So week 4 of Lent. Regulars will know that this year for Lent we are reading passages from Luke 9 to 19 and reflecting on what it means to follow Jesus to the cross. This part of Luke’s gospel is known as the travel narratives because in it Luke documents Jesus journey from Galilee to Jerusalem.
Jesus starts his journey by entering Samaria which we reflected on two weeks ago. But he was not welcomed there so he moved on to another village. Along the way he continued to call people to follow. He is brutally honest about the cost of this journey to himself and those who would follow. Some choose not to go but many others do.
Last week we read the passage about Jesus entering the village and home of Mary and Martha. As it almost always does Jesus coming into their home and lives, calls into question all their other commitments, to family, tradition, culture, reputation, social norms and expectations.
From the home of Mary and Martha Jesus continued south stopping in various unnamed villages and towns.
In each one he sets about healing, teaching, denouncing the powerful Pharisees and lawyers, calling for repentance. He continues to speak of his upcoming death and resurrection but those around him fail to grasp it. There is a growing sense of urgency to what he is doing and saying.
He tells some of his most beloved but also his most provocative parables on the way to Jerusalem. The parable of the mustard seed, the lost sheep and the prodigal son but also the parable of the rich fool, the barren fig tree and the dishonest manager.
Wealth and power and what one should do with it, certainly become central themes in his teaching. Here is a just a couple of things Jesus has to say,
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
“Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
“Jesus looked at the rich young man and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
There is much more. The squirmy fact for us is, Jesus talked about money a lot. I am not going to expound on these words. They are clear enough and powerful enough on their own. And unlike Jesus, talking about money will only make me a hypocrite. I truly do not have the relationship with it I would like. I worry about it more than I should, I struggle to give it away, it distorts my values, making it harder for me to the person I want to be. I am working on this. We all should be because Jesus talks about money and possessions more than just about any other topic. He knows there is something in its allure that grabs hold of us and doesn’t easily let go. He wants us to be free from this.
Despite all the hard talk of money, the really scary and weird talk of death and resurrection, the fact that Jesus breaks with all the social norms and expectations he continues to gather a large following. It seems for a lot of people the cost of following Jesus is a price worth paying to be with him. The people are excited about what he is saying, it is not like anything they have heard before. He is casting a vision of the Kingdom of God in which justice and mercy reign. He is turning everything upside down and it is life giving to them.
And so as he approaches Jericho, a town just outside Jerusalem the word is spreading that he is arriving and the people go out to meet him. In Jesus time this was how people showed honour to someone important who is arriving.
As we read there is a blind beggar on the road who cries out, “Jesus Son of David, have mercy on me.” Despite every effort from the crowd to silence the man Jesus hears him. The man is brought to Jesus and Jesus asks him, what do you want me to do for you?” It seems like a strange question, perhaps even tasteless. It’s pretty clear right, he wants to be healed. But maybe not? Maybe when the man shouted out for mercy, he was just asking for money. To be healed would certainly be a big change for this man. He would likely have to find another way to make money, something he had never done before. Healing is never easy, even in this rare occasion in which it is instantaneous. Jesus was right to ask. And it reminds us to not assume we know what others want and need. But the man says he does want to see and so Jesus says, “Receive your sight, your faith has saved you.” And the man receives his sight and the people praise God.
Jesus then enters Jericho. It seems he was planning to pass through, but instead he encounters Zacchaeus and decides to stay at his home.
The story does not tell us why Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. Zacchaeus was a very wealthy man. Jesus had hard things to say to wealthy men and so it seems more likely that someone like Zacchaeus would want to hide from Jesus. Maybe, this was in fact what he was doing in the tree. Hiding. Hiding from Jesus but also from the crowds who hated him. Sycamore trees have big leaves and low branches, perfect for hiding in. Perhaps Zacchaeus had run ahead of the crowd to climb the tree without anyone seeing him. He could see Jesus but could not be seen by him. No doubt when he is caught there is a bit of shame for Zacchaeus, powerful men of that time did not climb trees (powerful men of this time probably don’t climb trees much either).
The story does not tell us how Jesus knew Zacchaeus name and who he was. Kenneth Bailey, in his book, Jesus through middle eastern eyes has suggested that it was likely the crowds had spotted him and had gathered around to torment him. Bailey thinks it likely there was a “whiff of anticipated violence in the air.” Passover is days away, the time when the Jews remember their liberation from Egypt. And now they are under occupation by the Romans and this man is benefitting from this. A big crowd like that could potentially dispose of Zacchaeus anonymously.
But Jesus decided to intervene. Despite the fact he was actually on his way out of town he stops, he goes over to Zacchaeus and again breaking with social norms he invites himself to stay night.
The crowd, understandably, is not happy. Zacchaeus is not a good guy, he has become very rich by stealing from the ordinary townsfolk. How could Jesus be siding with this man? I do not think Jesus is “siding” with Zacchaeus, Jesus is mostly less interested in picking a side than we often are. Nor is he in any way condoning Zacchaeus’ actions. But Jesus loves Zacchaeus and will not allow violence to be perpetrated against him. He wants to see Zacchaeus forgiven, transformed, restored to his community, not cancelled from it. Jesus risks the retaliation of the crowd to show Zacchaeus love. And it is transformative. Zacchaeus, gives himself and his life wholeheartedly to Jesus. And without even been prompted, promises to give half his possessions to the poor and to pay back those he has defrauded four times as much. Here finally someone is saying I will follow you Jesus with no buts. Someone responding all that teaching about money.
We do not know if Zacchaeus did pay back all that money, if it was even possible, but I choose to believe he tried. And that perhaps slowly, respectfully, humbly, never forcefully, giving people the time and space they need Zacchaeus was able to regain the trust of his community.
To be able to change, we need people to believe we can. We need people to see our humanity, to show us a pathway. I wish this was something our justice system understood a little more. I wish this was something we all understood a little more.
This story is the climax of the travel narratives that we have been focusing on these last three weeks. It highlights so much of what Jesus has been saying about money and discipleship. It ends with the words, “Today salvation has come into this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
The next stop for Jesus is Jerusalem. This story of the blind beggar and Zacchaeus this story of costly love give us a glimpse of what is to come. There is nothing that Jesus won’t do to bring healing, to bring salvation and redemption to all of us and to all creation.
