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FOR THE MAN WHO HAS EVERYTHING (\

November 16, 1986, 11:00 a.m. Worship Service
John M. Buchanan
Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago
“The Son of man came to seek and to save the lost." --Luke 19:10 (RSV)

Scripture
Luke 19:1-10

No less an authority than Karl Barth suggested that it is the
responsibility of a Christian to have an open Bible in one hand and an open
newspaper in the other; that the word of God emerges when the Bible and
newspaper are in dialogue: that God‘s Biblical word is always uttered in a
conversation with a worldly word.

And so this morning I should like, this once, to reverse the order -
to begin with the newspaper and to regard its content, if not our text for
the day, at least the contemporary context, the conversation into which God
will enter with a good word...

Thus, a reading from the Business Section of the New York Times,
selected passages from an article - "The Strange Agony of
Success...Reaching the Top ~ or Making a Million Before 40 - is Unhinging
Many Executives."

"Tens of thousands of young people are finding that in achieving
business success today they have distorted their lives and fallen into
emotional turmoil.

“In the era when success and money are more fashionable and sought
after than they have been since the 1950's, the fast track is luring more
and more college graduates with promises of power, prestige and big
payoffs. But in these high-pressure, high-reward jobs - psychoanalysts say
that many executives lose all sense of balance between their work and the
other aspects of their lives."

They are known by a new title - "Victims of Success". No one knows
how many there are but psychotherapists say the problem is growing as more
people find success disappointing.

"Many people are coaxed into work habits that throw their lives badly
out of balance. Worse, many find they are encouraged to betray their
deepest values."

Cocaine, alcohol, broken marriages and families, depression -- are
the symptoms of the malady. One man who cashed if all in punctuated the
explanation of his decision with a curse which, the more I thought about
it began to sound like an appeal, or even a confession. He said: “I

didn't want to be buried with the words ‘Christ, he was busy'." [New York
Times, 8/24/86, Section 3.] a

And now a reading from the Gospel according to St. Luke, Chapter 19,
verses 1-10:

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man
named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, and rich. And he sought to
see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was
small of stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree
to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place,
he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I
must stay at your house today." So he made haste and came down, and
received him joyfully. And when they saw it they all murmured, “He has
gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." And Zacchaeus stood and
said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor;
and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold." And
Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house since he also is
a son of Abraham. For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.

Zacchaeus, "victim of success," chief of the Internal Revenue Service
for the City of Jericho, acted very strangely indeed. On the surface it
appears that he climbed a tree because he was too short to see over the
crowds and catch a glimpse of a teacher from Nazareth who had caused a
great stir in the city. The way I read it, however, there is more to it
than that. That climbing the tree business, that foolishly vulnerable
behavior is the kind of thing people do when they are desperate, lonely and
unhappy and brokenhearted and bankrupt. Successful, middle-aged people
don't go around climbing trees, unless there is a major crisis in their
middle-aged lives.

Frederick Buechner calls Zacchaeus “a sawed off little social disaster
with a big bank account and a crooked job." [Peculiar Treasures, p. 180].
John Bodo, from whom I borrowed the title for this sermon called him
“little Mr. Big of lovely Jericho...who had everything". [A Gallery of New
Testament Rogues, p. 45] ~ _

What can be known about Zacchaeus is that he was rich and hated and
short. That he was rich and that he was hated are related to each other.
The Roman Empire had devised a despicable but effective method of
collecting revenues from its conquered and occupied people. The secret of
the tax system was that it relied on nationals to administer it and it
rewarded them very handsomely. Instead of importing bureaucrats from the
Capitol, the Romans hired local professionals to collect their taxes, and
rewarded them for their onerous duty by paying them generously. In order
to be a tax collector you had to be willing to forgo the affection and
respect of your neighbors. Tax collectors were regarded simply as
quislings, collaborators. Do you recall how collaborators were treated in
Paris after World War II, or how deeply despised the Frenchmen were who
governed France in the Vichy Regime under the Nazis? Here was Zacchaeus in
Jericho of all places, a beautiful, prosperous city, of tremendous
historical and religious significance, the Jericho of the Canaanites whose
walls came tumbling down before the armies of Joshua, the equivalent, that
is to say of Yorktown, Gettysburg, Valley Forge, and here is Zacchaeus, the

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Jew, prospering enormously by collecting taxes from his countrymen for the
hated Roman authorities.

It is more than idle conjecture, therefore, to propose that Zacchaeus
was alienated, lonely, despised. And. his stature - did that have something.
to do with it? Is it just..another detail. in this-unusually graphic
scenario which Luke lays out for us, or is there a story there too? Is
there a story here of a person in lonely captivity to physical
characteristics?.. A.story.of.one who had. been the brunt.of.so.many jokes
that his ego was already severely.damaged, and for: whom collaboration with
the enemy was not the loss of anything important - because he. was.convinced
he wasn't. worth anything anyway. Is. it.a. story that connects with the
alienation.experienced by. anyone who. ever looked. in: the mirror. and wished. —.
desperately to see something eise?..-Is.it.the.story of every shorty,
fatso, skinny, gimpy, blinkly -. who ever: laughed along with the crowd which
amused itself cruelly at his. or:her expense only.to ask. in. poignant, ~~
prayerful desperation, "God - why can't I be like them? Why did you make .
me this way?" : :

There are a lot of things about this story that reach across 2,000
years and touch sensitive spots. and. sometimes raw nerves.-in our lives... .The
best part of-all, I- think, in-a-sense the most. poignant. and. powerful detail
is that he. climbed a. tree in-order to see Jesus. That is not consistent
with what we now know. about him... Animportant. public official,
particularly. one who had sold his own soul. in order to be important, is. far
more inclined to affect self-important behavior, to work hard at. sustaining
the image he has-sold his: soul to achieve. He will. not. risk ridicule, will?
not be vulnerable, will. not appear foolish.

When Jesus. looked up and saw. him perched tiene real anid
vulnerably,. pathetically, I like to believe, he understood: perfectly,
everything about Zacchaeus, a man who had everything and. nothing.

“What- Are You Doing With the Rest of. Your Life?" Esquire magazine
demands to know this month in a special year-end edition on Americans at
Work. Sandwiched in between some of the most. elaborate and opulent
advertisements in print is a series of articles and editorials about the.
significance work. has: for. Americans... Something is happening in America,
the lead editorial concludes.. We are learning, quite simply, that success:
does not save our souls, that happiness and contentment do not result: when
we have scraped, climbed and clawed our way to the top. Observes Phillip
Moffitt, President. and Editor.in Chief of Esquire,

There. is..."a growing awareness of the limits of individual
achievement. (Zacchaeus discovered. that.2,000 years before.) It means
little -to be individually affluent, urban or suburban, if you live a life
without community, or. in. fear of crime, or with the threat of a
deteriorating environment." [p. 48] :

Mr. Moffitt predicts that the "Me Generation" is over, and that we
are about. to. enter anew day of altruism and commitment .to values better
and bigger than the unapologetic. individualism of the..1980's. .Qne hopes.
his prediction is accurate. For there.is no doubt that. in-fairly recent
decades our culture has elevated having and owning and consuming to.a new. —

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level of sanctity. Prosperity has always been part of the American dream,
but until the end of the Second World War, the perimeters of prosperity
were modest, realistic - almost. Today we find ourselves part of an
economy that demands ever-increasing consumption, planned obsotescence,...
A hundred times a day, on television, radio, magazines and newspapers, we
are told that what counts in life is buying, having, owning, and showing-
off what we own,

In the same issue of Esquire that so relevantly explored the meaning
of our consumer ethic, the Christmas advertisements constitute a veritable
bacchanalian orgy of consumerism; from brandy to perfume to luggage to
automobiles; from jewelry to stereo equipment to cameras - the promise is
gorgeously articulated. “Buy this stuff and your friends will know how
important you are. Note - not that owning this stuff will make you happy
because it is so good, so valuable, so finely crafted that you will enjoy
it... There is a morality in that. What consumerism promises, however, is
that owning will impress your friends: they will know how successful and
important you are ~ and their knowing and your knowing they know will
constitute happiness.

Ordinarily at this point the preacher lowers the heavy artillery at
materialism. The evils of enjoying the things of this world too much.
Interestingly, the Bible is not nearly as tough on materialism as religion
ts. Religion often concludes that it is wrong, in and of itself, to
accumulate anything, or to enjoy anything of quality. What the Bible
teaches is that having things, accumulating wealth, will not produce
happiness: in fact, it can and frequently does become an idolatrous
substitute for God who is the true source of meaning and sanctity in life,
that the person who lives in order to consume - is as idolatrous as those
more primitive but more honest people who bowed down and sacrificed before
a golden calf.

Zacchaeus, that is to say, isn't condemned in the Bible because he has
accumulated wealth. His condition, rather is described as “lostness.'
When Jesus looked up and saw him perched in the tree, he called him, told
him to come down, that he, Jesus - was going to pay a visit to Zacchaeus in
his home. How long do you suppose it had been since anyone had done that?
How long had it been since anyone of his old friends, any Jew at all, had
sat across the table from him and enjoyed the fine place settings, the good
wine, the elegant cuisine with him?

And so Zacchaeus scrambled down and the pious onlookers, the modest
taxpayers of Jericho, grumbled about Jesus' choice of social companions.
And Zacchaeus is so overwhelmed by this miracle of grace, this curious
teacher who has broken through his isolation, that he finds himself going
on and on about how hard he has tried to live a good life, how in spite of
the way he earned it, he gave half his wealth to charity and exactly as the
law of Moses required, meticulously reimbursed fourfold, anybody he had
defrauded.

And Jesus - even though nobody has talked about salvation - although
that's exactly what this story is about, and it is exactly what Zacchaeus is
searching for - says - “Today salvation has come to this house." Today -
wholeness, healing, reconciliation have come to Zacchaeus and that

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ia

furthermore he, Jesus, is about doing that for people who are lost. That's
lost as in "taking the wrong turn and wandering about aimlessly," not lost
as in "eternal damnation."

The Greek word is a disappointment to those who want to enjoy knowing
that the lost are going to burn in hell. It simply means "wandering about
without a goal." That's Zacchaeus ...that's the victim of success.
Zacchaeus has everything except the one thing he really needs - a goal, a
purpose for his living, meaning for his life. He has everything - but
nothing. He has made a wrong turn. He has looked for salvation in the
wrong place.

You know, in addition to the "victimization of the successful” -
which won't afflict alt of us - the other modern phenomenon which is
relevant to this incident is the celebrated “mid-life crisis.” It has not
always been there but in the past decade or so we have discovered that a
surprising number of people do peculiar things about half-way through life.
Classically, the successful man flies off to Malabo with his secretary; the
successful woman cashes it in to write poetry and make pottery. Less
classically, but more commonly, people at mid-point, lose interest in life,
work, play, sex, begin to drink too much, work too hard, have trouble
sleeping, feel bored, get depressed, and sometime deal with it by acting
foolishly.

It is, of course, a crisis of the spirit. It seems to have its
origins in the two most devastating discoveries any of us ever make, namely
success isn't going to save us - and ~ that we are not going to live
forever.

And suddenly what we assumed was the preface to the exciting novel of
our life - becomes the whole story, and the purposes for which we were
living and striving and hoping become a prison from which we want to
escape, and the relationships we have been patiently building over the
years, feel like a trap and the daily activities which earn our livelihood
and support ourselves and those who depend on us, feel Tike an exercise in
meaningless perpetual motion.

That is precisely when Zacchaeus climbed a tree. And it is precisely
when we are inclined to do something foolishly vulnerable.

And the Gospel here, the good news here, is that Jesus Christ waits
for precisely that moment to come into our lives and gives us the healing
and wholeness and direction we need.

Perhaps the deepest and most tantalizing insight of faith is that God
is responsible for the hunger for God in us: that just as physical hunger
is evidence of the existence of food, so the human need - the human thirst
for the Divine is the best and most profound evidence for trusting that
there is living water.

St. Augustine said that beautifully. “When first I knew thee, Thou
didst raise me up mae I might see there was somewhat for me to see,"
[Confessions VIII, p. 10]

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God, I believe, is responsible for raising the issue. God calls into
question every misplaced faith. It is the presence of God's spirit I
believe that makes us ill-at-ease when we give our lives to something
selfish and transitory. God is the source of joy and salvation, but God is
also responsible for and the source of pain and struggle and the sense that
in having everything sometimes we have nothing.

We are tempted to buy into the promise...actually to believe that
having money will produce happiness. I had an aunt who used to say there
was nothing wrong with her that a five pound box of $20.00 bills won't fix
up. There isn't a one of us who hasn't concluded - that our fulfillment,
our realized potential as human beings - has something to do with the
salvation promised in the slick advertisements...

Idolatry doesn't work. “Victims of success" learn that. Zacchaeus
learned it. He had lost his soul in the pursuit of success..and Jesus
gave it back.

Let that little drama draw you in... There is only one place where
we are “at home," and that is in the Father's house, in relationship with
Jesus Christ...and that is the invitation in this colorful little story...
Ponder it... In retrospect, have you climbed a tree? Have you done
something unlikely, something foolishly vulnerable precisely because you
know in your heart that what you are living for is not saving your soul?

Have you done something foolish... Maybe coming to church today was
it... a

Maybe you are trying to love again...

Maybe you are quietly but frantically trying to make something right
which you have made wrong...

Maybe you simpte opened a door in your heart recently and were
surprised by the power of the love and passion you keep hidden in there...

Maybe you reached out in love - or need, before you could catch
yourself...

Maybe you embraced someone - or wept at the beauty of music...

That's a sign of the same dynamic that made Zacchaeus climb that
tree... a sign of your need... asign that you know about a salvation
that is not yet YOURS.

And so, the invitation ~ in whatever quiet words you have - to allow
yourself to be found.

Jesus found Zacchaeus, after all.asked him what he was doing in the
tree, commanded him to come down. Zacchaeus obeyed. And I sense that in
coming down, in walking home with Jesus Zacchaeus did a better and stronger
and more honest thing than he had ever done before. My sense of it is that
in the accepting love of Jesus, Zacchaeus found the meaning of his life,
and that his life had purpose, direction, that he knew himself to be a new

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creation.

Who knows what happened next? Zacchaeus may have continued his job as
a tax collector. A remote tradition of the early church suggests that he
became a follower, an Apostle, then a bishop. There is no evidence. All
we have is a man who was despised, lonely, isolated, - no longer alone, or
isolated. What we do know is that a man who had lost his integrity and
dignity was given it back. What we do know is that a man who was so lost
that he climbed a tree one day to find his way - was found by Jesus Christ.

And for a man who was pretending that he had it all, but knew in his
heart that he had nothing - that is everything, indeed,

Amen.

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