“Zacchaeus was a wee little man
And a wee little man was he
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see.”
How many of you learned that song as a child? It is the soundtrack that plays in my head every three years when the story of Zacchaeus turns up in the lectionary. This year was no exception. I think Zacchaeus is an appealing character to children because he climbs that tree. Children understand what it means to be small. They understand what it means to want to see something, to want to be a part of something and to not be able to because they are too short. They understand being so filled with interest in something that you just have to climb a tree to see it.
But as an adult I find myself heading in a different direction. Why? Why is Zacchaeus so interested in Jesus? Why would he climb a tree, an act that would most likely only serve to make him look foolish in the eyes of people who probably already disliked him very strongly. Why risk debasing himself that way? What was so compelling about Jesus and Jesus’ message that Zacchaeus just had to get a look at him? Kids are filled with interest in this way, but not adults.
Unfortunately, Scripture doesn’t give us any answers to these questions. All we know is that Zacchaeus was a tax collector. He was a Jewish man who chose to work for the enemy. The crowd calls him a sinner, so he was likely an unscrupulous tax collector who exhorted as much as he could from those from whom he collected taxes. And he wasn’t just any tax collector, he was the chief tax collector. No wonder the people grumbled when Jesus called Zacchaeus by name and invited himself to Zacchaeus’ house. We know that he climbed a tree to see Jesus. Something you wouldn’t expect a wealthy and powerful man to do. And finally, we know that upon eating with Jesus, Zacchaeus has a radical transformation and pledges to be an honest tax collector from that day forward, use his resources to support the poor, and to make restitution to anyone who has been a victim of his dishonesty.
Maybe Zacchaeus was just curious. Perhaps he had heard from some of his fellow tax collectors who had eaten with Jesus. Or maybe he had become vaguely dissatisfied with his life, sensing that there had to be something more than simply accumulating greater and greater wealth. Maybe he wanted to be in touch with something that really, really mattered. Maybe he had gotten in touch with a deep longing that he just hadn’t figured out how to satisfy. Maybe this longing was the seed of the transformation that his encounter with Jesus brings about in him. Maybe in his encounter with Jesus he came to realize that God loves him too and that is really all that matters. His money doesn’t matter. His financial and material security don’t matter. His power and position don’t matter. All that matters is that God loves him. And that knowledge can only lead in one direction, to pass that love on to others. For when we are truly loved and can accept that love, we have to love in response.
Today we kick off our stewardship season here at St. Andrew’s. The campaign itself is really a financial campaign for the parish, and it is the job of the stewardship committee to talk with you about that, and they will. For they have a deep love for St. Andrew’s and a deep commitment to the ministry and work of this community. My task today is a little different from their task though. I am not here to talk about our annual financial campaign, as important and essential as it is to the work God does through us in this place. My task is to help us all to think about stewardship in a bigger sense and why understanding stewardship and its role in our life is crucial to our spiritual well-being and our relationship with God.
I have sitting on my desk upstairs a quote (I have no idea who to attribute it to) that I copied down many years ago. “How we live should reflect our values.” For me this is the essence of stewardship. Stewardship is a way of life. It is what we call all our attempts to integrate what we say we believe, the values we hold, and the way we actually live. As Christians we profess belief in a loving God. We claim that everything we have, everything we are comes through the grace of God. Our entire lives are a gift from God. Stewardship is everything we do with what we have been given. So, stewardship is basically how we choose to live our lives.
Is how we are living actually a reflection of the values that we say we hold though? Do we really live our lives as though everything we have is a gift from God? Have we truly embraced the idea that God loves us totally and completely? Or do we behave more often than not like God doesn’t even exist? Do our actions actually show that we have placed ourselves at the center of our world and that we really believe everything we have came from us and belongs to us alone?
Stewardship begins with God and God’s love for us. Are you putting yourself in a position to grow in your understanding of God’s love for you? Zacchaeus climbed a tree that he might see and hear better. You don’t need to do that. But each and every one of us needs to carve time out in our lives for prayer, Bible study, spiritual reading, and corporate worship. When we intentionally open up time in our lives to spend with God, we open up opportunities for transformative moments like the one that Zacchaeus had that day in the tree. Jesus called on Zacchaeus, but if Zacchaeus hadn’t shown up in that tree Jesus couldn’t have called to him.
I promise you that as you give time each day to your relationship with God, you will find yourself increasingly aware of God’s love for you. And this awareness will change you. You will see your life differently. You will see the material and financial possessions in your care differently. You will see your relationships differently. You will understand other people differently. You will live your life differently. And your life will have more meaning. Your life will have more joy. Your life won’t be easier, but it will be better.
If you already have a daily spiritual practice that helps you connect with God, congratulations. Perhaps you can check in to see if it is still working for you or if you need to tweak your practice. If you don’t have such a practice, please find one. I can help you if you need help. Join with others if you need accountability. You can’t hear Jesus’ call to you if you don’t slowdown from time to time long enough to notice his presence. And as you develop this practice or continue a practice you are already doing, ask yourself this question:
What is one thing you will do differently now that you better understand that you belong to God? Everything that you thought was yours belongs to God. God loves you beyond measure. And, as a good steward of everything that God has trusted you with, you are called to love your neighbor as yourself. Next start doing that one thing. And when that becomes a steady part of your life, find another thing to do. And keep at it. Gradually you will find yourself living a life of stewardship, a life in which your values and your actions are more and more in line with each other.
And if you feel overwhelmed, don’t. You can start off as small as you need to. Find a daily meditation and read it. Pick up a Forward-Day-By-Day from the hallway and follow it. Join a weekly Bible Study Group. Read a spiritual book. Join the Benedictine Group. Start your own group. Sit in silence for 10 minutes, or 5 minutes or 1 minute. Start wherever you can start. It will be enough, and it will get easier. And as it gets easier you will want to do more of it.
And that thing you will change. It could be something really big. You could be like Zacchaeus and give away half your money. But it doesn’t have to be big. It really just has to be something you can do faithfully that reflects your Christian values and expresses your understanding that God loves you. Maybe it has something to do with stewardship of the earth. Perhaps you will refrain from eating meat one day a week, or turn your thermostat down, or hang your wet laundry on the line, or buy one thing used that you would have otherwise bought new, or refrain from buying something you don’t really need, or join an environmental action group.
Or maybe it will have something to do with those who have less than you do. Maybe you will volunteer at a food pantry, or homeless shelter, or give to one of these organizations. Maybe you will join a group that works to change our sociewty so that everyone has what they need to live.
Or maybe you will try to understand and get to know someone you don’t normally see as your neighbor—someone whose skin color is different from yours, or who speaks a different language, or grew up in a different country, or who is differently abled than you, or who understands their sexuality and/or gender in a way that is different than you understand yours, or who is from a different generation than you are. Maybe you will work to listen to the stories of people different from you without defending your own identity or asking the other person to become more like you.
I don’t know how God is calling you to steward God’s love for you, but I do know that God is calling you, and me and every single human being to make choices, to use what God has given us well. God is calling us to show up as Zacchaeus showed up. God is calling us to heed the Divine call and to live our lives accordingly.
“Zacchaeus was a wee little man
But a happy man was he
For he had seen the Lord that day
And a happy man was he;
And a very happy man was he.”
Amen
