Jesus and
Zacchaeus
Luke Chapter 19
1 He entered
Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a
chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on
account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran
ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that
way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him,
"Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house
today." 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw
it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a
sinner." 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of
my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone
of anything, I will pay back four times as much." 9 Then Jesus said to
him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of
Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."
Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen
OK, you know the
song, let’s sing it.
Zacchaeus was a wee little man
And a wee little man was he
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see
And when the Savior passed that way
He looked up in the tree
And said, 'Zacchaeus, you come down!
For I'm going to your house today!
For I'm going to your house today!'
Zacchaeus was a wee little man
But a happy man was he
For he had seen the Lord that day
And a happy man was he;
And a very happy man was he
Kind of brings
you back to a simpler, easier time in life, doesn’t it.
Reminds me of
Sunday School and Vacation Bible School and doing things like building little ‘biblical
homes’ out of sugar cubes and popsicle sticks, not to mention the singing of
songs like this.
This song, though
appropriate for young children, doesn’t quite capture what is going on in this
story.
Zacchaeus was a
wee little man.
OK, so that is
Biblically accurate. He is described as
being short of stature.
There are
prejudices against short men. There is a
feeling among some that short men overcompensate for their slight stature with
an oversized ego and aggressive personality.
There’s probably
not much truth to that. I don’t
know, as is obvious, I’ve never had to
deal with being short.
But Zacchaeus’
problem wasn’t that he was short.
His problem was
that he was a chief tax collector, and considered despicable and a traitor and
a crook by just about everyone.
He was no Alice N.
Alice is a dear
lady in Sandpoint who worked for years in the County Government receiving
people’s property tax payments.
People like
Alice.
Not
Zacchaeus.
Tax collectors
were collecting those taxes for Rome.
Because of that,
the tax collectors were considered collaborators with the foreign occupying government,
and traitors to their own people.
The way that
worked in Jesus’ day is that the Roman Government awarded contracts to people
to collect taxes in a specific region, and those contracts would specify how
much revenue was to be raised for Rome.
The tax collector was then authorized to raise more than that and by so
doing, make a profit for himself.
That Zacchaeus
was a rich man suggests that he was using his position as a tax collector to
exploit the people. Hence he was seen as
being criminal.
Like I said, despicable. Hated by all.
Neither loved or respected by any.
I was trying to
think who might be like that in our current day and age.
It’s hard to come
up with an exact parallel, in part because we are not occupied by a foreign
power, so the whole traitorous thing is not part of our experience.
Although, perhaps
people who were spies for the Soviet Union might qualify.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed
during the Cold War for having sold nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.
Despicable.
We don’t love tax
collectors very much, especially if we’ve had struggles with them.
One of my
professors in seminary had an uncle who was a high ranking official with the
Internal Revenue Service, and had responsibility for collecting back taxes, I
believe.
At any rate,
Oscar had to have open heart surgery and was recuperating in the hospital when
someone recognized him.
The disgruntled
tax payer stuck his head in Oscar’s hospital room and shouted, “I hope you die!”
Despicable.
There are other
people whose professions, and criminal inclinations are despicable.
Drug dealers who
profit off of addictions.
Despicable.
Human traffickers
who exploit women and children for profit.
Despicable.
Imagine then,
Jesus encountering someone such as these.
"Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I
must stay at your house today."
All who saw it began to grumble.
"He has gone to
be the guest of one who is a sinner."
To associate with
a notorious sinner is to tolerate, even condone, their sin. This is a long held belief.
“Jesus, what are
you doing???!!!”
Grace changes
people.
Grace reaches out
to people, where they are, and changes people.
And grace, always
comes first.
When we encounter
notorious sinners, we have a tendency to insist that they repent before we will
associate with them, lest we be seen as condoning their behavior.
But grace comes
first.
'Zacchaeus, you come
down!
For I'm going to your
house today!
These grace filled
words of Jesus had a remarkable result.
Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
"Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I
have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much."
That Zacchaeus
would respond in such a manner might well be an indication that he knew all
along what he was doing was wrong.
There is a rule
of thumb going on here.
If you want to
bring about change, you have to change.
If you continue
to despise certain people, they will likely remain despicable.
If you learn to
love people, they will become more lovable.
Hatred begets
hatred.
Love begets love.
Zacchaeus’ life
is transformed by this simple act of Jesus.
"Today salvation has come to this
house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to
save the lost."
Therein lays the
challenge for us in the Church.
Do we seek out
and save the lost like Jesus did?
Some of the
leaders in our Church have pointed out that one of the true signs of an
effective evangelism program is how many adult baptisms a congregation
celebrates. The reason being that child
baptisms just mean that you’re having kids, adult baptisms mean that you’re
reaching out to the unchurched.
Perhaps there is
an even more radical sign that we are being Christ like in our ministries.
How many
despicable people are in our midst?
Actually, that is
a trick question because if we truly have the heart of Jesus, no one is
despicable.
But if we have
the heart of Jesus, we will welcome those whom the world despises.
And by loving the
unlovable and welcoming the outcast we will all be transformed.
And that’s the
thing. Love transforms both the lover
and the beloved.
Churches that
reach out to the outcast are changed by that experience, transformed by the
Holy Spirit.
And the outcast
that are embraced by the love of Christ are themselves changed.
Today Salvation
has come to this house for the Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost.
Amen
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