There He Goes Again

With Thanksgiving around the corner my thoughts naturally turn to family. Besides I’ve spent part of each of the last three weekends with my father and that will get you thinking about family too. Anyway, when my dad is with a group of family he will start to tell stories. Some are about his family, brothers and sisters and events in their lives. Some of the stories are about me and my brothers growing up. But when he really gets going he tells stories of his high school glory days. My kids have heard them all many times and it seems that over the years the stories have gotten, shall we say, expanded. So nowadays when he begins to launch into one of his glory days stories the kids will turn to me and whisper, “There he goes again!”

I think that this is exactly how the disciples must have felt whenever Jesus would go into a town or travel for a while because he would always find a way to end up in the wrong place with the wrong people. Jesus was a public relations nightmare. No matter where he was, no matter what he had going on, and no matter how many other options were present he seemed to always go with the seedier and despised members of society. He healed on the Sabbath. He touched lepers. He talked with Samaritans. He ate with sinners. He was always with the wrong people, in the wrong places, at the wrong times, doing the wrong things. There is this boundary that is as far as proper society said he should not pass. A line that is as far as the religious institution felt he or any other good Jew should go. Can’t you just hear the disciples saying to each other, “There he goes again.”

This is exactly the scenario we have in the story of Zaccheus. Jesus is traveling through a Jericho. He is attracting a crowd. People of religious and political standing are noticing him and many would be honored to have him for a respite in their homes. But Jesus sees a small man in a tree and he walks up to him and says “Come on. We’re going to your house for lunch.” And those that have been with Jesus begin to cringe. And the voices from the crowd once again rise up “There he goes again, off to be a guest of a tax collector, a sinner.” And Jesus’ reply, “Hear me, salvation has come to this house because this man, this sinner is a son of Abraham and I have come to seek out and to save the lost.” Zaccheus has encountered the divine and he is changed, never to be what he once was again. Whatever kept him from being everything he could be was removed or overcome and Zaccheus changes himself and the world.

So what is it that holds you back from being all that you could be? What keeps you from making the changes you want to see in yourself and the world? What gets in the way of your reaching out? We live in a culture that gets nervous when something unusual happens. People don’t like it when you do the unexpected or when what usually takes place doesn’t. We tend to want things defined, people categorized and our encounters predictable. We want our lives to unfold in ways that keep us from harm and don’t expose us to too much attention by others. Besides, many of us are comfortable with the status quo. Sure things could be better for others and for us but things aren’t that bad now. So long as everyone goes about their business in reasonable ways all is well. But right below the surface we sense that this isn’t really the case. Something lurks there that we know as a hallow place. A hole in ourselves that aches and to admit that it’s there and seek ways to fill it would cause us to mix things up, make life unease, and call attention to ourselves. So we try not to notice it until something unpredictable happens and everything changes.

We talk about these moments as awe-haw moments. Sometimes people speak of them as conversions. Others name them revelations. But what they all are is an encounter with the divine. Moses and the burning bush or Zaccheus with Jesus it doesn’t matter how it happens but it does and when it does everything changes. Another way to talk about this is to talk about engaging the spiritual aspects of life. And you know what, when people encounter the spiritual they hesitate, unsure of what will be revealed. But you cannot keep it from coming out, once you turn to look or climb the tree you can’t go back because you no longer can ignore that the divine is breaking out all around you all the time. And a truth is revealed; no one, not even you, is beyond the reach of God’s seeking love.

I know you’ve encountered the divine in your life. I may be a distant memory. It might be something that you have shoved into the dusty reaches of your mind. You could be something that you haven’t been able to comprehend and therefore have ignored. It might be a moment that caused you such awe and fear that you fight to keep it from resurfacing. The moment may come right before you are sent into harm’s way. Possibly it is the final, loving moments spent with the one you love. It could also be something simple and common place – a moment when the sun reflects on the dew covered leaves while walking the golf course – sitting on the sand late at night and watching the stars – rocking a baby held on your chest – a symphony playing or a country singer signing or a dance company dancing – maybe a painting or the hug of a friend – watching the family laughing and playing together at the cabin – sitting quietly with a cup of tea and a good book. Any and all of these can be times when you experience the holy, have a moment that changes you forever. Each is a moment that changes you forever.

People of faith know when they come into the presence of the holy that the things that once held them back dissolve away. We have experienced the millstone being removed from our necks and the hand extended to lead us forward. We know we are set free from whatever would hold us back from being all that we are created to be. We who are people of faith claim an encounter with God. We claim to be changed. We admit that every bush is burning and that a chance roadside encounter can change a life. We acknowledge that the holy is all around us and that every time we pay attention to it we are affected, altered and we affect, alter the world.

So I ask you, do people say “There he goes again loving others.”? Do they say “There she goes again changing the world.”? What does your life, your day-to-day living show about your life altering encounters with the holy? I think the goal of faithful living need to be to make sure people notice you are changed. Knowing God is to be transformed, altered in such a way that everyone will say “There he goes again” as you seek to bring love and justice to life all around you. Being a partner of God who is transformed by running into the holy you are changed and folks notice and say “There she goes again” as you practice mercy and seek the lost.

Don’t be shy about it; about these brushes with the divine, they are the necessary static spark that is needed to ignite change. Moses saw a bush burning and was changed and changed the world. Zaccheus saw Jesus and was changed and changed the world. You have seen God and you are changed, now change the world.