2019
November 3 / 31st Sunday
●●
Wisdom 11:22 – 12:2 ● Psalm 145
● 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2 ● + Luke 19:1-10 ●●
Title: I Wish
I Was a Little Bit Taller (Zacchaeus), (2019-11-03)
[__01__] What do you expect – what do I expect – at a
reunion?
Say
– a high school reunion which I attended recently. I will not say how many
years only that this was the 25th anniversary of our 10-year
reunion. I skipped the 10 year reunion.
What I expected was to have difficulty
with the comparison or recognition – over the years - do I know you?
This was helped by the wearing of a
nametag with my real black-and-white – or the kids today say … “grayscale” --
yearbook photo.
[__02__] What
do we expect/compare at such an alumni/reunion gathering? We may compare
ourselves to each other:
·
What are you doing?
·
Where do you live?
·
How many
colleges did you enroll at and bounce around …? 1 classmate attended 3 colleges
– one after the other -- and still graduated on time… I was very impressed!
Of course, this line of questioning can lead
to curious conversation and “catching up” …that’s good.
It could lead us to reflect on our lives, our
own gifts, to be grateful, that’s good.
Or, even a sense of something we want to change
for the better in ourselves because we admire something in another.
[__03__] In the Gospel we have just read, Zacchaeusis
at a reunion, but he is certainly not being inducted into anybody’s “Hall of
Fame”.
It is more like the “hall of shame”
for him, a gathering of the town of Jericho. People are gathered because Jesus
was in town and no one was going to let Zacchaeus up front for a better
view. (Similar to last Sunday’s
Gospel in the revilement and paradox of a converted tax collector).
Everyone knows who Zacchaeus, the
reviled and resented tax collector is. He does not need a name tag. His
reputation precedes him.
[__04__] I’d like to reflect here on the experience of
“being compared…” …… “being contrite”…..and “being converted….”
Zacchaeus – and you and I – can
experience COMPARISON + CONTRITION on
the way to CONVERSION …or a change of heart/mind toward Christ.
[__05__] If we
all do is “compare” ourselves to others, this can be more of an obstacle than a
way forward.
As an example, I would like to quote a
song .. that seems to apply especially well to Zacchaeus and how he is regarded and why he is disregarded.
At least on a superficial level…
I know I talked about a song last
Sunday … this is a different song.
Skee-Lo –is the singer’s name… “Skee-Lo” -- is
about as good of an example of a (musical) one-hit-wonder you can give. In
1995, his [hip hop rap-song] single "I Wish" managed to hit near the
top of [popular] music charts worldwide.
The lyrics of “I wish” made an
impression – in the mid-1990’s on my friends, me, my siblings as well really
liked the song which continued with his main line …”I wish I was a little bit
taller.” (Grammarly did not catch this one either… should
“I wish I were a little bit taller” …anyway, I’m just saying…)
But, really not just a little bit
taller …but rather 6 foot 9 …that’s one inch more than LeBron James.
And, if he were taller then he would
have all the things he wants….
[__06__] Zacchaeus also wants to be taller – at least
to get away from or above the crowd.
There exists a temptation to compare
ourselves with others …even for the devout and believing people of the town to
compare themselves favorably to Zacchaeus. That was last Sunday’s rebuke by the
Pharisee of the tax collector at the Temple.
However, true sorrow for our sins and
true forgiveness is not about what we can see or show visibly. Jesus’ call to us to confession and
conversion is not about outward works that everyone can see. In the Gospel we
read that conversion begins when “do not let our left hand know what our right
hand is doing.”
And, it is certainly a sign of his
conversion that Zacchaeus is willing to pay back 4x what he owes, but Zacchaeus
also shows us that we are called to use everything in our environment to get
closer to God, to Jesus.
In Zacchaeus’ case, he uses the tree.
He wants to be a little bit taller on the way to his conversion.
[__07__]
What do we expect at a reunion? We expect to come home. Doing so, we may -- at a reunion, at a good reunion, we sometimes do turn the clock back (figuratively) more than turning it
back one hour (for end of Daylight Savings), we may turn the clock back – years or decades ..in moments of
recall/nostalgia.
Zacchaeus is recalling who he really is, not
as nostalgia but as new life.
I could be changed for the better by
being more like the humble tax collector and less like the Pharisee.
Yes, I do wish at time that I were
taller, smarter, stronger, faster, but compared to whom?
Do I measure myself only against,
compare myself only to others?
And, just as toxic, do I only measure
the goodness others compared to me as the standard?
Do help others to be like Christ or do
I want them to be like me?
As aspiring saints, we look toward our
Savior, to be a little bit taller, not only as individuals but also together as
one growing and nourished with the Body and Blood of Christ.
The reunion is with our Savior.
Zacchaeus, I mean to stay at your house today.
[__fin__]
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