“Grace and Gratitude”        2011

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 23                      Luke 19:1-10

 

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 23

11For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. 12As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. 14I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. 16I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice. 23 I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

 

Luke 19:1-10

19He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

 

One of my longest-standing complaints in life,  has been

            that an inexperienced teenage boy,   was allowed to make

                       some pretty important decisions 40 years ago,

                                                            à that I have had to live with ever since!

 

But fortunately, our amazing God,  somehow manages to transform,

            and build good things even from our disasters and failures,

                        from the pain, the wounds and consequences we endure.

 

That truth and perspective shines through this Ezekiel passage,

            which speaks with great clarity & certainty about our hope;

                               & our assurance according to God’s providential purpose

                                      despite the high cost and harsh consequences of

                                        our foolish mistakes & squandered opportunities.

 

Contextually, God had blessed the people of Israel abundantly.

            These former slaves of Egypt  were given the Promised Land,

                        a wonderful place to live flowing with milk and honey.

But despite centuries of warnings going all the way back to Moses,

        they repeatedly rejected God and refused God’s will for them,

                        so they were taken as captives, and exiled to Babylon.

 

Their tragedy was not just the loss of their nation and homeland

            or the harsh consequences of defeat, destruction and exile,

                        but also, perhaps the worst was the terrible bitterness

                                    of knowing that is was their own fault and failure…

 

… and that because of their idolatry & disobedience against God,

            and having ignored all the many clear prophetic warnings…

                        … they themselves had caused their defeat and exile,

                                & the terrible suffering they were having to endure.

 

Sometimes,

            it’s not just the consequences of our mistakes and failures,

                              but it is even more bitter and painful,

                                        having to live with the guilt, shame and regret

                                            of knowing that we brought it down on ourselves.

 

The first 33 chapters of the book of Ezekiel describe

            the terrible cost & consequences of Israel’s faithlessness.

But in this passage of chapter 34,

            God addresses their hopeless situation of defeat and exile,

                        with amazing words of hope,  

                                    and God’s promise of grace and restoration, vs. 11~16:

            For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks, their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep.  I will rescue them … I will feed them … I will feed them with good pasture …  I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, says the Lord GOD.  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak.

 

In this Ezekiel text, God reassures, by promising to seek out à

            the defeated and failures who have messed up their lives;

                        offering renewed hope and possibilities of restoration,

                                    even to those who are justly suffering and enduring

                                                consequences of their own dreadful decisions.

 

God’s grace and providence provides the possibility and hope

            that even the worst situations of our mistakes and failures  

                        can be transformed into new and hopeful  re-beginnings.

 

We know that sometimes we fail and mess things up in terrible ways

    and make wrong choices and some very foolish compromises.

We know that our lives can get very messy and complicated

            and at times we do & say things that for good reason we regret.

 

And the truth and good news is this,

            that we are still precious, beloved sheep of God's pasture,

                        who seeks & finds us even when it’s our fault we got lost.

            God still brings us back however distant we have strayed,

                        and with love,  binds our wounds when we have been hurt.

 

In the Luke passage we see this great truth and promise enacted.

            An outcast, damaged by his greed, encounters Jesus Christ,

                  and his life & priorities change, as by grace he is healed.

 

This text about Zacchaeus is really a miraculous-healing story.

            Much like the blind man Jesus healed and who could then see,

                        or the lame man he healed, who took up his bed and walked;

 

                  à here, Jesus graciously heals a greedy and selfish man,

                             who then eagerly volunteers to make restitution,

                                    and to use his wealth, life and resources for good.

 

While in Jericho,   Jesus encountered a man name Zacchaeus,

            described in Scripture as  the chief  tax collector,

                        a most lucrative job that made him very rich, yet hated.

 

Jericho was a very prosperous city that sits near an oasis,

      that even today is very fertile, a garden spot of prosperity.

                        So as chief tax collector, he would have done very well.

 

The Roman tax system was set up to collect  a conqueror's tribute.

            It was a system intended to oppress the conquered land,

                        by using the greed of local people to do the dirty work.

 

Rome specified an amount that each region was required to pay,

            and then local people bid for the authority to collect it,

                        because they could keep any excess taken    as overhead…

                            … a very profitable arrangement for the tax collector.

 

Rome would find local people willing to oppress their neighbors,

            who wanted wealth more than their community’s respect

                        and whose greed made them immune to the hatred of others.

 

We can imagine how much these tax-collaborators were despised,

   as much-hated traitors, willing to exploit their own neighbors,

              all for  selfish greed   and wrongful pelf and wealth.

 

To their neighbors and community,

            tax collectors were hopelessly corrupt and lost outcasts,

                        written off as those who would never possibly change,

                              and surely far beyond even the power and mercy of God.

 

In the story,

            the grace begins with Zacchaeus   hungry to see who Jesus is.

 

But Zacchaeus was a short man and was unable to see over the crowd,

            and so runs ahead to climb a tree and watch as Jesus passes by.

 

No doubt his undignified running and climbing a tree

            would have caused considerable ridicule from the crowd,

                        but demonstrates how desperately he longed to see Jesus…

 

            … perhaps as an example or lesson to us, we might consider,

                        how committed are we to seeing and worshipping Jesus?

                                        and how easily are we distracted

                                                and willing to miss a weekly worship service?

 

I see Zacchaeus' urgent desire, and his longing to see Jesus,

            as God's grace   already beginning to work in his life.

 

One might expect Jesus to ignore a crazy little-guy up in a tree.

            As a religious teacher, surely Jesus would not acknowledge

                       or care about a man enriched by corruption;

                            for Jesus would hardly condone such avarice and greed.

 

So it is somewhat surprising, vs. 5

            When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him,

"Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today"

 

What was Jesus doing, in so honoring     

            this most dishonorable and despised man in all of Jericho?

 

Of course the people in the crowd were confused, offended & angry,

            that Jesus would share a meal with such a notorious traitor,

                        a greedy godless man they all knew  was hopelessly lost.

 

To extend hospitality, to sit at table and eat with Zacchaeus

            was an unmistakable statement, that inferred acceptance,

                        and an offer of friendship and social intimacy with a man

                              whose sins were obviously beyond hope of redemption.

 

Yet Jesus saw something that no one else did.  He perceivedà

        something other than the sinful & wrong choices of Zacchaeus.

                                    Jesus saw one who could be open to God & God’s grace,

                                                who was not beyond the reach of God's power,

                                                            and one who could become more than he was.

 

The person Jesus saw was not just a greedy and sinful lost-man,

     but someone capable of responding to the welcome-grace of God.

And so Jesus opened that door of grace, healing and miracle,

            by saying, 'you can make a new start --

                        'you can move beyond your corrupt past,

                                    'you can get past the guilt and shame you have made.

            'You don't have to remain trapped in greed and materialism,

                        but starting right now,

                                    you can change, you can do the right thing.’

 

The crowd knew this man and what had always mattered most to him,

            that his greed and depravity defined who he was, all he did,

                        and that he would never change from greed and avarice.

 

But God's grace is more powerful than the worst of human greed.

            As Jesus had said, Luke 18:27

                        "What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.”

 

Here is the wonderful irony of this story.

            In Hebrew, the word “Zacchaeus”,  means  “the righteous one” …

                  … and the miracle is that Jesus healed his selfish greed

                                    so that now Zacchaeus   can live up to his name,

                                            as by grace he becomes who God created him to be.

vs. 8

            Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,  “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much."

 

A changed life means having a new set of priorities to live by.

            Zacchaeus was not buying God's grace, or doing God a favor,

                but simply responding with gratitude for what God had done.

 

He had a new priority - he wanted to live within God's intentions

            and to participate in the gracious work and purposes of God.

 

Now he wanted his life and resources to have reason and purpose,

            to glorify God, and so he put his money where his mouth was,

                        for the truth is,

                                    a relationship with Jesus changes everything.

When by faith and God’s grace, Jesus truly is our Lord and Savior,

            then everything else in this world, 

                        and anything else this world has to offer,  is not.

 

We can see that most clearly in Zacchaeus,  for his motivations

            were no longer about greed, accumulation or selfishness,

                        but now he wanted and desired above all else,

                                    was for his life to honor the God   he now knows.

He wasn't ordered or compelled by Jesus to be generous,

            he simply wanted his wealth to do good - in gratitude to God.

 

It’s a miracle   for Jesus set a man free from greed to generosity.

    This man who used to care   more about money,  than his neighbors

            who for wealth, turned against God and his community, ----

                    now,  voluntarily gives it all up in gratitude to Jesus.

 

In response to this obvious change in Zacchaeus,

            who against all expectations has been found and restored,à

                        Jesus declares: vs. 9-10

   Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.

 

Now we can be lost in lots of ways ---- there is the lost-ness à

            of broken relationships, loss of vigor and health

                        lost of having no direction,  no joy or delight in life

            - the lost-ness of not feeling loved, connected or needed,

                        and of having no sense of being special to anyone.

 

            There is the lost and defeat of having failed miserably,

                        of feeling beaten, unacceptable, ashamed and worthless,

                            or messing up beyond putting life back together again.

 

We can be lost in the wilderness like strayed and missing sheep,

            and we can become lost, even within the church…

… for we can be on the church membership roll,

              but lack an intimate and growing walk with the Lord,

                        or be around other church people, yet feel so all alone.

 

The how we got lost, the details of our having strayed,

            are really not as important as God's radical desire

                        to seek the lost,  and heal the broken and hurting.

           

God's promise and our hope

            is that God does not give up on any of us, or anyone else,

                  and God is still creating new beginnings & possibilities.

There was a time when what I wanted most was a redo ----

            an opportunity to go back and make a different decision,

                        and correct things of my past that I regret.   

 

            But as I have considered it more deeply,

                        I wouldn’t want to go back for a re-do,

                                    because I don’t want to lose what God has been able

                                           to build from my mistakes, defects and failures.

And the experience of God’s grace overcoming my disasters,

            is such a precious gift, and sign of God’s amazing love.

 

Truly God is  gracious and good ---  and our call à

            is that whatever has been our past,  our failure or defeat,

                        that we can trust Jesus to build with it,   our future,

                                    as in our weakness,  we let God   be our strength.

 

As God said through the prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah 29:11

              For thus says the Lord God:   I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.  As shepherds seek out their flocks, so I will seek out my sheep.  I will rescue them, for surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD,  plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you  a future with hope.