New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
November 3, 2013
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Story of Zacchaeus, circa 1275,
Keldby Kirche, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
One of the most publicized family feuds
was in 1998, that of the controversy over whether or not Thomas Jefferson
fathered one or perhaps all seven of Sally Hemings’ children. For over two hundred years questions have
been raised about their relationship and whether or not it produced
children.
Long story short, DNA
from Jefferson’s descendants and those of Sally Hemings were compared. Though the findings were not conclusive, they
provided strong support to the supposition that Jefferson was the father of at
least one of Sally Hemings’ children.
Thought it ranks high
on the list, this quarrel is not entirely about racism. A lot of it has to do with privilege: being buried at Monticello, not far from
where Thomas Jefferson was laid to rest; open and accepted membership in a
prestigious founding family. As a child,
Shannon Lanier, a descendant of Madison Hemings, stood in front of his first
grade class, stating that Thomas Jefferson was his great- great- great- great- great-
great-grandfather. His teacher told him
to sit down and stop telling lies. Ultimately
this dispute is about inclusion, reconciliation, and a sense of legitimate belonging
in this nation’s history.
So you can imagine what
a family reunion it must have been.
Every year hundreds of Jefferson descendants, who comprise the
Monticello Association, gather at the historical landmark after hours. And after an invite from one of the
association members, dozens of Sally Hemings’ descendants began attending, not
as family but as guests, and with them, hoards of reporters and photographers.
But as we in the church
well know, an invitation can be a far cry from a warm and hospitable welcome. Some association members were in favor of the
Hemings being in attendance but most were not.
Eventually a vote was taken to deny them full membership and to restrict
their numbers at the annual reunion. Since
2004 not one of the Hemings has attended the reunion; now they hold their own gathering
at Monticello—at sunrise in a recently discovered slave cemetery. It’s not much of a stretch to say that, in
order to get a clear glimpse of Jefferson, Hemings’ descendants may have to
climb a tree, the family tree, limb by limb.
Zacchaeus knew what it
was like to be excluded because of who he was.
From the text we read that he was rich, he was short in stature and he
was not only a tax collector but the chief of them all. These all have the appearance of strikes
against him.
And yet, according to the Jewish wisdom
tradition, being rich was not an evil thing; in fact, it was a sign of God’s
blessing and favor, that one must be wise and righteous in the eyes of
God. Wealth was not an end in and of
itself; it was vehicle for expressing one’s faithfulness to God and to neighbor. Was one generous or greedy, giving or
withholding? And as for short of
stature, the Greek words for this phrase translate as ‘small in maturity’, that
is, the crowd was treating him like a child.
They had formed a human wall between Zacchaeus and Jesus, deciding who
had access to Jesus and who did not. A
tax collector who worked for the Romans and the chief one at that? According to the crowd, Zacchaeus was
definitely out.
This story has usually
been read and interpreted as a man who once cheated folks but for having
received Jesus into his home now repents and changes his ways. But according to biblical commentators wiser
than I, there’s more to this story about Zacchaeus than meets the eye.
In verse 8 the Greek
verb “to give”, didōmi, has been
translated in the New Revised Standard Version in the future tense: “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of
anything, I will pay back four times
as much.” But in the Greek and in other
translations it is in the present active tense:
“I give…”, “I repay…”, implying that Zacchaeus is already giving to the
poor and repaying any fraudulent transactions.
If citizens could produce the receipt given to them, tax collectors, by
law, were required to repay the defrauded amount plus 20%. A faithful Jew was also required to give to
the poor. Zacchaeus is not only faithful
but goes beyond the law, giving half to the poor and repaying any debt plus four
times as much. In fact, the name ‘Zacchaeus’
in Hebrew means “pure” or “innocent”.
Zacchaeus
is a rich man in the classic Jewish tradition, in that he is more than
faithful, but because he is the chief tax collector working for the treacherous
Romans, the crowd grumbles and assumes Zacchaeus is a crook. Yes, he admits he sometimes cheats;
essentially he’s admitting he’s human. Salvation
has come to Zacchaeus’ household not because of anything Zacchaeus has done but
because Jesus chose to lift up one who’s honest about his flaws but who doesn’t
brag about his generous nature, who is also a child of Abraham.
Last week our Muslim brothers and sisters at the Islamic
Society of Delaware suffered an act of vandalism on their property. Fenceposts and a sign were torn down and
their electronic sign was pelted with rocks.
What may have made this most hurtful of all was that the vandals
fashioned a crude cross out of two of the fenceposts. Eventually it was discovered that three
juveniles were behind this and it was chalked up to criminal mischief. But to our friends it was yet another hurtful
wound in a family feud that has lasted, on and off, for more than a thousand
years.
And though we may not be the ones
hurling rocks, none of us can claim legitimacy for ourselves. Just as Jesus insisted on coming to the home
of Zacchaeus, legitimacy is a gift we bestow on one another. It is when we reach out to ‘the other’, even
the vandal, and say “You are my sister, my brother, I claim you as family, and
this whole earth is our home.” When we
are able to do this, then we will have reconciliation; then we will have peace.
But peace and reconciliation require
that we become small and pure in heart, like Zacchaeus. If salvation is to come to this house we call
Earth, and it must come, it begins with this nation acknowledging our safe
distance from the poor and others who live on the margin. It begins with taking inventory of ourselves
and if we have cheated anyone of forgiveness, compassion, or justice, we
restore to them not only what is due but even four times as much. Ultimately, the story of Zacchaeus is about
not only inclusiveness but about the expansive love of God.
We cannot claim any greatness except
that of God working through us, and even that is a dubious claim when one
examines our track record with God. Yet
God’s merciful cup overflows. God’s
passion for us is a stubborn love and God remains steadfast. God claims all of us as children, as one
family, that none would be lost, that all would be sought and found. And may God’s people say, Amen.
When Jesus got to the tree, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down.
Today is my day to be a guest in your home.”
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