Diocese of Chelmsford - Readers Service

Canon Mark Russell – CEO, Church Army

12th October 2013 Luke 19:1-10

You might have seen the movie “Forest Gump.” If you did you might remember one particular scene in which Lt. Dan asks Forest if he had found Jesus, to which Forest responds, “I didn’t know I was supposed to be looking for him.” Not all that many years ago it was a common occurrence to see bumper stickers on vehicles that proclaimed, “Jesus is the answer.” Someone with a sarcastic spirit later printed up bumper stickers that read, “What’s the question?” The bumper sticker raises a good point. What is the question?

There is not one question that people are asking. There are many. People are asking important questions like: Do I matter? Why am I here? Is there life after death? What is happening with our planet? Can we understand life? Can I really know God? Can my life have real purpose?

The questions people ask differ depending on their story. The one whose life has been destroyed by sin is asking if there is any forgiveness. The man dying of cancer wants to know if there is life after death. The person who has failed God is wondering if there is a second chance. The one who has lost their partner, stands beside the grave and wonders if there is any hope. The sceptic asks if one can really know God. The parent of the rebellious child asks if God can do anything to change their son or daughter.

People are asking a lot of very important, serious, spiritual questions. I tell you what I am firmly convinced of - Jesus is the answer. The problem is we shout Jesus is the answer to people who don’t ask us their questions.

So many evangelists stand on street corners and bellow Jesus is the answer to people who have the misfortune to wander past. I don’t doubt the good intentions or the good hearts of these evangelists, but I question the effectiveness of their method in our 21st century culture.

Our job as ministers is to live lives that provoke questions. To draw alongside people, to love unconditionally, and to create relationships, to grow relevant Christian community where people find it safe to ask their questions. Then you can point to Jesus as the answer.

One of the things about Jesus that has captured my imagination, and has birthed in me a desire to be like Jesus, is the way in which He was able to meet people where they were, discern the real questions and desires of their heart and then show that person how He was the answer. Jesus knew when to be stern and harsh and he knew when to be soft and gentle. Jesus knew how to get to the root problem. He knew how to explain Himself to others.

The fact is in a diverse congregation like this one, we are all asking different kinds of questions. We are all facing different circumstances and difficulties. We have as many different concerns here as there are people. My conviction is that the answers you are seeking are going to be found in Jesus Christ.

As I read the New Testament, it strikes me that religious, devout, outwardly holy people neither liked Jesus, nor understood him. Actually they were often offended by him. Yet those on the margins, those judged by others, those who were at the bottom of the pile, were drawn to him. We see this throughout the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ life.

In Luke 7 Jesus meets a social outcast. In John 4 he meets a racial outcast, in this passage today in Luke 19 Jesus meets a political outcast called Zacchaeus. In each case the outcast is the one who connects with Jesus and the respectable religious people do not. Jesus’ teaching consistently offended the religious people of his day yet consistently attracted the marginalised and the irreligious. It seems to be that in the main the church today has the exact opposite effect. We attract the religious nice and upright people and exclude all those who don’t fit.

Today we commission some new lay ministers in this great Diocese.

I pray that you will, like Jesus, be found with the marginalised, the poor, the broken, the lonely, the misunderstood. I pray that you will be agents of God’s amazing love with those whom you meet. For as we read this amazing and beautiful story in Luke, and as we reflect on the other readings we have heard, I want to suggest three things for you today.

1. Draw alongside and love the alienated

Tax Collectors are not popular. I was watching “The weakest link”. Someone said they worked for the Inland Revenue...big boo ! They got an even bigger boo than Anne Robinson, and that’s some going! The only people who might have got a bigger boo were politicians or bankers!

The tax agents of Jesus day were not very well liked... well... they were hated. They were hated because they represented the domination of Rome over Israel. Every tax collector was a living reminder that Israel was not free.

They were also hated because they could collect as much as they wanted, give the required amount to Rome and become wealthy at the expense of others. This is the life that Zacchaeus was living.

Zacchaeus had experienced a tremendous amount of rejection in his life. And I believe this is why Jesus desire to be in his home had such an impact on Zacchaeus life. Jesus was probably one of the few people ever to want to draw alongside him. I wonder how many people ever went to his whouse.

I have to tell you, there is such good done as a Minister when you visit someone in their home. As a youth worker, so many times when the Lord would put someone on my heart, I would just show up at their front door.... at just the right time. Of course in accordance with good pastoral guidance, but being in someone’s home can be very significant.

Jubilee last year, Mall, and a little girl behind me. Of course I let her past, it didn’t alter my view one bit

The text itself points out that Zacchaeus was a short man. We know that because he has to climb the tree to see Jesus. People hated him so much they wouldn’t let him past.

But I also think that common sense tells us that he probably experienced some harsh words simply because he was short. Every one of us has probably experienced some rejection in life for things that are completely out of our control.

Sometimes we experience rejection because of our physical characteristics. People have a go at us because we are skinny, fat, short, tall, bald, we have to wear glasses, we’ve got a birth mark, we have a long nose, big ears, and on we could go. Kids and spots....I used to get picked on for NOT having spots!!! All the children in Ireland praying for God to take away their spots, and there was one little boy praying “God please give me some spots so I don’t get picked on!”

Of course, a large part of Zacchaeus’ problem was himself. It was his own dishonest behaviour that had earned him the reputation of being a sinner that no one wanted to be with.

We are called to draw alongside people, live lives that show God’s love and be ready to answer questions.

2. Living Sacrificially is hard work

I am sure Jesus took flak for visiting Zacchaeus. There is that wonderful word the people began to “mutter”. The finger pointing, the gossip, I cannot believe Jesus is associating with that guy!! Isn’t “mutter” a great word!! It means “to grumble dissatisfaction and irritation in a low voice. Can I suggest if you are doing your job well as a lay Minister you too with have fingers pointing, and people muttering.

Gary Mason story in East Belfast - working in a church, a barn of a building, few people scattered to the four corners, and there was an old man who always prayed “Lord send the sinners into this church, that they can find Christ and be changed”. Gary did all kinds of amazing initiatives, and all of a sudden people did start to come in.

But they weren’t the people who Gary’s church were used to having in church. They didn’t know the language, weren’t educated in how to behave in church, and they caused a few irritations - “Mr Mason, these people cause a commotion in church, they have tattoos, muscles, bleached hair and studs in their noses, and that’s just the girls”

Evangelism and mission will often lead to muttering in churches. People will think that unless the people you reach come to 10am Sung Eucharist, they are not coming to church.

We are called to reach those people, the unchurched, those without hope, without Christ, and to seek to bring them to faith and then to create an appropriate Christian community that allows them to grow in faith and in their discipleship. Maybe that isn’t 10am on Sunday morning, and I hope your incumbents will give you freedom and permission to experiment with different kinds of Christian community. But it is sacrificial and it is hard work.

We are called to be like Jesus. That’s our job. And its hard work! To be like Jesus you need to spend time with him. Always make sure you carve the time in you lives to just be with Jesus. To be in his presence, to be found at his feet, to be found in His Word, to be with his people. To go on retreat, to worship. You cannot give what you have not got.

But as you love the outcast, as you live sacrificially, then thirdly...

3 .Bring Kingdom Change Look what happens after one visit from Jesus to Zacchaeus’s home. Huge blessing was unleashed on that little community? Why? Because Zacchaeus was changed! He gave away so much of his money to those he had cheated. Think how many people benefited from Jesus having tea at Zacchaeus’ home. I bet the muttering stopped when people saw just how much money Zacchaeus was giving away! I have a profound belief, that when people’s lives change, when they find Christ, a revolution of God’s grace changes hearts, and then change their actions. Sometimes I get accused of speaking in sound bites, so my sound bite for today is “changed lives change lives”.

Saul, the murdering Christian hater fell from his horse on the Damascus Road. He had a radical conversion where he met the Risen Christ. Suddenly he became Paul the missionary, the teacher, the leader and church planter. Imagine how people related to Paul, I bet Paul was such an effective Christian leader because people knew just how real Christ was to him, his life changed!

Captain Alan Park has a man called Johnny that found Christ on the “Church on the bus” in Chesterfield. Johnny was well known in Chesterfield, he had been in and out of jail, and suddenly he was a follower of Jesus and he is a real beacon of God’s love.

When I was in Australia I visited an amazing Church Army Project in Berkeley, the amazing pioneer evangelist who leads the project is called Wayne Pickford. Wayne has planted a church in a deprived run down area. An area with massive social problems. I had the privilege of speaking at his fresh expression on Sunday, the only service I have ever had with an interval in the middle for a smoke break! I met people with all kinds of issues, and it was probably the most honest act of worship I’ve ever intended.

When you sow the Gospel, and lead people to Christ, then change in the community will flow from their changed lives.

Today we commission you as new Lay Ministers in this Diocese, and the rest of us renew our Commission to serve Christ.

And if there is a voice in your ear saying you cannot do it, that’s not Jesus. That’s the devil! Jesus is whispering in your ear, you can do it. He will give you what you need. He will equip you. God never calls the equipped, he equips those he calls.

And if you think you can’t do it, you haven’t read your Bible properly! God never picks perfect people!

Moses stuttered. David’s armour didn’t fit. Hosea’s wife was a prostitute. Jacob was a liar. David had an affair with a woman and murdered her husband. Solomon was too rich. Abraham was too old. David was too young. Timothy had ulcers and bad health Peter was afraid of death. Lazarus... well he was dead. John was self-righteous. Jesus was too poor. Naomi was a widow. John Mark - rejected by Paul Paul was a murderer. So was Moses. Jonah ran from God. Miriam was a gossip and bigot Gideon and Thomas both doubted. Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal. Elijah was burned out. Martha was a worrywart. Samson had long hair. And Noah got drunk.

And did I mention that Moses had a short fuse and mad temper? So did Peter, Paul... and, well, and lots of folks including me”

Jesus Christ turned this world upside down with a bunch of 12 disciples. They were rude, crass, thick, insensitive - us Anglicans will fit in just fine. 12 disciples empowered by Christ to change the world - today may God send his spirit into each of our lives and empower us

Just look at the potential in this Cathedral. Potential for good, potential for God.

Go from here today, to join God in His mission, to change lives, and bring the Kingdom in.