"To Infinity and Beyond" October 31, 2010

Habakkuk 1:1-4 & 2:1-5
Luke 19: 1-10
Is there FAITH beyond all that we know? When we know devastation, can we still believe?
When there is suffering, to the point of hopelessness, do we give up hoping? Is there still a God?
In January the people of Haiti experienced the worst earthquake in 200 years, now there is Cholera.
Sudan, where we have worked to overcome Decades of War and Poverty, is waist deep in flood waters, praying for a January Referendum with the promise of peace and fear of renewed fighting.
Closer to home, are those with Cancer in the 3rd and 4th recurrence.
Those who have buried the person they loved more than life itself trying to teach their children to live.
Those who have cut back, and laid off, and sold everything, declaring bankruptcy, yet still must go on.
Those whose sons and daughters are in War, who know the corruption of those they are trying to teach, knowing they are leaving soon and the future seems bleak, it would be easy to hope simply to get out, but still they try to eliminate the terrorist, to teach a different way.

Every generation has their way of expressing, “what is there to hope for beyond all we know?”
According to Habakkuk, STILL THE VISION AWAITS ITS TIME, IF IT SEEMS SLOW – WAIT!
In the words of Jesus, WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH HUMANITY, IS POSSIBLE WITH GOD!
In the 1960s charge of Captain Kirk: TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE!
In the words of Buzz Lightyear, TO INFINITY, AND BEYOND!
To Hope, to Believe, to know that still There is a God.

It is not hard for us to imagine the character of Zaccheus. A man pre-occupied with money. In our own time a Bernie Madoff, or Michael Douglas character in the Movie WALL STREET. His career has not been making anything, or selling anything, or providing a service. The Government demanded taxes in order to fund the Roman Legion, to enforce peace, and Zaccheus was Chief Tax-Collector. In addition to forcing people to pay by extortion and fear, Zaccheus added his own embezzlement on top. We have made this a palatable story by singing a little tune Zaccheus was a Wee Little Man, a Wee Little Man was he. But if all we remember of Zaccheus was his stature and Sycamore tree, we miss the point. Zaccheus was a small man in people's lack of respect for his humanity. Zaccheus was preoccupied with money. He had no compassion for others, no family, no friends, no love, he lived for his work and his work was making money by taxing others. We have heard the story of the Prodigal who wasted all he had until he found himself in debt; we have just heard the story of the Rich Young Ruler who came to Jesus and went away sorrowful. What hope could there be for one like Zaccheus?

What happened that day was not being affected by the Star-power of Jesus. What happened was not like the Samaritan woman at the Well, where asking for water or for Zaccheus to share food changed him; but rather because Zaccheus knew people thought him to be a sinner, because he knew he was feared and hated and had no hope of anyone ever befriending him or listening to him, when Jesus did Zaccheus responded.

It is one thing for us to confess, “I am human, I have made mistakes” we all do, and the words seem to trip easily off our tongues...I am sorry. What Zaccheus did that day is his own day of reckoning, to be the richest, most powerful, most feared man, who confesses “I have sinned. I am a Sinner.”
Zaccheus without being convinced, or pushed, sees Jesus risk to be vulnerable, to be identified with and stand in solidarity in the home of Zaccheus, and Zaccheus responds with Giving half of everything he has to the poor, and a willingness to repay his debts four times over... The Camel went through the eye of the needle, the man whose whole life was about Getting Money found reason to give away what he thought he possessed.

Many of us think we have Hope. Hope that Doctors can determine what is wrong, can prescribe a pill to make us feel better, or with surgery the specialist can cut away what is corrupt, what is Cancerous. We know surgery or medication or exercise will be costly, will be hard, will be a matter of sheer endurance; but that is not HOPE. Hope comes afterward. When the specialists describe they have done all they can, there is nothing more that can possibly be done. Cancer has gone into remission four times and returned yet again. To still believe, we can have comfort. To know we are loved. To witness the meaning of our lives, this overcomes all cancers, undercuts anything that could seem to destroy us.

We are such a foolish people!
How often a person dies feeling so very alone, possibly surrounded by family, but their spouse and peers and siblings all have died. Then afterward, at a funeral we all turn out! Would that we could witness the lives our life touched before we die! Not to be present at our Funeral, but to know that life was not in vain. To be able to look deeply into the eyes of those we have hurt, and who have hurt us, and confess the wrongs we have done, and be redeemed.

Historians provide a marvelous timeline of human history, which is difficult for our minds to keep in perspective. We know that first the Egyptian Pharaohs ruled, then after a time in the wilderness the Nation of Israel became an independent Monarchy, only to fall to the Babylonians, then to the Persians, to the Greeks then to the Caesars in the Empire of Rome. Habakkuk is a prophet from those Centuries of occupation by foreign powers. To wonder “How long O Lord, How Long until we can be Free?”
The Prophecy of Habakkuk is challenging for us, for the role of the Prophet was not to salve and comfort, but to challenge. HOW LONG UNTIL WE SHALL BE FREE? Will the Vision of Freedom ever be real? And the prophecy that comes to him is, so long as within your own culture there is a desire to put down others, to blame those who are poor for their need, there will continue to be only a vision of freedom. But STILL WRITE THE VISION, write it large so others can see it, and WAIT knowing that the Vision of freedom will be made real.

Reformation Sunday is a marker, that at one time, the Church became so stuck, that a priest posted on the doors of the Church 95 Theses papers inviting public discussion of the problems of the Church and society. This led to creation of the Commercial economy from the Feudal State! This led to putting the Bible in the hands of the people. It led to worship services being led in a language the common person could understand. If this act were done today, what would be the issues we would lift up for public debate?