Prayers for Others

Luke 19.1-10

¹ Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

⁹ Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

How do we react when we are suffering at the hands of another?  Probably not physical abuse.  More likely we are suffering financially because someone has taken advantage of us.  We are being unfairly treated at work.  We could be dealing with neighbours who cause disturbances with noise or uncontrolled animals.  We can come up with many ideas of what would be the problem.  And often we have thoughts of how it would be good to get rid of the problem.  The neighbour could move.  We could get a new boss.  Animals could be taken from the property by the proper authorities in our area.

Simply, we often have an answer and pray that this would be the one God uses.  We don’t necessarily think about the boss becoming a good boss, we figure a new boss is the way to go.  We forget about the change of the ones who have taken advantage of us, we just want our justice.

The people give up a lament in the midst of this text.  In a way, similar to the “How long, O Lord” from Psalm 13.  He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.  If this Jesus is the Messiah sent by God he would know who it is and not go there.  He would restore order and we would have our possessions returned and Zacchaeus would be punished.

The answer to their prayers is coming, but not exactly as they wanted.  The answer to their prayers comes in the mercy and grace of God being extended first to the one who had taken part in oppressing them.  Zacchaeus receives grace first.  Then they begin to see the answer to their prayers for relief.  Zacchaeus giving to the poor and repaying what he had wrongly taken, with more than just a bit of interest.

Do we have reasons to see that oppression should be ended, for us and for others?  Of course.  But see the beauty of the way grace works in the life of Zacchaeus here.  See the opportunity for grace to come in and through some who we see as part of the problems now.  Letting God work his grace in people we might be shocked to see changed.  Letting God set the real solutions for what all really need. 

His grace is real and affective.  It is beyond our control, beyond our imagination.  God is at work right now. 

Prayer

Mighty God, we look for our own salvation in many places and different ways.  We expect to find you flexing power on our behalf at all times, crumbling those who we see as our enemies.  Yet your power is even more pronounced as you bring your grace into these surprising places in life.  Surprise us again with grace and mercy that changes us and your world today.  Amen.

Song – Psalm 34