Touched By Grace
Dr. James Mayfield
September 7, 2003 Text: Luke 19:1-10 One of the happy memories of this summer is of Rita and me taking our 8 year old granddaughter to see an abbreviated version of the stage play Beauty And The Beast at Disney World. We left with the sing-able music in our heads: "... Tale old as time Song as old as rhyme Beauty and the Beast." The memory of that special afternoon has been encoded in the part of my brain that remembers happy times when life is a joy. When Rita and I returned to Austin we purchased a CD of the music, partly because it reminds us of that special afternoon, but mostly, at least speaking for me, because that children's story is more much more than entertainment for children. It is in many ways a secular echo of Biblical truth. When we humans live only for ourselves, refusing those in need, we are as cursed as the young prince who was transformed into a beast because of his selfishness, his lack of compassion and love. He was hopelessly locked in his beastliness until the compassion of another human being, a young woman, began to work in him and on him. By grace, by undeserved compassion, he began to change until he was even able to sacrifice his hopes of being human again in order to help the girl. And in the end, when it appeared the villain had killed him and he would die a beast, the love of the girl broke the spell, and he who was dead in beastliness came alive as a human being. "...Tale as old as time, True as it can be ... Beauty and the Beast." This is the story of Zacchaeus, the little man who had become wealthy from his commissions collecting taxes for the Romans. He was so hated, people would not make space for him so that he could see the famous rabbi who was going through his hometown. He had to climb a tree to be able to see. Jesus saw him, this little man who was up a tree. Surprising not only to Zacchaeus but also the people who had blocked his vision, Jesus called him by name. When we have been like Zacchaeus, and up a tree in our lives, it is surprising when grace comes to us in a personal way, with our name on it. "Zacchaeus," Jesus said, hurry down from that tree. I am going to stay at your house." Of all the people with whom Jesus could have stayed, who would have thought he would choose a man who had become wealthy, serving the conquerors by assessing and collecting taxes from the conqured? The people grumbled. They saw Zacchaeus to be not only a collaborator with the enemy but in their eyes, even a traitor. By his behavior in the past, it was clear to them he was an obvious sinner. Or to use the metaphor of the musical, they saw him as a beast, and maybe that is even the way he saw himself. But to him went the honor, the privilege. "Zacchaeus, hurry down; I'm going to stay at your house today." Then, according to Luke, something unusual and special happened. Zacchaeus was overcome with a sense of both compassion and justice. "Lord," he said, I am going to give half of all I have to those who are in need, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." It was then Jesus said, "Today salvation has come to this house." Today a human being living like a beast is now behaving like a person created in the image of God. Today we are invited to a special meal with Jesus. We who from time to time are up a tree with our lives, we are being offered an invitation as personal and special as the one Zacchaeus received. And if there are among us those who have seen the beast within us, and heard us growl or felt our bite, they may think about us the way those folks in Jericho thought about Zacchaeus. But it is to us who have something in common with both Zacchaeus and the Beast in that children's story, to whom Jesus has come. Jesus told us and the writers of the four Gospels have made it clear: he came to seek and save the lost. We who know what it is to be up a tree in life, we come to this special feast, not because we have earned the right but because of the special invitation of Christ. We know we do not deserve to be at Christ's table; this is why we sing "Amazing Grace" and "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." Like Zacchaeus we too have been made aware that the grace of God reaches out to us even when we have behaved like beasts, and touches us with redeeming love making us aware as never before, that we really are more than animals; we are persons, created in the image of God -- persons whose living is to be marked by both compassion and justice. "... Tale as old as time, True as it can be ..." Zacchaeus and God's grace, Jesus, you, and me. God, help us be aware of you calling our name and inviting us to this special meal. And as we come, may we come as Zacchaeus came -- amazed, joyful and committed to compassion and justice. Amen. Pastoral
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