+Last month I had the
privilege of attending an adult Sunday school class taught by President Jimmy
Carter. At the beginning of class, Mr. Carter told us about an important
spiritual discipline one of his sons engages in every time he enters a room
full of people he doesn’t know. The man (President Carter never identified
which of his three sons does this) finds the loneliest looking person in the
room ---the person who is off to the side, alone--and he approaches them, looks
at them, sees them, and begins a conversation. President Carter’s son maintains
that approaching the one who is the farthest apart from everyone else is the
most decent and dignified thing he can do. Now, it would be easy for the son of
a President to walk into a room and let the people come to him, but this man chooses
instead to reach out to the most marginalized person he can find. Why? Because, according to President Carter,
that’s just what Jesus would do. And you know what? He’s right. That is what Jesus would do. Therefore,
it’s what we must do.
Being
seen is important isn’t it?
Have you ever been speaking with
someone and they don’t look you in the eye, looking around instead, almost as
if they’re looking for someone else—someone better---to talk to? It feels
lousy, doesn’t it?
But being seen, being really seen, is great. When someone
speaks to me and they’re only looking at me, only listening to me, I feel
valued.
So
often in our world today we don’t really see each other. At work we may pass
someone in the hall or we may exchange emails with them throughout the day but
rarely do we stop and have a conversation.
Even in our families it can be
tough to be heard and to be seen. How many of us exchange more text messages
with our loved ones than actually sitting across the table from them and
talking? And listening? How often do we see one another, really see each other?
Jesus sees.
Jesus looks.
Jesus notices.
Zaccheeus was a man who lived in Jericho. He
was not well-liked because he was the tax collector.
Because he worked for the
Empire, the gov’t, people
didn’t like him and whenever they saw him they turned the other way. Whenever
his name was mentioned people ridiculed and insulted him. Not for who he was as
a person—no one knew that--but because of what he did for a living and for how
he looked. You see, as Luke tells us in today’s Gospel, Zacchaeus was a short
man who had a tall problem when this traveling preacher man came into town---he
wouldn’t be able to see what all the fuss was about!
So, because he was small and
the crowds were large, Zacchaeus climbed a tree to get a good look at Jesus. We
don’t know why he was so interested in seeing Jesus—was it because Jesus was
the latest fad? Was it because Zacchaeus worked for the Empire and was ordered
to spy on what this rabbi was up to?
Or perhaps was he curious?
Drawn to the power that was Jesus? We don’t know.
But we do know that Zacchaeus
climbed the tree to see and there are no indications that anyone paid him any
attention, that anyone saw him climb the tree, noticed him in the tree or cared
one whit about him being in the tree.
Until Jesus arrives.
As Jesus passes he looks up
and he sees Zacchaeus, he notices him and he tells him— “I’m
coming to your house for dinner tonight.”
Now
the rest of our Gospel reading today talks about the outrage the crowd has that
Jesus would socialize with such a man as this tax collector and the rebuttal
Zacchaeus gives outlining all the good he’s done. One could finish a sermon discussing
the dangers of snap judgements, which are bad, and the importance
of generosity, which is good, but that’s not what stuck with me when I sat
with this Gospel. What stuck with me is this whole looking at, seeing,
and noticing people-- the thing that President Carter spoke about--
it’s what Jesus did with Zacchaeus and, I
think, it’s what we are called to do.
We’re called, by Jesus Christ
himself, to look at each other, to see each other, to notice each other. Because
when we do that, when look one another in the eye, when we see, it’s a lot
more difficult to be mean, dismissive, prejudiced or hate-filled.
And don't we need that?
Don't we need less intolerance
and more acceptance? Don't we need more love and less hate, more seeing, more
hearing, more noticing?
Zacchaeus
and Jesus teach us something very important today --- they teach us that seeing
each other is the first step to respect, and respect my friends is the back
bone of love. And if there is one thing this world of ours needs isn’t it more
love?
No comments:
Post a Comment