The wife had a hard time understanding her husband’s motivations. For years her husband would go out of his way to hire someone released from prison and add them to his construction crew. No, this was not quite the same as turning a blind eye to the criminal history recorded on an application and allowing a second chance. As admirable as that may be, this man would call around in order to discover who was recently released from prison and he would hire that person. There was always at least one former jailbird working on his crew at any given time.
At first the wife thought it a simple oddity, something to make her love the man all the more. But, over the years her husband more and more had to deal with the troublesome nature of some of these new employees. He was forced to let some of them go, their troubled lives affecting his business. Even so, the man would go back, again and again, searching out these newly released prisoners to hire them.
After one particularly troublesome hire, the wife exasperatedly asked her husband why he kept doing this when he knew it was probably going to just bring more trouble. “Other construction crews keep far away from these guys. Maybe, you should too. They are bad news. Hire only people who you know you can trust,” the wife urged.
The man shook his head and simply answered, “If a man doesn’t first receive love and trust, how is he ever going to learn it?” The man walked away, his mind set on running his business the same way as God might.
You see, long ago as he sat on his father’s lap and read with him the stories of the Bible, his Dad would point out each time that God seeks the lost. “Look here son. Look at the first words that God says after Adam and Eve eat the fruit they weren’t allowed to eat and hide because of it. God asks, ‘Where are you?’ Even from the very beginning, God cares about the lost and God seeks the lost. We do to. That is the kind of people we are.” That was the kind of person the man became.
The same man also coached a girl’s softball team. For years and years he would start off the season with a huge party for all the players. Even before a single ball was tossed, the whole team celebrated together with a big, lavish cookout. Most coaches celebrate at the end of the game, and still some only at the end of the season, but he held the party first. If the man was asked about the beginning of year parties, his reply would always be the same, “If these girls aren’t shown love and trust first, how are they ever going to learn it? How are they ever going to become a team?”
“Seek first. Love first.” It was the guy’s personal motto. He was also certain that it is also God’s personal motto, if God needs such a thing. And, I tend to think that the man was right.
Take the parables Jesus tells of the lost sheep and the lost coin. In one, a shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep in order to go and find the one that is lost. The shepherd rejoices when he has found it. That wayward sheep did nothing to deserve such care. That sheep’s talent in life was being really good at getting lost. I think I know of some people who are like that, their talent being really good at getting lost. But, the shepherd does not care, he seeks anyway. Seek first, love first. It is what God does.
And, like the parable about the sheep, Jesus also tells another parable about a woman who lost a precious coin. She sweeps and sweeps and sweeps until she finds it. She is so overjoyed at finding the coin that she desires more than anything to throw a party because it is recovered. Again, the coin did nothing to deserve such attention. It is just a coin after-all. But, the woman found value in the coin. I think I know of some people like that too, who find value in those who everyone else sees as lost. Seek first, love first. It is what God does.
Just to drive the point home, another story is told in the Bible about a man…a tax collector in fact…who is of short stature, and who is very, very rich and powerful. And, by rich and powerful, I mean that he is like our nation’s secretary of the treasury. He is the chief tax collector, and because he is the chief tax collector, representing a much hated Roman government, he also is the chief target for people’s hatred. You can hear the hatred in the people’s grumbling when Jesus chooses to eat at this man’s house.
Oh, that reminds me that I have not told you a couple of important things yet. This short and rich tax collector’s name is Zacchaeus. You know the song, he was “a wee little man and a wee little man was he. He climbed up in a Sycamore Tree, for the Lord he wanted to see.” Now, I do not know what to make of this, but the Bible paints this amazing picture for us of this hated, rich, little secretary of the treasury climbing up a tree so that he can see a poor, peasant rabbi whose reputation has grown. Again, I do not know what to do with that bazaar picture, but what I do know is that the poor, peasant rabbi looks up and sees the rich little man and chooses him to be the focus of his attention and love.
“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So [Zacchaeus] hurried down and was happy to welcome [Jesus]” (Luke 19:5-6).
And, it is at this point that the story takes an interesting turn. Only after Jesus seeks out Zacchaeus and comes close to him, or enters into his life, do we hear these words from Zacchaeus, “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” (Luke 19:8).
And, that is why I started off this sermon with the story of the man who hires people who are newly released from jail. They too are hated and not to be trusted in our society. But, Jesus chooses to love those who are lost.
Remember what the man told his wife, “If a man doesn’t first receive love and trust, how is he ever going to learn it?” We, of course we need to expand his language to include women, boys, and girls also, but his words ring a deep truth found within God. If a person does not first receive love and trust, how are they ever going to learn it? Seek first. Love first.
And, sometimes that seeking and loving pays off in a big way. I know, sometimes that seeking and love seems wasted on some people. Some people are not ready to accept such grace. But, other people like the chief tax collector here (the most hated man in the entire region) are ready for such grace. Zacchaeus take the love of Jesus and makes it his own. “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” (Luke 19:8). His new life of generosity grows directly out of this pot of rich soil that is the attention and love of Jesus. Seek first. Love first. It is the way of Jesus.
I think that too many Christians forget this. I know that I do. I think that too many Christians look at that hated tax collector and simply dismiss people like him as too lost.
Too lost.
Has anyone ever considered you too lost? Has anyone ever dismissed you? Well, know that you are in good company. Jesus understands. He also was seen as too lost. His love too much…too out there. He too was dismissed by those in power and sent to die a shameful and torturous death on a cross. But, those hate-filled dismissals are not the last word. Sneers and crosses are not the last word. Jesus, the creator of seeking and loving first, gets the last word.
Jesus was raised from the dead, overcoming the power of the cross, overcoming the power of hatred, and dismissal, and the type of sin that drives us apart rather than together. Jesus overcomes sin and death and raises you up with him. Sin, and death, and hatred, and dismissal have no power over any of you because of Jesus. All of that stuff dies on the cross with Jesus, stripping you of all of that sin and hatred and leaving you clean and free to be the people of God. And, this is all a gift from Jesus.
This is truth that Martin Luther and the reformers recovered during the Reformation. For years the church fell into this idea that you had to rack up points to get eternal life. The church had fallen into this idea that you had to earn your way into the good graces of God, or if you could not, someone else could do the earning for you. And, the reformers looked at the Bible and saw that it simply was not true. They looked at the book of Romans and read words like, “Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24). Grace is a gift from God. Relationship with God is a gift from God. Jesus has come as a gift from God to you, the people of God.
If a person does not first receive love and trust, how are they ever going to learn it? Seek first. Love first. It is the way of Jesus.
Jesus sought and loved first. He sought Zacchaeus first and loved him first. Only then did Zacchaeus see value in a life of giving to the poor and making things right with others. Seek first. Love first. It is the way of Jesus.
Seek first. Love first. If I were to ever get a tattoo, which I probably will not because I just am not a tattoo guy and because I do not like pain, but if I did it would say “Seek first, love first.” I would have it printed right on my arm so that I would be reminded day after day of the person that Jesus Christ has saved me to be.
When disputes arise I would look down and read, “Seek first. Love first.”
When
I am tempted to look down upon someone who rubs me the wrong way I would be
reminded, “Seek first. Love first.”
When the kids get to be too much in a tiny home, and my frustration too much for my tiny head, I would look down and read, “Seek first. Love first.”
I would look down and see the truth about God. I would be reminded how Jesus Christ sought out the lost rather than condemning them. I would be reminded how Jesus loved first, and allowed expectations to come later. I would be reminded how the giving of my life and my talents and my money comes, not out of my greatness, but out of being loved by someone who would go to the cross for me, as a gift to me without payment or expectation.
I would be reminded that God cares about the lost and God seeks the lost. And, because God does it, we do too. That is the kind of people we are. That is the kind of person I want to strive to become every single day.
We are a people who follow a savior who seeks first and loves first. We are a people who have been found. We are a people who know that grace is always a gift. It is the most valuable gift. It changes lives. It restores souls. It brings us the closest we can ever get to the divine. Seek first and love first, O beloved of God.
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