Loving Our Neighbors when They are Capital "S" Sinners, not simply generic, everyday and all-of-us Sinners...

Our passage for Sunday is Luke 19: 1-10,

19 He entered Jericho and was passing through it. ² A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. ³ He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. ⁵ When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. ⁷ All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” ⁸ Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” ⁹ Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

The “good folks” watching Jesus (like His every move?) are not happy with Him.  “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner”, they said.  Jesus went to the house of Zacchaeus, not simply a tax collector, but the chief tax collector in the Jericho district.  So, not just a sinner but a Chief sinner?

The story of Zacchaeus is well known, especially if you were raised with the Sunday School song, “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he…he climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see…”  We spoke Jesus' part, “Zacchaeus, come down…for we’re going to your house today…”

 It is a marvelous story of redemption, a new life in Christ Jesus; turning from a life of collaborating with the Romans and making restitution to the community.  But the watchers call him “sinner”.

In the New Testament, there are ‘s'inners’ and there are ‘S'inners’.  Zacchaeus is definitely Capital ‘S’.  Little ‘s’ sinners are everyone, as per Paul, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  It is a blessed reminder that Jesus has died for us all.  But then there is the ‘S’inner, Capital S.  Within the caste system of the time of Jesus, “Sinners” were the outcasts.

Outcasts were identified in last week's Scripture.  In Jesus’ parable, the self-righteous Pharisee prayed us a list of-who he is NOT-‘outcast’ Sinners; thieves, rogues, adulterers, and tax collectors.  The Sinners can be publicly identified, shamed, shunned, and cast out of polite society.  They are 'those people' who 'law (of Moses) abiding' folks will not cavort with.   

 The beauty of this system is that these Sinners, while still technically ‘neighbors’ who we have to love…because Jesus said so…can be under-loved…disliked…and pushed to the margins because of what they have done.  Have you heard the expression ‘love the sinner but hate the sin’?  Make it a Capital 'S' Sin and its permission to push them out.  Not in my spiritual neighborhood.  

 Jesus embraced the collaborator, the outcast, the Sinner, the tax collector.  Grace first, forgiveness first, love first.  Today, is this where we need 'all our strength' to love our neighbor?  Especially today's 'S'inners?  Love first, without screening or filtering 'in Jesus name.'  Want a look at Jesus' 'filtering system' for sin?  Check out his commentary on murder and adultery in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:21-32), see how that might apply to 'S'inners.  We are all ‘S’inners.  

We all need Jesus.  We who have Him are called to love our neighbors.  No filter, no screening, no casting out, just loving our neighbor, serving them with all our strength. 

Peace,

Pastor Pete