October 30, 2022 - Reformation Sunday - 21st Sunday after Pentecost - Zacchaeus: A New Story of Jesus and Youth Sunday

The congregation was treated to glocal music (global music performed locally) from the Southeast Portland Youth Collective. This added a deeply meaningful reminder of the global reach of the church. The familiarity of some of the songs from past performances led the congregation to participate much more in the singing than they had in the past.

Many of us who first encountered today's Gospel through Sunday School remember Zacchaeus as the "wee little man" in a song who climbed a tree to see Jesus. His "Sunday School" story was all about going to great lengths to catch a vision of God.  

What Jesus says him, however, complicates this interpretation: “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”

As a tax collector Zacchaeus operated in the Roman world as a Jew. This involved him in a business that was all about debts and obligation. This included becoming indebted to act as host after you were invited as a guest. We have inherited a shadow of this when we sometimes we feel obligated to invite someone to dinner after they have invited us.

Since Zacchaeus was a Jew and not a Roman citizen, there was only one way for him to become wealthy. In the lands they conquered, the Romans offered some political positions at auction to local inhabitants. Zacchaeus got rich by buying his position and climbing his way up from there to become chief tax collector in the important city of Jericho. 

This "man-in-a-tree" is not from a charming Sunday School story but rather about the guy who cuts in line, cheats on tests, and stuffs the ballot box in order to become class president.

When Jesus passed the tree, he looked up and saw Zacchaeus. Able to read the hearts of people, Jesus did not see a jolly fellow tangled in sycamore branches. He saw Zacchaeus, an agent of the Roman overlords. 

When Jesus said “Zacchaeus, come down immediately" he called Zacchaeus to come down to everyone else's level. When Jesus continued with "I must come to your house", he confused who is the guest  and host. Everyone out on the streets of Jericho that day was unraveled. Jesus flipped the world upside down. Zacchaeus responded by breaking away from how things are supposed to be. The crowds would have grumbled. This was wrong. Zacchaeus was NOT the person Jesus should see. Zacchaeus was NOT the person Jesus should reach out to. And Zacchaeus was definitely NOT the person with whom Jesus should grace with his presence.

Rome practiced gratitude as a quid pro quo hierarchy of political and economic obligation, of debt and duty, Jesus embodied gratitude as hospitality of mutuality and relationship, of gift and response. Jesus opened the door for Zacchaeus to “come down” from his old life, to stop participating in a corrupt system of gratitude that oppressed his own people.

In a moment, Jesus turned his world upside down: Again, who became guest and who became host? The Roman structure of gratitude collapsed when assigned roles disappeared. Here the conventional gifts of hospitality could not be repaid. Instead, Jesus imagined a place where oppressed and oppressor leave their roles and meet as friends, where forgiveness is practiced and gratitude was expressed not in debt payment but in passing on generous gifts to others. Corrupted gratitude can snare us, and a renewed vision of gratefulness can liberate us.

The Gospel lesson invites us to sit together and unravel the busyness and upheaval we are taught to accept. We are invited to come together to weave a new story, like Jesus did with Zacchaeus.