"An Early Christmas Present”

(v.7) “HE HAS GONE TO BE THE GUEST OF A SINNER”. We see hear the opinion others had of Zacchaeus. If he had based his self-worth on the opinions of others Zacchaeus would have seen himself as a hopeless sinner. The one thing that was preventing Zacchaeus from seeing himself as hopeless was the overwhelming proof of Jesus’ acceptance of him. Both Zacchaeus’ past failures and Jesus’ unconditional love were realities, but Zacchaeus chose to value Jesus’ love more than his past failures.

On the other side of the spectrum many times Christians are too judgmental on others and aren’t willing to take the gospel to so-called “sinners”. Or we feel overwhelmed when we think of the pull the world has on the lost, and what little influence we have as born again believers.

Illust: There is a true story of a boy who suffered under the Nazis during WWII. This Jewish boy was living in a small Polish village when he and all the other Jews in the vicinity where rounded up by Nazi SS troops and sentenced to death. This boy joined his neighbors in digging a shallow ditch for their graves. Then they were lined up against a wall and machine-gunned. Their corpse fell into the shallow grave and the Nazis covered their crumpled bodies with dirt. But none of the bullets hit this little boy. His naked body was splattered with the blood of his parents. And when they fell into the ditch he pretended to be dead and fell on top of them. The thin covering of dirt was so thin that it didn’t prevent the air from getting to him so that he could breath. Several hours later when darkness fell this 10-year-old boy clawed his way out of the shallow grave. With blood and dirt caked to his little body he made his way to the nearest house. And he begged for help. Recognizing him as one of the Jewish boys marked for death by the SS the woman who answered the door screamed at him to go away, and slammed the door. He was turned away at the next house as well as the one after that. In each case the unwillingness to get into trouble with the SS overpowered any feeling of compassion. Dirty, blooded and shivering the little boy went from one house to the next begging for someone to help him. Then something inside him guided him to say something very strange for a Jewish boy to say. When the next family who responded to his timid knocking they heard him cry, “don’t you recognize me? I’m the Jesus you say you love.” After a poignant pause the woman who stood in the door way swept him into her arms and kissed him. From that day on that family cared for the boy as if he were one of their own.

Matt 25:40

`I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

How can I go against a world that screams louder than I scream and can offer more logic than I can offer? Offers more support from people than I can offer?

SEE CHRIST IN THEM!!!

(v.8) Luke 19:8

The half of my goods I give to the poor. Giving was a new experience for Zacchaeus. Like most tax collectors, he had previously been interested only in taking. If I have taken any thing. The type of conditional sentence used here (Gr. ei . . . esykophantesa) implies that he knew well that he had extorted money from others. It could be translated, "Since . . ." The if implies an actuality, not a hypothetical case. Fourfold. The Law required only the restoration of the principal, with 20 per cent interest (Lev 6:5; Num 5:7), but Zacchaeus imposed upon himself a much severer penalty, comparable to that exacted for robbery (Ex 22:1).