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.’
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 which 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.
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.
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. 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.
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.”
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. Change is never mere words, but the shining
example of a transformed life in a continual process.
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 ...’
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.”
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.
We need to ask again if there is anything that we are doing
that is a stumbling block to those who need Christ in their lives. Are we thinking
about those who are outside and how to reach them?
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.
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 living 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. But many
are rediscovering Jesus. We need to re-make the link between Jesus, God and the
Church by speaking of God and living 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. There is no easy solution,
but it begins with prayer. Are we as a church praying and asking God for
direction and guidance? Are we praying for the souls of those who use our
buildings and seeking diplomatic and effective ways of reaching them with the
love of God, ways that engage them and not drive them away. Are we praying for
our communities and seeking ways to meet their needs.
Missionary – China and Inland Mission - silenced
But we are called to do something and we are challenged to
seek out – to find ways that will work – so that we can respond to our Lord’s
challenge.
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.
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