Rector's Sermon - Sunday, October 31, 2004

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Habakkuk 1:1-4 2:1-4	32:1-7	2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12	Luke 19:1-10

    At every home game of the Syracuse Sky Chiefs there is a man selling programs at the top of the stairs of the main stadium entrance. While short in stature, you can’t miss him before turning right or left to find your seat. “Get your programs here”, he yells. “You can win a brand new Dodge minivan today.” When the game begins, he goes up and down every aisle among the vendors of hot dogs and cotton candy. “Buy a program and today you can go home with a thousand dollars, or win a brand new minivan”, and again with emphasis as he points his finger at you, “today!”

    I have no idea what he does in the off-season when the minor leagues are dormant, but I suspect he does sell a lot of programs and many fans would miss his absence. He obviously believes wholeheartedly and without reservation, that it is always possible for you to win, today. Perhaps once a season someone does win and goes home with a thousand dollars, but I suspect the odds are so high that no one has won the minivan. Nonetheless, because of his unabashed enthusiasm, we usually buy a program from him, and, he sure reminds me of the encounter of Jesus and Zacchaeus the chief tax collector.

    We should not be too surprised that this story only appears in the Gospel of Luke, for Luke likes to tell stories of Jesus reaching out to the lost and outcast, and Zacchaeus was certainly an outcast. As the chief tax collector of the district, he could have been able to afford fine things, but he also would have to have had guards protecting him and his household. He would have had to live behind walls, and never to have gone out alone. He would have been both rich and lonely, having almost abundant resources, but being isolated, if not trapped.

    The scene in Jericho the day Jesus and the disciples came was filled with tension and rancor. The high holy Days were approaching and the people would be reminded of their kingdom of past glory as well as their current humiliating oppression under the Romans. Tax collectors would be a ready symbol of their shame. It was also the closing weeks of Jesus’ earthly ministry with his first followers. Jesus gave the disciples ample cause to be anxious and apprehensive about what would happen in Jerusalem. Jericho was the last town of any size before reaching Bethany on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Only a perilous desert road and a few scatted way-station settlements lay between.

    Given the disposition of the crowd and the mind set of the disciples, it was incredibly poor timing on the part of Zacchaeus. He must have felt that he could not go on. That day, he must make a change. Hence as Jesus walked by, Zacchaeus left his bodyguards behind; he came out from the protection of his walls, and found himself up a tree, the most vulnerable person in Jericho.

    Did Zacchaeus wave and shout before Jesus spotted him? Did Jesus find Zacchaeus or did Zacchaeus find Jesus? I wonder if such speculation is not a meaningless semantic game. For in the encounter of Jesus and Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus gained a new life. The hope of salvation was given to him that day.

    Now, the crowds were still edgy and the disciples were still apprehensive. Someone else would continue to collect the taxes and the Romans would not leave the country. Yet, in the midst of all the confusion and anger, Zacchaeus found that he had changed, he had discovered Good News. He was no longer desperately up a tree, simply hanging on until the last of his strength gave out and he fell to his death.

    I wish I could have that program vendor of the Syracuse Sky Chiefs hand out bulletins one Sunday here at St. John’s and say to all who enter, “Today, the Good New is offered you. Today, God offers us salvation.” The Gospel knows nothing of the game of baseball, and never alludes to the Red Sox, but the Gospel does offer losers, even those who have been losers for decades, the possibility and hope of new life.

    Many of us pray every day, “give us today our daily bread”, and yet how easy it is to forget that the living Christ is present and daily offers to feed us the strength we need. The Good News from Jericho is simply this: Despite the crowds that try to separate us or distract us or hide the presence of Jesus, Jesus remains present and passes by us every day. Sometimes it may mean that we have to stop hiding behind our walls and make a choice to find a courageous, but definite way to separate ourselves from the noise of those things that crowd around us. Today the Gospel holds out to all of us the possibility of reversing the signs of the world’s defeat into signs of God’s victory. Whatever the timing, despite our stature, and whether the calendar says, Oct. 31, or Nov. 1, or Nov. 2nd, or Nov. 3rd., Jesus offers us a new life, today.

    And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.