Forgiven
Luke 19:1-10
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About a month ago, a man who is homeless broke into the Church. So, the next day when Stephanie told our Sunday School group about it, we started getting into a deep conversation abut this man. I asked her, “What if he had killed or injured somebody, do you think Jesus would forgive him?” And her response really shocked me, because she told me that Jesus would indeed forgive him. And I sat there for a minute, similar to the crowd in Jericho, just baffled that Jesus would forgive him. And that offended me. Because he was a sinner just like Zacchaeus. We’re going to backtrack a little here, but bear with me. Zacchaeus was a dishonest man whose curiosity led him to Jesus Christ and salvation. Ironically, his name means “pure” or “innocent” in Hebrew. As a chief tax collector for the city of Jericho, Zacchaeus was an employee of the Roman Empire. The tax collectors had to collect a certain amount of profit each time. Anything they raised over that amount was their personal profit. Luke says Zacchaeus was a wealthy man, so we know he must have extorted a great deal from the people and encouraged his fellow sinners to do so as well. Jesus was passing through Jericho one day, but because Zacchaeus was a short man, he could not see over the crowd. He ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to get a better view. To his astonishment and delight, Jesus stopped, looked up, and orders Zacchaeus to come down because he would stay at his house. The crowd, however, muttered that Jesus was socializing with a sinner. Jews hated tax collectors because they were dishonest men, who supported the oppressive nature of the Roman government. The self-righteous in the crowd were especially critical of Jesus’ interest in a man like Zacchaeus, but Christ was demonstrating his mission to seek and save the lost. At Jesus’ call to him, Zacchaeus promised to give half his money to the poor and repay fourfold anyone he had cheated. Jesus told Zacchaeus that salvation would come to his house that day. Zacchaeus is not mentioned again after that episode, but we can assume his repentant spirit and his acceptance of Christ did, indeed, lead to his salvation.
Now, back to the story from Sunday School. Hypothetically, this man had killed someone in the house of God. I mean, how could someone do that, and then be forgiven like it was nothing? Then I said, “if I was Jesus…” but then I stopped. I thought for a second, then realized that I simply wasn’t Jesus, because that’s what made Jesus so special. It was his ability to forgive. That’s what he was. God’s Son, sent to do God’s work. To forgive. So, similar to when Jesus came to Jericho and found Zacchaeus, he would forgive this man of his crimes. One of the most essential parts of this story is that Jesus found Zacchaeus, not the other way around. That we are so busy looking for Jesus, we forget that he is always looking for us. I mean, what normal person walks around looking in trees? He was selfless, forgiving Zacchaeus because he too, was a child of God. And when he said “today I will stay at your house”, the crowd of people didn’t appreciate that. Because they viewed this man as a vile and selfish sinner and wondered why Jesus wouldn’t pick them. And that’s what’s so mind boggling. That Jesus would pass by me to walk with him. The crowd of selfish, just like Zacchaeus. They wanted the love, the honor to have Jesus, but he isn’t expendable, like we think he is. He was the light amongst the rubble. He said, “today salvation has found this man”, salvation. It’s defined as preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss. And that’s the importance of the story, that Jesus forgave him, so that he might see the error of his ways. So, when I heard this, I was offended and appalled, that Jesus would be friends with the sinner, and pass us, by me, like we were, like I was nothing. Or at least that’s how it feels.
Sometimes I think we forget, we’re all in the same boat, we are all sinners. Because when this man broke into the church, or when Zacchaeus took what was not his to have, we see them as enemies, but that’s not how Jesus sees them. He saw them as children of God, as brothers in blood and in faith. We make so many assumptions about people, we forget about what must have happened to them. I still wonder, what had happened, that drove this man to break into the church. Because I originally saw him as an enemy, but after looking closer, after forgiving, I now see his desperation, his fear. And I feel that of Zacchaeus too. But in repentance, we are forgiven, our lives are changed.
Jesus’ act of forgiveness, was changing Zacchaeus’ story. Jesus changed the end of the story. The life we live here on earth, this is our story, guided by decisions made by us. Jesus is helping guide our path to righteousness, a path to forgiveness, to change our story when we fall from faith. Because we are already forgiven, but part of faith is believing that we are. To believe that our store is here on earth, and not after death. Sometimes I think we forget that Jesus is watching, that God is with us, because we don’t believe in a man in the sky, opening the gates. But that’s not who God is. God’s forgiveness, God’s majesty, is us, humanity. Created in God’s image, so that we may understand. In the Lord’s Prayer, it says on earth as it is in heaven, make heaven here on Earth. Our lives, our story, ends at death, only to transcend into heaven. But through this discussion, my faith has evolved so much, because I now no longer think of heaven as a place to go after death, but the mark we leave on history, our story. Be it whatever it may be, a life of love, happiness, whatever. What our story is, is ours to tell, but through the light of God, we can live knowing we are forgiven, knowing we are in God’s sweet embrace, that we are not sinners but lovers and forgivers. I am what I am because I am. God is not hate. His light can’t be used to justify cruel deeds or persecution. His love cannot be misread as hate. God is beauty, God is light, he is love and he is all things here on Earth. But most of all, God is forgiveness and God is in our embrace when we forgive each other. Thanks be to God, and
Amen.