Sunday, October 30, 2022
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
21st Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 26

The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:
– First Reading: Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4
– Psalm 119:137-144
– Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
– Gospel Reading: Luke 19:1-10

The liturgical color for the day is: Green

This Sunday is Reformation Sunday.  Reformation Sunday is always the last Sunday in October, marking the 1517 event when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany.  The Presbyterian Historical Society provides a bulletin insert that can be used on Reformation Sunday.  This year it features the Belhar Confession which was written 40 years ago. You can find that link here. https://www.history.pcusa.org/history-online/presbyterian-history/reformation-sunday

The Gospel Lesson from Luke is that wonderful story of Zacchaeus.

Jesus calls (“you come down”) and Zacchaeus joyfully responds (“happily welcomes him” in Luke’s terminology).  The saving grace of God always invites a human response.  Zacchaeus responds in joy to the invitation of Jesus and demonstrates his commitment to the new life by pledging half of his possessions—50% is well beyond a tithe.  Additionally, he promises that he will make amends for any whom he has defrauded by repaying that one four times more than they had lost. 

Wee little man that he is, there is no question that Zacchaeus is a changed man.  There is also no doubt, as Luke makes it clear, “for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” 

Luke makes clear the purpose of Jesus – “to seek and save the lost.”  To what extent does this purpose influence the direction of your church?  How does it direct you as a disciple?  What does it mean in terms of how you lead the people of God?

How does God seek us out?  And what influence does that have on our behavior?  How are we lost?  And how does that shape our understanding of the lost in this world for whom “the Son of Man came to seek and save…?”

—

Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk