This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 119:145-176; Zechariah 12:1-10; Ephesians 1:3-14; Luke 19:1-10
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1-3,11a,14c,18-19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68-79, BCP, p. 92)
Zechariah foresees a distant day when Judah and Jerusalem will once again be besieged, as they had been by the Babylonians who had decimated and exiled them. This next time, however, God’s people will prevail over their enemies. They will do so, however, after they mourn and weep over “the one [literally, “me”—i.e., the Lord] whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10). God will pour out his Spirit—“a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem”—in such a way as to prompt deeply repentant faith. As a result, Zechariah envisions God making them mighty, invincible warriors.
It is possible that Zechariah is given a window into the gigantic cataclysm at the end of time, a day that is still ahead of us. It is possible, also, that his vision sheds light on the events immediately surrounding Jesus’s death and resurrection, his ascension, and the outpouring of the Spirit, beginning with Pentecost in Jerusalem.
Indeed, in today’s reading in the letter to the Ephesians, Paul, zealous Jew that he is, numbers himself among “those who were the first to set our hope on Christ,” and who are now living “for the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:12). If you were to ask Paul, he would readily acknowledge that he had come to “mourn and weep over the One he had pierced” (Zechariah 12:10). Though he never puts it in exactly those words, nonetheless Paul believes that sheerly by God’s “grace” (i.e, undeserved favor), he has been granted insight into the mystery of God’s will to sum up “all things” in Christ through the “redemption in his blood” (Ephesians 1:6-7).
Further, Paul believes that he has been called to recruit Gentiles (like the majority of the people to whom he writes in his letter to the Ephesians) to receive the same “seal of the promised Holy Spirit” that he has received, and to become a part of “God’s own people, to the praise of his name” (Ephesians 1:13-14). Even though he writes this letter from prison, Paul sees himself and his fellow believers invincibly and irresistibly demonstrating to “the powers and principalities” God’s victory (Ephesians 3:8-10). Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, God is sovereignly and lovingly making dead people alive (Ephesians 2:1-10), and inexorably building formerly estranged people into a spiritual house for his own dwelling (Ephesians 2:11-22).
To me, one of the most striking features of this paragraph from Paul (in Greek, it’s really just one long sentence) is the repetition of the prepositional phrase: “in Christ” (or “in the Beloved” or “in him”). This expression occurs eleven times in the Greek (nine times in the NRSV). The phrase “in Christ” evokes the image of us being held tightly in the embrace of Jesus’s strong arms: there we have been lovingly chosen, there we find blessing, there we find redemption (the forgiveness of sins through Christ’s blood), there we are adopted, there we know God’s good pleasure, there we receive an inheritance, there we are marked by the Holy Spirit as God’s own. There, in Christ, is total and utter security. Amen!
Somehow, even before he met Jesus, Luke’s Zaccheus sensed that in Jesus he might find just that sort of security, acceptance, and love. As a super-rich chief tax collector, he must have had many “friends” by virtue of mutual gift-giving and ties of benefaction. Think of the world of Francis Ford Coppola’s movie The Godfather. That’s how the social world of wealth worked in Zaccheus’s day. But did he have any real friends—who loved him simply for who he was? Doubtful. As Jesus approaches, we notice that no one in the crowd moves aside so that Zaccheus can catch a glimpse of Jesus. Labeled “sinner” by everybody (Luke 19:7), his relationships would have been calculated, cautious, and measured. But he senses that with Jesus, things just might be different. And so the “wee little man” climbs the now celebrated sycamore tree, “for the Lord he wanted to see.” See the Lord he does. More importantly, Jesus sees him. Really sees him!
To Zaccheus’s surprise, Jesus invites himself to dinner. There, in one of the greatest conversion stories of the Bible, Zaccheus, small of stature, becomes a friend of Jesus and a giant of generosity. Proving himself to be, after all, a true son of Abraham, Zaccheus gives half his wealth to the poor and promises restitution (with interest) to any whom he has defrauded. Zaccheus takes his place, to put it in Paul’s terms, “in Christ.” There’s no better place to be.
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+