Joy in Jericho

From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul

Joy in Jericho 3 July 2011 The Revd Jenny Wilkens

• 2 Samuel 2:1-11, 3:1
• Psalm 56
• Luke 18:31-19:10

http://wellingtoncathedral.org.nz/index.php/Sermons

I have seen THE tree - Zaccheus' sycamore tree, you understand! Yesterday I got out the journal I wrote when I visited Israel & Palestine in 2007, and had a look again at my photos and souvenirs - a happy pastime in the middle of winter to recall those August temperatures in the high 30s!

Jericho of course prides itself on being one of the oldest inhabited cities on earth, and certainly the lowest - 800 feet below sea level. Excavations have shown layer upon layer of destruction and rebuilding, though sadly archaeologists have never managed to find any conclusive proof that Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls came a-tumblin' down!

It does have a stunning micro-climate being in the Jordan valley and about 10 kilometres from the northern tip of the Dead Sea. It's a bit of an oasis in the desert. And being only 25 kilometres east of Jerusalem, you can see why Herod the Great decided it would be a great place for his winter residence!

But what of Jericho today? Jericho is on the West Bank, part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, but along with Bethlehem, it is one of the two towns controlled now by the Palestinian National Authority. For us arriving in Jericho and by now used to many Israeli checkpoints throughout our travels, it was quite a turn-around really to encounter a checkpoint manned by Palestinian soldiers, with the green, white & black flag of Palestine flying overhead.

It was shocking too to learn that while we had ease of entry into Jericho, Jews are not allowed that same access. It was a sad realisation that this echoes exactly the reality that Palestinians do not have right of access to the state of Israel or Jewish settlements within the West Bank. No doubt some of this is due to safety and security arrangements for both sides, but it was a reminder too of the tragedy of a situation where two peoples live increasingly separated lives on the same small piece of land, the size of Wales, or the Waikato region here.

What are my memories of Jericho? I quote from my journal of the time: "From Galilee, we began the long trek down the Jordan valley to Jericho - which involved moving from the very fertile areas round Galilee with crops of cotton, sunflowers, almonds, and heaps of date palms, to gradually becoming more and more desert like as we headed south. This was very noticeable too once we drove out of Israel into the West Bank again - the roads were much narrower and bumpier - quite a few checkpoints, specially in & out of Jericho, which is Palestinian controlled, Jews are not allowed into Jericho, but it was fine for us. We had lunch outside at a kebab restaurant which was pleasant but hot even with fans, we're very quick to get into the shade or the airconditioning where we can! We went to visit Zaccheus' sycamore tree - THE tree you understand! It was doing fine, and someone was very keen to sell us posters and postcards of it! Some of us are better than others at saying no to the ubiquitous salespeople who flock round us whenever we stop and before we get back on the bus…"

I managed to find my Zaccheus' sycamore tree placemat and postcard, and also a discount voucher for the Temptation Tourist Centre, and the Temptation Restaurant - 'eat as much as you can'! Jericho has traditionally been thought of as the desert area associated with Jesus' temptations, and there is a famous monastery of the Temptation high up on a cliff face, but nowadays accessible by cable-car, though closed to visitors the day we were there.

I was reflecting on my visit to Jericho as I considered our reading from Luke's gospel tonight. We are well through Luke's gospel heading towards the climax of the Passion narrative, and our reading begins with one of Jesus' several Passion predictions to his disciples: 'we are going up to Jerusalem…the Son of Man will be handed over to the Gentiles, mocked, insulted, spat upon. After they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again' (Luke 18:31-33) But Jesus' disciples just cannot get their heads around this at all - this is so completely contrary to everything they have come to believe and hope for in Jesus.

Luke lets us sit with this for the meantime, and lightens the sense of foreboding with two great stories of hope and joy, stories familiar to us probably from Sunday School days, but stories which became more meaningful to me as I reflected on their setting in Jericho. The first story tells us of a man who is blind, and sitting by the roadside begging. He is known to us from Mark's parallel account as Bartimaeus. We're reminded of Jesus' crowd-pulling capacity as despite his warnings of trouble to come, a crowd is still following him on the road. Wondering what all the fuss is about, Bartimaeus is told Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. What did he know about Jesus? He must have known something of the rumours going around about who Jesus was, for he immediately shouts out, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!'

It is no wonder the crowd promptly tried to shut him up, we hear they sternly ordered him to be quiet. Why? Because by acclaiming Jesus as the Son of David, he was publicly identifying him as one in David's line, King of the Jews, the longed-for Messiah, a highly dangerous thing to be doing politically, when you're on the back door of the summer residence of the Herods, with Roman soldiers in the neighbourhood to boot!

But Bartimaeus will not be silenced, and we hear the wonderful response of Jesus - he stood still…and asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" What a question! And Bartimaeus is not thinking of begging bowls or money, "Lord, let me see again". Jesus said to him, Receive your sight; your faith has saved you. Immediately he regained his sight and followed Jesus - code, he became a disciple. So even as the darkness gathers for Jesus, yet he still brings to some the light and hope and healing of the kingdom, anticipating the total healing and joy when his kingdom comes in all its fullness.

So for Bartimaeus, so too for Zaccheus. This well-loved story has been called the greatest 'short story' in the Bible - or should I say 'short' story! Jericho was on a main trading route, and was an important customs centre. As chief tax collector, Zaccheus was onto a very good thing - he had contracted for the right to collect revenues in the district, thus sharing in the hated Roman domination. But as a chief tax collector, he no doubt had a good number of minions below him and they all had to keep him sweet. We're just told that he was rich, but you can be pretty sure his fellow citizens were very clear that his riches were at their expense.

Indeed the good people of Jericho would have been horrified to think that of all the people to go down in history, Zaccheus would be the one known by name to the world two thousand years later! Be that as it may, Jesus sees straight through all this to the man who is 'trying to see who Jesus was' - for whatever reason, he is attracted to Jesus, he is seeking what? 'Zaccheus, come down, for I must stay at your house today.' Jesus gives him the time of day, which is more than most people would. Jesus gives him the opportunity to explore further, and Jesus accepts hospitality from one whom all others despised. Isn't it interesting that Luke comments, 'and Zaccheus was happy to welcome him'? Perhaps not too many were willing to accept his invitations or his hospitality which they would see as flaunting his ill-gotten gains.

Not for the first time in Luke's gospel, Jesus hears the grumbling behind his back, "He has gone to be the guest of a sinner". Don't you wonder what conversation Jesus and Zaccheus had in the interim? Despite the qualms of the neighbours, wouldn’t you have liked to be a fly on the wall? For something has happened to this sinner, so much so that he calls Jesus Lord. 'Zaccheus stood there and said to the Lord, "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."' It's often said that the last part of a person to be converted is their wallet, and if this is not proof of conversion, then nothing is! And interestingly enough, we are not told that Zaccheus then went on with Jesus to Jerusalem - it seems he did indeed stay put in Jericho, and have to put his money where his mouth was! He perhaps had the harder call to live out his new life as part of the community right where he was.

But now no longer outcast, for as Jesus put it, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham'. Zaccheus is restored to a rightful place within the family of Israel, thus finding healing and wholeness, salvation in all its fullness. 'For the Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost' (v.10). Jesus sought out Zaccheus in his need and brought him to a place of salvation, and being found anew. Bartimaeus sought Jesus out, and yet Jesus stopped amidst the crowd, stood still, gave him his attention, and responded to his deepest longing with healing and restoration to his community as well. 'I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.' There was joy in Jericho that day.

Tonight hear Jesus say to you, What do you want me to do for you? What prayer of your heart do you want to bring to Jesus tonight, for yourself or for another? Tell him, and trust in his good will, his loving concern for each one, his longing to bring salvation in body, mind and spirit. Amen.