Where
are the Sycamore trees? Where are the opportunities for people to climb
up and see Jesus? Where in the world do you go to see Jesus now? Will
you see Jesus driving passed this church? Will you see Jesus if you come
into this church? Will you see Jesus in
the people that are here?
Maybe,
but a church doesn’t seem like a Sycamore tree on the side of a road. A Church doesn’t seem like the starting point
for getting to know Jesus like Zacchaeus did.
Where
are the Sycamore trees? Where do people go to climb up and see Jesus?
Are there Sycamore trees in St Lucia? Is there somewhere to climb up a
tree at UQ? At Cromwell? At Kings? At Grace? At Raymont? Is there a Sycamore tree in the shopping
centre? Or in AVEO? Over the road at the school? Or at Briki?
Where can a person climb up to see Jesus? Where will a person climb up to see Jesus?
God
stirred in the heart of a short, less than popular, tax collector, to climb a
tree so that he could see Jesus. In the
gospel of John Jesus says to his followers, “No one can come to me unless
drawn by the Father who sent me.” God is
already at work in Zacchaeus. God is drawing
him in even though he does not yet understand it.
I
think that it is highly doubtful that Zacchaeus really understood what was so
special about Jesus. We have no idea
where he had heard the rumours. All we
know was that he did not want to miss out.
He wanted to see Jesus. It is my
thought that the stirrings in Zacchaeus’ heart are the stirrings of a man who
is searching for meaning and purpose. They
are the stirrings of a man who has a sense there is more to life than he is
experiencing and seeing. I seriously don’t
think that when he grabs hold of the branch of the Sycamore tree that he really
knew what he would find. But he knew he
had to grab a hold of that branch and start his climb. He was exploring.
All
around us I believe God is stirring in people’s hearts. I believe God is causing people to ruminate,
to think, to contemplate, to cogitate, to ponder the meaning of life and to
search for answers. Like Zacchaeus I
suspect that many people who have these questions within them do not even know
what they are looking for, maybe they haven’t even worked out where a Sycamore
tree is so that they can climb up to get a better view. But God is stirring within them and they are
searching. Where are the Sycamore trees
for them to climb? Can we help them find
the tree? Can we give them a hand to
reach the lower branches?
Zacchaeus
experience, the experience of this short, less than popular, tax collector is
where he is because the crowd won’t let him in.
It is because the crowd is ignoring him.
They are too busy trying to make themselves closer to Jesus and turning
their backs on Zacchaeus. Are we also
blind to the people in whom God is stirring?
Are we so focussed on Jesus ourselves and our place nearby the roadway
that we have turned our backs to their questions and searching? Can we not see them and give them space or at
least help them into the tree?
In
defiance of his rejection and his lot in life Zacchaeus grasps those branches,
he uses hands more suited to bookwork to clamber and climb up until he can see
over the heads of the crowd. He really
does not want to miss out. He wants to see Jesus.
And
here is the amazing thing. Here is the
astounding thing. Here is the
astonishing thing.
Zacchaeus
climbed the tree to see Jesus, but it is Jesus who sees Zacchaeus and calls his
name. It is Jesus who sees Zacchaeus and calls his name. Jesus sees Zacchaeus
and calls his name.
Here
is grace. Here is love. Here is mercy. Jesus sees and names the short, less than
popular, tax collector Zacchaeus – this rich man, this despised man, this
fringe dweller.
Jesus
sees him and names. More than anything this
is what all of us want in life to know that we are not alone, that we, that you
and I, are seen and that we are known, that we are not anonymous, but that we
have a name.
In
Luke’s gospel this is such a powerful story.
A balance to the story of the rich man and Lazarus that I preached on a
couple of weeks ago. In that story it
was the rich man who remained anonymous but now Zacchaeus is named, no longer
is the rich man left anonymous. This
story is a counterpoint to the encounter that Jesus has with the rich young
ruler whom Jesus tells to sell all he has and give it to the poor. Zacchaeus is the camel going through the
needles eye, because as Jesus declared, “With God, all things are possible.”
“With
God, all things are possible.” And in Zacchaeus the possibility becomes reality
not because of Zacchaeus response, not because Zacchaeus climbed the tree, but because
God stirred in his heart and because Jesus saw him and named him. Here is grace. Here is love. Here is mercy. God at work.
I
have often heard the response of Zacchaeus emphasised in sermons. The encounter with Jesus has changed him and
his response has direct consequences for the choices he makes in life. There are financial consequences in his
decision to respond to his encounter with Jesus.
We
only get a glimpse here of Zacchaeus response and I have seen it questioned whether
he actually follows through, or is he just boasting about what he will do. Either way there can be no doubt that in
Jesus interaction with Zacchaeus there is new hope for relationships to begin
to unfold in his life and the lives of those with whom he shared community. Responding to an encounter with Jesu changes
us.
For
me there is a reversal in this story of the way we often approach the notion of
sharing our faith. It would seem that in
helping people to climb the Sycamore trees to see Jesus our prayer is that
reverse is happening that Jesus will see and name them just as you and I believe
we are seen and are known by name.
Which
brings me back to the question “Where are the Sycamore trees?” Where do people
go to climb up and see Jesus? And what is our role in all of this.
Today
we will commission Hayley to the work of Chaplaincy and to the work of Pastoral
Assistant in the congregation. As I contemplated the work that she is involved
with at Cromwell I had a strong sense that she will be tending the Sycamore
trees. She will be helping people to
climb up with their questions about life and its meaning and growing up and
purpose. All the questions of hope and of
failure and of passion and of anticipation and of dread that young adults
feel. And maybe occasionally Jesus will
be looking from within Hayley and through Hayley see and name people in their
questions and so affirm that they are loved by God and that they too can have
hope.
But
more than that I have a sense that her work is our work wherever we go day by
day and if we are too tired and too busy to be doing the labour of tending the
Sycamore trees that we might rest in God’s love and pray for the work she does
and that others do to help people explore their questions of meaning that have
been stirred up in them by God.
Where
are the Sycamore trees? Where do people go to climb up and see Jesus? Do they
even know that that’s who or what they are trying to see? I wonder what it would mean to understand ourselves
to be people who tend the Sycamore trees.
Who nurture the possibilities of people climbing into the branches? Of even helping them up so that they might be
seen by Jesus. That they might be named
by Jesus. And having encountered the
grace, love and mercy of God be transformed by that encounter just as you and I
are continually transformed by that relationship.
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