C, Last Sunday of Church Year Proper 29 - Luke 19:11-27 "Faithful Banking: Repentance and Forgiveness"

Jesus tells the parable of the ten minas.  A mina was about three months’ wages for a labourer, weighed out in precious metal.   

In Luke’s Gospel Jesus tells the parable in the home of Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, after calling him down from a sycamore tree so he could stay at his house.  Because Zacchaeus was a “chief” of tax collectors, he was in charge of gathering taxes from Jews across a city or district.  He likely had other collectors working under him.  Not only was he a chief tax collector, he was rich,  but Zacchaeus was also a Jew.

Tax collectors were not liked by the Jews, because being tax farmers of fortune for Rome, they were seen to be traitors by their fellow Jews.  Roman authorities would have set quotas over areas that the collectors would have to fill. When Rome came calling for the quota, regardless of what you collected, it had to be paid in full. If you hadn’t collected enough, the difference would come out of your pocket.   So, you can understand that if this responsibility was placed upon you to fill the quota, adding extra would be in your best interest, so as not to be bankrupted by not collecting enough tax. 

But if you were the one paying the tax, seeing extra tax possibly banked by your local tax collector who then passes on his quota to the chief tax collector, who also has added an extra increment to his collection, the whole system would seem to stink from double-crossing scandalous pocket-lining crooks.  Therefore, a Jew collecting revenue for their Roman oppressors was viewed by the Jews as sinful and corrupt.  They were banking in badness, and it made these tax collectors rich.

Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and he was rich.  Yet when Jesus went to pass by the tree Zacchaeus climbed up to see him, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” (Luke 19:5 ESV) When the pharisees and scribes saw Jesus go and stay with Zacchaeus at his house it is reported, “when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” (Luke 19:7 ESV)

However, Zacchaeus, a little man in stature, stood and confesses before the Lord that he was giving half his goods to the poor and repaying anyone he defrauded fourfold.  Since he was a chief tax collector, this could have been anyone who was cheated by other tax collectors under him too. 

It’s interesting to note that Zacchaeus’ name, a Hebrew name, comes from a Hebrew word meaning pure or to be made pure, to be transparent or clean, or made such!  Notice Zacchaeus didn’t seek to justify himself or his wealth, which one might understand him doing, since if not banking enough taxes for the Romans, he would have had to find it himself.

Regardless of whether he was an “honest tax collector” or being made clean in his interaction with Jesus, Jesus says, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.” (Luke 19:9 ESV)

This then is the lens through which we can understand Jesus’ parable before us today, the last Sunday in the church year that calls each of us to see on whom or what we’re banking, knowing Jesus is returning when we die or in a special earth-ending event.

That’s why we hear Jesus tell the parable, “Because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.” (Luke 19:11 ESV)

Therefore, Jesus says, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’” (Luke 19:12–14 ESV)

The parable begins with the nobleman, his servants, and citizens who hated him.  In the house of Zacchaeus this is the chief tax collector, his collectors under him, and the Jews from whom they collected tax.  But Jesus calls him a nobleman now having been made pure, or being transparent through his confession to become a banker of honesty and truth.

Jesus here also speaks of himself having been sent by God the Father to receive a kingdom through the cross and then return to the right hand of the Father.  However, the Jews did not understand this and only those who received the Holy Spirit would understand and believe this after the fact.

Like Zacchaeus, whose name means pure and transparent, Jesus is the chief tax collector.  However, a monetary tax is not the commodity in which Jesus banks.  Jesus banks on repentance and forgiveness with sinners.  Jesus is the chief collector of human sin so he can bank it at the cross for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. 

The citizens in the parable are the Jewish pharisees and scribes, or anyone who does not see their own sin and refuses to repent or forgive those who have sinned against them.  Therefore, the parable is for us too.  Jesus is the chief collector, and he has collectors from those who operate under his authority.  But it’s not a collection of tax, rather it’s a collection of sin through repentance and forgiveness. Therefore, Jesus opposes those who are not banking on and building his kingdom through the call to repentance from sin and the faithful forgiveness of sin.

Jeremiah speaks of Jesus when he says, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.” (Jeremiah 23:5–6 ESV)

And of the shepherds who don’t bank in the righteous branch he says, “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:1–2 ESV)

In the parable, Jesus says of those citizens who refuse to bank in his righteousness of repentance and forgiveness, “But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.” (Luke 19:27 ESV)

This is a warning to all pastors and parishioners who don’t bank on Jesus, the righteous branch, and his commodities of receiving the call to repent and the freedom of giving the forgiveness of sin.  

Paul, another type of Zacchaeus, a pharisee who was made transparent and pure by Jesus Christ, says to the church in Colossae, “we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:9–14 ESV)

Jesus the chief collector of sin banks on you receiving redemption, that is repentance and the forgiveness of sin.  Jesus is the banker of light and seeks to remove the darkness from within you. In his kingdom of light, your inheritance is light, the gift of being made pure through receiving repentance and faithfully forgiving sin.

How much has Jesus invested in you?  He wants to lodge with you today, to purify and cleanse you like Zacchaeus!  He calls you to engage in business with what he has given you.  Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to bring a return through repentance and forgiveness, tenfold, fivefold, or even a percentage above what you’ve been given?   

Like Zacchaeus, are you rich in the reception of repentance, transparent in truth, and faithful in forgiving others?  Or are you holding and hiding what God has given you?  If so, Jesus questions you through the parable, “Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?” Luke 19:23 (ESV)

God is calling us to be collectors under the chief tax collector, fulfilling his will on earth that he has fulfilled in heaven.  That is, he wants you to forgive others as he has forgiven you.  This is truly banking on Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sins, a peaceful life today, and the joy of salvation on the last day. 

Banking on receiving repentance and faithfully forgiving continues the collection and nullification of sin, and it’s the only way one can have true peace in the Lord, now and forever, Amen.

Dear Heavenly Father, send the Holy Spirit to break our stony hearts so we welcome and receive your rewards of repentance and free faithful forgiveness.  When we don’t bank on these with each other, help us flee to the foot of the cross and demand of the Holy Spirit a heart to forgive as the Lord Jesus has forgiven us. Amen.

B, Lent 5 - John 12:31-32 Jeremiah 31:29-34 "Behold, days are coming"

John 12:31–32 (ESV) Jesus answered, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Unlike the prophet Jeremiah, Jesus says, “Now!”

Jeremiah points forward to this “now” from Jesus. 

Fifteen times Jeremiah prophecies, “Behold, days are coming!” This is a call to notice something is going to occur.  Expect the unexpected at a time that is unexpected. 

Jeremiah is called to speak on behalf of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, “In those days they shall no longer say: “ ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’  But everyone shall die for his own iniquity.  Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,  not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.”  (Jeremiah 31:29–32 ESV)

The days are coming when everyone will be responsible for their own sins.  No longer will children suffer from the sins of the fathers!  Nor will wives, children, or others in the household be covered by the father’s piety.  Everyone who eats sour grapes will have their teeth set on edge!  Everyone shall die for their own evils.  In other words, God only has children, he does not have grandchildren.

God’s covenant with Israel had become ineffective.  Not from God, but from what Jeremiah describes as Israel’s whoredom.

This whoredom was through the worship of Baal, a fertility cult, to make the land productive by appeasing Baal.  In a bid to become wealthy off the land that God had given them, they made this Canaanite god their master.  “Baal” literally means “master” or “husband”.  God was their master, their caring husband, who took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt into this land of milk and honey.

But in the land of Canaan, the Israelites were unfaithful, and God who brought them in as their husband and master, withdrew and tested them with their wanton ways.    The God of providence stopped providing.  Therefore, the livestock produced no milk, and the bees produced no honey, in the land of milk and honey!

We can see the vicious spiral occurring in Israel’s bad choices.  Things going from bad to worse as Israel the bride, no longer desired her husband, but became contrary with God and his rule.  What does God’s rule look like next to our deeds, desires, and choices? 

God’s rule over Israel, became tough through Jeremiah.   Not only did the Israelites and Jews struggle, but as God representative, so too did Jeremiah.  You could imagine his words of prophecy against them were not well received.  Through Jeremiah, God’s call to repentance and prophecies of judgement, fell on deaf ears, and stubborn hearts, landing Jeremiah in gaol.

Imagine being a faithful partner in a relationship, imagine being the unfaithful partner.  It is not what a healthy relationship looks like.  This relationship broke down between God and man at Eden.  There were consequences for Adam and Eve and these consequences continued between God and Israel, in the days of Jeremiah.  God was the faithful husband or master, and Israel the unfaithful partner.

This strain on the relationship appears first in the wording of Genesis chapter three verse sixteen by the double meaning of the text.  God says to Eve, “Your desire shall be for your husband”, but it can also mean “Your desire shall be against (or contrary) to your husband.” (Genesis 3:16 ESV)

Like Eve, Israel’s desire should have been towards God as a faithful and giving husband, yet Israel’s desire was for God’s position and therefore contrary to God.

As mentioned earlier, the language of husband, used by Jeremiah, is the confrontation between God and Israel over "the other man” in Israel’s life.  This other man is Baal.  He has become their master when their master was God.  Yet Israel’s desire for Baal worship is really a desire for their own prosperity at the expense of their relationship with God and the land they received from him.

Fifteen times we hear Jeremiah say on behalf of God, “Behold, (the) days are coming.”  These are all calling the Israelites to look backward, focusing on what has occurred beforehand, while walking into the future.  The days are coming for Israel’s judgement, but also their restoration back as God’s faithful bride.

God would do this work of restoration through a new covenant.  This covenant looks backward while striving forward, much like a swimmer, backstroking their way up the lanes of a pool!

God will etch the law on each person’s heart.  They will know him by his forgiveness of sin.  In these days every generation, every person, knows, God will deal with their evil. 

Not only will each person have their teeth put on edge from eating sour grapes, but each person will have the law written on their hearts.  Jeremiah continues…

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33–34 ESV)

At first glance, this seems like God is going back on his word.  Each will die for their own sins, yet God promises to forgive and no longer remember sin.  How can this be?  Israel and Judah had proven themselves as harlots deserving divorce.

The clearest hint God gives through Jeremiah has already been given by another “Behold the days are coming” statement.

In Jeremiah chapter twenty-three verses five and six we hear, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23:5–6 ESV)

For us today we know that the days were coming and came in Jesus Christ!  Jesus says, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Jesus is the righteous branch!  He is the Israel and Judah that Israel and Judah could not be!  “Now” is the day of salvation for all who are drawn to Jesus.  Once someone has heard the name of Jesus, proclaimed for the forgiveness of sin, the law is etched on their hearts.  Jesus draws all people to himself for the forgiveness of sins.  Jesus is the Lord, and the Lord is our righteousness!

As Jesus walked to the cross, he said, “For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’  Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’  For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”  (Luke 23:29–31 ESV)

Here Jesus tells us what to expect as his followers on earth.  As the days increase after Jesus’ death and resurrection, in the last days, the green wood of the gospel, the righteous branch, will be attacked and burned, the drier and more mature it gets.

We will suffer because of our sinful being.  We will also suffer as we believe and receive forgiveness while others take offence at the law written on the heart.  Just as generations of Christians have before us.

Incidentally, those who take offence, know the truth of the law and gospel, having heard the name of Jesus.  God’s word is repulsive to them, because they are rejecting the Holy Spirit who gives faith in his word written on each heart.

Jesus also gives another “Behold the days are coming” statement, but gives it in two parts, to the Pharisees and then the disciples…

“Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed,  nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”  And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.  And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them.”  (Luke 17:20–23 ESV)

As God’s children today we have the word of God stamped on our hearts!  The kingdom of God is in our midst.  The kingdom of God is within us!   As we desire the return of Jesus in these last days, we know days are coming when we will see Jesus, face to face.

We remember, at the cross, our Baals, our Old Adam, our human spirit, and Satan the ruler of this world, the deceitful master, are judged.  Our master, Jesus Christ, has eaten our sour grapes!  His teeth have been put on edge!  He has died for your sin, and my sin!

“Now”, when Jesus returns, behold, the day will have come for the prince of this world to be cast out forever!   “Now” that Jesus is lifted up in resurrection glory, let him take you by the hand, draw you to himself in repentance, and lead you into the eternal land of milk and honey.  Amen.