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"The Outsider"
The sermon text for the day comes from Luke 19:1-10. And no,
this text is not in today’s bulletin, so I’d encourage you
to now take the Bible from the pew rack in front of you and
open up to Luke 19:1-10 and follow along. This is on page
1630. As I read this story out loud, I want you to consider
the word: “outsider” and think about how it relates to both
in this story and to your life.
How many of you have heard this Bible story before? This story
of Zacchaeus is a classic Bible story, told so often that it’s
really hard to find many Vacation Bible School or Sunday School
curriculums that don’t have at least one mention of the Zacchaeus
story. Now why’s that? Well, the story involves some memorable
illustrations, what with the short, wee little man Zacchaeus
climbing a tree, and later Jesus eating with him at his home.
The story’s short and easy to follow, but it’s also more.
A good working definition of the word “outsider” is: someone
who is excluded from or is not a member of a group. We all
know what it’s like to juggle different roles in our lives,
and we all know what it’s like to feel like an outsider from
time to time in one or more of those roles we play. These
include: parent, child, coworker, student, friend, classmate,
the list could go on and on.
Take a moment to think back on
some memory of your life, at a time when you were in some
group, associated with a role, at a time when you felt
excluded or looked down upon. Just think about it, each
one of us has those moments when we’re out of the loop,
when we don’t know what’s going on in a group, or when
we’re not the center of attention. And if you do think
you’re always the center of attention, you’ve got a
different set of problems. You’re not. Whether you’re
high society or an average Joe, young or old, working
class or professional, you all know deep down, even just
a bit, what it feels like to be an outsider. It just seems
to be something inherent in the human experience to know
what being an outsider means. It really boils down to the
feeling of being left out of something.
Then we run into the consummate outsider in chapter 19,
Zacchaeus. In verses 1-4 he is described as a chief tax
collector and wealthy. Well hold on, you say, his wealth
should have made him well respected, shouldn’t it have?
When you understand the cultural situation of the time,
though, you may begin to understand just how hated a man
Zacchaeus would have been. Israel was a country living
under occupation, and he was a tax collector working for
the occupation forces. When the Romans invaded, he playing
along with the enemy, becoming a traitor, doing apparently
treasonous acts against his nation so he could become a very
wealthy man. He gave up all his friends, his country, his
and his reputation all for the sake of money.
On top of that, to complete this picture, the Bible says
Zacchaeus was short. So he was short, lonely, and despised
by his neighbors. He was an outsider, and even though he
lived in the community, he couldn’t have been more alone.
But this outsider, Zacchaeus, for some reason wanted to see
Jesus. The Bible doesn’t say why Zacchaeus wanted to see
Jesus as He passed through Jericho, but I have a sinking
suspicion.
With all his wealth, with all his power, Zacchaeus was still
missing something in his life. He didn’t know what, necessarily,
but he wanted something. Maybe he was tired of being despised
by his neighbors, maybe he wanted personal peace, maybe he
just didn’t want to feel an outsider anymore.
And then along came Jesus. The Bible says in verse 3 that Zacchaeus
wanted to see who Jesus was. You know, I can only imagine what
it would have been like to be in Zacchaeus’ shoes hearing about
what Jesus was doing back then. Jesus spoke a lot in short
stories and taught huge lecture crowds talking about the right
way to live, what God is like, and how He was going to somehow
set people free. Jesus healed the sick, blind, and lame. And
importantly for Zacchaeus, Jesus was rumored to have spent a
lot of time associating with the outcasts and the outsiders,
and giving them the satisfaction to that something that troubled
their lives. These included the diseased, unfaithful spouses,
prostitutes, and it was said that one of Jesus right hand men,
Matthew the disciple, used to be a tax collector, an outsider
just like him.
So Zacchaeus, because he was short, climbed a tree to get a
glimpse of this Jesus as He passed by. And we’re left with
this image of Jesus walking by a crowd of people who came
to see Him, the insiders, those respected by society, the
ones you’d expect to see with Jesus And up a tree, outside
the crowd, the short outsider Zacchaeus peering over the
heads of the people hoping to get a glimpse of this Jesus.
I want you to hold that image of Zacchaeus up a tree for a
moment. A few minutes ago I asked you to think of some
experiences in your lives in which you felt like an outsider.
Recall those. Now, if you’re at all like me, when you feel
like someone who’s excluded, there arises from the depths of
your soul a desire, a yearning to be accepted, to fit in. I
can’t explain to you exactly what that yearning feels like,
but it feels hollow, like there’s something missing, like
all I need is that acceptance back into the group, and that
would give me satisfaction to that something that would make
my life whole and meaningful.
This is a way that sin works in our lives. The Bible speaks
about the Garden of Eden, when man first sinned and was
separated from God. That sin led to both ultimately physical
death and a kind of spiritual death. That spiritual death
means our relationship with God is by default broken, cut off,
beyond repair. And all this yearning we have in life, this
fact that we can never be truly satisfied by things, this
desire to be one of the insiders all the time, is a symptom
of this separated relationship with God. The yearning for
acceptance is a reflection of the ultimate reality of how
sin has made us incomplete, never really content, desiring
something. Something we try to get but can never seem to
have. Something more.
And so we have Zacchaeus, looking to Jesus from afar looking
to Him for that something.
But in the Bible story, in verses 5-6 Jesus does the amazing
and unexpected. He looks up as He passes by Zacchaeus, and
says “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your
house today.” Zacchaeus, the outsider, separated from his
community, and yearning to see what Jesus looks like, is
approached by Jesus Himself. This mysterious Jesus, who
said and did so many great things, came to him, and called
him down, and told him they were going to eat at Zacchaeus’
house that night. Zacchaeus, overjoyed at this free acceptance,
came down and had Jesus over for dinner.
In verse 7 it says that the crowd muttered and grumbled at
this. Why would Jesus choose to single out this outsider
and outcast? Why would He choose this sinner? Why would He
illogically favor the outsider above the rest of the
self-righteous crowd? And we, with the people in the story,
question Jesus about this same thing.
The answer, the climax to the story, comes in verse 10, Jesus
said to Zacchaeus: “For the Son of Man came to seek and save
what was lost” Jesus Himself said that He came to this earth
to find the outsiders and the outcasts, the sinners, and adopt
them into His family. He came to find those who have a broken
relationship with God and make them God’s children. He came
for those who yearn for that something that will satisfy them
in life. He came for us outsiders, who have those symptoms of
sin. He came to connect us to God’s family forever, and He
accomplished our adoption on the cross. And like Zacchaeus,
He came for us.
When Zacchaeus, the outsider was approached and called down
by Jesus, only then he understood what Jesus’ mission was.
Jesus came to seek lost sinners like you and me and save them
by making them insiders into His family. This free adoption,
this gracious complete acceptance, was more than Zacchaues
could hope for. In verse 8 it says that Zacchaeus, after
being called and adopted into the family of God by Jesus,
chose to then use his life and wealth as a reflection of
the gift of acceptance into heaven that was given him. From
then on, knowing that his relationship with God was restored
through the salvation, that place in heaven promised to him
by Jesus, Zacchaeus life was no longer one of an outsider,
but one assured of his acceptance by Jesus.
And here we sit, 2000 years later, in this church. We all
know what it’s like to feel like an outsider, and those of
us who are saved also know what it’s like to feel adopted
and accepted into heaven by the cross of Jesus. There is a
world of people both inside these walls and out there, who
continue to yearn and search for that something that will
make them feel accepted.
Because of the symptoms of sin we will never feel completely
free of that yearning for something, but in Christ we are
given a hope that that something that satisfies a restless
soul is our absolute acceptance and adoption into the family
of God in Jesus. In the Bible, and in the Sacraments, we are
reminded and strengthened in that faith, hope and assurance.
But there are still so many outsiders that need that hope,
acceptance, and adoption in Jesus. Jesus came to seek and
save the lost, and gave that mission to his family, to those
on earth who believe in Him. We go out this week, to live
out that message of hope and to bring the outsiders into
the family of God through the saving cross of Christ Jesus.
Amen.
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