Father Gary’s Sermon

Inspired from Luke 19:1-10

Proclaimed on October 31, 2004

When I read the Gospel lesson for today, I was reminded of an experience I had when I was in my last year of graduate work at Bethany Nazarene College. Two of my former professors put together a study tour of Israel. Several of the people who went were leading ministers in the Church of the Nazarene. I was fortunate for the opportunity to join them. As we traveled throughout Israel the members of that fairly small group became very close. We truly enjoyed one another’s companionship. This was ruined for me, however, when we came to the end of the tour.

I was sitting with a number of these esteemed ministers eating supper. During this time our bus driver approached us. He was a huge Palestinian named Ahammed. During this tour Ahammed went virtually unnoticed by most of us. However, he must have seen how close and friendly we were. Furthermore, he wanted to be a part our fellowship. I know this because when he approached us he asked if we would come to his room and join him for some food and national drink. The most outspoken among us agreed that we would come. As Ahammed left, however, concerns began to surface. What was the national drink? Did it have alcohol in it? If it did they would to refrain from going. After all, if any in the church hierarchy discovered that they were in a room with alcohol, they might lose their credentials. Later they inquired of the tour guide about the national drink. He informed them that it indeed was an alcoholic beverage. The ministers explained their situation to him and asked that he handle their apologies with Ahammed.

Later I left group to return to my room. As I approached the kibbutz, Ahammed appeared at the railing that surrounded the second floor. He asked if we were coming to his room. I was suddenly on the spot. He did not know that the ministers were not coming. It fell on me to inform him.

As I approached his room he held the door wide open for me. Inside was a low table with a beautiful spread of sliced fruits, vegetables, and meat. In the middle was a bottle of the national drink, surrounded by glasses. As he showed me to a seat I explained that the others were not coming. I will never forget the look of hurt that came across his face. When he asked about the reason for their absence, I explained about the presence of the national drink and the church’s strict rules about not drinking alcohol. At this he broke down in tears. Blubbering, he explained that he could have served them some other drink. He just wanted to be our friend. I stayed and got to know Ahammed much better. He explained to me his appreciation of my being there. He then shared that if I ever came back to Israel he would be glad to clear his bed of his wife and children that I might have a place to stay.

The following day I learned some new lessons. First, in that culture to eat with someone is to cut a covenant. For the next three days those who eat together are bound together. Without realizing it, Ahammed and I were now in a special relationship. Secondly, Ahammed almost lost his job that night. He was ordered by the tour guide never to fraternize with his tourists again. I felt very embarrassed about how this group of clergy had treated this man that just wanted to be included in our rich fellowship. Indeed, my relationship with the Church of the Nazarene would soon come to an end.

What does this have to do with our Gospel? Zacchaeus was like Ahammed. He was an outsider. Being a tax collector for the Romans, he had become a rich man by overcharging his countrymen. Indeed, he was now like the Publican praying next to the Pharisee in our lesson last week. Now a story of Jesus had become real. Zacchaeus was hungry for God. Indeed, he literally went out on a limb for Jesus in order to find God. Jesus, on the other hand, was physically hungry and asked Zacchaeus to share his table with him. Zacchaeus readily agreed. While feeding Jesus, others on the outside complained that Jesus was eating with the wrong kind of people. How could he cut a covenant with a sinner? Yet, at that meal Zacchaeus promised to give away half his money to the poor and to repay those he defrauded fourfold. This was more than the Law demanded. In turn, Jesus proclaimed him to be restored to people of Abraham. A life had been restored.

This is how I experienced the Episcopal Church. Before I had left Bethany Nazarene College I had been informed that the Church of the Nazarene and I were going in opposite directions. In essence, like Ahammed and Zacchaeus, I had become an outsider. The Episcopal Church gave me home when I was spiritually homeless. However, regardless of how much I love the Episcopal Church, it too has its faults. These were clearly revealed in the Living Church last week. The Rev. Claudia C. Kalis is a female priest that I wish I had known when I was in seminary. She wrote an article how ordination had become corrupted. When she attended seminary, she had no plans for ordination. Her schooling was simply to provide her with a closer walk with God. However, she noted that a number of other females viewed ordination not as a calling to which they surrendered their lives, but a right. They had a right to be ordained simply because they were women. There was no surrender to a higher calling. The Rev. Kalis saw the Episcopal Church giving in to their demands, thereby changing the essence of ordination.

I observed this same phenomenon while I was in seminary. Ordination was not something I pursued. Rather it was a calling that pursued me. However, this was not true for several of the women who attended classes with me. Indeed, I noticed that there were two tracts in seminary. One was for a white, middle-class male that was more like a boot camp for priests. The other was for women and other minorities, which lacked any sense of discipline. Therefore, it was not unusual for women to go up and down the hallways shouting about the injustices they experienced before coming to seminary because they were not white, middle-class males. I recall asking one of my professors about this behavior. After all, had I done such, I would have been removed from seminary. He explained, “Women have been abused for the last six thousand years. We now have to listen to them and learn from them!” When I shared this with a friend, I also remember the warning I offered that one day the Church would pay a dear price for ordaining woman on a separate track.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not opposed to the ordination of women. I just believe that they ought to go through the same time-honored training that the rest of us went through which is called “priestly formation.” Because so many women have gone through a different track, we now see these same women going up and down the aisles of Diocesan Conventions and General Conventions shouting out their complaints of various injustices. As a result, the Episcopal Church has now accepted many radical positions that no longer fit with the teachings of traditional Christianity.

The Episcopal Church rightly opens its arms to all of the Zacchaeuses of the world, but unlike Jesus, it no longer holds out standards and ideals for their salvation and transformation. Instead of becoming more like Jesus, they are invited to remain like an unconverted Zacchaeus. Instead of being given a new life that has been transformed into the image of Jesus, lives of sin are glamorized and glorified. The wonderful invitation of Christ to grace has become a proclaimed “right.” We are instead called to remain “just as we are.” In this process grace is made cheap and we are robbed of new life.

I thank God for the wonderful things that I received from the Church of the Nazarene. They taught me about holy living. I also thank God for the things I received from the Episcopal Church. They offered to me the open arms of Christ. I now know that I needed both of them. Where one failed--the other revealed Christ. In their individual and different shortcomings, however, I could not experience the fullness of Christ. It is only through both of them together that the story of Zacchaeus and his salvation has become my own.