'For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost'. - Luke 19:10
Friends, it is a new start, isn’t it? That’s how it always feels when we come back from some time away. A new start. Things start up again with the new academic year. A new classroom, a new teacher, a new school for some. And a new start can be a bit scary can’t it? Because when something new starts, we worry that we’re going to mess up, that we’re going to get something wrong.
Now for this sermon I want you all to put one arm up in the air, you’ve got to keep it up as long as you can, until it starts to tingle and then you should probably take it down but whoever keeps it up the longest will get a prize after the service finishes. Keep it up as I tell you a story about a man who had a new start:One day, Jesus was busy teaching and healing when he came to a place called Jericho. A huge crowd came out to see Jesus and in the crowd was a man named Zacchaeus. He wasn’t very popular in Jericho because he was a tax collector, so his job was to take people’s money and give it to the Romans. He also stole money from people by charging them far more than the Romans asked for. Zacchaeus kept all this money for himself. Everyone in his town will have known Zaccheus and will have thought that he was rubbish and he probably would have felt a bit like that about himself. He probably thought he wasn’t good enough. Zacchaeus had joined the crowd because he desperately wanted to see Jesus. He had heard a lot about him and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. However, Zacchaeus had a problem: he was too short to see over the heads of the people in the crowd. It looked like he was going to miss out on seeing Jesus, but then he saw the answer: a tree, right by the spot where Jesus would pass. Quick as a flash, Zacchaeus climbed the tree – now he could see clearly! Are your arms hurting yet? Oh dear. Zacchaeus watched as Jesus got closer. Then, without warning, Jesus stopped right under the tree where Zacchaeus was sitting. Looking up, Jesus said, ‘Come down, Zacchaeus. I need to stay in your house today.’ Zacchaeus was so pleased that he scrambled down the tree and happily took Jesus back to his house. However, many people in the crowd were not so pleased. They started shouting that Jesus shouldn’t be seen with a person like Zacchaeus, a tax collector.
After he had spent some time with Jesus, Zacchaeus came out of his house and looked round at the crowd. ‘I have an announcement to make,’ he said. ‘I will give half of everything I own to the poor. And everyone that I have ever cheated and stolen from can have their money back – but four times as much!’ Zacchaeus had a new friend, Jesus - and a new way of life. He had thought that he was rubbish, but Jesus himself stopped and gave him a new start.
Who still has their hand up? Great. Now as we think about the mistakes Zaccheus made, we can maybe start to think about some of the mistakes we’ve made in the past. I don’t know about you but I’ve messed up big time over the years. I’ve messed up in my relationships, I’ve messed up at work, I’ve messed up in my spiritual life, and when I mess up, I feel a bit like your arms probably do from holding them up, but I feel like that in my heart. When I mess up I feel tired and achy and in pain because things were okay and I messed up. It hurts. In fact I mess up so much that new things are sometimes scary to me, just because I don’t know what will happen. I know that I’m not perfect. I know that I might mess up and get hurt or hurt someone else. Or that someone else might mess up. Before I even start something new I am already often scared of it going wrong. It’s like I think I’m not really good enough for whatever new thing is happening.
Maybe some of you guys have felt that way about you new year, whether that’s because of a new school, a new year, big exams, new friends… We can all be worried about messing up because we’re not perfect. We’re human.
When I was working in the hospital the other week I got chatting to a couple who’d had a beautiful baby in the maternity suite (the best place to have a baby), and there’s something about new parents. They were so scared, every time they took that baby in their arms. Because they were scared off messing up. Of getting something so important wrong after their new start. Just like some of you are probably feeling. I can’t believe some of you still have your arms up at this point. If that’s you, well done! But here’s the thing about being a Christian. With Jesus, you don’t need to be perfect. With Jesus he takes the pain of our mistakes, that pain in our hearts, and he forgives us and gives us a new start. As long as we just trust in him and turn to him, he takes our mistakes away and agrees to live life with us. It doesn’t matter if we’re the lousiest tax collector in the Roman Empire, it doesn’t matter if we feel like constant failures, it doesn’t matter if we feel rubbish, no matter what, Jesus will accept us if we just trust in him and turn to him. So this new start might be scary, it might leave us afraid and when we mess up it might hurt us on the inside of our hearts like those aching arms hurt on the outside, but we can always know that we can turn to him. That he will give us a new start to our lives that wipes our mistakes away. So don’t be scared, enjoy your time together, always give each other the chance for a new start and let your life be changed by the love of God who gave you another chance, so that you will keep going and endure with him at your side, no matter what you’re going through.
Anyone still left with their hands up, well done you’ve earned a sweet from John after the service. Take that endurance and remember that when Jesus sees you, he doesn’t see a list of your mistakes, he sees your faith in him. So why not try to take this new start if you’ve never tried it before, say yes to Jesus like Zaccheus did, and let him into your heart. Or, if you’ve already done that, then why don’t you promise to pray this week either for a friend you’ve fallen out with, to have the grace to give them a new start, or for those who are starting their new school year this week. May they always know that God is with them and willing to give us all a fresh start, if we only believe and trust in him. Amen.