November 10, 2019
Stewardship Week Two
Rev. Mary Erickson
Hope Lutheran Church
Luke 19:1-10; Hebrews 12:1-3, 12-13
Live Free
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Athletic wear and gear have become extremely aerodynamic and lightweight. It’s really become a science. Bikes in the Tour de France are unbelievably light. The frames are made of a carbon fiber and weigh less than three pounds. Their tires are designed to reduce as much friction as possible. Olympic speed skaters wear onsies and specially shaped helmets in order to reduce their wind resistance.
In sports where a hundredth of a second can mean the difference between winning and losing, every effort is taken to shave off every weight that will slow them down.
Athletes in New Testament times looked for the same advantages. The writer of Hebrews uses the image of a runner as a metaphor for life. We are runners in a race. In the stands, cheering us along, is a great cloud of witnesses. They’re the communion of saints! These saints are comprised of both the living and the dead. And they’re cheering us on as we run the race of life set before us.
The author of Hebrews gives helpful advice: “Let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely. Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews encourages us to get rid of our “excess baggage.” Then we’ll run swiftly this race of life.
We’re in the middle of our stewardship emphasis. Our theme this week is “Live Free.” What are we bound by? How can be become unbound?
One thing that can bind our hearts and minds are possessions. We might think that possessions liberate us. I know I feel that way about my dishwasher! It saves me oodles of time.
But here’s the thing: What do I own and what owns me? We can become so enmeshed by the possession of our things and the maintenance of our lifestyle that they end up dictating what we do.
Case in point: the high schooler who gets a car. Wow, that sounds like freedom! You’ve got your own wheels. But now you suddenly need a lot more money. You’ve gotta pay for gas for your car. And you’ve gotta make the insurance payments on that car. So now, you have to get a job. And every weekend and a couple of nights each week, guess what you’re driving to? Your job! It cuts into your family time, your friend time, your studying time.
That car was the picture of freedom! But in the end, the car is driving you!
We hear the story today of Zacchaeus. The first thing we always think about Zacchaeus is that he’s short. But that’s not the main point of his story. Zacchaeus is a tax collector in the city of Jericho. And he’s the CHIEF tax collector. Tax collectors gathered the Roman taxes on each and every person in their town. And for their efforts, they could add a handling fee of sorts to the taxes. That’s how they earned their living.
But people could see what was going on. They just had to look at the homes these tax collectors lived in. They could see the fine clothing they wore, their silver and gold necklaces. These tax collectors were ripping them off. And Zacchaeus is the CHIEF of all of those crooks! He was quite likely one of the richest men in all of Jericho.
But Zacchaeus is also a searcher. He’s searching for something, something that money can’t buy. For as rich as he is, he’s yearning for something else.
He hears that this holy man, Jesus, is on his way to Jerusalem. And Jesus is going to pass right through Jericho. Zacchaeus heads down to the main street. Well, he’s not the only one who wanted to see Jesus! There’s a huge crowd already there. Zacchaeus’ situation is complicated by his short stature. With the crowd three or four deep, he won’t be able to see above their heads.
You know what happens next. Zacchaeus sees a sycamore tree along the main road. If he climbs up in that tree, he’ll be able to see Jesus. So that is what he does.
Imagine the picture: here is this rich guy in fancy robes, with rings on his fingers, and he’s clumsily climbing his way up a tree! It’s one thing to climb a tree in your old dungarees; it’s quite another to do that in a fancy robe!
But Zacchaeus doesn’t care. There are things – important things – that his money can’t buy.
1. Stature – And I don’t mean his height. I mean how he measures up in the eyes of his fellow Jews. Zacchaeus was despised. His neighbors see him as a sell-out to Rome.
2. Company – His money can’t buy him friendship. He might have a beautiful house, but who will come to visit him? No one but other lonely tax collectors.
3. Higher Purpose – His money can’t buy him greater meaning to his life than just being the rich guy. What has he traded away for the wealth of Rome? What will he be remembered for when his days on this earth come to an end? What was the life purpose for this son of Abraham?
Throwing decorum aside, he climbs up that tree without a second thought. And then he sees Jesus. And unbelievably, Jesus sees him. Jesus stops and looks right at him. And Jesus knows him by name. “Zacchaeus, hurry up! I’m coming to your house for lunch!”
The crowd hears it and they’re not pleased. Has Jesus become a sell-out, too? Does he care only about a sumptuous meal and relaxing in the luxurious home of this Roman minion?
And then something remarkable happens. Zacchaeus is standing at a significant crossroad in his life. Right there, right at that time, Zacchaeus makes a decided change in his life. Everything he had worked so hard for, everything he had formerly treasured, he lays it aside. He lays aside every weight and sin that had clung so closely to him.
“Jesus,” he says, “I am going to give away half of my possessions to the poor. AND, if I’ve ever taken advantage of somebody in collecting their taxes, I’ll give them back four times as much.”
What a moment! Right there, at that spot beneath the sycamore tree, Zacchaeus decided he’d had enough of the things that bound him. More than he valued his money and possessions, he wanted to live free. Free of the guilt he’d carried from shafting people, free from his dependency on his lavish living.
He cast it all aside. He was done being weighed down by it! When I consider what Zacchaeus did, I can only think, what courage! What courage it took to take his stand that day and make such a dramatic change!
What gave him the courage to live free? What happened? What liberated him? He had an encounter with Jesus. He stood face to face with the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is all about liberation. The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.
On that day in Jericho beside the sycamore tree, Jesus set Zacchaeus free. Zacchaeus received the life that is truly life. And when the Son sets you free, you are free, indeed.
That same liberating fullness of life has been bestowed on us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus our Lord. His desire for our freedom set him on his course to the cross. His saving actions have liberated us from the bonds of sin and death.
Jesus invites us to live in his freedom. He invites us to cast aside every weight and the things that cling so closely to us. When we stand in the light of Christ’s truth, the things that own us lose their power. We run swiftly and with perseverance the race set before us. Live courageously! Live free!
