“Up a Tree?”
Luke 19:1-10
“As Good as It Gets” is a 1997 comedy.
In it Jack Nickolson plays Melvin Udall, a crude, obsessive-compulsive author who offends everyone he meets.
But Melvin becomes enamored with Carol Connelly, a waitress played by Helen Hunt.
She has seen Melvin at his worst, but she reluctantly agrees to meet him at a fancy restaurant for a date.
While the other customers at the restaurant are impeccably dressed, Carol wears a simple red dress, the nicest dress she owns.
Melvin sees Carol at the bar and waves her over to his table.
When she approaches, Melvin hits an all-time low.
“This restaurant!” he says, “They make me buy a new outfit and let you in wearing a house dress.”
Carol is stunned and hurt.
Yet, she doesn’t leave.
Instead, Carol looks Melvin in the eye and says: “Pay me a compliment, Melvin. I need one now.”
Melvin responds, “I’ve got a compliment.”
What could he possibly say to undo the thoughtless comment he had just dished out?
Melvin then delivers one of the most romantic lines in big-screen history.
This deeply flawed man, his own worst enemy, looks at Carol with all the kindness and sincerity his shriveled heart can muster and says, “Carol, you make me want to be a better man.”
The story of Zacchaeus is pretty well known—especially if you grew up going to Sunday school and attending Vacation Bible School.
There is a children’s song about Zacchaeus that many of us sing at some point in our lives.
But in order to get to the real meat of this Scripture Lesson we need to get beyond the cute and harmless “wee little man” image of the Sunday school song.
There can be no doubt about it—Zacchaeus is a truly corrupt man.
Commentator Michael Card writes the following:
“Zacchaeus is not misunderstood.
He is not the victim of circumstance…
…he has chosen to work for the Romans, to bilk his own people.
So successful is he at his job that he has risen in the ranks to become a chief tax collector.
The people don’t despise him because they are closed-minded and judgmental; they despise him because he is a slimy, good-for-nothing thief.
And he knows it.”
So, why do you suppose that this rich and corrupt man becomes so determined to see Jesus?
What do you think?
Perhaps he looked in the mirror that morning and decided he did not like whom he saw.
Maybe he was tired of being excluded from the community.
Maybe he was tired of being lonely, of being an outcast.
Perhaps he’s finding that money can’t buy love and happiness.
Maybe the conflict between what he knows is right and how he is living his life has sharpened to the point of unbearable pain in his inner life.
In any event, we can surmise that Zacchaeus is a rich man with a big hole in his heart and life.
And so, when he hears that Jesus is coming through Jericho—Jesus, the religious teacher Who (they say) talks to tax collectors and sinners—Zacchaeus slips out of his house and heads down to Main Street where everyone else is waiting.
But there are too many people there.
Not only is Zacchaeus too short to see above the crowds, he likely doesn’t want to be seen by the crowds.
So, Zacchaeus goes further down the road and climbs a tree—but it isn’t long before the crowd, moving along ahead of Jesus, catches up with him.
I am sure you have heard the expression: “Up a Tree.”
Well, that’s a good description of the predicament Zacchaeus finds himself in.
It’s kind of like saying that someone is “up a creek without a paddle.”
The literal definition of the “Up a Tree” means to be in a difficult situation without a means to escape.
The expression is a colloquial term that dates back to the 1800’s.
It alludes to an animal, such as a squirrel or raccoon, that has climbed up a tree in order to escape danger only to find that it is stuck and can’t come down.
So, Zacchaeus is surrounded by people.
“Just sit quietly,” he might have said to himself.
“Maybe no one will notice me.”
But they do.
And suddenly Zacchaeus is the entertainment, the warm-up act for Jesus’ latest tour.
The people laugh and point.
Some of the children start to throw stones.
Zacchaeus climbs to the next higher limb, but the branch starts to bend.
The people laugh harder.
Now the ruler of the tax collectors is not only “up a tree”—he’s also “out on a limb.”
What a sight!!!
But then they turn away because Jesus has arrived.
And if the story ended here, it wouldn’t be a story about someone receiving the Kingdom.
It would just be a story about a sinful man gazing with yearning on a salvation that could never be his.
Zacchaeus has spent his time collecting a vast array of possessions, and others have pressed their noses to the store window of his life and envied.
Now the roles are reversed, and he is hanging onto a branch, straining his eyes to see the Bringer of a salvation that he does not deserve and that he probably feels will never be his.
And, of course, it takes Jesus’ noticing of Zacchaeus, and inviting Himself into his life to move Zacchaeus from being “up a tree” and “out on a limb” to being at the table with the Savior of the world.
And Zacchaeus’ encounter and time of hanging out with Jesus changes his life.
Why do you suppose that is?
Could it be that Zacchaeus saw something in Jesus that made him want to be a better man?
Let’s take a look at what Jesus said to Zacchaeus when He spotted him in the tree.
He simply “looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately.
I must stay at your house today.”
He didn’t berate Zacchaeus nor did He shame him.
He didn’t say: “Stop stealing from the public.
Stop getting rich off the backs of poor people!!!”
Instead, He basically said, “I want to be with you today. Can I come over?”
And so Jesus spent time with Zacchaeus.
He didn’t try to sell him something, instead, He offered His companionship for free.
He became a friend.
And we all need friends.
We are told that “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.”
This goes far beyond what the Jewish law demands.
Furthermore, Zacchaeus makes this commitment not with a frown on his face, but with a light heart and a smile.
And then Jesus confirms what we have already witnessed: “Today, salvation has come to this house.
The story of Zacchaeus tells us that the gospel is about a serious commitment to God, but it is also about joy.
It’s about the joy of finding out that Jesus finds us and loves us just the way we are—without judgment.
It’s about the joy of finding out that, no matter how far we have fallen into the muck of sin and evil—no one is beyond God’s reach.
It’s about great, great joy as we willingly part with the things that keep us from Christ in order to have the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl of great price—the Kingdom of God—a living relationship with Jesus Who is not a cranky old man but a really, really cool friend!!!
We are going to have Communion this morning.
Communion is serious business, but it is also a celebration.
The word “Eucharist” means Thanksgiving.
We are thanking God for what He has done for us in Jesus Christ.
We are to respond to Jesus’ invitation to the table with joy because, with that invitation, Jesus is telling us that we are included in God’s family!!!
And that is the best news ever!!!
It’s extremely important to remember the last words Jesus says in this story: “For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.”
I want to ask you this morning: Are you up a tree?
Do you feel like you are cornered, in a difficult situation without a means of escape?
Sin can make us feel this way.
Guilt and shame can make us feel as if there is no hope.
The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 5:8: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
And Paul referred to himself as the greatest sinner of all!!!
Zacchaeus was really up a tree when Jesus came to him, and invited him into a brand-new life.
And that is the way it works.
God searches for us, like a shepherd searching for a lost sheep.
And when He finds us there is great rejoicing in heaven!!!
God throws a party whenever a human being accepts God’s call to enter God’s Kingdom.
Jesus has done all the work.
All we need do is what Zacchaeus did—come down out of that tree—and live into the new life He offers.
As we prepare for Holy Communion this morning—let us keep in mind that it is by Jesus’ body—given for us on the Cross that we can have new life.
It is by Jesus’ precious blood poured out for the forgiveness of our sins that we can be saved.
God is throwing a welcome party for us this morning.
Jesus makes us want to be better people.
God makes it possible.
Let us listen to the invitation—and let us come with joy and thanksgiving!!!
