1.
A Surprise Response
(v.2-3)
Zacchaeus was a
“chief” tax collector and “rich”, so, we are being led to think, this would the
last person to be interested in Jesus. Zacchaeus was regarded as a traitor (to
the Jews), having sold out to be a public servant of the Romans. He was known
(and hated) for extracting as much tax as possible from the people, profiting
from whatever extra he could gain over-and-above what the Roman government
required.
People could have
seen Zacchaeus as well and truly hardened, in the face of the rejection he had
become used to. To the contrary though, Zacchaeus was “trying to see who Jesus
was”; indicating that he was a (spiritual) seeker – in turn indicating that he
may actually have been uncomfortable in his skin, and uncomfortable with the
way he was conducting his life. He may have been sick of the rejection and
isolation. Maybe, despite his wealth, he felt empty inside. Maybe Zacchaeus had
heard certain things about Jesus that interested him? Could this Jesus address
his need? Maybe he heard about Levi/Matthew – a tax collector who had
previously become a devoted disciple?
What does all this
suggest??? There may be spiritual seekers in the most unlikely of places. Don’t
let’s write anyone off, or see anyone beyond the grasp of God’s grace. Also,
some people are not far off the Kingdom of God … maybe just needing to let go
of one thing … to make sufficient space for God. People may be more interested
than we think, or more discontented than they appear; and they may respond more
readily (if given a clear enough presentation). We know that God is reaching
out far and wide!
2.
A Committed Attitude (v.3-4)
Let’s think for a
moment about ourselves. Sometimes we might let … what we might see as our
limitations or deficiencies … get in the way of chasing down Jesus or
responding to Jesus’ call on our life. Not so Zacchaeus! He didn’t let … how
other people viewed him, his lack of height [not as short as Ne-hi-miah], or
that Jesus was already being mobbed … get in the way of his search and his
goal. Sometimes we can make all sorts of excuses, rather than taking every
opportunity to embrace Jesus, learn from him, truly become his follower, and
get about making other disciples for Jesus. Zacchaeus sought the best vantage
point, and clambered up a sturdy sycamore tree.
Jesus would notice
someone as inquisitive as this! When Jesus later called out to Zacchaeus (v.5),
“Zacchaeus hurried down, and was happy to welcome Jesus” (v.6). Actually it’s a
wonder that Zacchaeus didn’t fall right out of the tree when Jesus called out
to him! He was just trying to get a look at Jesus, and maybe listen to what he
was saying, but then … Jesus called out to him by name! We might also consider
that God had been preparing Zacchaeus for quite a while for this encounter.
Which raises the thought process about who God might already be preparing for
an encounter with Jesus right now … through us?!?
3.
A Hospitable God
(v.5, 7)
Jesus went about
engaging with him in the most, culturally speaking, intimate and friendly way –
he arranged to eat with him and stay at his house. We should note that Jesus
interrupted his journey, and his travel plans for the day, to spend time in
Zach’s home. This despite the guy being the “chief” of sinners – a traitorous
thief and oppressor of the poor. Jesus was actually now going to share life
with Zacchaeus.
This may have been
quite threatening for Zacchaeus, especially given any sense of shame or guilt
that he might have been experiencing. But everything happened so quickly, as if
all Zach’s doubts and fears were swept away by all this acceptance and grace.
Jesus had seen someone that may be open to God, and thus was prepared to meet
with Zacchaeus in his own territory. Why??? To build a relationship, to build
some trust, to encourage Zach towards the greater person that lay within.
Jesus’ actions here also challenged a culture which determined that to eat with
a ‘sinner’ made one unclean; Zacchaeus knowing that Jesus would be heavily
critiqued for being at his place, but that Jesus had done this anyway! This was
an exciting turn of events!!
God is on about …
Jesus was on about … saving the “lost” (refer verse 10). We don’t sit here so
much in the glory of being saved (or we shouldn’t); we sit here in deep concern
for the lost (having already experienced the answer ourselves). Jesus was on
the move for three years, passing through here and there, sometimes pausing for
a deep and significant conversation along the way, all to “seek out and to save
the lost”. And Jesus showed that God knows the name of all the “lost”. So when
we say that, “God so loved the world”, we should understand this in terms of a
very large collection of names!
4.
A Grumbling Audience (v.7)
Isn’t it just the
way, that when something good happens to one or some, others will find a reason
to grumble. Why?? Jealousy … ‘why not me’! Anger … ‘he is the chief of
sinners’! A leopard doesn’t change its spots, they say … well maybe it can!
Nothing is impossible for God. Here was a rich man going through
the eye of a needle into the Kingdom of God! However, we tend to look to
ourselves first … how this is affecting me! This is not the way of
oneness nor community. The reason for the grumbling around Zacchaeus, is that
everyone thought that they were better than Zacchaeus, and had far more
rightful claim on Jesus’ time and attention.
This is why Jesus,
sometime previously, had made the radical statement, when he called that
other tax collector Levi/Matthew to be his disciple, that, “Those who are
well [i.e. think they are well], have no need of a physician, but
[rather] those who are sick … I have come to call not the
righteous [i.e. those who already think they are righteous], but
[rather] sinners to repentance [i.e. those who are honest enough about
themselves to want to change]”.
Those who know they
should embrace change, but can’t or won’t, may tend to “grumble” when they see
others flourishing and growing. However, Jesus was not deterred by the
grumbling of the crowd, the accusations about Zacchaeus, or his own agenda for
the day. Here was one who could be restored! Paul wrote, “Welcome one another,
therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans
15:7).
5.
Real Repentance (v.8)
In verse 8 we read a
spontaneous, almost joyous, sincere, public, and costly … commitment to
‘repentance’. [There may have been further conversations taking place b/t Jesus
and Zach, but Luke’s narrative here cuts straight to the chase.] And Zacchaeus also
referred to Jesus as “Lord”. What brought this on?? Jesus’ thorough welcome and
acceptance … connected with … Zacchaeus’ deep-felt need. At the same time there
was this revelation of what was wrong in Zach’s life, and what had to be dealt
with. Zacchaeus had wanted desperately to see who this Jesus was, and now he
had met him – he was mightily impressed.
Where this was all
heading was good – “salvation” (v.9), but for now the path to this better life
still lay heavily and weightily blocked. ‘Repentance’ is not just
being sorry (and asking for forgiveness) – it is a determination to do things
differently … to turn in a new direction. ‘Repentance’ also means to make
amends wherever possible; not in the sense that we try to prove ourselves
worthy, but rather in the sense that we show ourselves to be sincere and
wholehearted. This is why Zacchaeus is a ‘hero’ of repentance.
But the process of
‘repentance’ extends even further than this, towards the societal culture that
sin operates in. At the time of his call, the prophet Isaiah said, “… I am a
man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5).
To ‘repent’ of one’s own sin, should speak positively into any similar darkness
in others. One person’s act of repentance can even speak into the whole of
society, making statements about what is right and what is wrong. Zacchaeus was
leading the way in saying that how he had been conducting business was
completely immoral and unethical. There was now one less corrupt tax collector
tormenting society!
{Conversely, if we
notice certain shortcomings in another, or in society in general, this should
first cause us to look into ourselves, to see if we are complicit ourselves in
perpetuating such activity.}
Before he sought to
make amends to specific people (v.8b), Zacchaeus gave away half of his
possessions to the poor (v.8a). Zacchaeus was saying that Jesus was right about
caring for the poor, and that the entrenched and unjust system that Zacchaeus
had been cooperating with … was wrong. He would do what he could about the
misery that had been caused.
[This is how, in
another way, former PM Kevin Rudd could stand up in the federal parliament and
say “sorry” to the stolen generations of indigenous peoples on behalf of a
whole nation. This was a statement of what was wrong, and the whole’s nations
culpability, and the need to ‘repent’. This is how, in another way, former PM
John Howard could demand the handing in and destruction of the unnecessary
weapons lying around in the community (liable to be misused). This was a
general call to ‘repentance’ of the need for such arms, and a communal
statement of regret to the victims of Port Arthur (and their families).]
We don’t know what
other personal and social sins Zacchaeus had to repent about; what we do know
is the economic and business attitudes that had to be changed. So let us
understand that ‘repentance’ that brings salvation encompasses all of life, and
particular and specific areas of our life, not just a general “Jesus died for
my sins”. Receiving Jesus should make some serious differences, not just
forgiveness for moral lapses, but also deep and thorough changes of perspective
(in line with Jesus’ ways).
Zacchaeus could have
worked the other way around, i.e. paid back those he had cheated four times
over first, and then given away half of what was left. That would be the
cheaper and safer approach. However, he chose to put himself at risk and become
personally vulnerable, by giving away half of his possessions first, and then
starting the process of repayment (and this would likely not have been a
small list to deal
with).
6.
Salvation Arrives
Home (v.9)
Just as dramatic as Zach’s
statement of repentance, is Jesus’ response – “Today … (refer v.9)”! Jesus
publicly gives back to this rejected traitor, scorned by all apart from his
fellow thieves, his full Jewish identity … “he too is a son of Abraham”.
Repentance and forgiveness turns everything back to the way God wants it to be.
One who was lost has been reclaimed. Zacchaeus could now become the person he
was designed to be.
Salvation arrives
where a new trust has formed and been put into action. Zacchaeus has become a
disciple of Jesus as evidenced by his new attitudes. The wealth which Zacchaeus
once relied upon has become a non-issue. The sincerity that Zacchaeus brought
to his new relationship with Jesus, would see him naturally repent of all
negatives in his life, as he became aware of them. Salvation is about freedom …
freedom from any sin that diminishes and destroys our spirit – freedom from
anything that interferes with or disrupts our relationship with God.
Whether it be money
and power like Zacchaeus, or anything else, salvation means that we live under
the sway of God’s will for our lives. We were lost, but now have been found.
Perhaps not [found] up a sycamore tree, but somewhere! Salvation has visited
Zach’s house, which is not only good news for him, but also to all those others
who lived there or spent time there. There was a new Lord at that home now, and
this should be a positive experience for everyone there and all the neighbours
beside.
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