{"id":1933,"date":"2025-11-02T14:53:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T19:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/?p=1933"},"modified":"2025-11-02T14:53:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T19:53:15","slug":"finders-keepers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/2025\/11\/02\/finders-keepers\/","title":{"rendered":"Finders Keepers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Finders-Keepers-11225-2.49-PM.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Sermon for the Salem United Church of Christ of Harrisburg, PA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">by Rev. James Eaton, Interim Pastor \u00a92025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">All Saints Sunday \u2022 November 2, 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts\/?z=p&amp;d=82&amp;y=384\">Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4 \u2022 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 * Luke 19:1-10<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is how God starts: everything in order, light and darkness separated, land and sea, a fruitful creation, two people set in a garden. Then the people decide they want to be like God and it all falls apart. There\u2019s violence and shame and sin and it\u2019s a mess. It\u2019s like when you go through one of those periods where you don\u2019t clean, the dishes pile up, the bed\u2019s a lump of twisted covers and sheets and you can\u2019t face it all.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So God starts over; washes it all away in the Flood, teaches boat building to Noah and Noah goes on a cruise, God promises not to do this again, the waters recede and everything is in order. Then people spread out, they decide to be god like, build a tower and God has to scatter them and invent languages, and it all falls apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So God starts over: whispers to Abram and Sarai a promise about a land where they will be God\u2019s people and that they will have children and become the beginning of a blessing to the whole world. God makes a covenant with them, sends them on a long journey, gives them a child, and it all looks good. Then it falls apart. There\u2019s violence, there\u2019s division. The people of God go off to Egypt and become slaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So God starts over: gets Moses to go to Pharaoh to say, \u201cLet my people go\u201d, because on the whole, God hates slavery. It takes some doing to convince the Egyptians but eventually God\u2019s people leave slavery, wander around, doubting God some, complaining some, but God gives them a set of rules, Ten Commandments, makes another covenant with them, promises the promised land. They get there and then it all falls apart. They don\u2019t live by the covenant, they think other Gods look like more fun, and they think they can be Godlike themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So God starts over: sends prophets, gives them a Word. One of them is Habakkuk. He lives in a time of deep division. The Chaldeans, a people from present day Iraq, have defeated God\u2019s people but it\u2019s before the final devastation of Jerusalem. He sets out the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you &#8220;Violence!&#8221; and you will not save?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1:3 Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1:4 So the law becomes slack, and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous; therefore judgment comes forth perverted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But what\u2019s the solution? Habakkuk says, \u201cthe righteous live by their faithfulness\u201d.&nbsp; But what about the rest?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve summarized the whole Hebrew Scriptures and perhaps you noticed the repeated, \u201cSo God starts over.\u201d This is God: ever faithful, always trying to get back to that garden moment, like someone cleaning a house, making the bed, doing the dishes, putting things away. That\u2019s what Jesus is doing: Jesus is God\u2019s cleaner. And today we heard how he does it. Did you get it? Did you understand it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s a simple story. Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem. Just a little before this, he\u2019s told his friends for the third time that he\u2019s going to go there and be crucified. No one wants to hear that but he keeps telling them anyway. Now, Jerusalem is up on a mountain. To the east is the Dead Sea and above that is the Jordan River. There\u2019s a deep, deep valley, it\u2019s actually so deep it\u2019s below sea level. There\u2019s a place at the river where you can ford and there\u2019s been some kind of village there since about 9,000 BCE. There are fresh water springs and palm trees. Out to the east is the wilderness; off to the west is the winding road up the mountains. The city that\u2019s grown up there is named Jericho and it\u2019s one of the oldest cities in the whole world. To get to Jerusalem, you first have to go through Jericho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s what Jesus is doing: he\u2019s in the last stage of going to Jerusalem. It\u2019s like taking the train here from Philadelphia; when you get to Elizabethtown, you know it\u2019s time to get ready to arrive. When you drive up from Baltimore and hit the turnpike, you know it\u2019s time to get over for the Harrisburg exit. He gets to the edge of Jericho and meets a blind man; Luke doesn\u2019t name him, Mark says his name is Bar Timmaeus, which means more or less \u201cTimothy\u2019s son\u201d. He cries out to Jesus; the crowd tells him to shut up but Jesus stops, has Tim brought to him, heals him because of his faith.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s a sign: Jesus has been dealing with so many people whose eyes work just fine but who are blind to the way God\u2019s love just falls on the world like rain. Jesus has been dealing with so many people who are blind to God\u2019s hope for all of us to treat each other with that same love. Timothy\u2019s eyes are now open and he can see fully what he had glimpsed in faith, that Jesus is the Son of God, come to show that love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They move on into Jericho itself. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a crowd, after all Luke says that at one point Jesus had sent out 70 people to share the good news about him with others. There are a group of women who have supported him all along. There are the 12 disciples. Just try to walk down Green St. with 12 guys following; you\u2019ll end up stopping traffic. It\u2019s the same thing here.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you\u2019ve ever been to old cities, you know that the streets are narrow for the most part with the occasional open plaza area. That\u2019s how I imagine this. There\u2019s a small crowd, some running ahead, some behind Jesus, some trying to stay next to him. Surely news about him has gone ahead and there are people who stop what they\u2019re doing to see.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, I know you\u2019ve all been to a parade and you know how it goes: there are always people in front of you. You always have to decide how hard you want to push and if you\u2019re like me, it\u2019s not that hard. That means going to a parade tends to be looking over people\u2019s heads; not that fun. There\u2019s a guy there in Jericho who has an additional problem: he\u2019s short. He\u2019s not going to look over anyone. This isn\u2019t the first time he\u2019s had this problem, so he does what I suspect he\u2019s done since he was a kid, he climbs up in a tree. His name is Zaccheus, which means \u2018Innocent\u2019. But people there don\u2019t see him as innocent;&nbsp; they see him as a very bad man. He\u2019s the chief tax collector there in Jericho which to most people means the chief cheat. He\u2019s rich, and perhaps he\u2019s not shy about showing it; drives a fancy chariot, has more than three sets of clothes, has enough food every single day. Being a tax collector means he\u2019s ritually unclean; he\u2019s not welcome at worship.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But there he is, up in the tree, can you imagine him? He wants to see Jesus. Isn\u2019t that like you? Isn\u2019t that like me? I used to preach from a pulpit that had a little brass quotation on it I saw every time I was there, it said \u201cSir, we would see Jesus\u201d. So, Jesus is coming down the street, with this whole crowd, some just want to be around him, some want him to solve all their problems, some want to touch him. Maybe the tree is in a little square, and the crowd flows in. There are sycamore trees, a kind of fig tree, and there are palm trees, maybe there\u2019s a pool of water, and there\u2019s Zaccheus up in a tree and this is just the reverse of what Zaccheus had in mind. It isn\u2019t a story about Zaccheus seeing Jesus: it\u2019s about Jesus seeing Zaccheus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zaccheus is rich but he isn\u2019t popular. He\u2019s rich but he isn\u2019t liked; no one invites him to coffee, no one comes by his office just to hang out. People avoid him. But Jesus sees him and calls out to him, \u201cCome down, I\u2019m going to your house for dinner.\u201d Wow! Imagine Jesus inviting himself to your home. Imagine Jesus seeing you and calling you out by name. \u201cSalvation has come to your house,\u201d Jesus says. But it\u2019s not a popular saying; Luke says that everyone grumbled. Everyone in that crowd feels they are better than Zaccheus; he\u2019s an unclean, unpopular, unrighteous guy. Why is Jesus making a big deal over him? Why is Jesus actually going to his house, planning to eat with him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It isn\u2019t some great act of repentance by Zacccheus; he isn\u2019t going to change his life on the spot. He\u2019s already pretty much doing good, he says he gives half his income to the poor, he goes beyond what\u2019s required when he wrongs someone. But that all comes after Jesus has announced he\u2019s coming to Zaccheus\u2019 house. It\u2019s not the reason for it, it\u2019s Zaccheus reacting to the grumbling. No, there\u2019s something else at work here and it\u2019s this line near the end: \u201che, too, is a son of Abraham.\u201d He\u2019s part of the promise, he\u2019s a child of God. It doesn\u2019t matter that he\u2019s rich; it doesn\u2019t matter what he does for a living. He\u2019s a child of God. A lot of those children have gotten lost and Jesus is all about finding them, guiding them back to the family, reminding them of who they are. He wants to remind us as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Emily Dickinson famously wrote, \u201cI\u2019m nobody; who are you? Are you nobody too?\u201d So many live as nobody. Jesus comes to remind us of who we are. He sees Zaccheus and he sees what the grumblers have missed: that whatever else he is, whatever he has done, he is a child of Abraham, he is God\u2019s child, a child of blessing and promise. Now today is \u2018All Saints Day\u2019 The word \u2018saint\u2019 has come to mean someone recognized as extraordinarily good but originally and always in the New Testamet, it means any follower of Christ. Paul says in Christ we have been adopted into Abraham\u2019s family. So what Jesus says about Zaccheus he could say about you or me: this person is a child of Abraham. This person is a child or promise. This person is a saint. This person is a child of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jesus mission is to find the children of God and keep them home with God. Surely that is the real meaning of All Saints. We look back to friends and family we have known and loved; we remember them. Behind them is an even longer line of those who came before. All these are God\u2019s children. All these Jesus came because he finds God\u2019s children and just as the prophets said, intends to restore them to God.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But All Saints is not just the past; it is the present as well and the future. This is a wonderful congregation. What is said in Second Thessalonians about those Christians so many years before us could certainly be said here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing. [2 Thessalonians 1:3]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That same spirit of the saints is here. It\u2019s here and Jesus is looking at us, as he looked at Zaccheus, saying the same thing about us, that we are children of God, hoping we will recognize each other in that way, act in that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So when we hear him talking to Zaccheus, we should hear him talking to us as well, saying the same thing. \u201cThis too is a child of God\u2026and today salvation has come to your house.\u201d May that blessing live in your hearts this week and always.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When we hear Jesus talking to Zaccheus, we should hear him talking to us as well, saying the same thing. \u201cThis too is a child of God\u2026and today salvation has come to your house.\u201d May that blessing live in your hearts this week and always.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[101,53,371,3,2,32],"tags":[406,237,98],"class_list":["post-1933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-after-pentecost","category-afterpentecost-c","category-luke","category-sermon","category-worship","category-year-c","tag-finding-the-lost","tag-grace","tag-hope"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1933"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1936,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933\/revisions\/1936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}