live life to the fullest

First Sunday after the Epiphany ● Baptism of Jesus ● January 12, 2025

Rev. Jeff Wells © 2025

You can view the full worship video recording at:

https://youtu.be/j9eKi5yYD-E

Scripture Reading: Luke 19:1-10 (adapted from The Inclusive Bible)

The texts of the readings are in the worship bulletin linked here.

To understand the passage Martha just read for us, it is important to realize how hated tax collectors were at the time of Jesus. They were lackeys, from among the Jewish people, employed by the Roman imperialist overlords of Judea to extract taxes. Because of this, they were widely despised and labeled “sinners” for working for the enemy invaders. But Jesus practiced love and compassion toward them and was often criticized for hanging out with them. He even recruited a tax collector, Matthew, to be one of his disciples!

I want to talk today about taking time to experience joy, laughter, and friendship as a crucial part of living life to the fullest. My personal experience over the holidays and into the new year has inspired me to think about the importance of regularly setting aside our burdens, cares, worries, and anxieties and just having a good time. Of course, we can’t escape completely from the frightening political atmosphere, the terrible and increasing inequality of power, wealth, and resources, or the dramatic effects of climate change and the ecological crisis in general. We can’t ignore the inferno around Los Angeles. And we cannot put aside our responsibility to care for those in need and to strive for a better, kinder, more just world. 

Yet allotting time regularly for a meal with friends, reading a good novel, taking a long contemplative walk – in other words, enjoying life – does our bodies, minds, and spirits a lot of good. They help make our lives worth living. This is one aspect of what we mean by “salvation,” which is not about getting into heaven, but about how we live together here and how. 

Diane and I both have pretty busy work schedules and other commitments. We do not get together with friends or family as often as we would like. But two weeks before Christmas, we held the open house for the Church of the Village at our apartment and 40 people showed up over the course of the afternoon. We had lots of hors d’ouvres, cookies, fudge, mulled cider, and other beverages. We sang Christmas carols and listened to Helen recite a Christmas poem. It was a terrific, fun party!

Then, the last week in December, we invited 9 friends over to dinner at our house. It was a really joyful time with lots of laughter, sharing stories, and enjoying a great meal to which everyone contributed something. That same weekend, we returned to Manhattan on Sunday afternoon and discovered that our neighbors in the apartment next to us – who we had been wanting to get together with – had no plans for that evening and then the neighbors across the hall had their plan to travel out of town fall through. So we all gathered for an impromptu party in our apartment and everyone brought something to eat and we had a little feast and celebrated our good fortune at having such wonderful neighbors. These and other recent experiences reminded me of the importance of intentionally or spontaneously creating such opportunities that can help us feel like our lives are more than work or money or service or activism. Enjoying friendship and experiencing loving and supportive community can help us to get through or live with the hard stuff we all have to deal with or endure.

I think that Jesus’ way of being provides a great example for us of how to create and share joy, love, and compassion, while also striving for fulfillment, purpose, and meaning in our lives. The truth is, we have pretty limited information about Jesus’ life in the Gospels and we don’t even know if all of the stories told there are factual or accurate. When you think about how little of a person’s life usually gets recorded in a biography or even an autobiography, you can imagine that there is a lot we don’t know about how Jesus actually interacted with people. The authors were intent on proving their belief that Jesus was the Messiah anointed by God. So they wrote very little about Jesus’ emotional life. 

But one thing we know is that Jesus was not a dull, stay-at-home kind of guy. Yes, he had embraced a very important call from God. But in living out that call, he also understood the importance of building friendships and close relationships with those around him. He wanted to be more than just a serious prophet and preacher. Jesus wanted to give and receive love – that was the foundation of his life and ministry. He told his disciples, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus was human, like us, so he surely felt joy and sadness. He laughed and cried. He was playful and funny. We can infer from the Gospel stories that Jesus liked to have a good time. So much so, that he gained a reputation for drinking and eating too much and hanging out with the wrong crowd. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all repeat the story of Jesus having dinner with Levi, the tax collector, at his home. And a lot of other tax collectors and some people known to be “sinners” were invited or showed up. 

Moreover, Jesus talked with and provided healing for women, foreigners, even a Roman soldier. He thought all of them deserved love, forgiveness, and companionship, too. In fact, while he wanted to personally show love to as many people as he could, he made a special effort to reach those who were considered sinners, impure, alienated, and marginalized. Also, Jesus was a bridge builder and he used good food and drink to smooth the way. So, went out of his way to talk with and eat with Pharisees, religious lawyers, and others who tended to be suspicious of his teaching. 

And in today’s lesson, we encounter Zacchaeus, a seemingly unscrupulous and greedy chief tax collector. You would think that someone in his position would stay far away from a street preacher who was on the outs with the religious authorities. But Zacchaeus must have heard about Jesus’ teachings and his popularity and he was curious about Jesus and his ministry. Jesus picked up on that when he saw Zacchaeus climb a tree just to get a glimpse of him. So, he played on that curiosity to invite himself to dinner at Zacchaeus’s home. The story says Zacchaeus “welcomed Jesus with delight.” And right then and there, before Jesus even had a chance to get to know Zacchaeus or persuade him to change his ways, the tax collector offered to give half of his wealth to the poor and pay back with interest anyone he had defrauded.

Jesus had a habit of inviting himself over. He was constantly going around and striking up conversations with strangers. In the Gospels, we hear about many times he established a rapport with someone so he could get them to open up about their struggles or shame and help them to find healing. That happens in the story of him talking with the woman at the well. But I have to believe there were plenty of times he just wanted to have a conversation, tell a good joke or story, or even share something that was on his own mind. He was not out to force anyone to change their religious beliefs or practices. He always wanted to help those he encountered to be open to experiencing what he called abundant life, by which he meant experiencing the love of God and the love of others in their lives. And part of abundant life is laughing, having fun, feeling joy.

From what we hear in the Gospels, Jesus’ favorite times were spent with his close friends, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and the time he spent with his disciples, especially around meals. He also enjoyed a good wedding celebration, with plenty of good wine. In addition, he must have been playful and fun to be around because children were attracted to him. When his disciples tried to shoo them away, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me.”

Given our human tendencies to othering, prejudice, inequality, fear, a false sense of scarcity, and more, we all live with human-imposed limits to experiencing life to the fullest. Yet, we can choose to live life to the fullest possible, within whatever limiting circumstances we face. 

Jesus felt so close to God he called them “Abba.” That’s like us saying dear “Mama” or “Papa” God. This God is all-loving and seeks to create the greatest possible expressions of goodness, beauty, truth, love, compassion, and care. It makes sense that God’s deep desire is that we each be able to find joy in living as often as possible. God accompanies us every moment of our lives and must certainly experience great pleasure whenever we find ways to feel joy, love, and tenderness with one another. So, even as we commit ourselves to work for goodness, beauty, compassion, and care for others, let’s take time to walk, sit, dance, sing, and party for our own joy and for God’s enjoyment.