Dan Herold | Luke 19:1-10 | November 13, 2016
(Sermon begins at 9:53)
I heard a story once about a fitness center that was offering $1,000 to anyone who could show they were stronger than the owner of the gym. Here’s how the challenge worked: The gym owner would squeeze a lemon into a glass until all the juice was gone. Then he would hand the lemon to the challenger. Anyone who could squeeze just one more drop of juice from the lemon would win the money.
Over time many people tried—weight lifters, construction workers, even professional wrestlers—but nobody could do it. Then one day, a small, skinny man in a suit came in. He had come for other business, but when he heard about the challenge, he said he wanted to give it a try. When the laughter finally died down, the owner grabbed a lemon and squeezed away. Then he handed the wrinkled remains to the little man. The crowd went silent as six drops slowly fell from the lemon. The crowd erupted in cheers. As the owner paid out the prize money, he asked the little man what he did for a living. “Are you a lumberjack or weight lifter or what?” he asked. The man in the suit replied, “I work for the IRS.”
It sometimes feels like the IRS has ways of squeezing out every last drop. Though as Christians we understand that paying taxes is part of our Christian duty, even though we don’t actually like it.
In Jesus’ day, however, it was even worse. You see, the Romans who ruled over Israel would pick people from every town to be their tax collectors. If you agreed to be a tax collector, right from the beginning people in your town would hate you. You would be seen as a traitor to Israel and to God because you were collecting money for the hated Romans and their pagan emperor.
The way the Romans collected their taxes was by having the tax collector collect a certain amount from each person to give to the government. But the tax collector was expected to take more than what the people owed in order to pay his own salary, and it usually doesn’t end up being very fair when government employees get to set their own salaries.
You can see how tax collectors often became extremely wealthy. Most were corrupt politicians. They cheated the people. They betrayed their own communities for personal gain. Tax collectors in Jesus’ day were considered the worst of sinners. Everybody hated them.
Understanding that will help you understand what’s going on in Luke 19 when Jesus meets a man named Zacchaeus. In that lesson, we see Jesus about seven days before his death. He was walking with the thousands of pilgrims who were headed up to Jerusalem from Galilee for the Feast of the Passover. The last big city through which they would pass before arriving in Jerusalem was Jericho, the City of Palms. Located in a lush valley about six miles from the Jordan River and the Dead Sea, Jericho was a tropical oasis filled with luscious vegetation and towering trees in the middle of the Judaean wilderness.
The custom in those days was that, as the pilgrims went through a town on their way to Jerusalem, the people from that town would gather along the streets and cheer on their brothers and sisters. It was like a parade.
Now, the people of Jericho heard that Jesus, the great prophet from Nazareth, was coming and all the people came out to see what was going on. If you looked around, you’d probably see mothers lifting up their young children as Jesus went by.
And that’s when we meet Zacchaeus. The name Zacchaeus in Hebrew means “just” or “pure.” Zacchaeus, however, was anything but just or pure. He was the chief tax collector of the district—the top of a corrupt pyramid. If he was what most tax collectors were (and it seems like he was), he was a crook.
Now, Zacchaeus had heard about Jesus. He wondered about Jesus. He wanted to see him, but he had a problem. Zacchaeus was what we would call vertically challenged. He was short guy and he couldn’t see over the crowds. Remember though, Jericho was the City of Palms. The road was lined with all kinds of different trees. So, Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree so he could see. That always seems a little strange, but he probably wasn’t the only one in the trees trying to get a bird’s-eye view of Jesus.
When Jesus came to Zacchaeus’ tree, though, he stopped, looked up, and said,
“Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5).
Jesus was going to spend the night in Jericho and he wasn’t going to stay with a city official, or a Pharisee or Sadducee, or a chief priest—but he was going to stay at the house of the chief tax collector! The people almost lost it. They couldn’t believe it. They were on the verge of rioting in the streets.
“He has gone to be the guest of a sinner” (Luke 19:7), they said?!
We aren’t told what Jesus talked about with Zacchaeus when they got to his house, but we can assume he talked about sin and forgiveness. We can assume he talked about how he had come to save sinners. We can assume that because that’s what Jesus regularly talked about.
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We can assume he talked about saving sinners because Zacchaeus stood up to make an announcement.
“Look, Lord!” he said. “Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount” (Luke 19:8).
Think about that. Zacchaeus gave half to the poor and then used the other half to pay back everybody he had wronged. Because he was so filled with gratitude for what God had done for him. Gratitude is more than words, though—gratitude leads to overwhelming generosity and leads to action.
At that, Jesus said something which probably shocked and amazed the people.
“Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham” (Luke 19:9).
Think about what Jesus said. He was saying that this man who was considered to be a traitor to Israel and the true God—a corrupt politician, a thief—was a son of Abraham, and a member of the family of believers. How could that be? It was because Jesus, the Son of Man,
“came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
Those words echo even more loudly when we remember that only seven days later this same Jesus, the Son of Man, would rescue the world by winning salvation on the cross. He would be beaten and bloodied, crucified, and forsaken by his heavenly Father. But there Jesus would bring lost sinners into his family. They would go from being outcasts to being part of the family of God. Jesus had promised Zacchaeus salvation which was won for all people at the cross.
The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. The people of Jericho struggled to understand that truth. The Pharisees, Jesus’ enemies, couldn’t handle that truth. They were disgusted because Jesus was always hanging out with prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners. If he was so holy, why would he hang out with the filth of society? They looked down on those whom they considered unworthy of God’s love.
Sadly, each of us has a little Pharisee who has taken up residence in our hearts. Our noses go up so easily and our eyes look down so quickly when we see the sinners out there in the world. You know the ones—those corrupt politicians, those drug dealers and drug users, those husbands who hit their wives and wives who cheat on their husbands. Our little Pharisee even looks down on those sinners sitting next to us here in church.
In polite conversation we will say we don’t think we’re any better than they are, but deep down in the dark places of our hearts, each of our little Pharisees sits back in a comfortable chair and says, “I’m so glad I’m not like them. I’m better than them. I haven’t done what they’ve done.”
What we so often forget is that the Son of Man came to seek and to save each one of us. We all were lost. Did you hear that? That means nowhere near heaven, nowhere near perfection, nowhere near Jesus. We are the worst of sinners. That is me sitting in that tree. That’s you sitting in that tree. We so easily see the sins of others, but so often fail to see how lost we really are in our sins.
But Jesus came to seek and to save you, a lost one. He lived in purity by never cheating or stealing, by never being selfish, and by never giving in to lust or laziness. As he hung with his back pressed against the splintered wood of the cross, he allowed himself to suffer God’s wrath that we deserve. But because he did, we are forgiven. He tells us to come down from our tree because he died on a tree to take away our sins.
And when we finally get that—when we finally understand how lousy we are and how loving he is—when we truly appreciate and understand what it means when God says, “I forgive you”—then we will react as Zacchaeus did. Zacchaeus couldn’t contain himself. He had finally found what money couldn’t buy. He had found peace and hope. His overwhelming gratitude led to overwhelming generosity.
The secret to overwhelming gratitude—the secret to the joy that Zacchaeus found—is opening our eyes and recognizing all the amazing things God has done for us. The secret to overwhelming gratitude is understanding that we don’t deserve any of it.
Start with recognizing how much Jesus gave you by sharing his forgiving love that changed you from being lost to being found. He changed you from being a citizen of hell to a citizen of heaven. Recognize how much Jesus gives you as he treats you as family and generously cares for you. Look around you at your home and cars, your family and friends. Look at the food you eat and the air you breathe. Look at your church family, the freedom you have to worship God and learn from him. Like Zacchaeus, you haven’t earned any of it. You don’t deserve it. You’re not better than anyone else. But still, God has been overwhelmingly generous with you.
So now respond with overwhelming gratitude. Respond with overwhelming generosity. Respond like Zacchaeus and give generously. As you give from a generous heart, God promises to bless you. So be overwhelmingly generous with your family and friends. Be overwhelming generous here at church. Be overwhelmingly generous with complete strangers. Give as God has given to you.
Amen.