WEBVTT - This file was automatically generated by VIMEO

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While preparing

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this message,

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I fell upon a story.

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Given the fact that I was much less than

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a conscientious student, I felt a certain identification

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with the author.

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And this is what he said.

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I believe that I've confessed to you more

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than once from this Pulpit that

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I was a lazy and I was lazy and

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irresponsible in my elementary school days.

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I hardly ever did my homework and when I did

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it was only with someone standing over me with a

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heavy hand. Each and every quarter my grades

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reflected my attitude.

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I recently went through my mother's belongings

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that we had put in storage and I

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had an opportunity to view one of

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those report cards from those early

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days in school and I can tell you a horrifying

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chill scurrying up my

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back.

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Seventh grade was no different than the

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other grades.

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I still didn't do very much work.

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But there was one difference.

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I had a lay teacher that year whose name

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was Mr. Wallace.

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It was his first year of teaching and he was

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very

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contemporary in his outlook and

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his approach.

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He wasn't anything like the nuns I had before.

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He was an innovator and liked to try new

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things.

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When I got my first report card from Mr. Wallace, it

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was full of A's and

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B's.

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I didn't know how this could be but there

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they were.

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And who was I to argue?

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After having been told many times over,

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by teachers and even a priest or two that

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I would never amount to anything,

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I now held a report card in my trembling hand that

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I could be proud of.

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I didn't hide it. I ran home with it and gave

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it to my parents with a smile.

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For the first time in a long

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time, I didn't feel stupid.

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Mr. Wallace was just a little bit too Innovative

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for Sister Vincent, our

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elderly principal who used to look

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through the window of the classroom door with scorn

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at all the fun Mr. Wallace was

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having as he taught us.

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She fired him in the middle of the year.

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He was replaced by Sister Athanasius,

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whose facial expressions would have given Judge Judy

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a run for her money in terms of sternness.

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But guess what?

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After a quarter

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of work, I got my first report

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card.

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Still A's and B's.

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You see I decided that I wanted to live up to

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my new reputation.

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I don't know if Mr. Wallace was simply lazy or

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if giving undeserved grades was

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part of his Innovative style.

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I suspect the latter was the case.

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But this I do know.

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From that day forward right through

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graduate school

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my life forever changed

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having a dignity affirmed and restored.

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is one of the most healing things that can happen

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to the human spirit.

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And that's what Jesus did over and over again

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in the Gospels.

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Jesus went around handing out good grades

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to people that were told

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they would never amount to anything;

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to people who were despised;

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to people who didn't really deserve high marks according to conventional standards.

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Today's Gospel is an example par excellence of

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Jesus innovative style of loving and

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accepting.

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Zacchaeus is a Greek name. That means pure.

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I'm afraid very few people would have thought him

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to be pure.

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He was a tax collector.

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In the place and time where Jesus walked

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that meant - he was a crook.

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It didn't even matter whether he really was a crook or

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not. He was a crook.

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But Zacchaeus was not just any old tax collector.

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He was the chief tax collector.

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So he wasn't just another mobster. He was the Godfather

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of mobsters.

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Zacchaeus wasn't about to push his way to the front of

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that crowd to see Jesus. That would have been

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to take his very life into his hands.

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So he climbs that tree and hangs pathetically

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from a limb because he just has to

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see this Jesus who hands out good marks to

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the despised and the rejected.

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To those for whom others give failing grades.

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He just has to see this guy who likes to swap stories

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and drink wine with harlots, freeloaders and

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crooks.

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He just has to catch a glimpse of

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this traveling preacher who attracts large numbers of

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the kind of people that many staunched church

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members today would avoid by changing sidewalks.

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But Jesus didn't change sidewalks. Did he?

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He stops in his tracks and looks up

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to Zacchaeus.

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Did you catch that?

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He looks up to Zacchaeus.

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Now the crowd knows that what a messiah

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a Christ is supposed to act like they're thinking

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now he's in for

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it. Zacchaeus is going to wish he'd stayed

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home today.

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Give him hell Jesus.

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But instead Jesus invites himself to

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another party and suggests Zacchaeus

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would make an excellent host.

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Jesus simply shared a meal with the most

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hated man in the district.

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The story could have ended there and it would still be a story

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of just exactly how God treats us.

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The Feast of All Saints is still in the air. And

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today we learned that God sets all of

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us aside.

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sanctifies all of us

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not by pinning a middle on us for meritorious behavior,

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but simply because God has chosen to

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dwell with us.

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Zacchaeus did not have to stand up

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and take the boy scout oath like he did.

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He didn't have to promise to pay everybody back

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and to be forever rehabilitated and

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a contributing member of society in order

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to win Jesus love and acceptance.

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Jesus the embodiment of God's attitude

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in our world had already accepted him.

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Jesus didn't finish his leg of lamb take

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a sip of matured red and then proceed to give Zacchaeus

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a lecture nor did he hang

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a copy of the Ten Commandments on the living room wall.

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He just accepted him.

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And let it be at that.

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He gave him a good report card and Zacchaeus wanted

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nothing more than to live up to it.

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My friends, I'm not all that tall, but I'm not short either

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but I have had times when I've felt very short

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of the mark.

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I've had times when I have felt the isolation of

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Zacchaeus; have dangled pathetically

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on the lonely limb of unworthiness.

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I suspect we all have from time to time.

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There are countless thousands of people out there who just can't believe

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that Jesus would ever want to hang out and party

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with them.

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Countless thousands who need to climb the tree and

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see the Jesus that Zacchaeus saw that

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day.

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Not the unapproachable gilded and statue like

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Jesus who collapses under the weight of antiquated dogma.

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But the Jesus who God says come on

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down.

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Let's just be together.