Today Salvation has come to Your House

Proper26C, October 30, 2022, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church by Sr. Annette Fricke, OPA This is a rare set of lessons because Proper 26 is almost the most Sundays in ordinary time after Pentecost and before Christ the King Sunday. When was the last time you heard a sermon on Zacchaeus? But I bet most of you know the song about Zacchaeus. It does tell the story of Zacchaeus, well, the first part. And if you don’t know the Zacchaeus song, I can teach it to you. Just don’t ask me for the hand movements because I don’t remember them. Except for the obvious (to me) children’s song associated with this gospel lesson, another children’s song comes to mind. This gospel lesson takes place in Jericho. The song “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho” is now resonating in my mind as I ponder this text. Who was Joshua? He was an Old Testament prophet, the one who came to be a leader after Moses died. Jericho has a history, a history of being destroyed. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and won. By contrast, the sycamore tree thought to be the one that Zacchaeus climbed to see Jesus still stands in the city center of Jericho. It is thought to be 2,000 years old. The sycamore tree has a sturdy trunk and low spreading branches, making it ideal for climbing. The tree was tall and strong. As a short man, he probably figured out many ways to overcome obstacles like not being able to see the person speaking to a crowd. He came to both hear and see Jesus. The crowd did not like him because he was a tax collector, the chief tax collector, and as with many tax collectors, thought to be asking for more than what he was to collect and keeping the rest for himself. Tax collectors are not listed in Hymn 293. But remember also that Matthew was a tax collector before following Jesus. To back up just a bit into the previous chapter, in verse 24, Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” The crowd now is accusing Jesus of going to be a guest in the house of a sinner! Is it any different today? Do we not still judge others by our own personal standards? Are there certain classes of people we consider to be sinners as opposed to us? On a previous candidacy test taken by me was a question that asked, “Does anyone consider you to be a stuffed shirt?” I had no idea what that meant. Coming from a background of small town/farming community, my idea of a stuffed shirt was a scarecrow. Many of us still struggle with trying to relate to people who are different from us. The point is, Zacchaeus was thought to be a sinner simply because he was a tax collector and a rich man. Yet despite what the crowd thought, not only did he want to see Jesus, Jesus in fact, recognized him. In the previous chapter, Jesus said to “sell all you have, distribute the money to the poor.” The man turned away sad. But Zacchaeus responded by giving away half his possessions and said if he has defrauded anyone, he will pay back four times the amount. Jesus responds, “Today salvation has come to this house.” This means that his whole household has been blessed and Zacchaeus has been deemed a child of Abraham. Maybe we should add tax collectors to the lyrics of Hymn 293. When we bless others with what we give, we, in return are also blessed. We may not have as much to give as Zacchaeus, but we do have some to give. We sometimes need reminding that God is inclusive of all people, not just certain groups. God loves all people, every one of us, adults and children, the poor, the short and the tall, those medically compromised. All of God’s people have a seat at the table.