A Brief Lesson from a Little Man
Thomas J. Boone, PhD
Isaiah 1:10-18; Luke 19:1-10
A Sermon Preached November 4, 2007
Central Presbyterian Church, Mobile

My neighbor lives for his yard I think. Whereas I’m proud when I do particularly good job mowing, I look over at his yard and he’s putting in more brick pathways through nicely shaped hedges as if it were a touring path through a museum. One day I decided I’d show him that I can actually trim edges, but there he was landscaping one of his slopes with various layers of some sort of bush I don’t know the name of, wood beams, and colored rocks. There’s just no keeping up with that, so I’ve decided to admire his handiwork and keep slugging it out with my spring-laden lawn that has a hard time holding topsoil let alone nice flowers.

I think he must’ve felt sorry for me because recently he gave me some pointers. He said that it looked like I might have some bugs under the soil that were eating anything that tried to grow so before I tried anything he said I should get some bug killer and spread it over the whole lawn. I did that. Then he told me after a few days to start watering every day early in the a.m. So I went out and bought some timers, attached them to the faucets, and watered my lawn around 4 a.m. every day for a couple of months. Then I noticed that both grass and weeds were growing and he said not to worry about the weeds yet, just to let them grow a bit.

Well, the bugs must’ve been dead because I was actually seeing grass mixed in with the weeds and let me tell you it was a lovely sight to behold. Then my neighbor told me to put this special fertilizer down that killed the weeds and fertilized the grass, so I did. And three weeks later I had a very interesting looking lawn with a lot of dead weed patches and some nice green patches. It looked like I was trying to make some sort of new flag for some country out there.

So now what I’ve got is a lawn that’s actually holding grass in more places than there are bare patches, limestone, and weeds. I guess it’s true that you can’t get a nice looking lawn at the snap of your fingers. It took more than just watering and fertilizing to make the lawn come back again. And, as I thought about it, that’s pretty much how it is for us, too. Transformation can happen within any of us, no matter how far off the track we’ve gone. But, transformation takes a lot more than just a simple snap of the fingers.

It’s just like what Vince Lombardi is quoted as saying, “Football is like life, it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication.” If we’re going to become the people Jesus calls us to be then we have to be ready for the long haul because transformation isn’t an overnight slumber party.

However, that’s not what happens with Zaccheus. Zaccheus encounters Jesus one afternoon and before it’s evening Zaccheus is a completely different man. Where was the effort? Where was the time? For many of us who live in an age of pscychobabble and celebration of the human spirit this story doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Zaccheus, who was a small man that people despised because he collected unfair taxes for the wealthy elite, had a triple whopper-sized transformation in the presence of Jesus. In one afternoon he went from thief to benefactor, from self-server to self-giver. For all the talk about transformation that we’re accustomed to, for all its analogies and occasions for beautiful prose, it’s undeniable that at the heart of human transformation is our encounter with Jesus Christ. I mentioned what Lombardi said about life, but I left out one important point. He also said that winning in football, just like succeeding in life, required respect for authority.

This story isn’t about the process of transformation, it’s about a man ensnared within his sinful condition, who meets Jesus and comes out of the meeting a changed man. It’s a story that states clearly who has the power and authority to change lives. It’s not about our ability, it’s about Jesus. And that’s the part of our ever-changing lives I don’t hear people talking about very often, at least as Presbyterians. Presbyterians have always been heavy on the cognitive and human dimensions of faith. We have a Book of Confessions, our tradition is strong when it comes to having well-educated pastors and lay leaders. It’s not that we deny God’s role in life, but what we tend to talk about publicly is the human responsibility in bringing transformation to the world. It’s why we have been strong in areas of social justice, rather than direct evangelism. So for me its refreshing to read about Zaccheus’ encounter with Jesus because it reminds me that all the therapy and behavior modification in the world can’t touch the power of Jesus to change someone’s life.

Now Zaccheus did have a role here. He was seeking. Jesus stopped and saw Zaccheus who had taken the risk of embarrassment to climb a tree just so he could see him. He wasn’t expecting actual contact otherwise he’d have been at the front of the crowd. He was going to have a play-it-safe look at Jesus, which would’ve been no relationship at all.

How often does this parallel our own spiritual journeys? We want to experience Jesus from the sidelines or the back row. We think we can maintain a safe distance between us and Jesus. We come to church, but maybe we don’t talk a lot about Jesus outside church. After all we don’t want to offend anyone, or risk having wrong answers if we’re asked a question, or maybe we don’t want to seem like we’re weird. We hear something that seems to strike a direct hit onto an area of sin we know is wrong, and then maybe we shoot the messenger rather than humbly confess and seek the Lord’s forgiveness. If we’re still struggling with the same old thing for year after year, then that’s a sign we’ve done exactly what Zaccheus did: sit in our tree, and watch Jesus go by, thinking that’s enough.

Zaccheus thought he could experience Jesus from a distance, hidden in some tree branches. But, Jesus knew that wasn’t going to transform Zaccheus’ heart. Would Zaccheus have seen Jesus that day? Yes. Would he have been able to tell a tale to his family about what Jesus looked like, or what he said? Of course.

Let’s look at ourselves again. We can say worship was great, the sermon was good, or at least that we got out on time if it wasn’t particularly good. But how often do we find that we keep going back to the same sinful behaviors or having the same evil thoughts? We can become a deacon or an elder, and think that in doing so we’re achieving some great thing. But, how often do we consider that as leaders of a church we’re supposed to be models living out the principles of scripture among those whom we lead and in the world? If we really want to see change in our lives we must come to terms with the fact that transformation needs Jesus doing his work in our hearts.

Jesus went to Zaccheus’ home. In Jesus’ day this forced Zaccheus to place Jesus in a place of honor. He would have a servant wash Jesus’ feet and he’d give Jesus the first seat at the table. But, it meant something else important. Since Jesus was a teacher it would mean that he accepted Zaccheus. Jewish people wouldn’t go into houses of people who were considered unclean, and Jewish teachers would have to make sure that their hosts were acceptable in the eyes of the community. Tax collectors weren’t acceptable. Jesus met Zaccheus where he was at, in his back row seat, and offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse.

To be accepted by the Lord can change your life if you let it, just like it changed Zaccheus. We don’t have to be different than the fallen, less-than-perfect people we are to be 100% accepted by Jesus. But, in that meeting between He and we, we can never be the same. How much honor are you giving Jesus in your life? Are you giving Him the first seat? Are you making sure that he is seeing your closets if he wants to, under the beds, so to speak, where we push things away that we want to hide from others? Are we going to say to Jesus that we need him to clean up our act, and that without him we can’t do it? That’s what happened to Zaccheus, and it changed his life.

Zaccheus risked Jesus coming into his home, seeing him just as he was without the ability to make extensive preparations beforehand. And rather than get what he feared--judgment, rejection, and condemnation--Jesus accepted Zaccheus, not for what he had done, but despite it. Jesus peered through the fog that had become Zaccheus’ life and saw a child of Abraham. Jesus saw who Zaccheus truly was: an heir of the kingdom.

You and I are heirs of the kingdom, too. And regardless of what sin we have in our lives, what the Lord sees is that we’re His children. This doesn’t excuse our sin, but it means that He wants to lift us up to be as we truly are. In John, Jesus says “I have come that you may life, and have it abundantly.”

Zaccheus was a Jewish man in Palestine, which meant that he went to Temple on appointed feasts and was part of a synagogue community. He may not have been liked, but he was feared. I imagine he had happy days, and bad ones, and days where he knew that he needed to ask God for much forgiveness. So he kept Jewish traditions as did other Jewish males: he kept Sabbath, key feasts, and offered sacrifices, many sacrifices. He owned a house in a time when home ownership was confined to a precious few. But, he wasn’t living an abundant life.

And today Jesus asks you, “Are you living life abundantly?” From Zaccheus, we get a glimpse of the abundant life that Jesus talked about. An abundant life is a giving life. It’s not about what we accumulate for ourselves, but the amount of compassion we show to others. An abundant life is a joyous life. It’s a joy that we experience not because we feel healthy, are living the good life, or have a secure retirement. Rather, it’s a joy that comes from profound humility and thanksgiving. An abundant life is a transformed life. Yes, transformation can take a long time and it will require a lot of our own effort. But, when at its core transformation isn’t about us at all. It means surrendering control, unholy habits, and pride into the hands of the One who wants to be Lord of your life in every way. So let’s Jesus the seat of honor by opening and closing our days with Him in prayer and His word, let’s speak His name when the opportunity arises, and let’s be humble enough to say that without Jesus being the Lord in our lives we will never know abundance. Hallelujah. Amen.