beyond

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October 30, 2022
Beyond
Rev. Patricia Wagner

Scripture:
Luke 19:1-10

​Luke 19: 1-10                       
Jesus came to Jericho and was passing through it, and many people went to see him walk by. A man was there named Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector and wealthy, who was trying to get a glimpse of him, but could not, on  account of the crowd, because he was short in stature. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because Jesus was going to pass that way.
 5When Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to him  “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6So Zacchaeus came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 
7All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” 
8Zacchaeus stood there and said to Jesus:  “Look, Lord, half of my possessions, I will give to the poor; and if I have cheated anyone out of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 
9Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
Before we hear this anthem,
I was reading and a pastor, in the midst of COVID,
and wrote, when we have a choir again,
 this is the song I will ask them to sing:
 
In it you will hear the themes of this stewardship season.
 
Belonging to one another,
            Good travelers move in company.
            we travel together as one
 
Becoming
         we know not where the road will lead
         but we move in faith making love our creed
 
And Beyond
         Sharing bread with those in need
         giving help to those who fall.  
         Yet far beyond the setting sun,
         there shines a light of a victory won;
 
Now, the Chancel Choir,
accompanied by Adrielle Van Bibber
and directed by Greg White
with, “The Journey is Our Home” 
 
 
The Journey Is Our Home by Allen Pote
Awake, arise, the journey’s begun.
We travel on together as one.
We know not where the road will lead,
but we move in faith, making love our creed as we follow;
The journey is our home.
Good trav’lers walk with company,
sharing bread with those in need.
Giving help along the way to those who fall,
who wander astray as we follow;
The journey is our home.
Join with us in jubilee.
Celebrate God’s family.
Sing together joyfully.
Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.
Praise for evermore!
 
God moves with us as we go.
He hears our cry, our pain He knows.
Yet far beyond the setting sun,
there shines a light of a victory won;
The journey, the journey is our home.
Join with us in jubilee.
Celebrate God’s family.
Sing together joyfully.
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia,
Praise for evermore.
 
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Jesus is journeying,
         and passes through Jericho
                  Stories of his healing powers and the power of his words
                           have proceeded him
                                    and people come out just to see him walk by. 
 
Zacchaeus is the chief tax collector,
         he has bought that position, paid Rome up front,
                  and now collects more tax than is due and pockets it,  
                            and he is despised for it.
                              
He is curious about Jesus
                perhaps he has always felt small inside,
                         no matter how great his wealth
                  we can understand that,
                        Mister Rogers used to tell children  
                           how grown ups often feel small, insignificant
                                    on the inside, too
                                            
            Perhaps there is within Zaccheaus
                   a longing for something he can’t even describe
                           beyond anything he could buy.
                                        And we understand that, too. 
            Perhaps he is lonely,
                    Dag Hammerskjold’s the great Swedish leader
                  and head of the United Nations who wrote of his
                           own loneliness:
“       pray your loneliness is spurring you into finding
                        something to live for,
                                    something great enough to die for.”
 
and he wants to see this man who is inviting people
         into community and growth and more,
                  into belonging, becoming and beyond
 
so Zacchaeus climbs up a sycamore tree
         to see the holy man walk by.  
 
But, surprisingly,  it is Jesus who sees him,
        and calls him out, miraculously, by name,  
                        Zacchaeus,  come down to me.
                                    for I must stay at your house
          
Jesus, the holy one, insists,
         for perhaps he is like Mister Rogers in a crowd of children
                  he could always seem to find the most vulnerable ones
         Jesus Zacchaeus, recognizes the longing,
                  the searching heart behind his eyes,
                            and so, to the dismay of the crowd,
                                     invites himself into the home
                                              of the most unholy and despised of men.
                                     
This happens over and over in Luke’s account
         Women, men and children,
                  whom others see as without merit,
                           Jesus leans in with them.  
 
in this story, as Frederick Buechner says: 
         The mob points out that the man Jesus is talking to
                        is a public disaster.
                                    Jesus' silence is deafening.
 
The people watching him do not realize
    that Jesus is the Christ
         God’s grace, God’s love made known in creation,
                  and that love and grace moves beyond any line we might
                           think can’t be crossed,
                                    for there is nothing and no one outside of God.
 
                   God’s affection is constantly, continuously
                           coming toward us: 
                                in the light of every star
                                    and birdsong and
                                              leaf bright with glory,
                  God is ever and always present
                           and waiting for the opening of our heart
                                    of our mind, of our eyes.    
 
Jesus sees that Zacchaeus is looking for him,
         and he invites himself to his home,  
                  and, Luke says, Zacchaeus gladly receives him.
        
         Accepting, as we all must,
                  that he is accepted by that great love
                           which calls him down from the tree
                              and away from the ways he has sinned against others,
                                    to rest and be at home in his deepest self
                                             to be at home with the one
                                                    who has made his home in him.
 
it is our work too,
         to realize that the divine is calling our name
                  that, as much as the mob within us says
                           that we are alone, and unremarkable and
                                    small.
 
That we can know belonging, and becoming and beyond. 
     To accept, as Zacchaeus does,
          that God cannot not love us;
                  cannot not forgive us. 
 
To finally put down this burden
         of proving ourselves,
                  and know salvation, that is, wholeness,
                            
A wholeness that allows Zaccheus not only to truly love himself,
         but to move beyond that to love his neighbor as himself.
 
            I will make it right by those I have injured, he says,
                                    I will give away half of what I own
                                                I will repay them 4 times what I took from them. 
 
He receives grace, then offers it,
         and so is restored to his community
                  as Jesus says, this is a child of Abraham
                           he belongs.  
 
We, the church, this Christ’s church
      seeks to offer the gift of community,
                  of belonging.
         That is the heart of a reconciling congregation
                  that all may know they belong.  
        
We, this Church, this Christ’s church seek to
  acknowledge the work that God is doing in you,
         companion you in this process of interior formation
                  support you in your becoming. 
 
And in the midst of all that distracts and hurts and terrifies
         and upsets, of elections, and wars, and floods,
                  in the midst of life and death,
we climb the tree together
         to see that which is both beyond us
                  and beside us,
          and so to rest in that love
                  to be at home in this holy universe,
                           to be at home in the One
                                   who makes his home in us. 
 
A that moves us, beyond our immediate cares,
         to the cares of our neighbors, for the poor
                  to share our time, our talents, our treasures
                           as Zacchaeus has.
 
         to love our enemy
                  and our neighbor as ourselves
                           to do unto others
                                    to give our lives for our friends.
 
and so, with all our hearts, cry out
         For all that has been,
                        Thank you.
                                    For all that is to come, Yes!