"Invited to a Healing Miracle"          2013

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. 23I 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

He 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.”

 

Do real miracles  ever  still happen?,

and other than reading the Bible, how does God communicate with us?

 

    Occasionally , I may notice an amazing or incredible event

            that seems to defy reason or rational explanation …

                        … that may well be something God has done  miraculously…

     … like some of the healing or miracle stories found in Scripture.

 

But more often, I think of miracles as seemingly minor events,

            in which God’s grace, compassion, & saving purpose touches us,

                which somehow makes a difference, transforming our lives.

It’s the way,

          that I believe, through our life’s events and circumstances

                   God communicates  his love and compassion for us,

                             in wonderful, grace-revealing, and unexpected ways.

                       

One time,

            when I was in a dark place, and my life wasn’t going real well,

                        a friend talked me into going on a weekend church retreat.

Some bad decisions I had made were crashing down on me pretty hard,

            and on the retreat, all that Bible and God-talk,

                        just made me feel even more unworthy, lost and guilty.

 

By Sunday morning worship, all I wanted   was to be somewhere else,

                       especially when we started singing,

                            “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”.

 

            That song just went on and on, chorus after chorus,

                            but then they sang a chorus of  

                                    “He’s got Norm Story, in his hands …”

                                        … and something personal & unexpected happened.

 

Hearing my name plugged into those lyrics of promise and hope

    somehow became a healing balm and powerful reassurance;

               and at that moment I heard and felt God speak to me, andà

                  inspire me with a much needed message of grace & invitation.

 

I heard   that God was still with me, and hadn’t given up on me yet.

    I was not alone, but had a future and had not been rejected by God…

               … because God seeks out, and brings the wounded  lost   home.

 

When we are feeling down, discouraged, beaten and defeated,

            there is no more healing word  than the Lord’s promise

                        that our God does seek, save, and brings home the lost…

                        … a theme that runs all through the writings of Scripture.

 

When the people of Israel moved into the Promised Land,

            God warned  through Moses, and the prophets over the centuries,

                        that if they turned away from God and his ways of justice,

                                        then their nation would be defeated,

                                                and they would be taken into exile captivity.

 

    The prophet Ezekiel wrote during the Babylonian exile,

            which was a terrible and bitter experience of loss & suffering.

 

But as bad as it was to be held captive in a foreign land,

            the worst part   was the hopeless feeling of rejection by God,

                    and knowing that though repeatedly warned by the prophets,

                                    they had themselves   brought it down on themselves.

 

Part of the Ezekiel’s message from God

            is an amazing and powerful promise of grace and restoration…

… as God addresses their hopeless situation of defeat and exile

        with wonderful words of hope in a series of “I will” statements.

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 us, by promising to seek out à

          the defeated and the failures   who have messed up their lives;

                   offering renewed hope and the possibility of restoration,

                                  even to those who are justly suffering and enduring

                                      consequences of their own dreadful decisions.

 

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

    and often 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,

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

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

                     God brings us back from   however distant we have strayed,

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

 

I believe that when someone hears and receives

            God’s gracious invitation to come home, be healed and abide;

                        and when they accept and choose God's will and God's way…

                              it is a miraculous event, the power & presence of God.

 

One of my greatest joys and sources of satisfaction in ministry

            are seeing signs of people growing in their faith journey,

                        of their coming to walk closer, more trusting of the God.

 

I see that in a deeper and more authentic relationship with God,

   a changed attitude & renewed commitment to serve more faithfully.

It’s amazing to see someone  for whom    God once meant nothing,

          but who now   recognize God as center and focus of their lives.

 

Sometimes there is a new hunger and hope to experience more of God,

    that grows into a deeper commitment to doing useful ministry

                        or greater participation in the life & work of the church

                                    or to spend more time w/ God in prayer and Bible study

                                                or to make a more faithful financial commitment…

                      … and what an incredible blessing that turns out to be.

 

The miracle is the gift   of desire to grow deeper in the Lord

          that leads to change and transformation,

                  surely just as miraculous as the stories told in the Bible.

                       

So in Luke, the story of Zacchaeus is really a miracle story;

    which begins with just a small step,  a man looking to see Jesus,

            but when he encounters him, he’s healed & never the same again.

 

Passing through Jericho,   Jesus encountered a man name Zacchaeus;

      the chief tax collector, a lucrative job that made him very rich.

Jericho was a very prosperous city in Palestine,

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

 

But to his neighbors, he was a decidedly   hopelessly lost sinner,

            worthy only to be written off as unworthy,

                        and surely beyond even the transforming grace of God.

 

The text doesn’t tell us why Zacchaeus tried so hard to see Jesus,

            but my take is that God put that hunger and desire in his heart.

I think it was grace, that God gave him a nudge of dissatisfaction,

          perhaps once he achieved wealth and success, it wasn’t enough,

                   and sensing something was missing, he wanted to see Jesus.

 

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

       and so he runs ahead, climbs a tree so he can watch Jesus pass by.

 

Now of course dignified, very wealthy and successful men

            did not run and climb trees wearing expensive robes,

                        but despite how foolish he must have looked to the crowd,

                            he was desperate and to see Jesus was important to him.

 

I believe his urgent desire, his longing to see Jesus,

            was the beginning of God’s grace starting to work in his life,

                            a tug that

                                    for all his material wealth, his life lacked meaning,

                                         and that lack and empty  compelled him to see Jesus…

            … but surely a religious teacher, a man of God like Jesus

                    would not acknowledge a man enriched by corruption

                             for Jesus would hardly condone such avarice and greed.

 

So what follows in the story 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"

 

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

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

                        a greedy godless man they all rejected as hopelessly lost.

 

To accept hospitality and sit at table with Zacchaeus

            was an unmistakable statement, that inferred acceptance,

                    and was take as an offer of friendship and social intimacy,

                          with a man whose sins were obviously beyond redemption.

 

   But Jesus saw something that no one else did,

       something other than the sinful and wrong choices of Zacchaeus.

 

                        Jesus saw someone who could change and respond to God -

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

                                            and someone but who could become more than he was.

The person Jesus saw was not just a greedy sinful man up in a tree,

      but someone who despite greed  could respond to the grace of God.

 

And so Jesus opened wide  that door of grace and miracle,  saying,

            'you can   make a new start --  a new beginning

                        'you can   move beyond your corrupt past,

                                    'you can   step beyond the life pathway you are on.

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

            starting now, you can change, you can live a righteous life.

 

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 could never change away from greed & avarice…

            … yet all that changes when he hears Jesus call him by name.

 

In the presence of Jesus, Zacchaeus re-evaluates his life,

            decides he wants a new and better life, destiny and purpose,

                        and so he responds to Jesus   by becoming a new person.

 

He accepts the miracle before him and responds to God's grace.  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 different set of priorities in life.

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

                        he is simply responding with gratitude for what God had done.

 

He wasn't ordered or compelled by Jesus, but in grateful response

            he wants to use his life and wealth to serve God,

                        & show his neighbors that God had truly changed his life.

 

He has a new priority - he wants to live within God's intentions

            and to participate in the work, purpose, and Kingdom of God.

His motivation is no longer about greed and self-interest,

  but now he wants a life with meaning that honors & pleases the Lord.

 

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

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

               who for wealth, willingly turned against his God & community,

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

 

Is there any greater miracle, than when God opens the human heart,

          and lovingly heals, transforms, and restores our lost lives?

 

This is truly a turned heart and fundamentally changed life

            a total shift in his values and sense of what matters most,

                  and in response to this change in him,  Jesus declares: vs. 9

    "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.

 

By grace, Zacchaeus is restored;  rescued, healed and cleansed,

                        for now he has become who he truly was created to be,

                                    a Son of Abraham, someone precious and loved by God.

 

It is that same wonderful & awesome miracle available to each of us,

            the healing of our broken human hearts and damaged lives,

                        a changed perspective, that resets our life's priorities…

 

… because no one is beyond God's grace - not us or those we doubt,

                   no one is beyond the reach of God's invitation and grace…

 

… which I think challenges me to consider and reconsider,

            how would my life be different,    if like Zacchaeus,

                I were more open and willing to trust God without reservation

                        to rule over my every word, attitude, priority and desire?

 

Here’s the promise and our hope:

     Jesus is present to all of us, to any willing to receive & accept

            symbolized when we share in this banquet feast of grace,

                    to which we are invited to the Lord’s Table

                        where all are welcome and accepted,

                                 we are fed by God's grace and love in abundance,

                                      and we are transformed into the family of God.