A look at the gaps in the lectionary.
This week: the gap between Proper 25C and Proper 26C.
The text: Luke 18:15-43.
After two weeks in a row of fascinating and subtle parables, the lectionary skips to chapter 19.
This move is really fortunate for astute preachers and listeners who recall the parable about a humble tax collector in Proper 25C comes to life in Zacchaeus for Proper 26C.
As lectionary moves go, I give this one props.
Of course, there’s a drawback. We miss another essential connection at the end of chapter 18.
What we miss
There are four elements in the remainder of chapter 18 that do make the Zacchaeus story better when kept in mind.
- Jesus Blesses Children
- The Rich Ruler
- A Third Passion Prediction
- The Blind Beggar
Kids are essential
One of the things that drives me crazy in the lectionary (and in church in general) is this:
When Jesus says someone or some act is essential and we don’t seem to care. At several points in the synoptic gospels, Jesus makes reference to how important children are. And most importantly, to respect them and think like them.
Do we? Ever? And those who do: how often?
I’m as guilty as the next.
So it is telling which parts of the gospel we hear every year and which ones we skip because it shows up somewhere else in the lectionary, meaning we only hear it once every three years.
This story is doubly important because it continues the expression of the disciples judging other people and mistaking their purpose by blocking the parents bringing children to Jesus.
We probably need to hear this story more than the parable that precedes it.
An oldie with a new twist
Then Jesus is approached by someone looking to inherit eternal life. This story mirrors the familiar one in Mark and Matthew we often call “the rich young man” (I prefer pious young man). This time, it isn’t a young man, but a ruler.
The contour of the story is familiar: guy does all of the things, wanting certainty about his eternity, turns to Jesus for assurance. Jesus says, how about ditching your stuff and following me?
The additional challenge of being a ruler makes Jesus’s command even greater. Money can be given away. Property sold. But kingdoms are full of people who depend on the stability. Anyone who has watched Downton Abbey can recognize the quandary.
However, much like Jesus telling the disciples to stop inhibiting the parents and children, we are far more conflicted by this than Jesus. Which should tell us enough on the subject.
Then some more about wealth
Then Jesus goes right into talking about wealth as an obstacle to salvation. People go to the other extreme and then assume nobody can be saved (which is soooo normal as a response, eh?). But then Peter takes it to the personal level: we’ve given up so much. What does this mean for us?
And to this, Jesus offers the assurance that is the closest thing to certainty that he can get.
At this point, notice three things:
- Jesus asks for a sacrifice that nobody likes and everybody will make excuses not to do.
- We prefer to be entangled by a moral quandary than the assurance of trusting in Jesus.
- This is the case right now.
This, of course, is ironic, because we loathe complexity and race to simple solutions (excuses) to save us. But both of these teachings reveal the opposite. We’d rather keep our wealth with the moral confusion of rejecting Jesus’s command than actually deal with the challenge itself.
The most direct example:
Years ago, the richest people in the United States pledged to give away 90% of their wealth. And yet, year-to-year, not one of these powerful people has given more than 10% of their income. Each one has made more money than they’ve given away.
The excuse they keep making is simple: there aren’t enough places they trust to use the money effectively. This is arrogant (“we’re smarter than they are”) and impudent (“it’s our money”). And it avoids dealing with the central purpose.
- They promised to give their money away. They aren’t.
- Lack of trust is an excuse to break trust.
- The opportunity they avoid is to simply give it away or build the trust they demand.
They aren’t only using lack of trust as an excuse to do nothing: They use doing nothing as an excuse to break a promise. This allows them to claim the moral quandary as a justification for maintaining global poverty.
The Third Passion Prediction
Luke’s gospel handles the passion predictions different than Mark and Matthew. In those gospels, Jesus predicts his death and then the disciples screw up. Every time. It’s kind of like a recurring joke.
Luke doesn’t tie the predictions to a specific screw up. But the screwing up has been in the air since chapter 9.
In this prediction in particular, it says that the disciples didn’t understand what Jesus was saying, that it was “hidden” from them.
To be honest, just about the only debate I don’t like getting into is whether God is actively working against the disciples. The whole thing creates binary positions that ultimately result in slippery slope arguments.
Far more notable that Luke is getting direct in saying the disciples don’t get it. They don’t just show they don’t get it by doing the wrong thing. Speaking of which…
Outside Jericho
Finally we arrive at our fourth story. And Jericho is a useful setting for this in two ways:
- The rich history of the city
- Its proximity to Jerusalem
The walls of Jericho falling become a great visual metaphor for the blind man regaining his sight and Zacchaeus looking to see Jesus.
For the modern mind, we might take the image one step further and consider that the image doesn’t just evoke seeing, but transparency. And in kind, vulnerability.
To see and be seen is to be vulnerable. To have one’s exterior removed and innermost self laid bare is deep and troubling.
And yet, this is what Zacchaeus is after in the next chapter, isn’t it? Not just to see Jesus, but even to be seen? And when he is, does he not try to tell Jesus in front of everyone something akin to “I’m a good person!”
The Trouble
The main characters of these two stories at the end of 18 and beginning of 19 are clearly engaging in seeing each other. For the beggar doesn’t just want his sight, he already sees who Jesus is. Similarly, Zacchaeus goes through a lot of trouble to see Jesus, not to receive from him.
As much as these are stories of faith, they are also stories of the faithful judging and rejecting others. And in this way, both are troubling.
The disciples try to stop the beggar from shouting and coming close to Jesus. And in Zacchaeus, the crowds reject the idea of Jesus spending time with a tax collector.
The challenge for the faithful reader of both of these stories is not to avoid the “bad news” or the difficulty in Jesus’s teaching. And to refrain from making excuses for doing nothing in light of it.
Jesus invites us to make real world change in our lives. Not more excuses.