This Lent (March 5-April 19), we follow the Sanctified Art series “Everything in Between,” an invitation to navigate the polarities in our lives, like “faith & works” or “rest & growth,” or “grief & hope.” We will continue to follow Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel of Luke and imagine together where God can meet us “in between.” In it all we acknowledge complexity in our spiritual lives, that God shows up in shades of gray, rainbow hues and everywhere in between.
If Zacchaeus’s story was set in 1940s France, he might have been cast as a collaborateur. In our modern era, he might’ve been a DOGE employee. Or a police officer in a not-sanctuary city. As a tax collector for the Roman Empire, it was widely understood that Zacchaeus made money by collecting more than what folks actually owed. He was seen not just as a cog in the oppression machine, but also as a traitor to his own people, to the Jewish community.
So it’s no surprise that folks were pretty ticked off when out of all the possible dinner hosts, Jesus chose Zacchaeus to dine with while passing through Jericho.
It’s a flip on the age-old question, “why do bad things happen to good people?”…this story has us wondering what to make of it when “good” things happen to “bad” people. When God’s mercy extends to the unrighteous, it bristles up against our human sense of justice. The Gospel is tricky like that. As Rachel Held Evans once said, “the Gospel isn’t offensive because of who it keeps out. It’s offensive because of who it lets in.”
Join us this Sunday as we ponder righteousness, mercy, and everything in between!
In faith,
Amy
Image credit: “Zacchaeus” by Lauren Wright Pittman, Inspired by Luke 19:1-10, Digital painting. © a sanctified art | sanctifiedart.org
