“Have a Look”

Luke 19:1-10

 

John W. Wurster

November 4, 2001

 

 

Conventional wisdom would probably have me talking about money today. We’ll be receiving pledge cards in worship next week, and the stakes seem pretty high because we need a significant increase in our pledging next year in order to continue the ministry God has called us to do here. So I perhaps should use these few minutes to encourage you, challenge you, even cajole you to move to a new level of giving for 2002. But frankly that conversation is not very interesting to me because the question, “How much to give?” is relatively simple to answer We’ll either give more, give less, or give the same as we’re giving this year.

 

The more interesting question, and, I believe, the more important question when it comes to stewardship is, “What kind of people do we want to be?” Maybe this little story about the little man named Zacchaeus can help us with that.

 

Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus. Zacchaeus is a rich person and presumably lives well, but still he wants to see Jesus. Zacchaeus undoubtedly has enough to take care of himself and his family in grand style, but still he wants to see Jesus. I wonder why. Maybe it’s curiosity. Maybe Zaccheus has heard that Jesus could do miracles or that he is a fine storyteller or that he speaks about God in such a way that all kinds of people are drawn to him. Maybe it is curiosity that pushes Zacchaeus up that tree so that he could see Jesus for himself.

 

Or maybe it is something else Maybe Zacchaeus has more than just a fascination with Jesus. Maybe Zacchaeus finds himself longing for a life that is whole and purposeful. Maybe he has discovered the limit of what his riches can do. Maybe his success just doesn’t fill up all the empty places inside. Maybe he realizes a need to look beyond himself and the works of his own hands. Maybe Zacchaeus wants to be saved from a life measured in numbers. Maybe that’s why he climbs that tree to see Jesus. Maybe he’s not just curious. Maybe he’s desperate.

 

So there is Zacchaeus up in that tree searching for Jesus. Look what happens when Jesus comes down the road: Jesus calls out to Zacchaeus and bids him to come down and prepare his house for a visit. Jesus is seeking Zacchaeus, even as Zacchaeus is looking for Jesus. Before Zacchaeus can say or do anything, Jesus has already sought him out and called him by name. Jesus meets Zacchaeus in his seeking. Zacchaeus climbs the tree hoping to find Jesus and instead he ends up being found by Jesus.

 

When Zacchaeus realizes that in his seeking he has been found, he pours out his heart in gratitude. All those riches which used to count for a lot, don’t seem to matter much anymore. “Half of my possessions I will give to the poor,” Zacchaeus exclaims in the presence of his Lord and Savior.

 

I suppose curiosity brings some of us here today. Maybe others of us are here out of desperation. Most of us, likely, are somewhere in between being curious and being desperate. But probably in one way or another we’re here because we’re trying to see Jesus. We’re trying to glimpse something holy and true and good. We’re looking for things we can’t seem to find anywhere else, a peace that passes understanding, a sense of worth apart from what we do and what we have, someone or something to make us whole. So we’ve come to this place to seek and search and have a look at Jesus. Maybe because of curiosity, maybe because of desperation, maybe because of something in between.

 

However we’ve arrived here and whoever we are, Jesus meets us in our seeking. Even as we look for him, he has already found us. His is a way already marked for us. His is a table that has already been prepared for us. His is a body already given for us. His is a life already poured out for us. Here is our Lord who already invites us to come, however we are, whoever we are, wherever we are.

 

What kind of people do we want to be? A good question for this All Saints’ Sunday when we remember all the faithful folks who have gone before us. We know what kind of people they were because we continue to benefit from their commitments and generosity.

 

What kind of people do we want to be? If we are willing to acknowledge that our salvation and our hope and our destiny and our lives rest in the God who has already sought us out and called us by name and bids us to come out of the tree and join in the feast that has already been prepared for us, then it’s hard for me to imagine that we wouldn’t give all we can simply out of our deep gratitude.

 

What kind of people do we want to be? What kind of people are we called to be?

 

May God help us with those questions as we seek to go in the way of Jesus Christ.

 

Amen.