"Today salvation has come to this house."

Reformation Day, October 31, 2010
Pentecost 23, Luke 19:1-10

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 being a short man he could not, because of 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 what was lost."

Zacchaeus was a short man. I am a tall guy, but there is something that we have in common. We both want to see Jesus. Zacchaeus climbed a tree to see Jesus as he came down the street in Jericho. Today we do not climb a tree, but we see Jesus in the Word and Sacraments. But the important thing for both Zacchaeus and us, is not that we see Jesus, but rather that Jesus sees us. "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." "Michael, come here immediately. I must stay at your heart today, I must say at your church today." And for both of us, Jesus became the guest of sinners. Zacchaeus was a tax collector and had become rich in cheating people in their taxes. He will make restitution and give to charity to show his new love and gratitude. My sins are different, but I too want to give to charity and ask for forgiveness to those whom I have hurt. I take great joy and comfort in knowing that the final words spoken by Jesus are for both Zacchaeus and me, and for all who have been found by Jesus. 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 what was lost."

Well, today is Reformation Day. We turn our attention today on a different man who wanted to see Jesus: Martin Luther. In the Year 1513 in the town of Wittenberg, Germany, Luther was a university professor. He taught the Bible. His first classes were on the Psalms and Galatians. He found Jesus everywhere in the Psalms. They talked about Jesus, they were prayed by Jesus. The Book of Psalms was a Christian book foreshadowing the life and death of the Redeemer. Luther did not climb a sycamore-fig tree, but his study was in the tower of the Augustinian monastery. Here he studied the Epistle of Paul before teaching it in his classes. At first when he felt Jesus looking at him, he was afraid and trembled. Paul talks about the justice of God. Luther knew that the justice of God was to condemn sinners. How could God really forgive sinners? Luther found the answer in the Word of God. As Paul said, it was "justification by faith." But this faith is not an achievement by what we do, it is a gift. And the gift comes only through the hearing and study of the Word.

Here are Luther's own words: (Here I Stand, A Life of Martin Luther, Roland Bainton, page 65.)

I greatly longed to understand Paul's Epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, "the justice of God," because I took it to mean that justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. My situation was that, although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my merit would assuage him. Therefore I did not love a just and angry God, but rather hated and murmured against him. Yet I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know what he meant.

Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that "the just shall live by his faith." Then I grasped that the justice of God is a righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the "justice of God" had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heavenc.

If you have a true faith that Christ is your Savior, then at once you have a gracious God, for faith leads you in and opens up God's heart and will, that you should see pure grace and overflowing love. This is to behold God in faith that you should look upon his fatherly, friendly heart, in which there is no anger nor ungraciousness. He who sees God as angry does not see him rightly but looks only on a curtain, as if a dark cloud had been drawn across his face.

Luther found peace and the love of God when he was looking for Jesus. When he looked at his own heart and his own justice and his own sin, then he found only fear and hate before almighty God. But in that study office in the tower of the Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg, as he was looking for Jesus, Jesus found him. Jesus said to him also, "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 what was lost." And in the same joy and gratitude of Zacchaeus, Luther shared this Gospel with everyone. And so began the Reformation.

Today we are here looking for Jesus. We find him in the Word and Sacrament. Or rather, Jesus finds us in Word and Sacrament, for that is how the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us. He comes to our house, our church today. This is the joy of the Reformation. Our hearts and lives are reformed, formed in the image of God, justified by faith. This is the pure grace of God.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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