past the person he had been and began to see the person he could be.  He was saved from his former self and from the alienation his actions had brought him, and a new faith was born within him.

Jesus says of Zacchaeus, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham."  Abraham, who had the faith to leave everything familiar to him and go to the place where God had called him to go, is the revered ancestor of the Jewish people.  One question that comes up multiple times in the New Testament concerns what it means to be a child of Abraham, for it is not merely a matter of ancestry.  In one Gospel, Jesus suggests that a child of Abraham is one who does Abraham's works.²³  St. Paul argues that a child of Abraham is one who shares Abraham's faith.²⁴  I find it noteworthy that Zacchaeus did not express any desire to leave everything and follow Jesus like a number of others who encountered Him.  Following Jesus on His travels would have been an easy way for Zacchaeus to get out of dodge, away from all the people who hated him, press the reset button on his life, and start over.  Instead, he chose to stay in Jericho to repair his relationship with the people of the city and to make amends to the people he had wronged.  It requires great faith to venture out into worlds unknown, like Abraham, but sometimes we need great faith just to face the world we know.

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.  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.

Amen.


Notes:

1. Joshua 6
2. 1 Kings 16:29-34
3. Rob Bell.  "Salt in the Water."  Mars Hill Bible Church Podcast, 05/02/2010.
4. 2 Kings 2:19-22
5. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke.  2001, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 276
6. Barclay, pp. 76-77
7. N.T. Wright.  Luke for Everyone.  2004, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 222
8. Wright, pp. 222-223
9. I think I originally heard Rob Bell make this comparison in one of his sermons.
10. Barclay, p. 278
11. Luke 15
12. Luke 5:12-16; Luke 8:43-48; Luke 17:11-19
13. Luke 7:36-50
14. Luke 5:29-32
15. Luke 5:27-28
16. Barclay, p. 278
17. Several years ago, I learned from my pastor that there is some ambiguity in the original Greek text in regards to the verb tense Zacchaeus uses.  Zacchaeus might be telling Jesus what he will do, but it is possible that he is telling Jesus what he already does.  The latter reading is reflected in the Common English Bible.  Zacchaeus is typically understood to have been a greedy and dishonest tax collector, but it is possible that he was actually an honest and generous tax collector who was misjudged by the people.  I have chosen the conventional reading for the purpose of this sermon.
18. Barclay, p. 278  (See also Leviticus 6:2-5 and Exodus 22:1.)
19. Adam Hamilton.  The Way: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus.  2012, Abingdon Press.  pp. 127-128
20. John 4:1-42
21. Paul Tillich.  The Shaking of the Foundations.  ch. 19
22. Romans 5:20 (NKJV)
23. John 8:39
24. Romans 4:16

Zacchaeus was painted by Niels Larsen Stevns in 1913.

Introspection: A Simple Act of Inclusion

The following introspection is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at Slater United Methodist Church in Slater-Marietta, South Carolina on October 30, 2016.  The entire sermon, titled "The Man in the Tree," will be posted on November 13, 2016.

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

A Simple Act of Inclusion

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."

Luke 19:5-7 (NRSV)

You invite us in

Doesn't matter who we've been

Your arms are open wide

Pulling us to Your side

From "You Invite Me In" by Meredith Andrews

Jesus had 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 sat down beside a well to rest while the Disciples went to the market to buy food.  When a woman came to the well to draw some water, Jesus asked her for a drink.  Women normally drew water in the morning, but this woman waited until noon to avoid her peers, for a string of broken marriages in her past had 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 hated each other, but Jesus was speaking with an outcast among outcasts.¹  Jesus took the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart conversation with her that left her a changed woman.  She forgot all about her shame and told everyone in town about the man she had come to believe was their long-awaited messiah.²

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 his or her 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 what made me want to make sure that the people around me feel included.  Is there any wonder why I would remain involved with the group for three years after I graduated?


Notes:

1. Adam Hamilton.  The Way: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus.  2012, Abingdon Press.  pp. 127-128
2. John 4:1-42

The painting of Jesus and the Woman at the Well was painted by Carl Heinrich Bloch in the late 1800s.