Luke 19:1-10 (NRSV)

Jesus and Zacchaeus

19He entered Jericho and was passing through it. ²A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. ³He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. ⁴So he ran ahead and climbed a sycomore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. ⁵When 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.’ ⁶So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. ⁷All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’ ⁸Zacchaeus 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.’ ⁹Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’

Apologies for the late posting. I have been struggling with a painful kidney infection!

My text this morning is written in Juke 19:10 where Jesus said: ^10’For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’

Jericho was a wealthy and important town, lying in the Jordan Valley. It was world famous with its great palm forest and its balsam groves perfumed the air for miles around. It was also known for its gardens of roses and the Romans exported its dates and balsam throughout the empire. It went by the names: “City of Palms” or as Josephus referred to it as “a divine region”. It is understandable that it was one of the greatest taxation centres in Palestine. Zacchaeus had reached the top of his profession – like our bankers today – and was equally hated because of the unfair and often shady ways he had acquired his wealth!

Zacchaeus had made himself rich at the expense of the people – but he was not happy - probably because his unpopularity meant that he was lonely. He had obviously heard of Jesus and the way he welcomed tax collectors and sinners and hoped that Jesus might have a kind word for him, and so was determined to see Jesus. He ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a tree.

When he made contact with Jesus, his life was touched and Zacchaeus made a decision to become a changed person: he decided to give half his goods to the poor. He did not decide to keep the other half for himself, but used it to make restitution for the unfair deeds for which he was ready to own up. This is important. His restitution went far beyond anything required by the law and thus revealed to all present that he was a radically changed man. Barclay makes the important point: “A testimony is utterly worthless unless it is backed by deeds which guarantee its sincerity. It is not a mere change of words which Jesus demands, but a change of life.”

  

There is no more powerful proof of the truth of Christianity than the transformed lives that result when people are confronted with the risen and living Christ. This transformation is not just a one off – it needs to be a continuing experience. Wesley described ‘justification’ as being ‘declared right with God’ and ‘sanctification’ as ‘... being changed into what we have been declared to be ...’ Change is never mere words, but the shining example of a transformed life in a continual process.

One of the stories I remember best from Sunday School is this one of Zaccheaus. We used to sing a chorus and do all sorts of actions to demonstrate what happened. It went like this:

Zacchaeus was a very little man and a very little man was he,

He climbed up into a Sycomore tree for the Lord he wanted to see:

And when the Lord came riding by, he looked up into the tree,

And He Said:

Zacchaeus, you come down, for I'm coming to your house for tea!

Yes, I'm coming to your house for tea!

I could identify with Zacchaeus because I was then (as I am now) one who preferred not to be in the forefront of things. As a result I would often be at the back of the crowd and unable to see the action. But I too am curious and persistent and if something is important enough, I will go after it.

This is an important incident in the ministry and teaching of Jesus, because it picks us some earlier themes that either needed to be endorsed, or required further explanation. Here, Jesus stresses once more that people can change; if one has sinned, there is a remedy and always a new chance to start again. This is always excellent news! Jesus also deals with the issue of riches: At the heart of all this is faith which discovers that the way of Jesus is the means whereby our lives can change and that we need to persist to make encounters with Jesus possible if we want to know the blessedness of transformed living.

Luke, the only one to include this incident, does so to make the point clear that while it might be difficult for rich people to enter the kingdom of God (the point made earlier to the rich young ruler); it is not impossible. Wright explains: “This kind of healing, this kind of new life, ... is what Jesus has come to bring ...’

This was no mere intellectual reflection for Zacchaeus; he knew how much he was hated by the people of Jericho. He was more than a mere tax collector like Matthew, he was chief tax collector so would have been hated even by the tax collectors who worked under him because he would have ripped them off as well as everyone else. Wright makes the important point:

“Whenever money changes hands, whether across a grubby table in a tin shack in a dusty small town or across a sparkling computer screen in a shiny office on the ninety-nineth floor of a Wall Street skyscraper, the hands all too easily get dirty. Whenever money starts to talk, it shouts louder than the claims of honesty, respect and human dignity.”

One can just imagine how the people of Jericho’s hatred for Jacchaeus had grown over the years. This probably included even his relatives and those who might have been friends earlier on, as they saw him acquire a bigger and better house, with more expensive furnishing, and more slaves running around doing his bidding, his clothes becoming finer and his food more exotic and richer. They knew that it was their money he was using and that he had no right to it!

Deep down, Zacchaeus knew that none of these trappings of riches or even the riches itself, brought happiness or contentment and certainly no peace or fulfilment. He knew that there must be a different way, a better way.

So, Zacchaeus was delighted when Jesus invited himself to his house. Once more the respectable people of the community objected. Normally, when Jesus encountered this sort of hostility, he would tell them a parable; this time he allows Zacchaeus to do all the talking.

Zacchaeus speaks out and gives evidence of his ‘... extravagant repentance ...’ Wright reminds us that true repentance is not just a change of heart – which was what was required in Judaism at the time – but it also includes restoration and making amends; and Zacchaeus was determined to do so ‘lavishly’. He did not offer to get rid of all his property – and Jesus did not require this – but by the time he had given half of it to the poor and paid back four times to those he had cheated, his financial circumstances would have been very different. But he does not care because he has found something much more valuable. Zacchaeus does not leave Jericho but remains to face the music and prove to all that he had changed.

Caird also points out how much Zacchaeus would have been despised by the people of Jericho and so adds that no sightseeing curiosity would have induced such a man to risk ridicule or violence by mixing with a large mob, and suggests that he must have been prompted by some powerful urge. This was probably the need to escape his self-imposed loneliness or to be done with the profession that that had become so burdensome to his conscience.

He had probably heard of Jesus and his teaching and more importantly, the impact that Jesus had in transforming lives of those who came to him. Caird continues with wonderful insight: “By bursting through the barrier of religious prejudice that isolated him [Zacchaeus], Jesus awakened to vibrant life, impulses that had long lain dormant, and revealed to him the man he was capable of becoming.”

As Wright pointed out, Zacchaeus’ repentance was extravagant; he went much further than was required of him and even forsook the legitimate profits he had made; he took the path required by Jesus for his benefit that the rich young ruler had so easily forsaken.

We need to ask again if there is anything that the Church is doing that is a stumbling block to those who need Christ in their lives. I suspect there is much! But is the Church even asking the necessary questions? Have we fallen into the trap of the established religion of Jesus’ day with our own Pharisees and Scribes and Zealots? Is the Church even thinking about those who are outside and how to reach them?

It could be that people are very happy with their lives and so do not need Christ and the Church. I doubt it, but too many barriers exist between them and the Church for them to even consider that we might have the refreshment they so desperately thirst after. We need to beware: like the parable of the Pharisee and the sinner, it is all too easy for us to feel self-righteous and that we have it made. I believe it is time for radical Christianity once more, but are we ready to pay the price with our extravagant repentance?

The last words of this passage are so important. Jesus came ‘... to seek out and to save the lost.’

Barclay issues a warning: he suggests that it is important to have a correct understanding of what is meant by ‘the lost’. In the New Testament, it does NOT mean the damned or doomed, it simply means ‘in the wrong place’. A thing is lost when it is no longer in the place it is meant to be. A person is lost when they have wandered away from being in the presence of God. People are ‘found’ when they take their rightful place as obedient children of God and return to the family of God’s people.

Now that Barclay makes this point it seems blindingly obvious. Much of our society is lost, because they remove themselves from the presence of God. They have bought into the lie that living in the darkness is better than in the light. But in recent times, the gods of this world have been found wanting; the gods of money, power, position, status etc. are being rejected. But people are not returning to the Church and a reason is because we still speak of God in ways that they cannot identify with; we still use words that are so loaded with misunderstanding and negative connotation that people still think that the Church is irrelevant. But they are rediscovering Jesus. We need to re-make the link between Jesus, God and the Church by speaking of God in new ways that provide a map whereby those who are lost can find their way home. All people see love as central to their lives. We need to remind them that God is love and whenever they experience love by giving or receiving it, they experience God. This makes them understand that there is so much proof of God everywhere. This links with Jesus as the one who was completely filled with love (and so with God) as to demonstrate both how to live and the way to life. People no longer identify with sin as it is too loaded with the judgemental bigotry of the past. But people know when they are lost because their lives are not what they ought to be. The ‘vehicle’ that transports us back is repentance, and it is hastened bit its extravagance. We need to seek out new ways to connect with the people; we need to go to where they are and seek new ways of engaging with them. This is at the core of our faith because Jesus himself said that: ‘... the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’

Amen.