[Propertalk] Proper 26 c 2016 - part 2

Fri Oct 28 18:14:27 EDT 2016

Part two of the draft.
Bob

 THE PROBLEM WAS, HE COULDN’T SEE. HE COULDN’T SEE WHAT HIS
BEHAVIOUR WAS DOING – OR HE DIDN’T CARE. HE COULDN’T SEE HOW
MUCH HIS LIFE WAS POISONING THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM. HE COULDN’T EVEN
SEE JESUS – HE WAS SHORT OF STATURE AND NO ONE, ABSOLUTELY NO ONE
WOULD MAKE WAY FOR HIM, HE WAS HATED THAT MUCH. IN FACT, THERE’S A
QUESTION ABOUT WHY ZACCHAEUS WOULD EVEN HAVE RISKED BEING IN THE CROWD
AS JESUS PASSED THROUGH THE VILLAGE. COLLABORATORS COULD DISAPPEAR SO
QUICKLY, EVEN IF THEY COULD AFFORD BODY GUARDS. SO HE WENT OUT OF THE
COMMUNITY, HE WENT TO WHERE TREES GREW, AND FOUND FOR HIMSELF A
SYCAMORE TREE WHICH HAD LARGE LEAVES BEHIND WHICH HE COULD HIDE AND
LOW BRANCHES ON TO WHICH HE COULD CLIMB.

 THE WHOLE SCENE SEEMS SO BIZARRE – AND THIS WASN’T A PARABLE,
THIS WASN’T A STORY WHICH JESUS MADE UP TO DRIVE HOME A POINT. THE
GOSPEL WRITER TOLD THIS AS AN EVENT WHICH HAPPENED WHEN JESUS WAS ON
HIS WAY UP TO JERUSALEM, ON A DAY WHEN HE WAS JUST PASSING THROUGH SO
MANY COMMUNITIES WITH NO INTENTION TO STOP.

 AND THEN BOTH MEN CAME FACE TO FACE – JESUS LOOKED UP AND ZACCHAEUS
LOOKED DOWN, THE BELOVED RABBI AND HEALER WHO SYMBOLISED HOPE AND LOVE
AND THE HATED EXTORTIONIST WHO SYMBOLIZED DESTRUCTION AND RUIN.

	 Frodo, one of the beloved characters in Tolkien’s “The Lord of
the Rings” was getting nervous as they moved farther and farther
away from the familiarity of home. As he expressed doubt about going
on, about looking for something better, something to change his life
for the better, he was told by Bilbo Baggins, “It's a dangerous
business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if
you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept
off to.” 6

 WE DON’T KNOW WHAT ZACCHAEUS MAY HAVE BEEN THINKING WHEN HE LEFT
HOME THAT MORNING. WE DON’T KNOW WHAT JESUS WAS THINKING AS HE
PASSED THROUGH JERICHO. WE DON’T KNOW WHAT DREW JESUS’ ATTENTION
TO THAT SMALL MAN HIDDEN IN THE TREE LEAVES. MAYBE THE CROWD WERE
TAUNTING HIM, POINTING HIM OUT TO ONE ANOTHER AND TO JESUS AS THE
DESPICABLE RAPIST OF EVERYTHING THEY HELD DEAR. WHATEVER IT WAS, JESUS
STOPPED, AND HE CHANGED HIS MIND. HE WAS GOING TO GO ON. BUT HE
STOPPED. HE SAID THAT HE’D SPEND THE NIGHT THERE AFTER ALL. AND
HE’D SPEND IT AT ZACCHAEUS’ HOME.

 NOW HERE’S WHERE THIS WHOLE FOLLOWER OF JESUS BIT GETS UNDER MY
SKIN. THE PERSON WHO’D BEEN BILKING PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR FINANCIAL
SECURITY AND THEIR SENSE OF PURPOSE, THE PERSON WHO’D FORCED PEOPLE
OUT OF WORK, MAYBE OUT OF TOWN, CERTAINLY THE PERSON WHO’D COST
NIGHT AFTER SLEEPLESS NIGHT OF TOSSING AND TURNING, AND HAD CAUSED
SUCH FEELINGS OF HATRED TO RISE UP – THIS IS THE PERSON FOR WHOM
JESUS HAD COMPASSION. THIS IS THE PERSON WITH WHOM JESUS WANTED TO
SPEND THANKSGIVING. SO, BY EXTENSION, WHOEVER THIS PERSON IS, THIS IS
THE ONE FOR WHOM I’VE TO BE ON THE LOOKOUT. THIS IS THE PERSON WHOM
I HAVE TO ENGAGE IN CONVERSATION ABOUT, OF ALL THINGS, BEHAVING
MORALLY, AND SHOWING LOVE TO SISTERS AND BROTHERS, AND WITHOUT THOUGHT
OF WHAT IT MIGHT COST ME. IT DOESN’T MATTER WHETHER I HAVE RESOURCES
OF ANY KIND OR THAT THE OTHER PERSON MAY BE JOHN STUMPF.

 BEFORE ZACCHAUES HAD SAID A WORD, HAD DONE ANYTHING EXCEPT CLIMBED A
TREE IN ORDER SEE A VISITING PREACHER, JESUS TOOK TO HIM. JESUS
DIDN’T START THE CONVERSATION BY TALKING ABOUT THE DEATH PENALTY’S
REINSTATEMENT OR ABOUT LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE IN ISOLATION. JESUS ASSUMED
THAT HE MIGHT TALK ABOUT SOME SORT OF RE-FORMATION IN THE LIFE OF THE
TREE HUGGER. NO INSULTS. NO SNARKY REMARKS. NO POLITICAL OR ECONOMIC
OR SOCIAL LITMUS TESTS.

 THIS IS HOW RADICALLY UNCOMFORTABLE THE GOSPEL IS. THIS IS HOW MUCH
JESUS LOVES US. THIS IS HOW MUCH GOD WANTS TO GET US ALL TOGETHER, NOT
IN LOCK-STEP AGREEMENT ABOUT POLITICS, OR ECONOMICS, OR ANYTHING ELSE,
BUT FOR CONCERN OF THE WELL-BEING OF EVERYONE AROUND US. 

 SO MAYBE WE DO HAVE TO MAKE A PLACE AT OUR THANKSGIVING TABLES. MAYBE
WE DO HAVE TO THINK ABOUT MAKING SURE THAT THERE’S ROOM AT THE ALTAR
RAIL FOR THE PERSON WHO MAY HAVE TROUBLE GETTING TO THE POINT OF BEING
ABLE TO HOLD OUT A HAND TO RECEIVE THE BODY OF CHRIST. MAYBE WE HAVE
TO RETHINK ALL OF OUR WHOLE LIVES, TO ENSURE THAT THERE’S ALWAYS AN
OPPORTUNITY FOR SOMEONE TO RESPOND TO JESUS.

 AND IN THIS REGARD, NOTICE THAT ZACCHAEUS DIDN’T MAKE THAT REMARK
ABOUT GIVING AWAY SO MUCH OF HIS MONEY UNTIL HE AND JESUS HAS STARTED
TO MOVE TOWARDS HIS HOUSE. RECEIVING JESUS ISN’T CONDITIONAL ON
SOMEONE GIVING AWAY ANYTHING. NOR DO WE KNOW WHETHER OR NOT ZACCHAEUS
WAS SIMPLY TALKING FOR THE EFFECT IT WOULD HAVE ON THE REST OF THE
FOLK FROM JERICHO. WE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA AT ALL WHETHER OR NOT HE
LIVED UP TO WHAT HE SAID TO JESUS. BUT NONE OF THAT MADE ANY
DIFFERENCE TO WHETHER OR NOT JESUS HAD DINNER AND STAYED THE NIGHT
WITH HIM.

 BUT, OH HOW I WISH THAT JOHN STUMPF WOULD TAKE HALF OF WHAT HE HAS
AND ESTABLISH A TRUST, OR REBUILD PEOPLE’S LIVES – ANYTHING OF
THAT NATURE.

 BUT THE INCREDIBLY AWKWARD THING IS THAT JESUS DOESN’T DEMAND THAT
– AT LEAST ON THIS OCCASION. HE JUST SAID, “I’M COMING. LET’S
GET TOGETHER. LET’S BREAK BREAD.”

 AND IF YOU THINK THIS MAY HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT PLEDGE CARDS
– WELL, DOES IT?

 DON’T WORRY, THOUGH. JESUS IS STILL COMING. SO LET’S TAKE THE
NEXT STEP.

	NOTES:

	[1] The Devil take the hindmost - meaning and origin. - The Phrase
Finder [1] http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/358400.html [2]  

	2 _“Devil Take the Hindmost: a History of Financial Speculation_”
by Edward Chancellor. A Plume Book, PenguinPutnam Inc., New York. ©
1999

	3 SAN FRANCISCO, October 12, 2016 Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC)
announced today that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf
has informed the Company’s Board of Directors that he is retiring
from the Company and the Board, effective immediately. Wells Fargo
Chairman, CEO John Stumpf Retires;Board of Directors ... [3]
https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/press/2016/ceo-john-stumpf-retires_1012/
[4]

	4 Wells Fargo's CEO Stumpf to Get $100 Million Even if Fired -
Fortune [5]

	http://fortune.com/2016/09/26/john-stumpf-wells-bank-resign/

	5 “short stories by jesus” by Amy-Jill Levine. HaperOne, New York
© 2014. Page 188.

	6 Taking That Next Step - YouTube [6]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZRrEFUzEE4 [7] 

Links:
------
[1] http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/358400.html
[2] http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/358400.html
[3]
https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/press/2016/ceo-john-stumpf-retires_1012/
[4]
https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/press/2016/ceo-john-stumpf-retires_1012/
[5] http://fortune.com/2016/09/26/john-stumpf-wells-bank-resign/
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZRrEFUzEE4
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZRrEFUzEE4

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