Why is it, when we're confronted with the details of a particularly savage crime - of cold, calculating cruelty - we label such behavior as inhuman?

To call some monstrous behavior inhuman seems almost an insult to animals.

Certainly no dog or cat ever intentionally put out cigarettes on their offspring's legs. Herds of zebras don't band together and kick herds of gazelles to death, much less gas and shoot 6 million Jews to death. No king of the jungle was ever barbaric enough to abduct and recruit into martyrdom 10,000 Iranian children, who in the 1980s were thrown across minefields into the line of Iraqi fire, with a little key to paradise round their necks.

Nature is red in tooth and claw. But its redness is related to hunger and survival, not hatred and racism. The great killers of nature - lions of the air (falcons, owls), lions of the land (lions, tigers, grizzly bears), and lions of the sea (great white sharks) - don't go on thrill-killing rampages just for the fun of it, or because they dislike different species in the ocean.

But human beings engage in all these behaviors. Child abuse, gang violence, and vicious murders have been a part of human history since history has been recorded. Remember Cain and Abel? And yet we continue to describe those kinds of actions as "in-human."

The truth is they're completely human, essentially human, disgustingly all-too-human.

I don't think it's a false claim to innocence, or a dismissing of human culpability, that causes us to declare such violence as inhuman or inhumane. Rather it seems that at some deep, soulful level we recognize that there is a truly human response required of us as we interact with each other on this earth. There's something that defines and differentiates genuinely human behavior from that of all other creatures. It's when that essential humanity is lacking that we find the bad label inhuman so sadly, madly fitting.

In today's text, Zacchaeus "learned human" (as the title of Les Murray's most recent book of poetry puts it). Christians share this planet with lots of people who aren't Christian. We must do double duty: be distinctively Christian and universally human at the same time. In today's text, Zacchaeus joined the human race. He became part of "Humans, Inc." And he joined the human race by incorporating himself into the body of humanity. He became part of what we're calling Human, Inc. by these five H's.

Scholars and scientists are now reconstructing the ancient mind, and finding out what makes us a homo sapien and not a Neanderthal. (Bruce Bower, "In the Neanderthal Mind," Science News, 166 [18 September 2004], 183-86.). What they are discovering is that Humans and Neanderthals didn't differ so much in technological skills so much as in symbolic skills that led to what we're calling the "5 H's of Humans, Inc."

1) The first H of Humans, Inc. is Hazard. Zacchaeus hazarded a climb up a tall sycamore tree to see Jesus. Zacchaeus took an innovative path so that he could get a closer and unobstructed view of Jesus. When everyone else was moving horizontally, pushing and shoving for a better view, he took a different approach. He went vertical.

Neanderthals are very regimented. Flexibility in thinking and acting is a hallmark of Humans, Inc. What innovations are you willing to risk to see Jesus? What have you hazarded to get closer to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Many times we can't see the Savior because we're playing it too safe?

2) The second H of Humans, Inc. is Humor (and its close relative, Humility). Zacchaeus was humble enough to look ridiculous, to laugh at himself, to get dirty and disheveled and have people laugh at him. This proud, successful, affluent professional laid down his image and his reputation to see Jesus. Zacchaeus learned that only by willing to appear only human could he become truly human.

Can you laugh at your foibles and failings? Especially in difficult times, can you find the humor in the situation you're in?

There are some people here this morning who can still remember Senator Sam J. Ervin, Jr., who became the nation's comic relief during the Watergate hearings. Earlier in his career, during a speech urging the Senate to censure Joseph McCarthy, Sam Ervin described the how members of a congregation used to stand and testify to what the Lord had done for them.

"On one occasion," he said, "they were holding such a meeting in one of the churches, and old Uncle Ephraim Swink, a South Mountaineer whose body was all bent and distorted with arthritis, was present. All the older members of the congregation except Uncle Ephraim arose and gave testimony to their religious experiences. Uncle Ephraim kept his seat. Thereupon the moderator said, 'Brother Ephraim, suppose you tell us what the Lord has done for you.' Uncle Ephraim arose with his bent and distorted body, and said, 'Brother, He has mighty nigh ruint me.' Mr. President, that's about what Senator McCarthy has done to the Senate." (Sam J. Ervin, Jr., Humor of a Country Lawyer (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1983]).

One of the things that separates a human from a Neanderthal is a sense of humor, the ability to make jokes, to find the laughing matter of life, and to smile in the midst of adversity.

3) The third H of Humans, Inc. is Hospitality. When Jesus invited himself over to his house, Zacchaeus immediately showed him hospitality. He rolled out the red carpet.

Unlike Neanderthals, humans are gregarious and social. They associate with people from outside their tribe. They invite strangers to their house, and are open to encounters with people who are different. The sharing of information among groups, and the ability to engage in inter-group contact, is a key distinguishing feature of homo sapiens versus Neanderthals.

4) The fourth H of Humans, Inc. is Hope. Because of symbolic thinking, only humans have the ability to think and plan for the future. Jesus inspired in Zacchaeus a sense of hope. In fact, only humans are merchants of hope.

5) The fourth H of Humans, Inc. is Honor. Zacchaeus honored his debts, and acknowledged his wrongdoing. As much as anything, it was Zacchaeus' willingness to treat others honorably and responsibly that made him humane and ultimately a humanitarian.

Jesus wants us to be more than human. But if Christians need to learn to do human before they can do Christian, we need to stop being such Neanderthals. We need to join Humans, Inc.

That means, like Zacchaeus, we need to get incorporated into humanity, into Humans, Inc. That means we need to be incorporated in humility, we need to be incorporated in humor, we need to be incorporated in hospitality, we need to be incorporated in hope, and we need to be incorporated in honor.