Years ago, while I was serving a church in Shelby, the deacons and myself developed a jail ministry to the county jail. On one particular Sunday afternoon visit, the jailer invited me to come in a cell with a 12 year old boy, awaiting juvenile court with a charge stealing a car. When I sat down with the boy and started to talk, I asked him how he came to stealing at such a young age.
I’ll never forget his answer: “When nobody loves you, you don’t care what you do.”
I’ll never forget his answer: “When nobody loves you, you don’t care what you do.”
Have you ever thought about how much the health of our lives depends upon our ability to give and to receive love?
We should never underestimate the power of love. What would be the value or health of our lives without the giving and the receiving of true love?
THE LACK OF LOVE CAN MAKE YOU SICK
I want you to put your attention on a man in the Bible we taught our children to sing about: Zacchaeaus. As children, we loved to sing about Zacchaeus as a "wee-little man”, and he was a “wee little man was he…”. He was small, we were small. It was a perfect match. We loved to sing about Zacchaeus, but strangely enough, even though we liked Zacchaeus, he wasn’t liked by anyone. He was a "small fry" with a large bunch of hate stacked against him.
Zacchaeus was a not loved because he was a “tax collector”. And it wasn’t just because a tax collector collected taxes, but because the governor would give them a carte blanc … a blank check, so that the tax collector could tax a person whatever amount they could get. There were no hard fast laws or limits. The more a tax collector could get out of people for the state, the more could be keep for themselves. We are not sure that Zacchaeus was this kind of selfish, abusive tax collector, but we can be sure most everyone thought of him this way.
This brings us to the second problem and reason Zacchaeus wasn’t loved. He was rich. Money is another thing that can steal love from people. Zacchaeus was rich when most all the people around him were poor. Have you ever read one of those reports about people who win the lottery? In many, many situations, the people who win millions seldom can handle it. And it is not only because they can’t manage the money itself, but it’s because of what it does to their relationships. The problem with having lots of money, is that you don’t know who loves you anymore. The big question in becomes, “Do you love me for my money, or do you really love me?” Remember as a young married couple how broke you were when you first got married? You had nothing but your love for each other--no house, no furniture, no assets, but think about how much you had when you had nothing but love? Money is necessary, of course, and we all need some of it, but as a preoccupation it sure can hurt your chances for true love.
How much had the lack of love hurt Zacchaeus? Well, we can see in our text that it had knocked him down, but he wasn’t yet out. When Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was coming to town, he rushed down to see him. While we can’t be completely sure all that Zacchaeus was feeling, we know who he was looking for. He had heard about this different kind of prophet called "Yeshua". He was the kind of prophet Luke's gospel has described as the one "who forgives sins," "who came to seek and to save the lost," and who preaches for the oppressed to be released from their bondage. Jesus is known for having great compassion on all kinds of people; both rich and poor, sinners and religious, the good, the bad and the ugly. Zacchaeus wants to see if this kind of prophet is for real.
See Jesus. Sounds simple. But here's problem. You don’t have to buy a ticket to see Jesus, but you just have either be the first in line and able to hold your ground when the crowd presses in. The problem with Zacchaeus is that the crowd is big, very big, and he is small, very small.
I remember several years ago in the late 70’s, when then President Jimmy Carter was scheduled to speak at Wait Chapel. I had a dentist appointment that afternoon, and they had open seating in the chapel for anyone who could get there to come and hear the president. I got to Wake Forest early; at the crack of dawn. But guess what? They told me at the door, that the chapel was already full. I would have to stand outside. Guess what? Already all kinds of people there already standing outside too. I would have to stand about five rows back in the yard and hear the speech on speakers that had been placed around the quad.
After the speech was over, the President came out shaking hands. I was already five rows back and people were pulling in tighter and tighter, hoping to get to speak to the president. When I realize I was close, but not close enough to have a chance to shake his hand, I looked over to the left, the opposite direction from where the president was walking, and saw several secret service men in waiting. Then, it hit me. He’s going to turn around and come back this way. So, I walk right up to the sidewalk, where no one was standing at that moment, and sure enough the president did turn around and was headed my way. As he approached, the crowed thickened. If had not been a big guy, I could have been knocked out of the way. But I stood my ground and sure enough, and after pushing three college students to the ground, (just kidding), he came my way, reached out and shook my hand.
I can imagine the same kind almost mobbing situation with Zacchaeus. But Zacchaeus wasn't just determined, but seems desperate. How delighted Zacchaeus must have been, when he looked down from his vantage point in the sycamore tree and his eyes met the master of love. Instantly their eyes connected: This one named Zacchaeus, who had already experienced the deep pain of rejection and hate, looked into the eyes of the prophet who was about to feel the same kind hate and rejection on the cross.
I can imagine the same kind almost mobbing situation with Zacchaeus. But Zacchaeus wasn't just determined, but seems desperate. How delighted Zacchaeus must have been, when he looked down from his vantage point in the sycamore tree and his eyes met the master of love. Instantly their eyes connected: This one named Zacchaeus, who had already experienced the deep pain of rejection and hate, looked into the eyes of the prophet who was about to feel the same kind hate and rejection on the cross.
We don’t just have to wonder about the pain and hurt people have because of the lack of love in their lives? The entire entertainment industry of music, movies, and media makes millions and even billions of dollars on the human need to give and to receive love. The problem is that most of "love" in the music, movies, and the media are based the "hope" of finding love, not the true expressions of it. Too often people settle for imitations of the real thing and seldom is love displayed where it is truly to be be found: in commitment, sacrifice, hard work, and stable relationships, and shared experiences with another. In our fallen world, true love does not sell as well as all the fantasy and lies about love and as a result, too many people become lost and lonely in life without the very love which can give life so much meaning and fullness.
Recently in the news, we've heard about the wonderful discovery of the kidnapped, California girl-now-woman, Jaycee Duggard, whose been found alive, along with her daughters. It’s a wonderful story, but their will be challenges. Jaycee is back with her family, but has all kinds of emotional scares to deal with. One of the greatest challenges is to work to heal the lack of love in her life. It's the kind of emotional and mental scars only true love can heal.
How many of us take for granted the love we've received in our lives? Most of us grew up, not realizing the gift of love we're given. I've told some of you about the strange little habit I had as a child when I used to “bump” my head at night to go to sleep. Everyone one in my immediate family knew about it and everyone wondered when and if it would go away. I did work myself out it, when I was about 9 or 10 years old. But the question always haunted me: Why did I do this? My enlightenment did not come until developmental psychology class in college. I read about a controlled experiment with monkeys who were taken from their birth mothers. Although they were stilled loved and cared for, this group of monkey's developed a strange habit of bumping their heads against the wall or the cage until they fell asleep. As an adopted child, I too was taken from my birth mother and I too had developed this strange reaction. Fortunately, for me, because I grew up in a loving home, I overcame the unconscious, but real loss of love that was deep in my soul.
However you want to research it, all psychological research, all human medicine, and all true religious teachings, will underscore the absolute truth of what the apostle Paul once said in one of his letters to the church at Corinth: “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-2. I can’t help believe that in some way, Zacchaeus felt like nothing until he met this one who poured unconditional love and compassion into his hurting soul.
THE PRESENCE OF LOVE CAN SHAPE US
Now, from thinking how the lack of love can hurt us, let's move to focus on the positive difference love can makes in our earthly, human, very temporary and very tentative lives.
After the immediate connection, Jesus speaks beautiful music into Zach's ears: “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." (Luke 19:5). While most of us might think that God is fair, and that God’s love is equal for everybody, this text makes me "beg to differ." Though God is "not a respecter of persons," it appears that God does choose to love some more, simply because they need to be loved. God choose Israel out of all the other nations---not because she was better, but God chose to Israel for the glory of love. God loves us too, based on our need to be loved. I think Zacchaeus was this kind of needy person.
After hearing words of invitation, Zacchaeus hurried down from the tree, to welcome Jesus to his house. When people in the crowd start to complain about Jesus going home with this sinner, it just might be that Zacchaeus becomes immediately afriad that Jesus will not come, so he opens his heart to reveal to all how much love has transformed him: "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." (Luke 19:8).
Love does it healing work as it has begun to reshape Zacchaeus as a person, as a sinner and as a tax collector. Love changes his view of money. Love changes his view of people and love changes his view of what his own responsibility should be a a person who gives and receives love in his life. In the same way, the presence of true love has the potential to change and give shape to our lives.
Do you recall how that love transformed and flavored up the life of a couple that had a very funny accident and was in the news? A guy was giving his girl a diamond engagement ring, placing it in a frosty. In the moment, he hoped she would discover her ring in the bottom of the cup, she drank her ring. Then, later they went to the doctor, got an x-ray, and he proposed to her when she saw the he really did give her a ring and it was in her stomach.
Love has a way of transforming all kinds of events in our lives, and interestingly it does its work from the inside out. It’s not that love keeps us from pain or takes all pain away, but what love can do is “flavor” our pain. As the apostle Paul said, in that great love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, “love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things.”
THE POWER OF LOVE CAN HEAL OUR HURTS.
In the final section of this great love chapter, Paul speaks of something else love does in the human heart and person, when he says, "when I was a child, I spoke and thought like a child, but when I became an adult I put away childish things.” In this context, Paul means that love helped him to grow and helped him focus his life on what really matters…things like hope, faith, and love. And of course, the greatest is love.
But how does this giving and receiving of love heal hurts? In regard to love's healing qualities, Paul says, love is…."patient, kind, not envious, boastful, arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way. It doesn’t not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth." I find it interesting how love finds its focus. Love heals because it is much more than a feeling, love is a virtue--a disposition or attitude that results in real action.
Zacchaeus recieved healing through love because of the love he gave back. It’s not just what he feels from Jesus, or what he felt toward others, but it is also what he began to do for others that released loves great healing power in his life.
Dr. E. V. hill, the great black pastor, was serving a church in the Watts area of Los Angeles way back there in the 60's when those horrible riots broke out. You remember them, the burnings and the lootings and the shootings. But Hill was a courageous man, and from his own pulpit he denounced his neighbors who were destroying the property and stealing from the merchants. And this brought all kinds of threats against him as a person.
"One night the telephone rang. It was late, and there was something about the way Hill held the receiver that told his wife that something was wrong. When he hung up, she wanted to know who had called and what they wanted, but Hill wouldn't let her know. She kept persisting and persisting, however, almost demanding that he tell her. And so finally he did. "I don't know who it was," he said, "but they've threatened to blow up my car with me in it." Well, throughout the night, Hill was very restless and uneasy. He couldn't get to sleep for the longest time, worrying about that threat to his life. But finally his drowsiness caught up with him and he did fall asleep.
"The next morning, when he awakened, he was terrified. He reached over to touch his wife and she was gone! He got up and went looking for her throughout the house, but she wasn't there! He then looked out the window to see if she had gone outside. And to his greater horror, she wasn't there either and the car was gone from the carport as well. And he was just beside himself and was ready to call the police. And then, wonderfully, he saw her turn in the driveeway and park the car in the carport. "Where have you been!" he almost shouted at her. And you know what she said? She said, "I just wanted to drive the car around the block to make sure it was safe for you this morning!" He said, "From that day on, I have never asked my wife if she loved me!" (Dr. Norman Neaves, "The Bonds of Belonging!", May 13, 1989).
So, now, let me ask you, what loving action, beyond your feelings, can you do today that might bring healing, not just to your soul, but to another hurting soul around you? Will stop waiting for love to come to you, and will you go to love? Will you bring love's full healing into to your own soul accepting this gift, that in order to receive it, you must first be willing to give it. It is then, that love's greatest healing can come. Amen.
© 2009 All rights reserved by Charles J. Tomlin
"One night the telephone rang. It was late, and there was something about the way Hill held the receiver that told his wife that something was wrong. When he hung up, she wanted to know who had called and what they wanted, but Hill wouldn't let her know. She kept persisting and persisting, however, almost demanding that he tell her. And so finally he did. "I don't know who it was," he said, "but they've threatened to blow up my car with me in it." Well, throughout the night, Hill was very restless and uneasy. He couldn't get to sleep for the longest time, worrying about that threat to his life. But finally his drowsiness caught up with him and he did fall asleep.
"The next morning, when he awakened, he was terrified. He reached over to touch his wife and she was gone! He got up and went looking for her throughout the house, but she wasn't there! He then looked out the window to see if she had gone outside. And to his greater horror, she wasn't there either and the car was gone from the carport as well. And he was just beside himself and was ready to call the police. And then, wonderfully, he saw her turn in the driveeway and park the car in the carport. "Where have you been!" he almost shouted at her. And you know what she said? She said, "I just wanted to drive the car around the block to make sure it was safe for you this morning!" He said, "From that day on, I have never asked my wife if she loved me!" (Dr. Norman Neaves, "The Bonds of Belonging!", May 13, 1989).
So, now, let me ask you, what loving action, beyond your feelings, can you do today that might bring healing, not just to your soul, but to another hurting soul around you? Will stop waiting for love to come to you, and will you go to love? Will you bring love's full healing into to your own soul accepting this gift, that in order to receive it, you must first be willing to give it. It is then, that love's greatest healing can come. Amen.
© 2009 All rights reserved by Charles J. Tomlin
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