Luke 6:20-26

Setting:

Luke 6:17He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

Read: Teaching: Blessings and Woes

20Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now,

for you will be filled.

“Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

22“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

24 “But woe to you who are rich,

for you have received your consolation.

25 “Woe to you who are full now,

for you will be hungry.

“Woe to you who are laughing now,

for you will mourn and weep.

26“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

Finish Reading

Luke connected Blessings/Woes to Love for Enemies

27“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.

We have been talking about happiness

A condition that all humans seem to desire

Most religions point people to happiness, which seems to be the result of the God or Gods or fates or karma or whatever the transcendent dynamic may be called

Happiness, the condition of being blessed or favored by God should it seems to most of us, be a comfortable, joyful condition achieved by faithful behavior with out a “downside”

But today’s lesson seems to offer a less comfortable experience

Lets look at the text:

Audience:

In Matthew, it is the crowds, gathered at the bottom of the hill

But Luke edits the scene so that the disciples become the primary audience

Context: persecution and conflict

Probably in Rome

Conflicts certainly between Jews and followers of the Way (brought from Palestine)

But beginnings of Roman persecution under Nero and Caligula, when as a minority population, who often did not conform to the requirements of emporer worship, or want to join the army were hauled before the magistracy and condemned

While we are not in such a situation of overt persecution, still, if we are disciples we need to listen to this (for the church’s present condition is not without critics!)

Are we blessed…

maybe this is the comfortable blessing that maybe we had imagined

But we are not blessed like Luke indicates…

Assumes a position of distress: poor, weeping, hungry and hated.

I find it hard to identify with these people who might be so blessed.

I find it easier to identify with those who are warned: Woe to…

Rich, I can pay my bills and buy clothes, a few toys too

Full, have plenty to eat

Laughing, most of the time I’m pretty happy, life is good (like the sign says

Well speakers…People like me, mostly

If Happiness is the kingdom…does it mean the kingdom is for the poor, the economically disadvantaged?

If Happiness is having an empty belly.. the only comfort now is the thin promise… “someday you you will be filled”.

If Happiness is weeping…again someday you will laugh

And what about “Leap for joy when people act hatefully to you .” That seems as they say, counter intuitive…we feel bad when people do nasty things like excludeing us, defaming us…

Umm…

Can we reclaim the Context of early church: (should we?)

We Xns are Different, at key points, we should be …

But we still live in a world intolerantof differences…

Here in Jesus’s teaching are Socio-economic motifs.

Rich and poor

Satisfied and hungry

Those who are excluded…and those who do the exclusion

The teaching seems to cover us Existentially:

physically, emotionally and socially bereft, we shall be happy and consider ourselves blessed

Its complete but paradoxical

How then do we make sense of this for our time and our world, and our church

First we have to see this as eschatological…

Sense the tense of the language…it is a future thing

Rejoice “in that day” the Day of the Lord,” the moment in which God acts decisively to bring about the Divine purpose

Then Blessed ness will be the condition of the faithful

Until then…we endure

This is the situation of the early church…an expectation we need to reclaim

Second is the figure of the prophet

The prophetic function of our faith (Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Amos to name a few) always carried a warning

When the comfortable were discomforted they not only spoke against the prophet, but often killed him/her as well

Since the insititutions of religion “know” that the prophetic is necessary they have often had people who spoke “of the future” without the harsh sense of judgement for poor behavior.

People liked them…gently chiding…the faith community would “speak well of them” …and continue to ignore the warnings.

Third, let us heed the warning

The passage assumes not only a different future, but one in which the real world is radically changed, where opposites occur

When God acts to bless the faithful, those who are feeling happy now…will be sorry; those who are now on the bottom of things. Will be lifted to the top!

If there is a message about Happy Blessedness to the church today

It must begin with an assumption about a judgement…

There is a consequence for not being good disciples

That if we are not at least partially successful at being prophetic (raising social justice issues; speaking boldly about right relationships between peoples, speaking discomfortingly about the comfortable) we will loose our opportunity to be blessed

If we are to assume salvation at the end…

If we are to assume that happiness, existential and real, is to be ours, we had better consider identifying with the hungry, crying and poor

…and be a little more abrasive in our cultural analysis

…course we know that there is not a big market out there to grow a church by being socially critical…

I grew up in the 1950’s

Churches after world war 2 were booming

were a time of great social conformity and the beginnings of an unprecedented time of prosperity in America

But almost immediately the 50’s began spawning all manners of non-conformist behavior, the radical movements for civil rights, anti-war, environment and gender equalities

Back then

It was good to be spoken well of.

Polite but in denial of the real issues God would have us address

But that wasn’t happening for the early Xns,

they were being imprisoned, brought to trial, tortured, and fed to animals. And nobody hung out with them either…

What gave shape to my faith, was the sense of great change inherent in the early church, the passion and radical community which promised happy blessedness not just for followers of Jesus, but for all human beings

If the church has a mission now… if the church has a purpose now

It is to reclaim its ability to speak prophetically, to discomfort those who seem pretty happy now

And invite others to the more profound experience of happiness, after enduring the discomfort, that will be ours in that day, the day when divine purpose, God’s outcomes are realized

For between now and then, our happiness iswhen we act as a light upon a hill, blessing those who curse us, giving our coat to those without, turning the other cheek, praying for those who abuse us and sharing our goods. In short: Doing to others as we would have them to for us! (The paradoxical and radical rule from Jesus)

It is that category of happy/Blessed is not usually what we offer others…or even seek ourselves!

October 10: Zacchaeus ~ a happy Man

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000167 EndHTML:0000021909 StartFragment:0000001122 EndFragment:0000021893

Luke 19:1-10

1He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”



“Happy” has been our theme for this month.

We have looked at being happy in the acts of worship,

when we feel we are ini the presence of God

That seemed to be pretty straight forward: Yea, we could be happy in that bliss of ecstatic praise.\

Just being in God’s presence, lifts us from our mundance struggles

We have examined what it means to be blessed in wisdom

That deep but practical skill of discernment

Always making the right choice, choosing the best alternative

Of course that will lead to happiness, to a life well lived

We have looked at happy as doing what is right

Here the prophet encourages us to think about justice

And again, being righteous, being in right relationship will our friends and neighbors seems a pretty desireable goal

And we couldn’t help but be happy when things are done right, when we live a life of service to others.

Last week the happiness we explored had a bit of a tinge to it

For in the Beaitudes, (the blessings) happiness looked like a stranger condition brought on by persecution and abuse.

But still, at root, being what God wants us to be, doing what God wants us to do, is being in right relationship to the divine ultimates

That in spite of some suffering is ultimately a positive outcome: “happiness”

This morning we are going to look at an example of a happy person

His name is Zacchaeus, know mostly by the famous music that he inspired: “Zacchaeus was a wee little man…”

We met him in one of Jesus’ many confrontations with people who had heard about him, the peripatetic preacher and prophet, who strolled through villeages healing and teaching.

Zach was such a person…curious about this fellow Jesus

It is only through our speculation as to what motivated Zacchaeus

Luke’s account only gives outward behavior; there is no description of inward thoughts

We know that Zachaeus was a tax collector, a chief tax collector as a matter of fact, so perhaps richer than most.

And we know that tax collectors (unlike today when they remain faceless and nameless behind the wall of greatu bureaucracies) were persons hated thoroughly, despised because they could legally abuse the privileges that they had been given.

Tax collectors were conspirators with the oppressive occupiers: the Romans, traitors to their own people and religiously “sinners,” unclean to even share a supper table

What was going on inside Zachhaeus?

Perhaps he had heard about Jesus openness to his kind…

Maybe he was tired of exploiting the people of Jericho

Maybe he was unhappy with himself and the way he was living his life…?

But what we do know is that he made an extra effort to see this Jesus fellow, walking through Jericho that day.

Being a short person, he climbed a tree to see over the crowds

Being short of stature, (and relegated to a marginal social position) he had to take it on himself to be able to view this teacher with the remarkable reputation

Then, Jesus looked up and said with authority: “Zach hurry down from that tree”

And then he used the imperative: “I must stay at your house today”

This, of course sent the crowd into a grumble buzz: “Jesus is going to eat at a sinner’s house (they should have been used to this by this point!)

This command, this self invitation, clicked with Zach: he became glad, happy, a sense of good fortune came upon him and he began to say some very un-tax collector like things!

Zacchaeus was changed in that moment

(note the language of the story: It was Jesus, Jesus, until Zacchaeus responds to the command…then it is “Lord”)

From someone restlessly searching, dissatisfied at some deep point in their lives…

To someone who was willing to right the wrongs, correct the mistakes and make right the relationships that he had damaged.

He became a generous man, sharing with the poor, a chastened man willing to make restitution to those he had defrauded.

What is this story about?

It is about the good news of Salvation that comes from our relationship to God through the person of Jesus

It is about a deep soul happiness that comes when we can change because God prompts and promotes our inward change

It is about the possibility of living a new life, a life of concern and compassion, a life of sharing and service

If there is anything that should make us happy, it should be this: that health and wholeness are always possibilities

The story of salvation is always a story of the dynamics of the spirit, the human spirit

While God made us to make decisions, God has not always been happy with the decisions that we have made

Zacchaeus was a bad man, legally robbing people and giving support to the oppressive Roman regime.

But somewhere down inside of this man, something stirred

Something changed from unhappy to happy, from unhealthy to healthy

God’s design is to “seek out and save the lost”

When Zacchaeus began to realize how lost he was, doing the things that he did, he became ready to be found!

God has design us humans for change, change from within, change from without

Part of the story that should make us happy, is that God takes the initiative to seek out those who are ready for change, for redemption, for rescue, for repentance

It is but for us to recognize the moment and respond gladly, happily, when Jesus commands us to leave our tree!

When we sit at table with Jesus as our guest in our home, the world changes around us and we are re-equipped to be better people, happier people, more blessed people capable of bringing God’s blessings to others.

This story is about the movement from despair to hope, from dissatisfaction to gladness

We must note that when Luke talks about salvation he is not necessarily talking about flying off to some distant realm in the sky, after you die

He is talking about a man who changes in his real time situation, in his real profession, in his actual day to day life

Salvation here is the healthy relationships of neighbor and government

Salvation here is the movement from crime to compassion, from fraud to friend, from selfish to selfless

When salvation comes to Zacchaeus house, wholeness is restored to the community which he serves

And this is the result of God’s seeking and sorting, searching and saving.

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, but his story is huge, a tall tale that reaches from the ancient past into our own time

Zacchaeus is an example to us of wanting change, of seeking to be found, of deep personal reflection that readies us for an encounter with Jesus

Zacchaeus is the model through which we understand how salvation works, through inward and outward change.

He conforms not only to Jesus expectation back then, but also to wise leaders of today’s religious practices: “thus spiritual practice involves on the one hand acting out of concern for other’s well being. On the other it entails transforming ourselves so that we become more readily disposed to do it.

Happiness then,

is the product of the changes that happen to us as God comes to us and brings blessedness

it is the ability to renew ourselves, rescued from our previous self absorbtion, and delivered into a service mode that promotes the well being (salvation) of others

Happiness then is all about spiritual change…which is what we take up when I get back from George and Kate’s wedding.

James 1:12-18

12Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. 13No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. 14But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; 15then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. 16Do not be deceived, my beloved.

17Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.



Change

Since the 1960’s we have been experiencing Rapid cultural change

Resourced by the post WW2 prosperity, technology has pushed us more rapidly into the future than we can comprehend

Rocket age, atomic age, space age…all became cliches !

Information technology ramped the rate of change up even more

Marshal McLuhan…medium is message

TV then internet

Global community is at the end of your fingers and on the screen infront of your eyes

What we see are profound changes that result in our congregation’s being challenged in ways previously unimagined

Some can remember when they walked to church…we were the hub of a neighborhood

Now we all drive…and we bring people in from 5-7 communities

Now we are in competition with sports and leisure activities, the fatigue of overworked, stressed out people, now there are 14 or 15 religious insititutions plus the TV “evanglists” who offer a menu for belief

Changes in the last 50 years have yielded a more narrow “market for new members

Now (we are told) 80% of people opt out of church

That leaves us about ¼ of the number to appeal to in comparison to previous era

This has resulted in the changes to our congregation that we are about to experience

Part time pastor…

Small church school

Fund raisers

More responsibility for the lay leadership

The challenge to reestablish ourselves as a “visible” part of the community

The temptations for us are many….

Let others do the work… “we’ve always been here…”

Opt out, throw up our hands and sell the building

In the midst of our experience of change, we have to ask the question: Is God is unchanging?

Part of the response to the changes in our world will begin with our understanding of the nature of God

If God is Static, constant, consistant: then we have two options

We can simple say: We’ve not had any new messages from God, no new instructions, God must be absent from our situation!

That promotes our passivity

Or we can say…God’s demand upon us is the same for God still loves us, still requires of us a faithful response

If we say God is Dynamic, powerful, changing, interactive

Then the demand upon us is to recognize where God is active

Then we must be attentive and aware of the subtle manner in which God is involved in the events of our lives,

and listen for the encouragement to create new responses to our new and changed world….

So we come to this somewhat obscure Lesson:

Strip away the old language, it is confusing and stilted, encrusted with words antithetical to old adversaries (the gnostics)

But taking our cue from the late 1st century context, we can see our own time is parallel to those early days…

We too are in a context of challenge and cultural confrontation

We too can own the temptations to

Escape into the culture, with its leisure and luxuries

Or to escape into a passive faith, believing that simply believing will unite us to God

The lesson is really about the dynamic of personal faith as it is empowered by the Gospel, by the “seed” package implanted in our brains

I want to hold out this morning the idea that, paradoxically God is both the same and different at any point in history

God’s love and compassion for the creation is constant

God’s requirements for Justice and mercy are consistent

God’s involvement with people of faith, is relentless

God’s message to us is the same as it has been from the beginning: faith and trust must result in healthy communities…not just our own, but for the entirety of the human community

This is the Gospel that Jesus brought…the “Word” that has the power to save

But God is a creative God, God Spirit is constantly, renewing and reshaping and interactively engaging us to grow and create new ways of being faithful

In the great sweep of things, the flow of human history…all is change

…and our hope is, change toward the conditions we can call the Kingdom of God

…a place of compassion, justice and peace

The challenge that comes to us these days: Can we change our belief structure into new behavioral patterns?

First may not be an option for us (2000 years later!)

But “fruitful” is still the desired outcome from the planting of the Word in our collective hearts and minds!

If we are to be changed “from above” that is, if we are to be changed by the words of scripture that we embrace, then we must be self aware and communicative about our faith with each other

Being capable of demonstrating in a visible manner, the loving kindness, the care-full-ness that Jesus taught, in our time and place might just require from each of us, and collectively, from our congregation some serious changes

What changes (personally and organizationally) must be in place for us to be as fruitful in our next years as we have been in the past 347?

Looming immediately before us is “part time” pastoral coverage.

(there is really no such thing as a “part time pastor”)

Prompted by the financial challenges of operating any organization in these expensive times, we ask ourselves…what will be the outcome, the consequence of this change

Again we are tempted to allow ourselves a lower level of commitment to the church

…or we can motivated to be creative…assigning “pastoral tasks” to key lay leaders…reclaiming the priesthood of all believers!

Another change within our society has been the increasing skepticism of our youth

We live in a “prove it” culture…

Abstract theology, philosophic systems that used to hold sway are simply dismissed

Truth to this generation must come as that which they can passionately embrace

The church has become in too many places too passive for youth

Can we create in the children and young people who we know a great sense of excitement for being a follower of Jesus?

Both in conventional wisdom about congregations…and I believe in the creative church of the future, motivating our young people is key

A church without a church school promises no future

A church without children will not attract parents who are looking for a place of religious nurture for their children

But for us to reemphasis our educational ministry, it might require us to rethink how we do it…put the old function in a new and more functional package

This requires change of mind, heart and behavior

Another change is how we present ourselves to the communities around us

This has been the underlying motivation for our Founder’s Festival

Yesterday, I thought we did a great job…

…but it has taken 8 years to begin to attract people to an event that is not your Grandmother’s church bazaar

We continue to be challenged to create an attractive public image for this venerable congregation

If we are to change sufficiently to survive, we must be creative in our plans for the future

…we must reimagine and maybe even reinvent the church

How do we get through the next hundred years?

By changing… and I want to assert that I think this congregation is particularly good at change!

Because we do understand that God is both constant and ever changingly dynamic

By understanding that we have been gifted from God to be able to change, to progress in faith and faithful behavior, the Word is something we still listen to…in our hearts!

That power to change comes from God, the Father of light, who sheds light into our hearts through the implanted seeds that will produce new fruit for the kingdom as we change…!

Background:

• Context: The notes say that this is a song of Zion celebrating God’s ultimate vcitory over the nations. It is a statement about how God will preserve his people even during the cosmic tumults of the latter days.

• Vs. 1 inspired Martin Luther to write “A mighty Fortress”

• Zion is Jerusalem, the holy city which will stand secure even in apocalyptic times. This characterizes the psalm as a “song of Zion” that celebrates the triumph of God’s rule.

• Psalms were used in worship. It helps worshippers look forward to an ultimate time of peace.

The text: Psalm 46: 1-11 (NRSV)

The points for reflection…

Responses to the text, questions, feelings, words/images

What is encouraging about this psalm? What might be discouraging

Then the psalmist sings “world” what is the reference?

What does the image of “river” suggest?

What image does “Lord of hosts” provide?

Why does the psalmist refer to “God of Jacob”?

When we are asked to “behold the works of the Lord,” what are we asked to look at?

When are “nations are in an uproar”?

CHANGE

Historically when has the “world” seen change? Who did it frighten?

What is the biggest change that we have experienced?

Could our way of life be forever changed? …how? …by what?

Do we feel that there might be an “apocalyptic” change in our world?

What are the roots causes of change? Is change a good thing or bad?

What part of change has to do with the “HOLY”?

FEAR

Why is “change” a cause of fear?

Is fear a prevelant emotion in our times? What do we fear?

How do we respond to “fear”?

What do nations appeal to when they are threatened?

REFUGE

How do we “take refuge” in God?

When does “being still” equate with taking refuge?

How might we respond to an “atheist” who claims that “refuge in God” is foolish?

Is God at the center of government? How could that happen?

When is the sense of “God with us” most keenly experienced?

PRAXIS

What part of making “wars to cease” do we participate in?

How can our congregation be a resource for ending fear?

How do we help people “be still and know” God? How critical is this?

How can we help institute “the city of God” and a peaceful world?