Homily
by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC; 24th
Sunday after Pentecost, 30 Oct. 20116
Proper
26 RCL Year C: Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4;
Psalm 119:137-144; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12; Luke 19:1-10
Jesus
says the Son of Man comes to seek & save the lost.
As
followers of Jesus, this is part of our calling.
The idea of seeking the lost
among our brothers & sisters in the human family can seem scary.
Remember: Jesus calls us to work with him. Notice how Jesus calls
Zacchaeus by name.
What difference do
you feel when someone calls you by name & when a clerk calls out
“#352” or “Next”?
God
knows your name.
Knowing
someone's name can be transformational in a relationship. We see this
today in our Gospel.
Through
the power of the Holy Spirit, we are to work for the transformation
of the world as God intends it to be.
We are in this
together & have the Holy Spirit to guide each of us & us
together. We
hear echoes of this transforming work in our 1st
lesson.
Habakkuk
addresses times of destruction & violence when people are out of
sync with God's love, & it is easy to give up. The
Jewish Study Bible
notes,
the question is not why
justice does not emerge but how
do
we live in times of injustice.1
We
see injustice in our Gospel. Zacchaeus has practiced injustice as a
tax collector for the Romans.
Despite the low opinion of Zacchaeus in his community, The
New American Bible for Catholics
says:
he “exemplifies the proper attitude toward wealth...” Like last week's repentant tax collector, Zacchaeus seeks fuller life
& God's love. Despite his physical challenges & the blatant
negative opinions the people have of him, Zacchaeus doesn't give up. He
resorts to climbing a tree since no one is going to give him a boost
or get out of his way for him to see Jesus.3
When
have we failed to give someone a boost or
blocked
someone from seeing Jesus?
God
calls us not to give up in our work to share the Good News of God's
love, which has created this beautiful world & this beautiful
human family of which we are an integral part. God calls us to live
by faith & to make the truth of God's love known. We are to share
it so the news is plain & simple. God
says in our 1st
lesson:
Make
it plain on tablets so a runner can read it.
When
I'm working out at the fitness center, I don't run on the treadmill,
like the younger people on either side of me do. I walk
because I'm reading homework for the course I'm taking. Even walking,
it is
hard to see the words.
Look at this passage in our 1st
lesson & see a runner taking a message from one community to
another & a
HUGE billboard
with clear writing telling God's vision & God's love:
God
loves you.
No
exceptions.
All
are welcome.
How
can you, how can we, be
this billboard of God's love? Notice how the Thessalonians
function as a “billboard” when Paul shares with others about
them.
Paul
says: “We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers &
sisters,...because your faith is growing abundantly, & the love
of you for one another is increasing.”
This
positive influence on other churches & individuals you DO have.
Your steadfastness, faith, love & God's grace active among you
are why you consistently function so well.
God's
love which you have & share gives you strength & grace to
continue positive interactions as we work toward our annual Christmas In The
Forest AND beyond.
As
we continue handling life's storms – both literal weather &
personal storms – it is easy to overlook our strengths, gifts,
love.
When
we get short on personal time [who among us doesn't?] & time with God in prayer, we can
be challenged like Zacchaeus trying to see Jesus, to see what God
wants us to do. These are times we can find refreshment & peace
in this simple song from the Iona community &
its complementary gestures I learned last week from The Rev. Dr. Jay
Koyle of The Anglican Church in Canada, our presenter at Clergy
Conference.
Let's
experience “Take, O take me as I am” with the simple gestures
that open us to God.
Blog
Readers: these links give you lyrics & insights, but not the
gestures we practiced at our Trinity Center retreat, which I hope to post here.
Bibliography
Butterworth,
Susan. “The Righteous Live by Their Faith”. Accessed: 29 Oct.
2016.
Harper’s
Bible Commentary.
Gen. Ed: James L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers.
1988.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
“A
Little Man with a Big Problem”. Accessed: 29 Oct. 2016.
The
New American Bible for Catholics.
South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1970.
2
“A
Little Man with a Big Problem”.
http://www.sermons4kids.com/little_man_big_problem.htm
and “Zacchaeus
Goes Out on a Limb”.
http://www.sermons4kids.com/.
Accessed: 29 Oct. 2016
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