Today is “Thank you, Lutherans, Day!”

Do we have any Lutherans with us this morning?

Thank you!

In case you’re not a Lutheran and are wondering why we’re thanking the Lutherans today, let me offer you a brief explanation. 493 years ago on this very day – October 31^st, 1517 – a young Catholic priest and theologian by the name of Martin Luther walked up to the big wooden doors of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther nailed to those big wooden church doors a document he had written that might be described as “95 Reasons the Religious Establishment is Headed Straight to Hell.” Now that’s not how Luther described it, or how history remembers it. The writing is commonly called Luther’s 95-Theses. But I think the gist of the document is about how the Church was failing to be the Church of Jesus Christ.

Luther voiced in his 95-Theses the widespread disillusionment being experienced by many people. In that day, the burning issue was about the selling of “indulgences” – that is, paying money to the Church to have your sins forgiven. You know, that’s not such a bad idea! If we had such a program in our church with people like you…, there would be enough sin money to pay off our new Sanctuary! In fact, the sins of our choir members alone would pay for Phase 2 to be completed! I’m only kidding…sort of!

The Church of Martin Luther’s day had lost its vision. The Church no longer served the needs of people, but instead served its own internal institutional needs. The mandates of Scripture, calling the Church to reach outside itself to care for those who need the love of God were being trumped by the creation of manmade laws and traditions that no longer knew the meaning of “love thy neighbor.”

So Martin Luther took a stand.

The Church institution fought back. When he would not retract his writings, they excommunicated Martin Luther. And in so doing, they set loose in the world a protest movement calling for reform in the Church. Those people became known as the PROTEST-ants – protestants. And the first Protestants were called, “Lutherans” to whom we are offering our thanks today on Reformation Sunday!

493 years ago today, you Lutherans took a stand for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that opened the doors of the kingdom to millions who had no access to the grace of God!

493 years later, the question is, “Will WE take a stand today?”

Jesus is going up to Jerusalem where he will give his life for the world. Along the way he will be passing through Jericho which is all ablaze with excitement. Word has reached the people of the city about a wonderful miracle Jesus has just performed along the Jericho Road. A blind beggar was given back his sight, and now huge crowds of people have swarmed around Jesus and joined the joyful procession into Jericho. Everyone is so happy…

…except for one little guy named Zacchaeus.

And I do mean, “little guy.” Luke, the Gospelwriter, tells us that Zacchaeus is a very short man. And because of the big crowds and Zacchaeus’ small stature, Zacchaeus cannot not see Jesus. He tries slipping in-between people, only to be lost in a sea of legs and torsos. He tries jumping up and down, but that only adds to his frustration.

Finally, Zacchaeus gets an idea! He runs on ahead and climbs up a sycamore tree, hoping that when Jesus passes by he’ll get a great bird’s-eye-view of the amazing miracle-worker from Nazareth!

Now, let me stop at this point in the story and ask you a question connected to the larger question of whether WE – like Martin Luther – will take a stand. Here’s the question: “Can you see in this story a metaphor for how the Church sometimes fails people?”

The Church is sometimes like that crowd surrounding Jesus. We love him. We want to be in his presence. We want to shout his praise, and sing his glory. And we - the crowd - can become so enamored with our own special position within the inner circle where we can see Christ and feel Christ and be with Christ that some people – like Zacchaeus – get pushed out and can’t get to Jesus.

You see, the crowd of Jesus’ followers unwittingly became an obstacle that Zacchaeus couldn’t get around.

There are a lot of people in the world who can’t get to Jesus and the goodness of life God wants for them because of Jesus’ followers. Several of my and Sandy’s friends in one town where we lived were sexually abused by a clergyman. Try as they may, they can’t get past that obstacle to find a relationship with Christ. Someone I know who is gay says something interesting that we need to listen to. “God tells me he loves me, but then sends his followers to tell me God hates me.” Can you see how God’s people can push others away? And all of us know people who are outside the Church and estranged from God because, they say, the Church is full of hypocrites. And it is. I’m one of them! But I can think of no better place for hypocrites to come to learn a better way of living. But the truth is that sometimes what we are “in here” is not the same as what we are “out there.” And when others outside the church see that the followers of Jesus treat other people unkindly, gossip behind their backs, criticize people for their flaws, can’t control their tempers, engage in racist conversation, act like they are better than everyone else… Can you see how WE can become obstacles in the way of people who need Christ and the goodness of life God created them to enjoy?

Zacchaeus faced an obstacle course formed by the followers of Jesus. But that was not the only obstacle in the way of Zacchaeus finding the life he wanted and needed.

He was short.

My friend Nancy Seale was not short, but she was quadriplegic. She attended a church where the only access to the Sanctuary was by way of an elevator. One Sunday, the elevator broke, leaving Nancy sitting in her wheelchair in a cold hallway. That wasn’t the only time it happened. The church committee in charge of the elevator wasn’t in a real hurry to pay for the elevator to be fixed. The leadership group was split on whether to bear the expense of building a handicap ramp directly into the Sanctuary. Meanwhile, Nancy spent many a Sunday morning sitting by herself in that cold hallway – far away from the crowd she wanted to be part of, worshiping the Lord.

There are many people who – like Zacchaeus - have physical limitations, disabilities or other circumstantial problems that keep them from living life to the full and experiencing the goodness of life God wants for all his children. Some are born into terribly dysfunctional families where children can never live up to the expectations of their father, or mother. Others have something about their physical appearance that leaves them feeling self-conscious and lacking in confidence. Many are addicted – to drugs or alcohol or pornography – and are unable to find the strength to get well no matter how much they want to, no matter how hard they try.

There are many obstacles in life that keep people from the good life God wants them to have.

Zacchaeus was a short man. But even Zacchaeus’ short stature was not the end of the obstacles set between him and the life God created him for.

Zacchaeus was also hated.

He was a Jew who had capitulated and become a tax collector for the Roman government. In fact, he was the chief tax collector of that area. Not only that, but he had made himself rich by taking bribes and requiring extra duty from the citizens of Jericho. Zacchaeus was someone no decent person wanted to have around.

There are plenty of people like that in our communities, in our world – people who’ve done awful things, made terrible mistakes, committed serious sins and serious crimes, but when they want to turn their life around the world around them won’t even give them a chance. Their failures in life may be what separated them from the abundant life of God in the first place, but now their family, or their community, or even their church prevents them from getting another chance and turning their lives around.

The story of Zacchaeus is the story of every person who has been unable to find life’s goodness because all sorts of obstacles got in the way. Sometimes such people end up sitting high up in the branches of a tree, watching the parade of life pass by without them.

But let’s get back to the story.

As the shouting, singing, joyful crowds accompany Jesus along the Jericho Road, Jesus suddenly stops by that tall sycamore tree. He looks up. “Zacchaeus, what are you doing way up there? Get down here right now because I’ve got to stay at your house tonight!”

And in the very next verse – verse 7 – we read, “All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’”

People don’t like God’s grace – except for themselves. Every one of the people in that crowd was a forgiven sinner, but they did not want Zacchaeus to have the same gift. Every person in that crowd had access to Jesus, but they did not want Zacchaeus to have Jesus. Every person in that crowd had been made happy by the presence of the Messiah. But they did not want Zacchaeus to be happy.

And that’s when Jesus tells us what the Gospel is all about.

“Today,” Jesus says to Zacchaeus and all the others, “salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham – a child of God.”

I want you to think for a moment about the most lost person you know. It may be someone with a terrible family situation – or a physical limitation – or someone whose life is a mess because of poor decisions. (Pause)

And now I want you to think about yourself and how you may be lost in the obstacle course of your life.

And now listen again to Jesus: “Today, salvation has come to you, because you are the children of God.”

And now listen carefully to what Jesus says next: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

You know, in the Bible, the term “the lost” is not the same as the term “loser.” To be “lost” in the Bible is to have wandered away from home and become unable to find your way back. Sometimes we get lost because other people lead us into the wilderness of life and get us lost. Sometimes we get lost because we make bad choices and do bad things. Sometimes we get lost because the circumstances of life come along and overwhelm us through no fault of our own. Being lost means missing out on the goodness of the life God wants for us, for any reason.

“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost,” Jesus says.

Martin Luther took a stand for that. The purpose of the Gospel is not to sell indulgences and prop up the powers-that-be, and preserve the institutional needs of the Church. The purpose of the Gospel is not to organize a special club of special people who have a great time together with Jesus! The purpose of the Gospel is to seek and save those who have gotten lost in the obstacle courses of life and cannot find their way home without a Savior!

The purpose of Tellico Village Community Church then, is to seek and bring Christ to lost children of God, no matter who, no matter where, no matter what.

Why is this our purpose?

Because it was Christ’s purpose.

Jesus was passing through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem where – on a hill far away – he took upon himself our deficiencies, our failures, our wounds, our injuries, our limitations, our sins – EVERYTHING that keeps us from the GOODNESS OF LIFE. And taking those things upon himself, he put them to death.

And three days later, God raised up Jesus with the message of hope for all people: “The old has passed away. A new day for you has come. Come and follow me, and I will lead you to the life you’ve always wanted – the life God created you to enjoy!”

So along with the sacred commitments I have asked our church to make over the past two weeks – to commit ourselves to preaching Christ, and to reach out in welcome to those “outside” our church, let me add a third.

Let us make a sacred commitment today to seek out people who are lost in the obstacle courses of life, and introduce them to Jesus Christ who will bring them new hope and new life.

Along with Martin Luther, let us take a stand!