"Excessive Initiative - Excessive Response"

josephholubsermons
October 26, 2008 Reformation and Stewardship Sunday
Luke 19:1-10

Excessive Initiative - Excessive Response

I begin this morning with a series of questions for you to ponder.

· How and when did “stewardship”, for many, become a dreaded four-letter-word?

· Of the various committees and ministry teams of the church why is it most difficult to recruit for the stewardship team?

· Why do many people cringe when they see a letter arrive in their mailbox in October that displays the return address of the church?

· Why do people suddenly have conflicts in their schedule on the Sunday designated as “Stewardship Sunday.” (Ah, so you thought today was Reformation Sunday did you?)

· Over the years I have frequently heard the lament, “All the church ever does is talk about money!” I have to wonder where that comes from, when in reality, most churches talk about money only occasionally, or but one Sunday a year?

· How and when did “stewardship” become a negative word?

I suppose there are many reasons, but a leading reason might have to do with the unfortunate idea that stewardship is often seen as an intrusion into our privacy. First, we primarily equate the word stewardship exclusively with money. For sure, stewardship has a lot to do with our money, with our treasure, but it also has to do with so much more than our money. We know it has to do with the three “T’s”: our time, talent, and treasure. But it has to do with even more than that. I believe stewardship has to do with everything I do: how I live, and how I relate to others, and how I relate to the world after I name Jesus as Lord. First and foremost, stewardship is a relationship word; stewardship has to do with how I live in relationship with my things, with people and with the earth.

Whether we like it or not, we are all stewards. It’s not a matter or whether or not we are stewards. It’s a matter of what kind of stewards are we?

In saying that, I do believe that stewardship begins with our most sacred stuff, and for most of us it's our treasure - our money. I was reflecting this week upon my attitude about money, and the way I relate to my own financial resources. I came up with this analogy. If I'm really honest, My relationship to my financial resources is often a lot like my relationship to my underwear! First, it’s an intimate relationship, and second, I don’t want you to see it, touch it, or know anything about it. It’s none of your… business! So, if there is even a kernel of truth in my colloquial analogy, it’s no surprise when the pastor gets up to talk about stewardship, or the letter comes in the mail, or a member of the stewardship team calls – we experience it as a personal intrusion.

The thing about it is that didn’t stop Jesus. He evidently saw things very differently, and I say that because there are few things, if anything he talked about more than money and possessions. For Jesus, stewardship was not a private matter, but a communal matter - because it was about relationship. Maybe we don’t see it that way, but Jesus did. He made it his business, and he talked about it openly! Almost 25% of the Sermon on the Mount is about money and possessions and our relationship to them. The subject came up repeatedly in the stories he told, in his aphorisms and teachings, and in conversation with many of the people he encountered. In fact, over 100 times in the four gospels Jesus engaged in some level of discourse about our relationship to money and possessions, and how it affects others. Many of his greatest parables were about relationship to money and possessions including the Parable of the Talents, the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, and the Parable of the Rich Fool – all of which deal with various aspects of relationship to money and possessions.

One of my favorite Jesus stories is the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus – our gospel for today. If you went to Sunday School as a child you remember the little song, "Zacchaeus was a wee little wee man, a wee little man was he, He climbe up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see..." Speaking of underwear, there was no one closer to his money than Zacchaeus! Luke tells us Zacchaeus was the “chief tax collector, and he was rich.” That short phrase reveals a great deal about Zacchaeus.

The system of taxation at the time of Jesus was filled with corruption and exploitation. It hadn’t always been that way, but it had become that way. The governors of the Roman provinces were responsible to see that taxes were gathered for the Roman treasury. They hired indigenous, native tax collectors to do the actual work of collecting the funds. By the time of Jesus, the governors and their staff collaborated with the tax collectors to extort the common people of far more than what they were required to pay. Illegal extra charges were added on and sanctioned by the governor. Violence was often used to extort compliance. Being the chief tax collector meant Zacchaeus had a staff working under his authority. The surplus funds lined the pockets of the lowliest tax collectors on up to the governor and his staff. As “chief tax collector”, Zacchaeus received a generous pay-off. It was government sanctioned extortion. As a result, the native tax collectors incurred the rage and disdain of the common people as they were the “face” of an oppressive imperial domination system that widened the gap between the rich and the poor.

It is interesting that Luke mentions the detail that Zacchaeus was “short.” He may have been short in stature, but he was tall in government sanctioned power and leverage. I have to believe if someone were ever to make a movie about Zacchaeus, Danny Devito is absolutely perfect to play the role. Zacchaeus is portrayed by Luke as a sawed-off-little-shyster!

With that as background, surprise of surprises, it was to Zacchaeus’ house that Jesus invited himself - and the people “grumbled”, says Luke. Jesus went to dine with a “sinner”, and not just any "sinner", but one who collaborated with the hated Roman oppressors in the worst way.

It’s critical to understand something about table fellowship in Judaism if we are going to understand the power of this story. In Judaism, table fellowship signified profound camaraderie, and that everyone sitting around the table, breaking bread and sharing a meal meant they all had an equal share of the blessings of the host. Jesus' self-invitation into Zacchaeus house was far more than a passing social occasion. This wasn't merely, "let's go to Starbucks for coffee." Table fellowship was serious business. Table fellowship was a comprehensive expression of peace, unity, forgiveness and acceptance. When we read this story in the context of Jesus' wider ministry, it is nothing short of an inclusion of Zacchaeus, and his despicable kind, into the Kingdom of God. That fact was not lost on Zacchaeus, as Zacchaeus' response to Jesus was as excessive as Jesus' initiative toward him. "Lord... half my possession I will give to the poor. I will pay back those I defrauded four times as much." The interesting thing about it is that Zacchaeus' response of restitution far exceeded what the religious law required. Nothing in the story suggests that Jesus asked, or ordered, or threatened him to do such a thing, but rather it was a joyful and excessive response to the excessive grace that Jesus showed him.

It was also risky. Because of his position as "chief tax collector", Zacchaeus’ response was an indictment of the imperial system of corruption and, for sure, put him at considerable risk with his superiors.

Jesus' punch line to the whole thing was, "Today salvation has come to this house..." Jesus was not referring to some afterlife that Zacchaeus had just won as a prize for his reformed behavior. The word “salvation” (soteria) bears the meaning, "to be made whole." Zacchaeus' encounter with the excessive grace of Jesus and his inclusion in the Kingdom of God had resulted in Zacchaeus "being made whole"; transformed; reformed; fulfilling his humanity and God's intention for his life. It put him back on the road of right relationship with his own possessions and right relationship with his neighbors – the very ones he’d dehumanized through the exploitive system. It changed Zacchaeus from a sawed-off-shyster to a joyous, heartfelt giver.

Today is Reformation Sunday, as well as the Sunday in the midst of our stewardship emphasis at LOTM. This day reminds us it was Martin Luther's encounter with the excessive grace of God and Luther’s excessive and courageous response of protest against a corrupt, exploitive ecclesiastical hierarchy that transformed his life and began the reformation of the church in his time.

Today it's about you and me! As we respond to the invitation to gather at the table and dine with Jesus, like Zacchaeus and Luther, we too are recipients of God’s excessive grace. I pray you don’t see it as an intrusion, but as an opportunity to be stewards of God’s grace. The question that remains is what kind of stewards of God’s grace will we be? Will we be excessive or restrictive? Everyday brings a myriad of new opportunities to be excessive or restrictive with the grace that’s been given to us.

· We hear a cry of need that comes from someone, some agency or ministry on behalf of the poor, suffering or exploited of this planet. It’s an opportunity for us to be excessive, and I pray not restrictive with the excessive grace given to us.

· We become aware of a need of someone in our community. It's an opportunity to be excessive, and I pray not restrictive with the excessive grace given to us.

· We open a Sunday bulletin to a page of announcements or receive a "Field Guide Email." It's an opportunity to be excessive, and I pray not restrictive with the excessive grace given to us.

· We receive a commitment card in our mailbox. It’s an opportunity to be excessive, and I pray not restrictive with the excessive grace that’s been given to us.

Opportunities abound excessively. I pray God’s grace will abound excessively as well – through you and me!