Encountering Jesus (4)
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 1/25/2015
How many of you remember the story of Zacchaeus? Of course, you remember. Anyone who hears his story never forgets. Zacchaeus is one of those memorable Bible characters we learn about in Sunday School. In fact, to this day, every time I hear his name I immediately hear that children’s song playing in the back of my mind.
Zacchaeus was a wee little man,
A wee little man was he.
He climbed up in a Sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see.
Zacchaeus has the lamentable fortune of being remembered primarily because of his less-than-impressive stature—he was a “wee little man.” That’s just about all most of us remember about him so we tend to sell him short, so to speak.
But Zacchaeus, like so many others we read about in the gospels, experienced a life-changing encounter with Jesus. His story actually picks up immediately following the healing of the two blind men that we read about last Sunday. And, like Zacchaeus himself, his story is rather short. So let me invite you to turn with me to Luke 19 as we read this petit passage with a powerful message.
Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.
When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.” Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.
Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” (Luke 19:1-10 NCV)
The name “Zacchaeus” means the “righteous one,” but apparently Zacchaeus wasn’t living up to his namesake. Rather, he was known around town as a “notorious sinner.” As a tax-collector working for the Romans, most Jews would have considered Zacchaeus a traitor, but in the eyes of Jesus he was a lost sinner in need of a Savior. Although Zacchaeus is generally known for being short of stature, I want to highlight four qualities that Zacchaeus was not short on. First, Zacchaeus was more than a little curious.
• CURIOUS
Jesus not only drew decent folks and respectable citizens; but even tax collectors, street walkers, and other notorious sinners were drawn to Jesus like a magnet. I’m not sure how Zacchaeus heard about Jesus. Perhaps Matthew, a former tax-collector himself, was one of his friends. Did he told Zacchaeus about Jesus? Was Matthew praying for Zacchaeus? We can’t answer those questions, but something about Jesus piqued Zacchaeus’s curiosity.
The Bible tells us he was so compelled to see Jesus that “He ran ahead to a place where Jesus would come, and he climbed a sycamore tree so he could see him” (Luke 19:4 NCV). It wasn’t enough to stand at the back of the crowd. It wasn’t enough to peer through a make-shift telescope. It wasn’t enough to listen to someone else describe Jesus as he passed by. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus with his own eyes! So he went out on a limb. In a three-piece Armani suit and brand-new Italian loafers, he shimmied up a tree in hopes of seeing Jesus.
I wonder if we would be willing to do the same.
Would you go out on a limb just to see Jesus?
In the fourth century, Augustine posed the following experiment. Imagine God saying to you, “I’ll make a deal with you if you wish. I’ll give you anything and everything you ask: pleasure, power, honor, wealth, freedom, even peace of mind and a good conscience. Nothing will be a sin; nothing will be forbidden; and nothing will be impossible to you. You will never be bored and you will never die. Only . . . you will never see my face.”
The first part of the proposition is appealing. Isn’t there a part of us, a pleasure-loving part of us that perks up at the thought of guiltless, endless delight? But then, just as we are about to raise our hands and volunteer, we hear the final phrase, “you will never see my face.”
And we pause. Never? Never know the image of God? Never, ever behold the presence of Christ? At this point, tell me, doesn’t the bargain begin to lose some of its appeal? Don’t second thoughts begin to surface? And doesn’t the test teach us something about our hearts? Doesn’t it reveal a deeper, better part of us that longs to see God?
Zacchaeus embraced that inner longing. He was willing to climb and cling to tree branches just to get a glimpse of Jesus. I think God rewards this kind of curiosity. The Bible invites, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8).
That’s just what happened to Zacchaeus. Because he indulged his curiosity, Zacchaeus experienced a life-changing encounter with Jesus.
In addition to his curiosity, Zaccheus was also more than a little charged.
• CHARGED
This whole story gives us the impression that Zacchaeus was excited and enthusiastic about meeting Jesus. It almost makes you tired just following all the verbs in this passage: “ran, climbed, hurried, came down, welcomed, stood, said, will give, have cheated, will pay…” All these verbs speak of a certain bounce to his step, a wide smile on his face. And then we read: “Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy” (Luke 19:6 NLT). His enthusiasm is obvious even from 10,000 miles and 20 centuries away.
When was the last time you got excited about Jesus?
Cartoonist Doug Hall once pictured a church secretary delivering a phone message to the pastor. The caption read: “A man from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! wants a picture of someone on fire for the Lord.” Unfortunately, enthusiasm and excitement are the exception for Christians, not the norm. But enthusiastic faith is what makes the difference between pew-warmers and prayer warriors, between Sunday-morning Christians and soldiers of Christ.
I remember reading years ago about the internationally acclaimed director Eugene Ormandy. While conducting the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, Eugene threw himself so thoroughly into the performance that he dislocated his shoulder!
That’s enthusiasm!
And that’s how Zacchaeus felt about meeting Jesus. The thought of encountering Jesus at church, in our personal prayer time, at the dinner table, or just during our daily routine ought to be exciting for us. H.W. Arnold once said, “The worst bankruptcy in the world is the man who has lost his enthusiasm.”
Zacchaeus welcomed Jesus with excitement and joy. Those two words ought to define the life of every believer. So despite his small stature, Zacchaeus was more than a little curious, more than a little charged, and also he was more than a little charitable.
• CHARITABLE
Prior to meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus was all about taking. Caesar permitted these freelance IRS agents to tax just about anything—your boat, the fish you caught, your house, your crops. As long as Caesar got his cut, these tax collectors could overcharge as much as they wanted and line their pockets with the leftovers. They could tack on 10, 20, 30, 50 or even 100 percent—whatever they wanted—for their own profit. And if anyone refused to pay up, they could dispatch a cohort of Romans soldiers to do their dirty work. They literally had a license for extortion. But then Zacchaeus met Jesus.
The Bible says that Zacchaeus stood up and said to Jesus, “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” (Luke 19:8 NIV).
Meeting Jesus transformed Zacchaeus into one very charitable man! We could call him the “little man with the big heart.” Not many people would be willing to give half of everything they have to the poor.
This kind of generosity is a hallmark of those whose lives have been changed by Jesus. Life’s no longer about how much you can get, but how much you can give.
Not surprisingly, the Bible has a lot to say about giving:
• “Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.” (Deuteronomy 15:10 NLT).
• “He who is generous will be blessed” (Proverbs 22:9 NIV).
• “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-8 NIV).
This passage reminds me of a mother who wanted to teach her daughter a moral lesson. She gave the little girl a quarter and a dollar for church. "Put whichever one you want in the collection plate and keep the other for yourself," she told the girl. When they were coming out of church, the mother asked her daughter which amount she had given. "Well," said the little girl, "I was going to give the dollar, but just before the collection the man in the pulpit said that God love cheerful giver, so I figured I better give the quarter!"
She was a lot more cheerful giving the quarter than she would have been giving the dollar! But we’re not too different. We’re often content giving the bare minimum. We drop some spare change in the collection plate then pat ourselves on the back, as if we’ve done our good deed for the day. According to one study, the average church-goer contributes between 1.5% and 2.5% of his total income specifically to the Lord’s work. I think Zacchaeus puts all of us to shame.
How cheerfully do you give? I think cheerful and generous giving is a byproduct of realizing just how much we’ve received in Jesus. When you realize what a treasure it is to have Jesus in your life, you can give joyfully to the church and to those in need.
That’s what Zacchaeus did. His encounter with Jesus made him more than a little charitable. Finally, Zacchaeus was also more than a little changed.
• CHANGED
Zacchaeus’s enthusiasm and generosity were simply outward indications of an inward change. The real transformation took place within his heart.
Before meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus was a sinner at heart. According to his neighbors he was “a notorious sinner” (Luke 19:7 NLT).
Combine the greed of an embezzling executive with the presumption of a hokey television evangelist, throw in the audacity of ambulance chasing lawyer, stir in a pinch of a pimp’s morality, and finish it off with a drug peddler’s code of ethics—and what do you have? A first-century tax collector!
To be fair, I’m painting with a rather large brush. Not every tax collector was as slimy as the rest. But, according to the Jews, these guys were about as crooked as corkscrews. So when Zacchaeus demonstrated extreme generosity, Jesus responded by announcing, “This shows that salvation has come to this home today. This man was one of the lost sons of Abraham, and I, the Messiah, have come to search for and to save such souls as his” (Luke 19:10 TLB).
Jesus made seeking and saving lost souls his mission. It still is.
Spiritually speaking, we’re all a little short. The Bible says, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23 NLT). No one measures up to God’s high standards. But despite our shortcomings, I think Zacchaeus demonstrates that none of us are beyond saving. It doesn’t matter who you are, what your reputation may be, or how you’ve lived in the past. The Bible assures us, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9 NLT). Jesus came to seek and save spiritually lost people—to transform sinners into saints. He found Zacchaeus. Has he found you?
Conclusion:
When a day begins, you never know how it will end. For Zacchaeus, the day ended in joyful fellowship with the Son of God. He may have been a little guy, but he was more than a little curious, more than a little charged, more than a little charitable, and more than a little change. Thanks to Jesus, Zacchaeus was now a new man with a whole new life ahead of him.
Invitation:
If you’re curious about Jesus or maybe excited to meet him, I’d love to introduce you. I want to challenge you, whether you’ve received Jesus as your Savior yet or not, to draw near to Jesus today and just see if he draws near to you. Go out on a limb for him. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. If I can help, then please talk with me while we stand and sing.
