Last Sunday, Amey graciously led our worship service. She read
to us the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector – a Pharisee gloated
smugly to God as he prayed and said he was thankful he wasn’t a bad guy like
the Tax Collector. The tax collector prayed to God and asked God to have mercy
on him, a sinner. Jesus praised the humble prayer of the tax collector, not the
prideful prayer of the Pharisee.
This Sunday, we turn to the next chapter in the book of Luke. We read another story about a tax collector, albeit, the one in today’s story was a real person, not the subject of a parable. Please turn to Luke chapter 19 and read with me the favorite story of Zacchaeus climbing the sycamore tree to see Jesus:
Scripture – Luke 19:1-10
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.
A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax
collector and was wealthy.
He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he
could not see over the crowd.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since
Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him,
“Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be
the guest of a sinner.”
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! 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.”
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house,
because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray – May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Whenever I think of this story of Zacchaeus, his song
starts running through my head…..the preschool song about the “wee little man”
who climbed up in the Sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. This is one
of those little stories where we can all remember what happened because we have
the rhyme-y poem to remind us the details.
We remember the song because when we sing it we are also
wee-little people, and we are happy to hear that Jesus’ notices people who
aren’t necessarily tall and strong and powerful. But, what is remarkable about
this story is that in reality, Zacchaeus had power and wealth, just not height.
And, Zacchaeus was so inspired by Jesus that he changed his perspective and
life after he met Jesus.
Tax-Collectors were widely hated by 1st
Century Israelis. Even 21st Century Americans don’t feel warm and
fuzzy about IRS investigators. Tax collectors in Israel worked for the
oppressive Roman government who conquered their land. And, they defrauded the
people, their fellow-Jewish people, to enrich themselves. They added to the
taxes imposed upon their subjects and filled their personal coffers.
Yet, they sometimes had a conscious. Last week, the
tax-collector in Jesus’ parable had an awareness that they were a sinful person
in need of grace. Zacchaeus had risen the ranks of tax collectors to become the
“chief” of all collectors. He was very wealthy. And he was very curious about
Jesus. Can you imagine a wealthy, middle-aged man with a high status in his
community climbing a tree in order to see a religious figure walking by? We
rarely see adults climb trees unless they are tree-trimmers! Yet, Zacchaeus did
something potentially embarrassing and dangerous in order to see Jesus walk
past.
Jesus noticed Zacchaeus in the tree. And, Jesus ordered
Zacchaeus to come down and host Jesus at his home. Jesus saw a man who was
hated by his neighbors and instead of glaring at him with decision, Jesus
invited himself over to his home.
Zacchaeus’ experience with Jesus inspired him to turn over a new leaf.
Zacchaeus pledged to give half of his possessions to the poor and to return
four times the money to the people he had defrauded.
People can change. Zacchaeus was a man with wealth and
power, and yet when he met Jesus, he changed. Sometimes, we feel like we are
unable to change – we come up with excuses – I’m too comfortable…I’m scared…I’m
old…I’m not adventurous….we come up with excuses. But, in reality we are all
capable of changing, and the people around us are also capable of changing too.
When Zacchaeus met Jesus, he changed for the better. He
decided to give away his money and possessions to people who were struggling.
He repented for his past unethical fraudulent choices and he returned money to
the people he had harmed. When he decided to share his wealth, Jesus said that
salvation came to Zacchaeus’ house.
Our society tells us that we are better off when we have
“more.” More money, more resources, more stuff. Amazon has had annoying ads
lately telling us to buy more stuff from them. As long as the stuff keeps
streaming into our homes, we will be happy.
But, we know this isn’t real…Our happiness is not
correlated with the more we have. Instead, like Zacchaeus, we may become happier
when we give away our money and our stuff and help other people. Our faith in
Christianity emphasizes that true happiness, true satisfaction, lies in having
a relationship with God. Our faith reassures us that God accepts us as we are,
loves us despite our flaws and wants us to serve God by serving others. The
point of this life isn’t “he who has the most toys wins,” but is instead that
we are called to love and serve God and love and care for other people.
Zacchaeus met Jesus and was inspired to return the money
he stole and give away half of all that he had to the poor. The more we get to
know Jesus, and the ore we deepen our faith in God, we will also save our
lives. We are compelled to be generous and treat other fairly because we are in
relationship with the God of grace, justice, and generosity. Let us remember
that the source of our salvation is God alone.
Amen.
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