Sorry Enough To Quit
Sermon
Ten Hits, One Run, Nine Errors
Gospel Sermons For Sundays After Pentecost (Last Third) Cycle C
Zacchaeus has been a favorite Bible character. His short height seemed cute. His climbing a sycamore tree for better viewing seemed comical. Jesus' calling him by name gave him celebrity. The unpleasant grumbling of onlookers made him an underdog. His enthusiastic intention to give to the poor made him born-again. Finally the greatest tribute came from Jesus himself: "Today salvation has come to this house...."
In short -- perhaps we should say, in summary -- Zacchaeus has seemed like a cuddly teddy bear. A children's Sunday school song complete with hand motions says,
Zacchaeus was a wee little man
A wee little man was he,
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see;
And as the Saviour passed that way,
He looked up in the tree,
And he said,
"Zacchaeus, you come down,
For I'm going to your house today.
For I'm going to your house today."
Zacchaeus' teddy bear image suffers, however, from a definition of the two words "tax" and "collector" in a Bible study.
The tax collector was an agent of the foreign imperial government, and he worked against his fellow citizens. The words "tax collectors" and "sinners" form a usual pair: "tax-collectors-and-sinners." The morality of the tax collectors is presumed to be at the lowest level.
Furthermore, today's Gospel Lesson describes Zacchaeus as being a chief tax collector and as being rich. Whatever it was that tax collectors did, Zacchaeus was good at it; and it made him quite successful.
Then there came the power of redemption through Jesus. Zacchaeus was the very kind of person Jesus had been looking for: the up-and-out. Much of Jesus' ministry had been focused on the more familiar down-and-out: the poor, the sick, and the outcast. Zacchaeus represented something different; he was rich and successful. True, he was unpopular; and most people then and now prefer to be liked, although some say they do not care, because they can "cry all the way to the bank!" For most of us -- including probably Zacchaeus -- "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can break my heart."
Perhaps hidden inside Zacchaeus was a guilty conscience. Perhaps it bothered him that he had cheated and hurt so many people. At any rate he welcomed the opportunity for a new chance in life. He volunteered to reform and to repay his victims. In present-day law we would say that Zacchaeus offered to pay restitution and to perform community service.
It would have been better if Zacchaeus had not used the word "if": "... and if I have defrauded anyone of anything...." Recent Christian journalists point out the cheapening effect of the word "if" in so many present-day apologies. "If I hurt your feelings, I am sorry." "If I did something wrong, I am sorry." The word "if" turns an apology into a non-apology.
Let us give Zacchaeus the benefit of the doubt. He showed signs of big improvement, and Jesus was happy for it.
The grumbling of the onlookers was unfortunate. They might have gotten tax reform and more honest treatment from Zacchaeus and his underlings at tax time, if only they had been more receptive of the new Zacchaeus.
A preacher who likes to tell children's sermons made two cardboard faces from the Zacchaeus story. One was a happy face with the mouth curved upward in a smile. The other was a disapproving face with the mouth curled downward in a permanent scowl. The happy face was labeled "Mrs. Good-and-Nice"; the scowling face was labeled "Mr. Good-but-Nasty." The children's sermon said that it is important to be "good," but it is also important to be "nice" to people. The onlookers who grumbled about Jesus' befriending Zacchaeus may have been "good," but they were "nasty."
Sometimes new Christians can be boring and offensive when they brag about how bad they were before they were saved. They seem to belittle lifelong Christians who never experienced such wicked, wicked ways in the first place. Nevertheless, when a sinner reforms -- whether it is Saul before he became Saint Paul, or Zacchaeus, or you, or me -- it should be an occasion for joy among all God's people.
There was a Sunday school lesson on the word "repentance." "What does 'repentance' mean?" the teacher asked. "Being sorry for your sins," was one answer. Not bad, but better still was, "Being sorry enough to quit." How wonderful that Zacchaeus was not only sorry for his sins, he was sorry enough to quit.
"No U-turn" is a familiar traffic sign to automobile drivers. "No U-turn" is usually posted at cross-over places on median strips of multi-lane highways. The cross-overs are reserved for emergency vehicles like police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances; but the rest of us are warned to keep going straight ahead until the next exit.
Imagine the surprise of a pastor, new in his community, to see "U-turn permitted" on a traffic sign at the end of a railroad underpass. There were so few exit streets in the neighborhood, he learned, that this U-turn was considered necessary.
The preacher thought about that unusual traffic sign "U-turn permitted"; but then he took it a step further for his next sermon. When it comes to sin, he thought, there should be spiritual traffic signs: "U-turn recommended" or even "U-turn expected" or "U-turn required." It is not enough to be sorry for our sins; we need to be sorry enough to quit, to U-turn away from sin.
Some social critics lament that we live in a time of "new immorality" -- when sinners are not sorry for sin, and they have no intention of changing. One such sinner boasts that his belief is based upon the hymn "Just as I am." "God must accept me 'just as I am.' " There you have it: no need for restitution for sin, because God is supposed to accept him "just as he is." No need for being "sorry enough to quit," if God accepts him "just as he is." No need to make a U-turn away from sin, if God accepts everybody "just as I am."
Some prosecuting attorneys complain that they have difficulty getting jury convictions these days, because of what they call "television talk show syndrome." Talk show hosts may ask a guest what his reasons were for killing his father. "Because he abused me when I was little" might be the answer -- which makes television viewers all over the country sympathetic with the murderer. This kind of program has influenced people -- including juries -- to decide "not guilty for reason of something" in cases of murder, theft, perjury, or anything else. Unfortunately it makes "I am depraved, on account of I was deprived" an excuse for believing "accept me 'just as I am' -- neither confession nor restitution necessary."
Imagine, if you will, Zacchaeus saying, "I am a dishonest tax collector, because I am so short. People made fun of me, so I became a tax collector to get even with people."
For many years the favorite Bible verse was John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." Before that it was Psalm 23:1, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."
Today's favorite Bible verse seems to be Matthew 7:1, "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged." It was a great Bible verse, to be sure, until it became twisted and abused by Satan to harden our hearts and to dull our sense of right and wrong.
Billy Graham has preached about God's view of tolerance. Billy Graham says that tolerance has become too stretched, that Jesus actually was narrow about the way of salvation. Jesus was intolerant toward hypocrisy, intolerant toward selfishness, and intolerant toward sin.
Have you ever wondered what became of Zacchaeus? There is no evidence that he became a disciple of Jesus, as Matthew, another tax collector, did. Perhaps he returned to his old dishonest ways by saying, "I must have gotten emotionally swept away when I was with Jesus. Besides, if I don't do it, somebody else will."
It would be wonderful if he continued his tax collecting office but became an inspiring example of doing it right. Maybe on the other hand he decided there was no way to be an honest tax collector, so had a mid-life crisis instead and went into something cleaner and more satisfying.
We do not know how Zacchaeus turned out, or what he did next. We do know that the final verse in today's lesson is a powerful conclusion: "For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost" -- like Zacchaeus, and you, and me.
In short -- perhaps we should say, in summary -- Zacchaeus has seemed like a cuddly teddy bear. A children's Sunday school song complete with hand motions says,
Zacchaeus was a wee little man
A wee little man was he,
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see;
And as the Saviour passed that way,
He looked up in the tree,
And he said,
"Zacchaeus, you come down,
For I'm going to your house today.
For I'm going to your house today."
Zacchaeus' teddy bear image suffers, however, from a definition of the two words "tax" and "collector" in a Bible study.
The tax collector was an agent of the foreign imperial government, and he worked against his fellow citizens. The words "tax collectors" and "sinners" form a usual pair: "tax-collectors-and-sinners." The morality of the tax collectors is presumed to be at the lowest level.
Furthermore, today's Gospel Lesson describes Zacchaeus as being a chief tax collector and as being rich. Whatever it was that tax collectors did, Zacchaeus was good at it; and it made him quite successful.
Then there came the power of redemption through Jesus. Zacchaeus was the very kind of person Jesus had been looking for: the up-and-out. Much of Jesus' ministry had been focused on the more familiar down-and-out: the poor, the sick, and the outcast. Zacchaeus represented something different; he was rich and successful. True, he was unpopular; and most people then and now prefer to be liked, although some say they do not care, because they can "cry all the way to the bank!" For most of us -- including probably Zacchaeus -- "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can break my heart."
Perhaps hidden inside Zacchaeus was a guilty conscience. Perhaps it bothered him that he had cheated and hurt so many people. At any rate he welcomed the opportunity for a new chance in life. He volunteered to reform and to repay his victims. In present-day law we would say that Zacchaeus offered to pay restitution and to perform community service.
It would have been better if Zacchaeus had not used the word "if": "... and if I have defrauded anyone of anything...." Recent Christian journalists point out the cheapening effect of the word "if" in so many present-day apologies. "If I hurt your feelings, I am sorry." "If I did something wrong, I am sorry." The word "if" turns an apology into a non-apology.
Let us give Zacchaeus the benefit of the doubt. He showed signs of big improvement, and Jesus was happy for it.
The grumbling of the onlookers was unfortunate. They might have gotten tax reform and more honest treatment from Zacchaeus and his underlings at tax time, if only they had been more receptive of the new Zacchaeus.
A preacher who likes to tell children's sermons made two cardboard faces from the Zacchaeus story. One was a happy face with the mouth curved upward in a smile. The other was a disapproving face with the mouth curled downward in a permanent scowl. The happy face was labeled "Mrs. Good-and-Nice"; the scowling face was labeled "Mr. Good-but-Nasty." The children's sermon said that it is important to be "good," but it is also important to be "nice" to people. The onlookers who grumbled about Jesus' befriending Zacchaeus may have been "good," but they were "nasty."
Sometimes new Christians can be boring and offensive when they brag about how bad they were before they were saved. They seem to belittle lifelong Christians who never experienced such wicked, wicked ways in the first place. Nevertheless, when a sinner reforms -- whether it is Saul before he became Saint Paul, or Zacchaeus, or you, or me -- it should be an occasion for joy among all God's people.
There was a Sunday school lesson on the word "repentance." "What does 'repentance' mean?" the teacher asked. "Being sorry for your sins," was one answer. Not bad, but better still was, "Being sorry enough to quit." How wonderful that Zacchaeus was not only sorry for his sins, he was sorry enough to quit.
"No U-turn" is a familiar traffic sign to automobile drivers. "No U-turn" is usually posted at cross-over places on median strips of multi-lane highways. The cross-overs are reserved for emergency vehicles like police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances; but the rest of us are warned to keep going straight ahead until the next exit.
Imagine the surprise of a pastor, new in his community, to see "U-turn permitted" on a traffic sign at the end of a railroad underpass. There were so few exit streets in the neighborhood, he learned, that this U-turn was considered necessary.
The preacher thought about that unusual traffic sign "U-turn permitted"; but then he took it a step further for his next sermon. When it comes to sin, he thought, there should be spiritual traffic signs: "U-turn recommended" or even "U-turn expected" or "U-turn required." It is not enough to be sorry for our sins; we need to be sorry enough to quit, to U-turn away from sin.
Some social critics lament that we live in a time of "new immorality" -- when sinners are not sorry for sin, and they have no intention of changing. One such sinner boasts that his belief is based upon the hymn "Just as I am." "God must accept me 'just as I am.' " There you have it: no need for restitution for sin, because God is supposed to accept him "just as he is." No need for being "sorry enough to quit," if God accepts him "just as he is." No need to make a U-turn away from sin, if God accepts everybody "just as I am."
Some prosecuting attorneys complain that they have difficulty getting jury convictions these days, because of what they call "television talk show syndrome." Talk show hosts may ask a guest what his reasons were for killing his father. "Because he abused me when I was little" might be the answer -- which makes television viewers all over the country sympathetic with the murderer. This kind of program has influenced people -- including juries -- to decide "not guilty for reason of something" in cases of murder, theft, perjury, or anything else. Unfortunately it makes "I am depraved, on account of I was deprived" an excuse for believing "accept me 'just as I am' -- neither confession nor restitution necessary."
Imagine, if you will, Zacchaeus saying, "I am a dishonest tax collector, because I am so short. People made fun of me, so I became a tax collector to get even with people."
For many years the favorite Bible verse was John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." Before that it was Psalm 23:1, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."
Today's favorite Bible verse seems to be Matthew 7:1, "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged." It was a great Bible verse, to be sure, until it became twisted and abused by Satan to harden our hearts and to dull our sense of right and wrong.
Billy Graham has preached about God's view of tolerance. Billy Graham says that tolerance has become too stretched, that Jesus actually was narrow about the way of salvation. Jesus was intolerant toward hypocrisy, intolerant toward selfishness, and intolerant toward sin.
Have you ever wondered what became of Zacchaeus? There is no evidence that he became a disciple of Jesus, as Matthew, another tax collector, did. Perhaps he returned to his old dishonest ways by saying, "I must have gotten emotionally swept away when I was with Jesus. Besides, if I don't do it, somebody else will."
It would be wonderful if he continued his tax collecting office but became an inspiring example of doing it right. Maybe on the other hand he decided there was no way to be an honest tax collector, so had a mid-life crisis instead and went into something cleaner and more satisfying.
We do not know how Zacchaeus turned out, or what he did next. We do know that the final verse in today's lesson is a powerful conclusion: "For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost" -- like Zacchaeus, and you, and me.
