11092022 – Luke 19. 1-10
I don’t usually get the opportunity to speak about this.
The Greeks had two forms of time…one was called CHRONOS or “chronological time.”
One minute follows the NEXT, minutes turn into hours, each hour is followed by another, hours turn into days, days into weeks, weeks into months, months into years…
It is CHRONOS – chronological time. It is what we know. It is what we expect. CHRONOS time is “QUANTITATIVE,” it adds up! It is what we get with the calendar change. Can you believe it is almost 2023, already? Talk about time flying!
The other form of time is KAIROS time. KAIROS time is considered to be “QUALITATIVE.” It is the proper time, or the “opportune time,” it is that “critical moment.” Some consider it to be “pregnant with expectation.” The “right time.” Some go so far as to call it “God’s time” or “timing” …a “watershed moment,” a “turning point,” a “moment of truth.”
KAIROS time is when someone points heavenward and says, “I know it was him.” “That was you, wasn’t it?” “He did it.” “That was a god-thing.”
It is definitely NOT A COINCIDENCE; this moment was meant to be. It had to be.
There are lessons to be learned. “Now is the time.” “This is the moment.” The time is “NOW.”
So, two Greek words for time, CHRONOS AND KAIROS.
Doesn’t it strike you as being a tad bit coincidental that, just when Zacchaeus is ripe for “CHANGE” in his life…
“Old-you-know-who is passing through…”
Or what about the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, guess who happened to be there, just when the wine ran out?
Or what about the mother (the widow of Nain) who was burying her only son, and lo and behold, Jesus meets the burial entourage just outside of the city walls…
Might these gospel accounts be talking about KAIROS MOMENTS…?
God shows up just in the “nick of time,” just as he is needed, when the “moment is right.”
When hopes are dashed…
And then “all of a sudden” there is this holy reversal?
Throughout the Gospel of Luke, Jesus seems to be passing by at “just the right time” for people. Just when a man is twisted by demons, Jesus the exorcist passes by…
Just when guys are involved in the daily grind of work and making a living, Jesus shows up and says, “Follow me!”
When the centurion’s servant falls ill, guess who just happens to be in town?
Over and over again, in the scriptures, Jesus shows up, just as ten lepers enter a village.
Or, just before entering Jericho, Jesus happens to pass by a blind man begging at the side of the road. Why was the blind man there, on that given day, at that given time, and that given location? Why did Jesus decide to enter that particular town or village? And the word of that miracle, that healing, spread quickly.
And remember the Samaritan Woman at the well, who goes for water in the heat of the day? Guess who she meets. Guess who comes for a drink and has no ladle to draw water out with?
After a day of teaching on a mountain side, someone offers a few loaves and fewer fishes, and says, but what are these among so many?
Wait. Wait and see. Watch. The time is right! And it happens. People are fed.
According to Luke, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He will leave Jericho and head directly for the Holy City. He is almost there, his journey almost completed. You know what happens when he gets there…
But first, there is this stop in Jericho.
If, Zacchaeus did not climb the sycamore tree, he would have been lost in the crowds, and chances are good that Jesus would have never seen him.
But Jesus did see him. He saw him up in the Sycamore tree. He was kind of hard to miss, as Jesus passed underneath…
Climbing a tree would be highly unusual, foolish, and a totally immodest thing, for a man of means and wealth to do.
Jesus honors Zacchaeus’ foolish decision and behavior by announcing he will eat with him today.
The crowds disapprove and were growing indignant. They were downright angry with Jesus.
He’s eating with a sinner, a hated, and despised, Tax Collector.
How dare he?
Why would he?
Jesus acknowledges Zacchaeus’ good works and solidifies his honoring of Zacchaeus by declaring that salvation has come to his house TODAY.
Zacchaeus is one of us, Jesus declares, a son of Abraham, a member of the tribe. Jesus restores him to the social fabric of Jewish life in Jericho, whether the crowds liked it or not.
For the record, the name Zacchaeus means “pure” or “innocent.” And Zacchaeus was considered to be neither of these…
But the gospel story just goes to prove, that anyone can be made righteous. Anyone can be made pure. Anyone can be made acceptable.
It is not up to us to judge.
Things happen when they are supposed to happen. Things happen when the time is right.
And we call it KAIROS time. God’s time.
Amen.