Sermon: A Different Focus
Texts: Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4; Luke 19:1-10
Date: October 31, 2004

Rev. Dr. Dee Eisenhauer, Eagle Harbor Congregational Church


[I am indebted to Rev. Dr. Laura Smit, whose article in Word and Witness provided most of the ideas I want to share with you today.]

Throughout most of Christian history, the Church has taught that here are four virtues which are essential for living a righteous life: prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.  Of these four, there is one on which the other three depend, the one without which none of the other three can exist.  Any guesses about which of the four was historically thought to be foundational to the others? 

That one most basic virtue is prudence.  Are you surprised? 

To most of us 21st century people, the idea that virtue begins with prudence is very strange.  Whenever I hear the word "prudent" I can't help thinking immediately about Saturday Night Live's former cast member Dana Carvey impersonating the first President Bush-"wouldn't be prudent" was one of his favorite phrases.  I figured I'd better mention that right away so that everybody else who sees Dana Carvey could just think of it and we could move on. 

Besides the comedic stylings of Dana Carvey, we tend to associate prudence with the avoidance of risk and the dodging of danger.  Rather than thinking of prudence as a source of justice, we think of prudence as the attitude which leads people to avoid the unpleasantness and self-sacrifice which a real pursuit of justice often requires.  Rather than thinking of prudence as a source of fortitude, we think of prudence as the preoccupation of the cowardly.  We may more readily see a connection between prudence and temperance, but only because we often think of temperance itself as a rather tepid and uninspiring virtue.  Our society values the spontaneous, the impulsive, the imprudent.  Prudence sounds like playing it safe, and that is not something which a world which glories in high-risk living is quick to value. 

But what prudence really means is to see things rightly and clearly, to have a correct and realistic apprehension of the world around you which then governs and shapes your behavior.  To see things rightly and clearly.  A prudent person is not fooled by appearances, not taken in by a slick sales pitch.  A prudent person knows the truth and acts on that knowledge.  A prudent person is not carried away by wishful thinking or philosophical fads.  A prudent person is first and foremost a realist. 

If you think of prudence in those terms, does prudence as foundational to those other virtues, justice, fortitude and temperance, make more sense? 

The reason that centuries of Christians saw prudence as a foundational Christian virtue is because they assumed that the best way to be a realist is to be connected to God, who is ultimate Reality.  The best way to know the truth is to be acquainted with Jesus who identified himself as the Truth which sets us free.  A prudent person is one whose inner life is shaped and formed by a knowledge of God's design for the cosmos.  A prudent person knows what things are lasting and what things will pass away.  A prudent person is aware that the preoccupations of money, power and fame are trivial compared with the work of the kingdom of God.

 
This right understanding, this right seeing or perception, is inherently connected with right behavior.  Historically, Christians have believed that until we understand the nature of reality and our place in it, we are not equipped to behave rightly.   We cannot do what is good until we know what is true, and once we know what is true, that knowledge naturally results in good behavior.  Prudence is the virtue of such knowledge. 
The Old Testament emphasis on loving the law of God is basically the same idea.  The Hebrew writers value wisdom above all, and wisdom in their view is knowing and loving the law of God which structures the universe.  Psalm 119, the longest psalm in the Bible, is a love poem about the law of God.  We can't relate to the law with quite the same enthusiasm and admiration as that writer, but maybe we get a taste of the psalmist's passion as we think about him celebrating what he saw as the very skeleton of the universe, the truth that holds it all together. 
The prophet Habakkuk speaks about getting up on his watchtower.  He is seeking a clear view of reality.  The view that is right at the end of his nose is pretty grim, apparently.  The King James version of the Bible introduces the world he's gazing at as "the burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see."  He speaks about violence, violence, violence.  He sees such a scene of destruction, strife, and contention as he surveys the landscape.  The wicked evidently outnumber the righteous, and justice is thwarted.  No wonder the old English calls this view a "burden."

The prophet is inclined to take God to task, asking how God can look at this scene of violence and destruction and not act.  Habakkuk doesn't see any end in sight of the chaos he's living in.  How long is God going to allow this to continue, he wants to know?  Good question, eh?
The prophet's complaint rings true to me.  Sometimes I find it rather a burden to look out at the world, too, especially if I do it through the lens of the news channels on television.  Nothing like having 100 plus channels of both fiction and non-fiction-and the difference between them is not always obvious--pouring into your living room to give you a rather burdensome view of the human enterprise.  Violence, violence, violence; destruction, strife, contention, wickedness; and that's just the campaign ads.  Heavy sigh.  How long are we going to have to endure it?  Only a couple of days of political commercials, I know, but there will violence and contention to spare when those wretched ads mercifully end.
When we fast forward in Habakkuk to chapter 2, we hear the prophet's prescription for his aching, teary eyes.  I will get up on my watchtower, and look for what God wants to show me.  There is something very provocative about that image of the watchtower.  The watcher is trying to rise above the distracting pandemonium in front of his nose.  He's trying to get the long view.  Trying to attain more of a God's eye view.  And whether it's a physical relocation the prophet makes or simply a metaphorical climb in his consciousness, it works.  He's able to focus again on Ultimate Reality, able to hear again God's calming assurance that the disorder at the end of his nose is not permanent and chaos will not ultimately prevail.  There's a gentle reminder from the Almighty to the prophet and those who will hear his word: "The righteous live by faith."  Refocus.  Don't let what's right in front of you be the only view you see. 

There's a link with the gospel in that there is another change of altitude in the gospel story.  Zacchaeus is probably best known for being a short statured fellow who climbed a tree to get a view of Jesus going by.  There's another link with Habakkuk in that there is a re-focusing going on in his story as well.

Zacchaeus may well have thought of himself as a prudent person.  Or at least he thought of himself as a hard-headed realist.  After all, he was the one, unlike his Jewish neighbors, who understood the irresistible power of Rome and who was willing to cooperate with that power.  His vision wasn't clouded by some romanticized understanding of Israel's glorious past.  He wasn't wasting any time longing for a lost monarchy or hoping for the restoration of the Davidic line.  He was accepting the reality of the world he lived in and finding a way to profit from that world.  He worked hard.  He spent long hours in his office.  He was good at putting bread on the family table, and he understood the realities of business, and the compromises it requires.  No doubt he thought of himself as the quintessentially prudent person. 

Then he climbed a tree to get a view of Jesus and he met Jesus and suddenly his view of the world which had appeared to be so realistic was revealed as the ultimate illusion.  The power of Rome was nothing next to the power of this man from God who came to Zacchaeus' home and ate with him.  The savvy of Zacchaeus' business associates was nothing next to the knowledge of Jesus, who looked at Zacchaeus and knew him, intimately and completely and still chose to spend time with him.  The meaningfulness of a life pursuing money was nothing compared to a life pursuing this man who made God known.  When Jesus walked in, salvation came to Zacchaeus' house, and the first sign of salvation was that he understood the world differently than he had up to then.  What had appeared to be hard-headed and clear-eyed realism was revealed as a lie.  Zacchaeus saw the very Word of God in the person of Jesus, and it was an instant re-focusing. 

You've probably seen those optical illusion pictures that look like one thing when you first see it and then after a bit a different picture emerges that was also there all along.  There's one that I've seen lots of times that is both the profile of an old, hook-nosed woman and the outline of a young, curvy woman.  Have you seen that?  You see one or the other, young or old, and then when the other figure is pointed out to you, you can't believe how obvious it is and can't understand why you didn't see it immediately.  With practice, you get so you can see the figure either way at will.
In the case of looking at an optical illusion, either way of looking at the figure is equally valid.  The vision of the young and old woman are equally true.  Some of us wish to believe that this is true of different ways of looking at reality as well.  We want to be able to see the world from the perspective of a money-driven business person Monday through Friday, from the perspective of the pleasure-driven hedonist Friday night, from the perspective of a self-indulgent consumer on Saturday, and then we expect to spend a few hours enjoying a spiritual refresher on Sunday morning.

But in the oscillation between these different views of reality which most of us practice we are not oscillating between equally valid alternatives.  Rather, we are oscillating between truth and falsehoods, between a clear vision of reality as God reveals it and a variety of tempting illusions.  God offers us the clear vision in the person of Christ, the Word incarnate, the Truth lived out.  This is the design plan for the universe, and for us as human beings.  That is why Christ is called the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Following Jesus leads one out of the world of illusion and shadow and re-focuses mind and heart on the underlying structure and values of Ultimate Reality.

 
A courageous, strong, powerful life of righteousness can not be constructed on a foundation of shadows.  It is only when we have a clear view of reality that virtue becomes possible.      Habakkuk was able through his re-focused view to avoid the sin of despair and take hold of hope and faith once again.  He became a prudent prophet-not given to panic, not taken in by a false view of the ascendancy of evil and chaos. 

Zacchaeus stood before Jesus  and suddenly had a re-focused view of himself.  He saw himself to be loved and accepted by Jesus.  Next to the clear light of that love, he saw himself for the first time as a cheat and collaborator, defying God and abusing other people.  He then has a re-focused view of his clients.  They are no longer just his meal tickets, people he can take advantage of to any extent they and the law allows.  Now he sees them as neighbors to whom he must show love and care.  This re-focusing leads to an immediate change in behavior.  This prudential vision of God, himself, and his neighbors leads into acts of justice and fortitude and temperance. 

What do you see when you look at the world?  Nothing but chaos?  Get yourself above it all, through prayer or study or meditation or heart-to-heart conversation with your companions on the way.  Use whatever works to climb up on your watchtower and to get a longer view of the truth and order that underlies the universe.  Couldn't hurt to turn off CNN for a couple of days if you're really being drawn into despair.

What do you see when you look at yourself?  Do you see yourself as beloved by Jesus?  Do you see anything about what you do in your daily life that needs change in the light of that love?  Anything about your work, your relationships, the way you spend or hang on to your money that merits change?  

    
Re-focus.  Look at your life and your living through new eyes.  Look at the world as God sees it, with the ultimate wide-angle lens and the looonngg view.  Try to see yourself as God sees you-with the eyes of love that bespeak total acceptance and yet inspire our growth and change.  It's the prudent thing to do.