God in my neighborhhod: Who do they need?

Pastor Meyer's Sermon

Sunday, December 4, 2005

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our heavenly Father and from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus, our Christ. The text on which we base our meditation this morning comes from our gospel reading, Luke 19, specifically Verse 3. “Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was but, being a short man, he could not because of the crowd.”

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ. I don't know how things go in your own home but, in my home, when we get the first snows, we immediately want to turn on the Christmas music. In fact, there's a radio station here in town that has been playing Christmas music nonstop since Thanksgiving Day and, quite frankly, that's all I've been listening to. Christmas is coming, and I wanted to get that out in the open so those of you who have not finished your Christmas shopping can do so. I know I still have some left to do.

Christmas shopping, also known as the December rush. It's critical for retailers and other businesses. How critical? Sales increase in almost all retail areas, and it allows shops to introduce new products as people purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies. And Christmas Day is the only day throughout the year that shops and businesses are closed. Here are some examples of the economic impact of Christmas using the most recent census bureau data available. In December 2003, Americans spent $31.1 billion in retail sales at the nation department stores. This represented a 48% jump from the month before. So no other month-to-month increase in department store sales occurs during the rest of the year. For some businesses, Christmas is essential in assuring they can stay in business. And the interesting thing about Christmas sales is it all surrounds one question. One question we've all been asked time and time again. That question? What do you want for Christmas? Hum. What do I want for Christmas? For me, it opens up a wide realm of possibilities. And I can start to dream. What do I want for Christmas? Hum. Now you don't need to write this down, but I wouldn't mind having a plasma TV or possibly a nice new suit or, you know, having a digital camera with a printer to go with it would be nice. Yeah, that sounds nice. And my list can go on and on. But if someone were to take that same question and just change one word in that question, it would render my list obsolete. What do you need for Christmas? Well, now I really don't need a plasma TV or I really don't need a digital camera. What do I need? In this country of plenty, for most of us, that is a tough question and it's not so easy to answer. I might need some underwear, but that's not too interesting and I certainly wouldn't want to share that with my mother-in-law. But you definitely can tell the difference between the question of “What do you want?” versus “What do you need?”

Right now we're in the middle of a sermon series entitled “God in our Neighborhood” and today we want to explore what questions are we asking about our neighbors. Last week, Pastor Phillips explored the question of who is our neighbor, and he encouraged us to write down the names of our neighbors that lived around us and put it into a box or a hat or a bowl and then pick out a name and then pray for that person. The question is what do we pray for? What does that person need? And this is exactly where we find Zacchaeus in our gospel reading. He has lots of possessions, not very many wants, but he doesn't have much of a life. His wealth is more like a curse than a blessing because he's hated by his own people in the community. And Zacchaeus was a wee little man who lived in a wealthy little world. And he was a political insider, the chief tax collector, the one who betrayed his own people by collecting taxes on behalf of the Romans who were the occupiers of Israel . So, you see, in this corrupt system, the higher your position is, the more complex you get involved into that system. And Zacchaeus is called a Chief Tax Collector. That made him a political insider alright, but it also made him a community outsider. He was the sinner. He was the scapegoat of the town, the one who no one would let through the crowd to see Jesus. And that's the interesting part about this story. Nobody was all that concerned about helping Zacchaeus see Jesus. The people looked at Zacchaeus and those like him and wrote them off, saying they are lost and beyond hope of salvation because of their occupation or because of the way they lived out their lives.

So how are we doing with our neighbors? What about the neighbor who had the barking dog who keeps you up all night? Or maybe the neighbor behind your backyard who has those annoying tall trees right at the property line? Or perhaps the person who has the house down the street and the lawn always looks unkept? Or what about that person who always comes up to you, that annoying person who comes up to you and talks and talks and talks and you don't get a chance to get a word in edgewise? Do we find it hard to be concerned about them, to be concerned about whether they are able to see Jesus or are we writing them off as pointless and not worth our time? Well, Zacchaeus was certainly viewed as a waste of time by the crowd. But despite no one helping him to see Jesus, he really wanted to see Him and was willing to look like a fool on the possible chance of actually seeing Jesus. You see, in the ancient near East, for a rich man to climb up into a tree, it was a sign of utter foolishness. And Zacchaeus was willing to look like a fool to see Jesus. Zacchaeus climbed that tree so he could look at Jesus. And Jesus saw him alright. He called him down out of the tree and He went and He had dinner at his house. Why? Because Jesus was concerned about the one who looked like the fool in the tree. He was concerned about those who the crowd had written off, those tax collectors and prostitutes and the like. Because Jesus always operated with the question “What do they need?” The answer? “I am the way and the truth and the light. No one can come to the Father except through me.” And at the end of our gospel reading, “I have come to seek those who are lost. I have come to seek and save those who are lost.” Jesus always took care of that which was needed. Forgiveness of sins and renewing of a broken life caused by sin. When Jesus had a paralytic come up to Him, was carried to Him on a mat, the first thing Jesus said to him was, “Take heart, Son. Your sins are forgiven.” And then He said, “Get up. Pick up your mat and go home.” A woman suffering from internal bleeding for years reaches out and touched His cloak, and she is healed. Jesus turns around and tells her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” And the blind man, blind since birth, washes his face and he can see because he trusted in the words of Jesus when Jesus said, “Go and wash.” Jesus showed He cared for the wants of people and He still cares for the wants of people, a person wanting to walk, a person wanting to stop bleeding, a person wanting to see. But He always started with this question, “What do they need?” And that was faith in Him. And that is the very question that drove Jesus to Jerusalem . To be betrayed, to be questioned, to be beaten, to be forced to walk to a little hill called The Place of the Skull because He knows what we need. Jesus climbed a tree willing to look foolish, enduring insults. “You are the King of the Jews.” And He was willing to be nailed on that tree, not so He can look at us or get a better look at us. No, no, that's not what He did. John 6:40, the reason why He did it was so “everyone who looked to the Son and believed in Him shall have eternal life.”

So, my friends, let's get real. We don't know how long our friends and our neighbors and our family are going to be here on this earth. We don't know how long we are going to be here on this earth. But Jesus calls us to ask the question, “What do our neighbors need?” And go to them with the answers. We need to go to the student who holds broken dreams. We need to go to the couple who is dealing with a barren womb and a marriage about to collapse. We need to go and encourage the man who daily fights against his own desires, only to lose time and time again. And we need to go to that person who has felt the sting of death and the loss of a loved one. Because, my friends, we have neighbors whose bodies are hurting, whose souls are crying, and marriages that are bruised, and families who are aching. And when it comes to our neighbors, we focus on what it is they need. Because we care about them for we know lives can be made whole again. Healing can take place in bodies and in souls and in marriages and in families. And, more importantly, God uses us right in our own neighborhood. Because it doesn't matter who we are or where we are or how old we are. Because God using us can make all the difference in the world, literally, for another person. Because it is the difference between heaven and hell for a neighbor, for a friend, even a member of your own family.

So my encouragement to you today is to write down the names of your neighbors, to put them in a hat, to draw a name everyday, and pray for that person. What do you pray for? You pray, if they have faith, that it may be strengthened and, if they do not have faith, God may use you to help them see Jesus. So, my friends, faith in Jesus Christ is what is needed. Amen.

Copyright 2005 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church