The Tax Collectors of Today

October 30, 2022 Luke 19:1-10 The Tax Collectors of Today 21st Sunday after Pentecost Year C Opening Song Welcome Call to Worship Leader: Long-time believers and all who are curious, all are welcome to participate in this time of worship. People: We want to see Jesus! Leader: All who are looking with open hearts and eager minds, come to engage in this hour. People: We want to know God’s transforming love, shown long ago in Jesus. Leader: Like Zacchaeus, we know our lives will change when we commit to following Jesus, the Teacher. People: Like Zacchaeus, may our encounter today, with Jesus, push us to action. All: Let us worship the One who sent Jesus to show the Way. (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Opening Prayer Lord God of love and peace, open our hearts today to receive the invitation of Jesus to come and be present in our lives. Release us from our smallness and create an atmosphere of confession and healing love in our hearts and our spirits. For we ask these things in Jesus’ Name, AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Song The Summons TFWS 2130 Children’s Sermon Note: As with most messages, the details of how you choose to communicate this are adaptable and should cater to your audience and student needs. These suggestions are merely one possible way to demonstrate the message. Greet students Hello, children of God! I have something I’d like to give you today. Would you like that? So here it is: I’m giving you each a special heart! Here you go… (Bring out crumpled up paper hearts and pass them around. Alternatively, you could do this with a broken toy, or with a candy wrapper that has nothing inside of it, making the swap for a real candy or fixed toy.) What beautiful hearts! Do you like them? (Allow for disappointment or responses) I guess those hearts aren’t really a great party favor, are they? Hmm…well, how about if I give you a new heart! I will trade you in that old crumpled heart for a nice clean brand new one! Would that be better? All you have to do is give me your heart, and I’ll swap it for a better one…. (Allow students to change out their hearts) Great! So, that might have seemed a bit strange, but did you know that’s what God does for our lives? He is in the heart changing business. This is not about a card, and it’s not about your physical heart, like a transplant where you need to have your body cut open. A changed heart is about your attitude and motivation on the inside. It’s about how you think and feel. When you know Jesus and what He’s done for you, it really changes things for the better! So in today’s story, we talk about a man named Zacchaeus. Do you know anything about him? (Allow students to share brief details, if they have heard of Zacchaeus). Well, we might remember him as being that really short guy who had to climb a tree just to spot Jesus in a crowd. Well, that is true, but it’s not the most important part of the story. See, people knew Zacchaeus not only because he was short, but also because he was sort of a bad guy. He was called a tax collector, which basically meant he would steal from people and they couldn’t even do anything about it. When people get their money taken away, it usually doesn’t make them too happy! So Zacchaeus didn’t really have many friends, and he may have been a bit greedy. But he heard about Jesus and wanted to see what all of the fuss was about. Jesus could spy him up in that tree, and Jesus knew his heart and intentions. He called out to Zacchaeus by name, and invited himself over for dinner! Some of the Jewish people thought Jesus should not be hanging out with someone like Zacchaeus, and criticized Him for it. Do you think Jesus was upset by that? Not at all! He wanted to hang out with sinners, which is good news for us since we have all sinned…He also knew that Zacchaeus could change. And in fact, he did. After meeting Jesus, his life couldn’t go back to the way it was. He promised that if he had cheated someone, he would pay them back with extra money included! He turned his act around, and I’ll bet he had more friends as a result. He at least had one very good friend: Jesus! And we can have Jesus in our Klives, too. We can know His love, change our hearts, and tell others about Him. How great! Let’s say a prayer about that, shall we? By Kristin Schmidt Prayer of Transformation & Words of Grace We crowd each other out, clamoring for glimpses of and glances from Jesus. We get caught up in the hype, buzzing with the energy of and adrenaline from the crowds. Who wouldn’t? However, in so doing, we neglect the quiet opportunities to welcome Jesus into our homes and lives. We need not fret over our mistakes and missed chances of years and days past. God is forgiving and gracious. We are liberated from the things we cannot change and empowered to influence the things we can. No matter where we may go, God is always near.(United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Phiwa Langini) Scripture Luke 19:1-10 Sermon The Tax Collectors of Today There is a story about a local fitness center that was offering $1,000 to anyone who could demonstrate that they were stronger than the owner of the place. Here is how it worked. This muscle man would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a glass, and then hand the lemon to the next challenger. Anyone who could squeeze just one more drop of juice out, would win the money. Many people tried over time - other weightlifters, construction workers, even professional wrestlers, but nobody could do it. One day, a short and skinny guy came in and signed up for the contest. After the laughter died down, the owner grabbed a lemon and squeezed away. Then he handed the wrinkled remains to the little man. The crowd's laughter turned to silence as the man clenched his fist around the lemon and six drops fell into the glass. As the crowd cheered, the manager paid out the winning prize and asked the short guy what he did for a living. "Are you a lumberjack, a weightlifter, or what?" The man replied, "I work for the IRS." John Wayne Clarke, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost (Last Third): Father, Forgive Them, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. IRS agents may not be out favorite people. But they are all angels in comparison to the tax collectors in the bible. In Jesus time, tax collectors were considered traitors to their own countrypeople. They would spy on their own people in order to collect money for the Romans. Not only that, they would always make sure to take a cut of the money that they collected for themselves. Even our scripture today says that Zacchaeus was rich. You had a disdain for tax collectors that you would have for a drug dealer. And yet in the last chapter of Luke, that we read last week – Jesus says that a tax collector would get into heaven faster than a righteous man who went to church every week. Since Jesus has already been talking to the crowd about tax collectors, I wonder if Jesus has already been paying attention to Zacchaeus. Matthew, who wrote the gospel was also a tax collector – maybe he and Zacchaeus were friends. May Zacchaeus has heard that Jesus was preaching about him and he went to see for himself. What the reason, he climbs into a tree to see Jesus and Jesus invites himself to his house. When they talk – we have always been told that Jesus tells Zacchaeus to be an honest person, and Zacchaeus tells him that from now on he will be generous with his wealth. But today when scholars look at the text, they determine that Zacchaeus does not say that I will do this in the future, but he says that he does this already. He is telling Jesus that he really does live up to his name. Zacchaeus means righteous one. I really think this is another one of Jesus trick text. Jesus isn’t trying to convert Zacchaeus – he is really challenging the righteousness of the crowd. The people already made up their mind about tax collectors, they were all sinners. Even though they didn’t know one personally. We hear right now are all a part of the crowd – do we live up to our name as the righteous ones? Do we pray? Do we help others? Are we generous? How quick are we to judge others? Do we do all that we can to seek out Jesus? In search of meaning Just yesterday, a friend told me that she was at borders, looking for a book, she was at the end of her rope and she hoped that this book would help her get her life together. It was just a self help book, but she needed to believe in something that was going to make a difference and help her to find meaning in her life. All I could do was respond …hmm, as I sat preparing my sermon on finding meaning in our lives. I responded to her that perhaps it would be too simple to try the best selling self help in the world, the one that has been saving lives not only for years, but for generations …the bible. From Genesis to revelation it is the story of what it means to be a human being, what it means to be a loved child of God, to move from just being a child of God, to knowing that you are a child of God, and that God is always working in our lives. There is this heart shaped hole in the middle of all of our souls, there are times in our lives when we all feel it, we all know that its empty and we are looking for something, or someone to fill it. The hole in our lives We fill it with food, we fill it with possessions, we fill it controlling other people, we fill it with working too much, we fill it with relationships that don’t help us, we fill it with reading self help books, and try as we may nothing seems to fill that hole. Until we realize that that hole was intentionally put there in our hearts, and it is not meant to be filled... it is meant to stay empty... because it is the place where God enters our lives and takes residence in our souls. It us only when we realize that the things that we put there are not working for us, when we realize our need for salvation. Zaccheus story Perhaps that is why Zaccheus found himself out on a limb, up in a tree that day – attempting to get a glimpse of Jesus. He was in search of salvation. He had no idea of where to find it, or what it even meant, but he was hoping that maybe Jesus had a clue to lead him in the right direction. Salvation The good news for us is that we don’t have to seek salvation, because God sent Jesus into the world to seek us in the midst of our sin, and to hand us salvation on a silver platter. Salvation is the choice to let God come into that empty hole in your life. We always have a choice to be greedy or to be right with God. We can play into the things that that world admires the cars, the money, the popularity, and the possessions. Or we can choose to listen to God- and in the long run – have the things that truly make us happy- true love, true acceptance, true beauty, true assurance of salvation. So my Jesusween message for today (get it Jesusween – the Sunday before Halloween – the day we all come to church in search of Jesus) The message is that we are all both saints and sinners – just like the tax collectors of the world. We don’t know a thing about Zacchaeus other than his encounter with Jesus. But we do know that he was a child of God seeking salvation through Jesus. He didn’t have to look to far, because Jesus was looking for him also. Halloween means all hallow’s eve. Halloween is just the day before All Saints Day. We remember the saints who have passed on, but we also remember that we are all saints. A saint is a sinner who seeks Christ for salvation. Honoring a Sacred Place There is an old legend that says Zacchaeus went every day outside the city of Jericho carrying a bucket of water. One day, his wife followed him, wondering what this daily ritual was all about. She saw him stop at a certain sycamore tree. Zacchaeus poured his bucket of water on the tree's thirsty roots, and then stood there reverently looking up into the tree. It was a sacred place, for it was the place where his life was changed. But unfortunately a lot of Christians stop growing right there! They can tell you the day and the hour they first met Jesus Christ, but they have never taken this final step of letting the Living Christ rearrange the priorities of their lives. Zacchaeus was ready to let Christ be the very center of his life. He was ready to let Christ send him back out into the world to continue our Lord's ministry of justice and compassion. Religion for Zacchaeus would never be just another department in his life. His faith was now central to his whole being. Robert A. Beringer, Turning Points, CSS Publishing Company Zacchaeus is an example to all of us who seek salvation through Jesus Christ. Amen. Song Freely, Freely 389 Pastoral Prayer God of trees and pathways, you stand ready for us to gaze in your direction. As Jesus walked down the Jericho path, observing Zacchaeus, help us to remember that you are continually present to us, watching and guiding our steps. When we falter, you pick us up, dust us off, and place us back on the path. When we run in directions that are harmful, you are ready to rescue and redeem us. When we shout our disbelief, you offer to us your love and are ready to receive us. Today as we have gathered, remembering all those who have gone before us, who have paved the way for our faith, help us to be aware that we stand in that same long line of witnesses to your love. Give us courage and strength to serve you in all that we do. Remind us again that you are not looking for us to be perfect before we come to you, for you will take our rough edges and make them smooth. You will find the sparkling gem in the rough stone. You will help us learn to serve and witness to your love. Let us place our trust and our lives in your loving care. For we ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Prayer of Thanksgiving God of all good gifts, today we thank you for the actions of Zacchaeus in response to Jesus. Startle us with such an encounter! Even before that, we’ve offered our financial support. We pray you will accept these gifts, and help us use them wisely. Do not let us go, however, until you put an earworm in each of us, that we might be inspired to act like Zacchaeus in generous giving, responding to the call of Jesus on OUR lives. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Jesus calls to us today: Hurry and come down! Receive the abundant love and grace of God; Be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Salvation has come to this house today. Thanks be to God! May the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the love of our divine parent and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us, today and always. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Stephanie Sorgie) Community Time Benediction Bless you in your coming and going. Bless you in your welcoming and being invited. Bless you in your doing and being. Bless you in your now and forever. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Phiwa Langeni) Additional Illustrations We Don’t Play the Full Scale One of the most famous composers had a rebellious son who used to come in late at night after his mother and father had gone to bed. And before going to his own room, this rebellious son would go to his father’s piano and slowly, spitefully… and loudly would play a simple scale, all but the final note. He would play, “Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti…” and then he wouldn’t strike that final “Do.” Then leaving the scale unfinished, he would retire to his room. Meanwhile, his father (great musician that he was) hearing the scale minus the final note,… would twist and turn and writhe on his bed, his mind unable to relax because the scale was not finished. Finally, not able to stand it any longer, the father would crawl out of bed, stumble down the stairs and strike that final note of the scale. Only then could he relax and be at peace. Now, that’s an interesting parable because it reminds me of the way we so often treat God. We play around with some of the notes of faith, but we don’t play the full scale… - We forgive, but not completely. - We love, but not completely. - We serve, but not completely. - We accept Christ, but not completely. - We live the Christian life-style but not completely. - We commit our lives to God, but not completely. But then, even when we treat God shabbily, in his infinite patience and amazing grace, he continues to reach out to us and he continues to love us. James W. Moore, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com ____________________________________ Didn’t You Hear the Bells? One time a blind man was invited to attend the wedding of a friend. The couple had chosen to be married in a village church that was known for its picturesque qualities. As the couple left the chapel, the mother of the groom said to the blind man, “What a pity that you couldn’t see the chapel. It really is so lovely. And such a pretty garden.” She later repeated this to some mutual friends at the reception. The blind man just shrugged his shoulders each time and changed the subject. He thought to himself, “didn’t she hear the bells?” For him, the bells that had rung before and after the ceremony had been magnificent. He was astonished at their tones and the patterns that they made. For him they had created an atmosphere of joy and sacredness. The blind man finally concluded that the mother of the groom may have seen the lovely chapel but she missed the sound of the bells. With all her senses she had only experienced part of the beauty. Zacchaeus was blinded by his selfishness, but that did not keep Jesus from seeing him as a whole person. Jesus wanted to stay with Zacchaeus. To miss this part of the story is to remain in the dark. Jesus had to go to his house because this represented what Jesus was all about; giving grace toward those who are lost. In the gospel of Luke, Zacchaeus became the symbolic recipient of the grace of God toward lost humanity. There is no limit to God’s grace. There is even hope for the greedy and powerful. By staying with Zacchaeus, Jesus demonstrated that the grace of God extends to everyone, especially the lost. Keith Wagner, Little Guy, Big Gift The Only Thing That Can Be Changed A famous preacher once said, "When people tell me that human nature cannot be changed, I am moved to reply that in light of my experience, human nature may well be the only thing that CAN BE CHANGED!" We cannot change the course of the moon or the sun. We cannot change the laws of the physical world. We cannot change the movement and flow of the ocean. We cannot change the stars in the skies and the course they move in. However, the Bible pulsates with pages of testimonies of the lives, purposes, events, and habits which have been changed and can be changed. Eric S. Ritz, Why Change Is Possible Putting the Pieces in Order Author Charlie Shedd gives us a wonderful example of this truth from his own family life. Charlie's daughter had a science project to do for school, but neither Charlie or his wife were much help with the technical aspects. The saving grace was their next door neighbor, John, who helped the daughter with each part of her project. Finally came the night when the daughter had to put the whole project together. She was in tears about what to do first until she called John. John said simply, "Why don't you bring the whole thing over to my house, and I'll give the pieces in the right order, so you can finish your project." That is what happened when Zacchaeus let Jesus take control of the pieces of his life, and put everything in its proper order. When we let Jesus Christ take control in our lives, we can truly say with Zacchaeus, "Today salvation has come to this house." Robert A. Beringer, Turning Points, CSS Publishing Company Didn't Know He Was Lost There are many who are bored, burned out, lonely and empty. Many people have tried to substitute the accumulation of things for good relationships, but no matter how much they get, something is still missing in life. Their pipe does not go down deep enough to draw living water, and they feel lost. There was a little boy who got separated from his parents in a large shopping center. The Security Department quickly located the child, and took him to an office while the frantic parents were paged over the public address. One of the security guards got a large ice cream cone for the boy, so when his parents arrived at the office, there was their little son happily eating his ice cream. Suddenly, as his parents embraced him, the child burst into tears. One of the security guards said, "Gosh, I guess he didn't know he was lost until he was found!" Jesus once met a man named Zacchaeus who was like that. Zacchaeus was a Jew but he worked for the Romans as a tax collector, and he was about as popular as folks today who work for the IRS! In those days tax collectors gathered their funds with a little help from the Roman Army, and when Rome's needs were met, they could collect as much as their ingenuity permitted. Zacchaeus may have been small of stature, but he was a "big man" among the tax collectors. In fact, he was a "chief tax collector." He had a big home in Jericho, a very comfortable life, and although he had more enemies than friends, Zacchaeus outwardly appeared very successful. Robert A. Beringer, Turning Points, CSS Publishing Company Sermon Opener: Who You Gonna’ Vote For? - Luke 19:1-10 They say “politics and religion don't mix,” but politicians can’t stop talking about religion. They say “separation of church and state.” I say politicians have sure been preaching a lot of sermons lately. Some of them preachin’ political sermons in the churches, right up there where the preacher ought to be. You might be able to separate the state from the church but you sure can’t separate the politician from the pulpit. They say, “I’m not going to force my values on others.” I say, what is faith without values? And so I ask you: What is the state without the church? What is a politician without visible values? What is life without faith? To borrow the words of Paul, “It is nothing.” It is a resounding gong, a clanging symbol. Zacchaeus recognized this. He could not be in the presence of Jesus and not be moved. Moved to right the wrong in his life. He was a tax collector who taken advantage of many people. Lied to them. Swindled them. Skimmed off the top of his collections. And beyond all this, he had ignored the poor. Now it’s Tuesday morning for old Zacchaeus and he has to walk in the election booth and pull the lever. He is either going to vote for the state or for the faith. He is either going to vote for himself of for those he has defrauded. He will either cast his vote for Rome or for Christ. Come Election Day, who is he gonna’ vote for? 1. He Could Vote for the Tax Collectors. 2. He Could Vote for the Poor. 3. He Could Vote for Christ. ______________________ How Jesus Saw Many of you have seen the delightful Broadway musical and motion picture, "My Fair Lady." It is based on George Bernard Shaw’s wonderful play, "Pygmalion." It is about a brilliant professor, Henry Higgins, who transforms a humble flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, into an elegant English lady. In the midst of her brilliant transformation, Eliza falls in love with Henry Higgins, but he treats her only with disdain. Towards the end of the play, she expresses her complaint to their mutual friend, Colonel Pickering: "You see," she says, "Really and truly apart from the things anyone can pick up (the dressing and the proper way of speaking, and so on), the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not in how she behaves, but how she is treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will; but I know I can be a lady to you, because you always treat me as a lady, and always will." It is both interesting and encouraging to notice how Jesus treated people whether it be the woman of the streets or the tax collector in the tree. He saw something no one else could see. That is the first thing we need to see. Jesus was more eager to see Zacchaeus than Zacchaeus was to see him. King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com A Man Who Could Get the Last Quarter Out of You A man on vacation was strolling along outside his hotel in Acapulco, enjoying the sunny Mexican weather. He heard the screams of a woman kneeling in front of a child. The man knew enough Spanish to determine that the boy had swallowed a coin. Seizing the child by the heels, the man held him up, gave him a few shakes, and an American quarter dropped to the sidewalk. “Oh, thank you sir!” cried the woman. “You seemed to know just how to get it out of him. Are you a doctor?” “No, ma’am,” replied the man. “I’m with the United States Internal Revenue Service.” This was Zacchaeus. A shake down artist. A man who could get the last quarter out of you. Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com. Grace that Cost The novelist, A. J. Cronin, tells a story from his own experience as a doctor that catches the wonder of the gift of grace. The Adams family at the close of the Second World War decided to open their home to a little refugee boy with the outlandish name of Paul Piotrostanalzi. The Adams had two daughters and a son named Sammy. Sammy and Paul became inseparable friends, but little Paul was a difficult child, and often disobeyed Mr. and Mrs. Adams. One day, little Paul went swimming in some contaminated water. He became very ill with a high fever, and the doctor suggested he sleep in an attic bedroom. But little Sammy missed his friend Paul so much that one night he crept up the attic stairs and into bed with Paul. Paul's hot breath fell on Sammy's neck all night. In the morning, Sammy, never a strong child, became deathly ill. Paul recovered his health, but Sammy died within three days. It was a terrible tragedy for the Adams family. A year later Dr. Cronin decided to pay a call on the Adams family. But as he pulled into their driveway, he was amazed and then angry as he saw Paul, the refugee boy, working in the garden with Mr. Adams. He got out of his car and angrily approached Mr. Adams. "What's this Paul Pio........ whatever his name is, doing here after what he did to your family?" Mr. Adams looked at the doctor and then said quietly, "Dr. Cronin, you won't have any more trouble with Paul's name. You see, he's Paul Adams now. We've adopted him." That is a wonderful story of costly grace, and that is exactly the wonderful gift that Jesus once gave to a heart-hungry tax collector named Zacchaeus. Robert A. Beringer, Turning Points, CSS Publishing Company. Zacchaeus Stands In From “Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who’s Who” by Frederick Buechner. Harper & Row San Francisco, 1979, pp. 180-81. In this book, Buechner presents from A-Z several dozen character sketches of well-known (and sometimes not-so-well-known) biblical characters. The last entry in the volume is, not surprisingly, Zacchaeus. What Buechner shares about this man, and how he lets Zacchaeus be a summary for all the other folks in the Bible, is as delightful as it is instructive! Buechner observes: “Zacchaeus makes for a good [character] to end with because in a way he can stand for all the rest. He’s a sawed-off little social disaster with a big bank account and a crooked job, but Jesus welcomes him aboard anyway, and that’s why he reminds you of all the others, too. There’s Aaron whooping it up with the Golden Calf the moment his brother’s back is turned, and there’s Jacob conning everybody including his own father. There’s Jael driving a tent-peg through the head of an overnight guest, and Rahab, the first of the red-hot mamas. There’s Nebuchadnezzar with his taste for roasting the opposition, and Paul holding the lynch mob’s coats as they go to work on Stephen. There’s Saul the paranoid, and David the stud, and those mealy-mouthed friends of Job’s who would probably have succeeded in boring Job to death if Yahweh had not stepped in just in the nick of time. And then there are the ones who betrayed the people who loved them best such as Absalom and poor old Peter, such as Judas even. Like Zacchaeus, they’re all of them peculiar as Hell, to put it quite literally, and yet you can’t help feeling that, like Zacchaeus, they’re all of them somehow treasured, too. Why? Who knows? But maybe you can say at least this about it — that they’re treasured less for who they are and for what the world has made them than for what they have it in them at their best to be because ultimately, of course, it’s not the world that made them at all. “All the earth is mine,” says Yahweh, “and all that dwell therein” adds the 24th Psalm, and in the long run, presumably, that goes for you and me, too. Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations ____________________________________ Christ Sets Us Free of All Chains There is a story about an ancient Persian king who had injured his ankle quite severely. None of his court physicians knew how to help him. A member of his court told him about a certain slave who was said to have a great insight into matters of the body. The Persian king sent for the slave who was brought to him weighted down with chains and dressed in rags. However, the slave was indeed able to give him great assistance with his problem. The pain ceased and the ankle soon healed. The king was elated and justly grateful for the slave’s help. He was so grateful that he sent the slave a gift-a new set of golden chains. Some people shy away from religion because they are afraid that they may be trading in one set of chains for another. Religion can do that to people, but not a relationship with Christ. Christ sets us free! King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Forgiveness Heals a Thief There was a Zen school in Japan. They were training young boys in the discipline of meditation. The boys had been taken into seclusion. Among the boys there was one who kept stealing. So the boys finally put together a petition and brought he thief to the headmaster and stood there and said, "We are threatening right now to leave because we can't stand this kid any longer." With wisdom the Zen master approached them, looked at them, and said, "You are wise brothers. You are very wise. You are wise because you know the difference between right and wrong. You may go somewhere else to study if you wish, but this poor brother does not even know right from wrong. Who will teach him if I do not? I am going to keep him here even if all the rest of you leave." The story goes that a torrent of tears cleansed the face of that boy who had stolen, and the desire to steal was banished from him forever in that decisive moment. Richard A. Wing, Deep Joy for a Shallow World A Tough Book to Swallow In a certain town, a man walked into a bookstore to return a purchase. “It’s a Bible,” he said, handing to the clerk at the cash register. “Was it a gift?” asked the clerk. “No, I bought it for myself,” he said, “and I made a mistake.” “Didn’t you like the translation? Or the format?” “Oh no,” the man said, “the format was clear and the translation was fine. I made a mistake.” The clerk said, “Well, I need to write down a reason for the return.” “In that case,” said the man, “write down that there is a lot in that book which is tough to swallow.” There are some passages in the Bible that are tough to swallow. This is one of them. William G. Carter, Praying for a Whole New World Would You Be a Saint? - Matthew 23:1-12 How many of you played “dress up” this weekend? Wow…There’s a lot of you who “dressed up.” What did you “dress up” as? …[make this as karaoke as you can ... You may want to prime the pump by arranging for some to wear their “dress ups” to church] On Halloween we “dress up” in costumes and put on masks to “hide out,” to conceal who we really are. Originally the “disguises” worn on “All Hallows Eve” were supposed to fool the demons and other dark forces roaming the planet on that fateful night. The idea was that good Christians would be left alone by evil spirits if they dressed to look like they themselves were part of Satan’s army. How times have changed. I don’t think too many demons were put-off by Barbie Princesses, High School Musical cheerleaders, or Star Wars soldiers. Many parents found that this Halloween the problem was not that the most popular costumes were “too scary,” but that they were way too sexy! (So, YES, they were way too scary for Mom and Dad!) But for a lot of us the “dressing up” in costume didn’t stop with Friday night. We also “dressed up” to come to church on Sunday morning. We exchanged our Friday night “sinner” for our Sunday “saint” costume. For some reason many of us have become convinced that there is a great divide between clothing and our spiritual condition. The family, the Body of Christ, should always require a two-pronged greeting: “Good Morning Saints; Good Morning Sinners!” That is the organic complexity, the paradox of orthodoxy, that makes up this “Christ-Body” and makes it so vital. Both Saints and Sinners are present and accounted for. And all of us are both. My grandma used to make her requests using a very particular vocabulary. She would ask, “Would you be a saint and bring me that sweater?” Or maybe, “Would you be a saint and pick up those dishes?” All of her requests gave us the opportunity to register ourselves as “saints.” But is that all there is to being a “saint?” Would all of us be real “saints” if all we had to do was run helpful errands? Isn’t there some deeper commitment, some greater impulse required of a “saint?” We all know there are true saints in our midst this morning. Can’t you feel their presence? We have but to recognize and celebrate them. And this is our problem. The problem with real “saints” is that they are slippery. Jesus identified the revealing qualities of a true “saint” in today’s text. They don’t proudly peacock their achievements. They do not wear “broad phylacteries” or “long fringes.” They do not insist upon the best, recognition of their deeds, or need special placement in the community, or the best seats in the sanctuary. True “saints” slip under the radar… ____________________ Celebrating All Saint’s Day When pop culture transforms a “holy day” into a “holiday,” it almost always manages to focus on the wrong side of the equation. For example: *The number of shopping days left til Christmas is NOT as important as the 12 day period between the Christmas day miracle and the season of Epiphany. *A huge party, Mardi Gras, on “Fat Tuesday” is NOT as important as the forty days of Lent that follow. *Eating all your chocolate bunnies before breakfast on Easter morning is NOT as important as rejoicing over living a resurrection faith on Easter afternoon. *Tonight, while the world is preparing to throw itself a spooky, kooky All Hallow’s Eve party, “Halloween” is NOT as important as is the celebrations it fronts for — All Saints Day and All Soul’s Day. Outwitting spooky spirits on Halloween is not essential to Christian discipleship. But remembering the “saints” is. Celebrating our ancestors in the faith, those men and women, some unknown, some esteemed, who lived and died furthering the Christian faith, that is the “holy day” the church needs to hold up to the world. The Roman Catholic Church calendar still establishes a two day series of special masses and prayers that follow All Hallow’s Eve — All Saint’s Day on November 1 and All Soul’s Day on November 2. All Saints Day commemorates the faithful who, according to the church, have achieved heavenly status. All Soul’s Day is a day to pray for family members and the unsung saints of the world. There is a historical argument that can be made for All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day being the most under-celebrated church holiday in the post-Reformation church. Before the Reformation some overzealous fundraisers in the church gladly granted what was called a “plenary indulgence” to those who attended church services on All Saint’s and All Soul’s day. According to medieval theology this meant that if you attended church on those days your presence automatically released one soul from purgatory. The problem was that eventually the church ended up with a revolving door of visitors. It was the theological equivalent of buying a fistful of lottery tickets instead of betting on just one number. Better odds. People with lots of dead relatives would enter the church, offer the name of their deceased loved one, exit the church, and then turn around and do it all again, theologically assured that each time they re-entered the church that day they were freeing another Purgatory prisoner. Those with few relatives would simply draw up lists of historical figures they liked and hoped to chalk up heavenly credit to liberate them. This kind of incentive for church attendance is questionable, though it did work. But the eagerness of living generations to stay connected to past generations, both in prayers and in practices, is admirable. For medieval Christians, the dead were still an active part of the living, and past generations still had something to offer the present generations. It is hard for some of us to make that kind of connection anymore. People used to know their “family trees” as well as they knew their own furniture. But the USA has always been a country made of up of new arrivals, and for some of us the past is a blur. After generations of being on the move and unattached, there are now internet sites that offer to help us find our “ancestry.” At “Ancestry.com” the appearance of a single “leaf” next to a name is the signal that there is more information available. But many of us don’t have “family trees.” We don’t have a familiar forest of known relatives we can point to and proudly claim as our own. Some of us have family blackberry bushes. By that I mean unwieldy, twisted, brier-patch knots that are way too thorny to investigate without getting hurt. Whether you have a well-shaped family tree or an untamed bramble bush in your personal history, every member of the body of Christ stills participates in the communion of the saints. No matter what you know, or don’t know, about church history, or about your own personal history, we all have common ancestors in the faith and personal knowledge of saints. We need to celebrate All Saint’s Day. Leonard Sweet, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com ____________________ We Belong to the Kingdom of God The story is told of Frederick William IV of Prussia who once visited a school and quizzed the students. He held up a stone and asked the children: to what kingdom does this belong? They responded: mineral. He then, pointed to a flower and asked: to what kingdom does this belong? They answered: plant. He then pointed to a bird flying by outside the window and asked: to what Kingdom does that belong? They replied: animal. Then he asked: now, to what kingdom do I belong. He had raised a profound theological question. To what kingdom do we belong? On a literal sense, we are, off course, part and parcel of the animal kingdom. I belong to the same kingdom as my dog Ruff. He has many human traits. He can pout, he can get excited, he has a temper (as some of you who have visited the parsonage have discovered). But yet, Ruff does not understand time. He cannot grasp that there is a point beyond which he will not live. Only humans can grasp time. Ruff cannot tell right From wrong. It is not within him to share. His limited mind cannot set goals. All of those are human traits. The magnificent thing for humans is that it is within us to rise above purely animal desires and become a part of another kingdom----the Kingdom of God. Staff,www.Sermons.com Keeping Our Perspective and Priorities Straight Leith Anderson, a pastor, shared an experience: As a boy, he grew up outside of New York City and was an avid fan of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. One day his father took him to a World Series game between the Dodgers and the Yankees. He was so excited, and he just knew the Dodgers would trounce the Yankees. Unfortunately, the Dodgers never got on base, and his excitement was shattered. Years later he was engrossed in a conversation with a man who was a walking sports almanac. Leith told him about the first major league game he attended and added, "It was such a disappointment. I was a Dodger fan' and the Dodgers never got on base." The man said, "You were There? You were at the game when Don Larsen pitched the first perfect game in all of World Series history'" Leith replied, ''Yeah, but uh, we lost." He then realized that he had been so caught up in his team's defeat that he missed out on the fact that he was a witness to a far greater page of history. (As told by Dean Register in the Minister's Manuel, 1995, 339) Let me ask you a question. What's going on down the street in our ball park? We may be so caught up in the beauty of our building, the eloquence of the sermon, and the friends who sit around us, that we miss out on a far greater page in the story of our Christianity. Look around you. What is it that is happening in our community? What is it that is happening down the street at your neighbor's house? What is happening down at the playground? What is your spouse trying to tell you? Is God pitching a perfect game in the world series of our neighborhood and we simply are missing out because we are so invested in our team? Brett Blair,www.eSermons.com _______________ Sometimes We Just Need a Blessing The problem with our society is that we don't understand the power nor the dynamics of giving a blessing. We underestimate its power and we are not in the habit of giving empathy. Few people are tuned in to your feelings of rejection. Most ignore them completely. Many simply "stuff" them, hoping that they will go away. We are a people that want to fix or problem solve. We want answers and a rational explanation for everything that happens. Or, we believe that hard work and discipline will make everything turn out right. Do you think that the skier that crashed on the ski slope was not disciplined? Did he deserve to slip and fail because he didn't work hard enough? I heard a story this past week that illustrates how our society treats personal rejection. A man with a critical illness was lying in a hospital bed, desperately wanting some word of encouragement. A nurse said to him, "you just need to work harder." This man had undergone multiple surgeries and is critically ill. What he needed was a "blessing." What the skier who crashed on the slope needed was a blessing. Keith Wagner, Overcoming Rejection New Priorities of the Kingdom A holy man was engaged in his morning meditation under a tree whose roots stretched out over the riverbank. During his meditation he noticed that the river was rising, and a scorpion caught in the roots was about to drown. He crawled out on the roots and reached down to free the scorpion, but every time he did so, the scorpion struck back at him. An observer came along and said to the holy man, 'Don't you know that's a scorpion, and it's in the nature of a scorpion to want to sting?' To which the holy man replied, 'That may well be, but it is my nature to save, and must I change my nature because the scorpion does not change his?' Traditional Mercy and Empathy There are people crying all around us, people approaching the point of desperation. But many of their cries go unheard. The noise of the self-oriented machinery of our culture is drowning them out and they are dying. The world needs the merciful. We all need someone who will identify with us. Someone who will hear our cry, listen, have empathy, and care. We all need to have an attitude of mercy and to be the recipients of such an attitude! As Shakespeare said: The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest, It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes. Wallace H. Kirby, Beatitudes: Programs and Promises, CSS Publishing Looking Deeper Do you remember from your childhood the fairy tale about a wicked witch who turned the handsome young prince into a green, slimy, warty bullfrog sitting on a lily pad? "You'll never be restored until a lovely princess comes along and kisses you on the lips!" she cackled. Well, what chance is there that will happen? Yet one day a beautiful princess comes along the garden path, sees the ugly frog prince, but looks again, this time deeper. She sees beyond all the ugly to the real need, and she kisses him. Slowly all the ugly falls away until the young handsome prince is restored. That's what Jesus does to us. That's what he did for Zacchaeus. Stephen M. Crotts, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost: Music from another Room, CSS Publishing Company ______________________________________________ Looking for a Savior Quite frankly, I'm sick to death of ideals. I have so many ideals and I've been so frustrated by them, I really don't care for any more. What I'm looking for is a savior--not someone who will just tell me what I ought to be, but someone who will forgive me for what I am, and then with his very love will enable me to be more than I ever believed I could be. It's exactly that that Jesus does. Bruce Thielemann in "Telltale Tears" (1986 Preaching Today). Christianity Today, Vol. 35, no. 115. ____________________