Pastor Scott
Jonas
Luke 19:
Zacchaeus
3/25/20
We continue
through Luke’s Gospel. I encourage all
of you at home to take out your bible and follow along. We are in Luke chapter 19. Jesus has been teaching through parables
about the kingdom of God. In the kingdom
of God our Heavenly father hears us every time so we should pray like the
persistent widow. In the kingdom of God,
the haughty religious person is brought low and the humble sinner is raised up
like in the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector. In the Kingdom of God, we learn from the
vulnerability of children. Also, the
rich and poor share everything in God’s kingdom.
Luke shares
a story that is only found in his book.
In it Jesus enters Jericho. That
Jericho. Joshua and the wall
Jericho. It is now a thriving wealthy
city at the crossroads of commerce. It’s
a big city not unlike St. Louis. A crowd
formed around Jesus. Let me remind you
what a crowd is. It’s when a large
amount of people gather in the same public place. You remember.
There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a rich chief tax collector. He was the head taxing agent of a busy
metropolis. Rome gave Zacchaeus had the
power to collect whatever he wanted. All
of the income generated in Jericho passed through him and he got his cut above
what was reasonable and just. Zacchaeus
was a combination of a corrupt IRS official and a Mafia kingpin. His position has made him wealthy but not
happy.
It was
actually brave of him to show his face in the crowd for two reasons. He was hated and he was small. Everyone on that street had reason to want to
attack him and he didn’t have the stature to defend himself. Yet he sought Jesus who Luke reports is a
friend of outcasts. Jesus championed Lepers,
widows and the poor who didn’t choose to be society’s rejects. What will he do with someone like Zacchaeus
who has chosen to be a pariah?
As we know,
he climbs up into a tree to see this “friend of sinners.” The throng passes by with Jesus in the
center. Everyone wants his
attention. They all have their own
problems, they’re own agendas. He just
wants a glimpse, a glimpse of someone who offers a kingdom totally different
than the one Zacchaeus is a part of. Jesus
stops and turns towards him. Imagine the
fear he would be feeling. This Godman is
staring at him over everyone else. What
if this was you? Jesus must think I’m
the worst. He sees right through
me. He’s going to purge the evil in his
midst by getting this crowd to focus on me.
I’m a dead man and I deserve it.
Jesus shouts
calling him by name, “Zacchaeus hurry and come down, for I want to stay at your
house.” Do you feel the turn here? Zacchaeus expects judgement and death and
instead Jesus embraces him with hospitality and acceptance. This kingdom is so different from anything
anyone has ever known. This is actually the best example of repentance and
forgiveness in all of the Gospels.
The same
scene plays out in your life. You and I
are afraid that we aren’t worthy because of all of the stuff we’ve done and not
done. We are part of a corrupt system
that keeps the poor down and favors the rich.
We want to be connected to God because we know that he’s our only chance
at something better but we also fear his reaction to our choices. One day we realize that he notices us. We flinch, ready for scorn but instead he
smiles upon us. He invites himself into
our life and offers forgiveness and blessing.
Every time we repent we are playing out this scene from Luke.
Zacchaeus
jumps down and joyfully hugs Jesus. The
crowd doesn’t get it. They actually
groan. Those who are on the fence or
against Jesus are groaning because this is another strike against him. Jesus is validating a terrible human
being. At Zacchaeus’ house, the forgiven
tax collector says “Lord, I will give half of goods to the poor and if I’ve
defrauded anyone I will give them four times what I took.” This is the true spirit of repentance. Jesus doesn’t demand it but Zacchaeus is so
grateful and changed by Jesus’ love that he offers it freely. This is a staple of the new kingdom. In Luke’s sequel, the book of Acts, the
church will share all that they have, forgiven rich and poor living together. Jesus is thrilled and declares, “Today
salvation has come to this house since he also is a son of Abraham. For the son of man came to seek and save the
lost.”
I know that
in this season of suffering it’s easy to think that you are lost in a
crowd. It seems like God can’t possibly
see you through all of those grimacing faces.
But Jesus does see you right now as we speak. He knows you just like he knows Zacchaeus. He knows all of your weaknesses and
fears. Jesus is not intimidated by the
worst thing you’ve ever done. When he
looks at you the whole rest of the world fades away. He is great enough to give you all of the
attention you could ever need. He wants
to be as close to you as that hug Zacchaeus experienced. He came that close in your baptism. That was one example of his attention on you
personally. You looked into the eyes of God
and he smiled. He said “You know that
this means I’m with you everywhere you go: your house, your school, your job,
your church. You can’t get rid of
me. All of your sinful choices are
forgotten by me. What do you have to do
to forget them? What do you have to do
so that others forget them?
Jesus
declared that salvation came to Zacchae’s household. In the book of Acts this means that the whole
family from infants to the elderly, from family to servants were baptized. Jesus is embracing and accepting the whole
lot of them. Then at the end he says, “For
the Son of man came to seek and save the Lost.”
Being lost here doesn’t mean to be damned it means to be misplaced. Zacchaeus was living a different life than he
was supposed to. God wanted so much more
for him and his family than he was experiencing. But God changed all that in an instant. We don’t hear from Zacchaeus again but you
can imagine that as a wealthy influential man he helped the early church
greatly. God placed him exactly where he
was supposed to be.
God can do
the same for you. You may feel lost
right now. Coronavirus has you spinning
and you don’t know what you are supposed to do.
But even at home, in seclusion, you can be right where God needs
you. You have a unique set of family,
friends and neighbors. You are called by
Jesus to bless them. The six people in
the sanctuary tonight are right where God wants them. There is an impulse for all of us to be at
home for this hour but God has called us to be here for the sake of the
church. That is a noble calling. Everyone who is listening to this have your
own noble calling. He called Zacchaeus and
he calls you.
I’ll finish with a story of one of
our members.