For those not familiar with an Anglican Service there are four Scripture readings prior to the Message. Today's passages were Habakkuk 1: 1-4; 2:1-4 - Psalm 119:137-144 - 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4,11-12 and Luke 19:1-10.
Zacchaeus ... Just his name is enough to elicit a grin.
As children, ... we sang a little song about him; ...... we drew pictures of him in Sunday School ... and made him to be a sort of...... "Mini-Me" character.
The story of Zacchaeus' encounter with Jesus .... is one of the best-known Biblical stories .... from the New Testament.
It is such a human story... a short man scrambling up a tree .... to see Jesus.
All of us have known the burden of being too short to see over others ... at some point in our life, maybe as a child ... so we identify with these words: (Pick up the Bible)
BIBLE "He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not... because he was short in stature." END
We think of Zacchaeus ...... and we smile.
And yet...... let me challenge that notion today .... and suggest that this is one of the most powerful and provocative stories .... in all of scripture.
It introduces the very radical notion ....... that God will stop at nothing less ....... than the total transformation .... (Slow) of who we are.
Let's take a careful look at Zacchaeus ....... and the world that he lived in.
The city of Jericho .... was a veritable Eden.
An oasis of date palms .... and balsam groves, .... it exported its products throughout the known world.
There was a day when Mark Anthony had presented Jericho ...... as a gift to Cleopatra, ... with Arabia thrown in.
It lay along the great car-a-van routes, ...... and it was a beehive of commercial .... and human activity.
Now.... Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector for the Roman empire in this ... prospering city.
He probably had a staff of tax collectors, ... and Zacchaeus was, possibly, ... the most hated man ... in all of Jericho.
He worked for the occupying forces, ......and he was regarded as a traitor ... to his own people.
He and his cohorts ... could stop a person in Jericho ... and assess duties ... on nearly everything in his or her possession.
A cart, ... could be taxed for each wheel, ...... for the animal that pulled it, ...... and for the merchandise that it carried.
He would send to Rome the amount he had bid for the right to tax, ...... and anything over that amount ...... he was free to keep.
The system was ripe for abuse, ... and this passage tersely states: ... Quote ... "he was rich" ...... as if that were some kind of indictment ....... and it was.
He had accumulated his wealth in service to the invaders ...... at the expense of his countrymen, ....... and he was regarded ... as human filth.
Zacchaeus, ... whose name meant ... "the pure one" or ... "the righteous," ....... had turned his name .... into a sneer on the lips of his fellow Jews.
The mention of his name surely evoked not a grin ...... but disgust.
The money was nice, .... to be sure.
But to live as an outcast .... among your own people.
Why? ... it must have been a lonely and depressing existence. (Pause)
But on this day...... The word is out that this rabbi ... this Nazarene named Jesus ... was coming through town....... And he is different.
In the parables .... In the stories Jesus tells, ...... it is the tax collector who's the hero ... and the Pharisee ... who is the foil!
This Jesus comes into town with a reputation for being comfortable with those on the fringes of society....... children, women, and those rejected by the trends of culture.
They found in Jesus ... a listening ear .... a warm reception.
He was worth seeking out.
But, that was easier said than done.
Zacchaeus was short in stature, ... or as we would say today ....... He was vertically challenged.
And seeing over ... or through a crowd ... was a real chore.
Trying to squeeze through a crowd ... to the front ... was no sure thing.
Sharp elbows would surly fly ...when the townspeople saw ...... the hated Zacchaeus.
His only hope was to skirt ahead of the crowd ... and find a sycamore tree, .......
It's low spreading branches ... would afford a ringside view of this man called Jesus.
(Slow) And that is exactly what he did.
He waited there in that tree, ... probably not knowing exactly what to expect, ... than Jesus came into view.
And The most amazing thing happened...Jesus stopped .... and looked up at him. (Luke 19:5)
We know Jesus had eyes .... that would see what others would miss.
Jesus was able to see into people .... He was able to see into situations.
And Jesus did not miss ....... Zacchaeus.
Luke says he saw him and said simply: ... BIBLE "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down for I must stay at your house today." END (Luke 19:5)
Well, .... Zacchaeus wasted no time scrambling down from that tree, .... and the Scriptures state .... he "was happy to welcome him."
No one came calling for Zacchaeus ... unless it was to complain.
House-guests...... they had to be a rare exception ...... to his lonely life.
Zacchaeus could have stayed up in that tree... and rebuffed Jesus' invitation.
Plenty of people do.
It is certainly much easier to go on with our own life......to continue with our own agenda .... Than to allow the Messiah to invite himself over and "Delve" ...... into our inner core.
That requires us to take a risk.
Beloved.... it takes risk ... to allow Jesus into that part of us ....... where our true self resides.
Sadly.... Most resist.
But Zacchaeus ...... takes the chance ... and allows Jesus into his inner room.
And It was a dinner to remember.
This surely was a bitter pill ... for the townsfolk to swallow.
What kind of Rabbi.... Messiah .... would even acknowledge, ...... much less eat .... with the most notorious sinner in town?
Luke says they began to "Grumble" .... to "murmur," to "mutter".
We really do not know what happened at Zacchaeus' home.
All we see .... are the results, ...... and those results ...... tell us a great deal.
For Zacchaeus makes a two-pronged pledge:
(1 Finger) First to give half his yearly income to the poor.
(2 Fingers) And Secondly to return any stolen funds four times over.
Jewish law ... only required ... restitution of the money ... plus twenty percent.
But Zacchaeus ...... thought four hundred percent interest ... was more appropriate.
Something in that encounter with Jesus ... changed the way Zacchaeus saw the world.
He could now see people in need ...... where before .... he only saw people ... he needed to fleece.
Beloved.... (Slow) Jesus changes how ....... we see .... How we view the world ... and how we view other people.
No longer do labels work...poor, rich, Democrat, Republican, white, black, ... now we see people who ....... are as needy .... Who are as broken ... as we are.
Now we see real people .... with real needs.
We see glimpses of this in our Society .... when a disaster occurs.
Let a hurricane blow through ... or a twister touchdown .... or a plane fall from the sky, .... and people rally to the support of neighbors and strangers ... without concern for their social status or skin color.
It is to see .... with the eyes of Jesus.
Salvation comes to Zacchaeus' house, ... and he is forever changed ...... from a taker .... to a giver.
This man had made his living by taking from others, ...... and suddenly, ... instantly ...... after one meal with Jesus, ... he is changed.
As a pastor, .... I have observed it ... time and again.
When Christ takes up residence in a life, .... we become generous.
For Those in Christ...... Giving becomes an opportunity, .... not a requirement.
I would even suggest ... that no person has had an authentic encounter with the living Christ ...... unless a generous heart .... is the result.
If everything you do is about you, ......if it is all self-serving, ....... then you need to invite Jesus in ... to dine with you.
As a result of Zacchaeus encounter with Jesus, .... a 50% tithe seemed an appropriate response.
This meeting with Jesus (SLOW) "redeemed Zacchaeus' past, ...... it transformed his present, ...... and it re-directed his future." REPEAT
Isn't that what .... God wants to do with each of us?
This is a story ... of how the power ... and the grace of God .... Radically changes a human being.
This change, ... no doubt, ... cost Zacchaeus his job, ... and there is a somewhat dubious tradition ..... That Zacchaeus later became ..... bishop at Caesarea.
Beloved.... This encounter is far more than a nursery room story.
The story of Zacchaeus... is a powerful story of change ... Redemptive change!
It is Found only in Luke's Gospel, ... and it turns out to be a reproduction ...... in miniature .... of the mission of Jesus:
For Jesus was Received by the outcast, .... condemned by the authorities...and that murmuring, .......... well, ... it follows Jesus ... all the way to Jerusalem ... and to the Cross.
It starts with a small man in a tree.
And it ends ...... with one of the fullest hearts .... Jesus encounters ... in all of Israel.
Beloved ... Jesus.... is coming to town.
He has an agenda: .... to seek and to save .... to change the world ....... one person at a time.
Let me invite you to spiritually climb the tree ... and see what Jesus is about to do.
But beware! .... Oh' Beware!
He may stop beneath the tree where you sit...no matter how comfortable .... no matter how complacent ... or secure ... you may be.
He may look at you ... and invite you down....... down to fellowship with him, .... to come down ...... to be transformed.
It takes courage ... to come down from that tree, ...... but the gift of new vision ...... of a new life in Christ .... is worth it all.
In the end, Jesus declares ... that salvation has come to the house ... of Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus was lost.
He had become confused about why he was here, .... and whom .... he was to serve.
(SLOW DOWN) Jesus comes ... looking for each of us ... and invites us to a changed life.
A life that is continually transformed ... into the image of Jesus.
Let us Pray:
O Heavenly Father...., we too ... need you to redeem our past, to transform our present, and to redirect our future.
Help us to be conformed .... Transformed into the image of Your Son.
Father.... Call us out of those places we sit ... and are comfortable today ...... show us how to be the people ... you would have us be.
And all God's people said: ........ Amen!
There are quotes in this Message from a Sermon by William G. Wilson Titled "Changed from taker to giver" and I commend it to you.
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