Almost 499 years ago, Martin Luther posted 95 theses on the door
of the Wittenberg chapel inviting the scholars and the clergy of the day to
come and debate 95 topics concerning the proclamation of the Gospel in Luther’s
time. (In a recent lecture concerning the issues of the Reformation, Dr. Duane
Priebe at Wartburg Seminary said, “After almost 500 years, we have made
progress. We only need to address about 90 of the original theses today.”)
These 95 theses continue to challenge us and continue to lead us into new ways
of living in God’s word. I am not going to go into all 95 theses today and talk
about where we have made headway and where we have grave work to do, but what I
want you to hear in this time of reformation is Martin Luther did not write
these theses, create the Reformation, and then it was over. Rather Martin
Luther started a movement of reformation 499 years ago that continues to this
day. I also want you to hear and understand that the reformation started by
Martin Luther in 1517 will not end in our time. The work of reform will always
challenge us to shape the work of the church with our ministry to meet the
needs of our neighbor for it is this concept of worshipping God in service to
our neighbor where we find some of our most challenging Lutheran work. It is so
challenging that Luther himself was not able to fully embrace it. Yes, these
statements of reform continue to challenge us to think about how we think about
the world around us and what it is that we can do with the gifts we have been
given to meet the needs of our neighbor.
It is ironic then, that this challenge to the church in 1517
which should have been not much more than a ripple in the currents of scholastic
time, certainly not much more than a poorly attended workshop for public debate
about the poor practices of the church in a poverty- and disease-ridden, even
Black Plague-ridden world, that so much should have come out of these relatively
obscure challenges. Yet, in today’s language, these statements concerning the
state of the church and concerns of our faith struck a note with the people of
the time and it went VIRAL. It was able to go viral because of the new
technology of Luther’s day. You see the printing press had just been invented
and the product of writing and the making of books was ready to play a major
role in the lives of the Western World.
How appropriate it is then, to look at the technology of
Luther’s time and the changes that occurred. Then, when we consider the changes
in our technology and our ability to communicate our ideas, we can get a
glimpse of the challenges we face in our world. So it is, in the midst of this time of great
change, that we look to Luther’s time for strategies and encouragement to
embrace our new technologies to be the church proclaiming the Gospel in
entirely new and previously unconsidered ways—to be places of prayer, praise, and
thanksgiving at all times and in all places, even in cyber-space. With this
technology, we are challenged to find ways to fully appreciate our relationship
with God in the relationship with our neighbor.
It is this theology of being in relationship with God in the
relationship of our neighbor that is the springboard for the heart of Lutheran
thought. It is this concept, this thought—that we gather for the sake of our
neighbor—that continues, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to drive us into
the world of ministry around us creating safe places for discussing and
debating the issues of our time.
It is this gathering of the unclean and unclaimed neighbor
that continues to intrigue and challenge me. For this reason, I believe that it
is appropriate that we should be hearing the story of Zacchaeus this year. In
this story, Jesus demonstrates the radical notion of neighbor and what a
society of all people living for the benefit of all might look like. It is a
great example of how relationships of mutual appreciation can build up the
whole body of Christ. In this story today, we see the beginnings of what it
means to be in ministry and service to our neighbor.
Zacchaeus is by all standards a small man, not able to see
because of the crowd. Now those of you who are vertically challenged can
appreciate how difficult it is to see what is going on when you are packed in
in a restricted area. I have to admit that after I got my sight back, this was
not usually my problem, but at a youth gathering in Washington D.C. a number of
years ago, one of the young women who had attached herself to our group was
only about 4 ½ feet tall. At a concert one night, she was swallowed up by the
crowd of 20,000 teen agers.
There was no tree to climb, so I invited her to stand on my
shoulders. When I invited her to get up there, I had thought it was only going
to be for a short time, but once she got up there, she was so excited to be
able to see the whole crowd and the band that she refused to come down. She was
totally amazed at how the perspective of the world had changed for her and so
for the next hour, she danced, and shouted from her new perch.
It is from this place of new perspective, that Zacchaeus
encounters Jesus. Unlike my tiny dancer, Zacchaeus comes down when Jesus calls
him and the radical service community begins. Seeking Jesus, Zacchaeus discovers
that he is being sought. This mutual seeking leads to Jesus going to Zacchaeus’
house where they discuss the needs of the people and the issues of the world.
In the midst of the conversation and hospitality of Zacchaeus’
house we find that Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector and therefore a despised representative
of Roman authority, turns out to be a good guy. He gives half of his money to
the poor and repays those who have been taken advantage of four times the
amount of their grievance. For this, Jesus claims Zacchaeus as a Son of
Abraham, lifting him from a place of shame into a place of dignity. Transforming
his life in relationship with those around him. Of course, this is where the
understanding of neighbor gets difficult.
We witnessed back in Chapter 15, the Scribes and the
Pharisees grumbling because Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners. Now
all of the people are upset because
Jesus is no longer eating with any old tax collector, he is identifying himself
with the chief tax collector. So we
witness that there is challenge to this new “community of neighbor” when it
extends beyond our usual associates. When neighbor extends beyond family and associated
friends, when neighbor extends to those who rule over us and we find we need to
be in relationship with them in a way that honors them, we get uncomfortable.
When we are called to interpret our neighbor’s action in the best possible
light, even when our neighbor’s actions challenge us, we begin to squirm a
little. Yet, it is this uncomfortable place of relationship of understanding
that Jesus continues to call us to for Jesus insists on identifying with the
sinner. What good news for us!
In this radical community that Jesus is gathering around
him, we find ourselves worthy of being his disciples for we too are sinners. We
recognize in Jesus’ words of appreciation and hospitality, the dignity that
speaks of God’s image being shown in all people since the beginning of creation
in Genesis. In Zacchaeus’ hospitality, we witness the life-transforming possibilities
when we honor our neighbors and live in service to them.
This radical community of living in service to our neighbor encompasses
the rich and the poor, the rulers and the ruled, tax collectors and taxpayers,
men and women, slave and free, the saved and the lost. Indeed, God’s kingdom
includes all of the God-created people. So, as one young person said to me when
I got excited about this subject at catechism one night, “Chill. Deal with it.”
On this Reformation Day, we witness in the Zacchaeus story
the beginnings of this radical community, begun for our sake, showing God’s
intention for us to live with one another in communities of dignity with love,
acceptance, and forgiveness. And yes, even judgment, but the judgment is not
there to disparage, demean, or to shun, rather judgment is for correction and
instruction in God’s ways that seek to bring all people into communities of
hope, peace and reformation.
We come to this Reformation Day, 499 years later, being
called to truly look, to truly notice, the people around us, to claim them, to
recognize them, to acknowledge their dignity, and to extend to them the radical
hospitality that Jesus first teaches us thousands of years ago and which Luther
echoes in his reforming theology of life in service to our neighbor. Jesus tells
us that he has come seeking to save the lost. Indeed, without our neighbors, we
are lost for it is this gift of community relationships that God has given us
in creation that calls us always to
serve one another in mutual love.
In his booklet, “The Freedom of the Christian,” Luther
writes that we are “freed to be Lord of all, servant of none.” and, “servant of
all, lord of none.” We are called to claim our place in God’s kingdom while
building up the people around us in the body of Christ—to find new ways of
being God’s community, that is, new ways of expressing God’s love and caring
for one another. In these new ways, we gather in places like this for prayer, praise
and thanksgiving.
It is sort of like an Alzheimer unit I visited in the
Chicago area one time. At 4 o’clock every afternoon the people became anxious
and restless. Many complained that they couldn’t stay any longer, they had to
go home. After some time, the care facility installed a revolving door at the
end of a hall with only one opening. So, at 4 o’clock those who needed to go
home were invited to go through the revolving door. The staff would hold their
coats, give them their hats and cheerily say, “See you tomorrow.”
The person would go into the revolving door and come out
again facing the other way down the hall and another staff person would say, “How
was your day?” Responding to the question, one patient said, “Work was good,
but the traffic was hell.” Afterwards, he went to his room, got ready for
supper and happily went to bed.
We too have been given a revolving door for the relief of the
anxieties and pressures of the world. We come to this place that is set aside,
called holy, this place of identity naming and claiming, gathering with one
another, telling our stories, hearing God’s word for us, receiving forgiveness
and being refreshed at Christ’s table, and then, returning to our places of
service, we joyfully welcome the people God sends us until that day when we are
joyfully welcomed into the fullness of God’s kingdom.
Continuing in Martin Luther’s Reformation work, may you know
Christ’s presence and peace as we walk in Christ’s ways using all that we have been
given including our gifts of technology for the sake of proclaiming Christ’s good
news to those around us.
typos corrected 10/23/22
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