Walk the Talk

By Scott Allman

Luke 19:1-10, Scripture summary: Zacchaeus was a wealthy and despised tax collector in ancient Jericho. The crowd who came for healing and wisdom was put off by Jesus associating with this unpopular social parasite. Jesus was over the top by making a house call and being his dinner guest. Zacchaeus changed and promised to give back what he had taken. God’s Grace transformed both Zacchaeus and this judgmental crowd.

Note that in the scripture, Jesus, our masterful and influential storyteller, is not delivering a parable. Rather, the passage is an account of Jesus’ actions. He is walking the talk.

Another masterful and influential storyteller was Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  The ending of Dr. King’s “I Have Been to the Mountaintop” speech still fills me with shivers from the Holy Spirit as I read his thundering finish. “I fear no man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” While still feeling that uplift, I want us to focus on some of the earlier lines from his speech to the Memphis, Tennessee, sanitation workers who were on strike.

Retelling the parable of the Good Samaritan, Dr. King in his speech said, “And so the first question that the priest asked – the first question that the Levite asked was, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him? That’s the question before you tonight.” Likewise, that is the question before us in this devotional.

Now the scene is set. The mood and murmur of the Jericho crowd pose the question, “Why is Jesus doing this?” But both Jesus and Dr. King were interested in a different question, “If I do not take action, what happens?”

Jesus knew what the crowd thought about this guy in the tree. So, Jesus chose by his actions to perform a demonstration for the crowd. Jesus’ questions were: “If I do not engage this man, what would happen to him?” And, “What can happen to this man and his people (the crowd) when they receive the grace of God?” And you know the rest of the story.

Do you know a modern day Zaccheus? Perhaps someone has greatly annoyed you only for their own gain? These days it is easy to scorn, vilify, and denounce those who you see doing grave injustices all around. Can you walk the walk, like Jesus did, and engage them?  On one extreme, there can be righteous judgement to angrily engage those bigoted, clueless, factually challenged incompetents who don’t see the world like we do. Put the jerk in his place.

And on the other hand lies idealized Christian mercy. Somewhere in between there truly is a sweet spot for the real-life mercy that is in us. Seek action between righteousness and mercy. Remember the courage of the Right Rev. Mariann Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. From the pulpit, while speaking to government power, she said, “The first foundation for unity is honoring the inherent dignity of every human being,”

Healing is the calling for Jesus, Dr. King, and Bishop Budde because they walked their talk. Instead of just talking, we too can walk.