BIG LESSONS IN SMALL PACKAGES
Part 1—Payback is Sweet
Luke 19:1-10
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Pastor Brian Matherlee
A soldier fighting over in Iraq received a letter from his girl friend that said she was breaking up with him. She also asked him to send the picture she had given him when he left because she needed it for her bridal announcement. The soldier was heart broken and told his friends of his terrible situation. So his whole platoon got together and brought all their pictures of their girlfriends, and put them in a box and gave them to him. So he put her picture in the box with the rest along with a note that said, “I’m sending back your picture to you please remove it and send back the rest. For the life of me I can’t remember which one you are.” We love revenge don’t we? (sermoncentral.com)
A woman went shopping and was fumbling through her purse to pay when a TV remote fell out. The clerk asked her if she always carried the remote. The lady said, “No, my husband wouldn’t come shopping so I figured this was the meanest thing I could do to him.”
We love revenge don’t we?
Luke 19:1-10
Lk 19:1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.
Lk 19:2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
Lk 19:3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd.
Lk 19:4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
Lk 19:5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
Lk 19:6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
Lk 19:7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ ”
Lk 19:8 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.”
Lk 19:9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.
Lk 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
Background
• Jericho was a major trading center in Israel. Great wealth funneled through this area. It would have been a prime location for a tax collector.
• Zacchaeus was not the same kind of tax collector the disciple Matthew (Levi) was. Zacchaeus was the highest rung up on the ladder of abuse. Matthew would have worked for a guy like Zacchaeus.
• The hatred for tax collectors is something we can relate to but you have to understand how the system worked to grasp why tax collectors were loathed. I have a cousin who works for the IRS. If he tells people what he does he gets a reaction…but they don’t want him dead! People hated Zacchaeus.
• The Roman system of tax collecting involved contracting with individuals (Zacchaeus) to collect a certain amount from people who then could extort more from the people to make their living. The Scripture tells us he was wealthy…so he must have been very good at it.
• What’s ironic is this man with big influence was such a small man.
The Story
• Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. Really it seems he was desperate to see Him. He was too small and couldn’t bully his way for an audience with Jesus so he had to run ahead of the crowd and wait to get a glimpse of Him. I wonder what he thought while He waited in that tree. Do you think people ridiculed him? Undeterred, Zacchaeus’ patience paid off. He saw Jesus. But the interesting thing to note is that Jesus wanted to see Zacchaeus more than vice versa.
• Note the urgency in Jesus statement
o Come down immediately
o I must stay at your house today
• Oh, how God longs to be with us. Don’t you know no matter how much you have longed to be with the Lord, He has desired you.
• The God tells us in Jeremiah 31:3, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” In Romans 5:8 we read, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
• Jesus knew Zacchaeus by name. I think He knew him from previous encounters and not simply by reputation.
• In Luke 5:27-32 we see another time Jesus encountered a tax collector.
Lk 5:27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him,
Lk 5:28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
Lk 5:29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
Lk 5:30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
Lk 5:31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
Lk 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
• It wouldn’t surprise me if Levi was on the payroll of Zacchaeus.
• People grumbled about Jesus eating with tax collectors.
• What’s the big deal?
29-30—a banquet in the NT symbolizes joy and often hints at the [heavenly] banquet. Jesus is the guest of honor; but Levi does not limit the guest list to his new Christian friends, the disciples of Jesus. Instead of immediately cutting off his old associates, Levi invites them into his home, probably to bring them also into contact with Jesus. Luke mentions "others," who turn out to be "sinners," as far as the Pharisees are concerned. The joy of the participants is now opposed by the dour criticism of the religious leaders.
The complaint of the Pharisees is based on their dedication to upholding the purity of Jewish faith and life. Implicit in their teachings was strict adherence to both law and tradition, including necessary rites of purification and separation from all whose moral or ritual purity might be in question.
Their complaint against Jesus is specifically directed to his acceptance of these despised people sitting down in table fellowship with them. (Zondervan Bible Commentary notes)
• This must be why Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. He knew he would be accepted. Luke writes in 5:31 and 19:10 that sinners were the reason He had come!
• Zacchaeus knew he was a sinner. Do you know that God can’t do anything with someone who refuses to admit that they’re a sinner?
• The lesson I want us to make today is found in 19:8
• Lk 19:8 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.”
Notice what takes place:
1. Zacchaeus has a change of heart
• Contrast his attitude with the response of the rich young ruler in Luke 18.
2. Zacchaeus makes a public commitment
• He does it immediately—there’s no negotiating with what God wants.
• There’s no turning back
• Everybody’s heard him by now
• The way Luke records it demonstrates that Zacchaeus knew exactly what he was doing. He stood up to proclaim. It was a calculated announcement. Equivalent of someone tapping their glass at a wedding to speak or make a toast.
3. Zacchaeus was going to find release in restitution
• I can’t say enough about the freedom that comes in making things right with others.
What does restitution accomplish?
• It loosens the grip of the devil.
o Charles Wesley wrote “it breaks the power of cancelled sin”.
o God alone forgives but we know that the devil holds our past over us whenever he can. Making amends is part of releasing our own spirit from guilt.
o We are so afraid that it might look like we are striving to earn God’s favor that we neglect this spiritual discipline. Forgiveness without repentance, and I would add restitution, is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called, “cheap grace”.
• It initiates healing
o Zacchaeus had hurt many people. Perhaps many were devastated economically. This would go a long way to beginning to set people back right. It’s kind of like Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas morning. Think back to that story, “A Christmas Carol” and see how restitution was the action that initiated joy.
o The joy that is lost in Christian experience because we hold back from full obedience in this area.
o Many people are hurt by your words or actions. Apology can begin to help. People may not accept it but you must offer it. The road to restored relationship begins with “I was wrong”.
• It demonstrates the power of God
o I think Zacchaeus had seen what Jesus did for Matthew. I think he wanted to help others discover what he had.
o William P. Barker tells of a machinist at Ford Motor Company in Detroit who became a Christian. He responded to the invitation and was baptized. As the Holy Spirit began renewing this man he became convicted of his need to make restitution for some parts and tools he had stolen from the company prior to becoming a Christian. So the next morning he brought all the tools and parts back to his employer. He explained how he had just been baptized and asked for his foreman’s forgiveness. This was such an amazing turn of events that Mr. Ford, who was visiting a plant in Europe at the time, was cabled with the details of the matter and asked his response. Mr. Ford immediately returned a cable with his decision: “Dam up the Detroit River, and baptize the entire city.”
Do you need to make something right? Follow Zacchaeus’ example and find payback is sweet!
Prayer
He breaks the power of cancelled sin
He sets the prisoner free
His blood can make the foulest clean
His blood availed for me
--Charles Wesley, “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing”
