Series: What He Said
Title: What He Said About Being Despised
Text: Luke 19:1-10
Thesis: People can change!
Introduction
As Good as It Gets is a 1997 comedy about three very different people whose lives become entangled. The threesome includes an obsessive-compulsive author, an out-of-work artist, and a struggling waitress. Jack Nicholson plays Melvin Udall, the crude, obsessive-compulsive author. He offends everyone he meets...
But Melvin becomes enamored with Carol Connelly, a waitress played by Helen Hunt. She has seen him at his worst, but she reluctantly agrees to meet Melvin at a fancy restaurant for a date. Carol arrives at the restaurant, and is obviously ill at ease as waiters follow her about and wait on her hand and foot. While the other patrons of the restaurant are impeccably dressed, Carol wears a simple red dress.
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.
Carol looks Melvin in the eye and says, "Pay me a compliment, Melvin. I need one now."
Melvin responds, "I've got a great compliment." What could he possibly say to undo the thoughtless comment he had just delivered?
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."
We like to believe there is something within all of us that wishes us to be and wants to make us be better people than we are. Despite all appearances we want to be willing to change if that change will result in our being better persons.
Our text today is about a man named Zacchaeus. If there ever was a candidate for radical change it was Zacchaeus. He was a despised and despicable human being. In Luke 18, after Jesus had spoken of how it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get in to heaven, Peter asked, “Then who in the world can be saved?” And Jesus said, “What is impossible for people is possible with God.”
Zacchaeus is a perfect example of what is possible when God works in the heart of even the most despised and despicable of us. It is possible for us to become better persons.
Our story takes place in the city of Jericho. Jericho was a city of distinction, as was our main character.
I. Zacchaeus was a distinguished person
Commentator William Barclay said Jericho was a very important town. Jericho lay in the Jordan River Valley and served as the approach to Jerusalem. Just east of Jericho were the great palm forests and world famous balsam groves which perfumed the air for miles around. Her rose gardens were known far and wide and Jericho was known as the City of Palms. All this and more made Jericho a rich taxation center and Zacchaeus was the Chief Tax-Collector in the area and as such skimmed the cream off the top and had become very rich.
The text makes three specific references that distinguish Zacchaeus.
A. He was distinguished by his wealth
There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the Chief Tax-Collector of the region and he had become very rich. Luke 19:2
Being wealthy today generally means they roll out the red carpet for you. It doesn’t matter how corrupt you are… if you are wealthy you are generally afforded a great deal of privilege.
Zacchaeus was probably no Jeff Bezos of Amazon wealth or a Bill Gates of Microsoft wealth or a Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway wealth or a Mark Zauckerberg of Facebook wealth of a Larry Page of Google wealth but he was the Chief Tax-Collector of the region there in Jericho and he was known to be a man of wealth and as such enjoyed the perks of being a man of ease.
While the man on the street probably had some debt, Zacchaeus had no debt. While the man on the street worked hard for his money, Zacchaeus came by his pretty easy. While the man on the street dreamed of being rich, Zacchaeus lived a life of luxury.
Zacchaeus was distinguished as a wealthy man but not necessarily in a good way. Without a military guard Zacchaeus was not going to get any preferential crowd treatment in Jericho that day. Rather it was more likely that he would be jostled about in a hostile crowd.
The second distinction made of Zacchaeus is about his appearance… his height.
B. He was distinguished by his appearance
There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the Chief Tax-Collector of the region and he had become very rich. He wanted to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see… Luke 19:2-4
I don’t know how short Zacchaeus was… I’m guessing he was Danny DeVito, 4’10” short.
There is a lot of hype about how sweet it is to be short like you always get to be front and center and you always have lots of leg room and you never bump your head and you’re never taller than your date but most short people are not all into their shortness.
Being short has its challenges. Short people can’t reach stuff be it on grocery shelves or kitchen cabinets. Most short people have stools for stepping up to reach stuff. Short people are hard to fit. They can’t see over the steering wheel. Short people don’t get picked for games in P.E. or recess. They sometimes can’t get dates. Their feet don’t reach the floor when they sit down. Hugs are sometimes really awkward for short people. Statistically, short people make less money than tall people, When you are short you are always in the deep end of the swimming pool and you are always stuck on the front row in group photos.
Zacchaeus was a short guy and he was short enough that in a crowd he was not going to have a chance to get a glimpse of Jesus so he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a tree… as the little song says, “for the Lord, he wanted to see.”
Interestingly Jesus picked this little man out in the crowd. He was not distinguished because of his wealth or his height but because he was in a tree.
C. He was distinguished by Jesus
When Jesus came by he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus! Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.” Luke 19:5
How cool is that? He had simply wanted to get a glimpse of Jesus and now Jesus, this celebrity passing through town, had called him by name and had self-invited himself to his house for dinner… boy oh boy, was his wife going to be in for a big surprise!
Zacchaeus was obviously very pleased… in fact he was delighted by the attention!
II. Zacchaeus was a delighted by Jesus’ attention
Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his home in great excitement and joy. Luke 19:6…
Just imagine the joy he felt when Jesus called him by name and singled him out to be the host where Jesus would have dinner later that day… the most hated, despicable and despised man in town was walking tall with Jesus!
In Brooklyn, New York, there's a Jewish school for children with special needs. Recently, at a fundraising banquet, one of the fathers, whose son Shea goes there, got up and began to speak. He told a story of how he and his son Shea had been walking through the neighborhood of Brooklyn a week before, and they had stopped to watch a group of boys playing baseball.
Shea does not communicate well, but he let his father know in his way that he so wanted to play baseball with these boys. The father thought, Oh my goodness, what am I going to do? So he shambled up to the pitcher of one of the teams and explained the situation. The pitcher just made an executive decision; he said: "You know, it's the eighth inning. We're down by six. What have we got to lose? Come on in; we'll let you bat at the bottom of the ninth." Shea was ecstatic.
Well, they were losing by six runs to this particular team in the eighth inning, but by the bottom of the ninth, things had begun to turn around. They'd gained three runs, and the bases were loaded. If they got a homerun, they'd win.
It came Shea's turn to bat. The father sat there with his heart thumping, because he wondered, Shea has been promised he can bat; will they let him bat? The team realized their predicament, and they had a little huddle. Then, to the father's amazement, they said to Shea, "Come on. It's your turn to bat." Shea was absolutely delighted; he clutched the bat, and he had it all askew, and he was holding it too tight.
Then the pitcher from the opposite team did an amazing thing. He took several steps forward and lobbed an easy one right over the plate. Shea swung wildly and missed widely. One of the players from Shea's team came up behind him and gently wrapped his arm around Shea’s. Together, they held the bat. The pitcher lobbed another one, and they bunted it, and it just rolled up right to the feet of the pitcher.
It was an easy out, but everybody was screaming, "Run to base! Run to base, Shea!" The pitcher threw it far and wide. Shea made first, and they said, "Run to second, Shea! Run to second!" The guy out in the field was going to zing it into second, then he realized what was going on, and so he threw it far and wide. She'a made second. "Run to third! Run to third!" All the other players came into home plate. He made third. "Run home, Shea! Take it home!" And just as he hit home plate, the ball zinged in. An uproar from both teams went up, and they mounted Shea on their shoulders and paraded him as a hero.
The father told this story and said: "That day, 18 boys reached their level of heaven's perfection." There is joy when someone is singled out by the love of God!
Transition: It feels good to be loved and especially so when you are a misfit or even worse… so despised by so many.
III. Zacchaeus was despised by others but was ultimately defined by his transformation
But the people were displeased. He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled. Luke 19:7
A. He was despised as a notorious sinner…
Once a sinner always a sinner. We do not tend to cut each other much slack when it comes to what we are known for. Can a person ever really change? Can a leopard change its spots? Can a person who abuses substances ever become sober? Can a fat person ever become thin? Can a thoughtless person ever become considerate? Can a person who accumulates credit card debt ever become a responsible credit card user? Can a chronically depressed person ever become a happy and outgoing person? Can a bad person ever become a good person?
Perhaps you've read about Joel Francisco who was released from prison after serving 14 years of his life sentence under the new Criminal Justice Reform Law. He was recently charged with murder which prompted Senator Tom Cotton to comment, “It’s not surprising. Letting violent felons out of prison early as the First Step Act did leads to more crime and more victims." It is hard to believe people can change when the recidivism rates are so high in our American penal system.
However…
B. Zacchaeus was ultimately defined by his transformation
Meanwhile Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I give half my wealth to the poor and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” And 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 to save those who are lost.” Luke 19:8-10
No one is too despicable or too despised in the eyes of God to be loved. And no one is too despicable and too despised in the eyes of God to be beyond redemption. And no one is too despicable and too despised in the eyes of God to be beyond transformation.
This is a story about a despised person who is transformed by the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Conclusion
Pastor Matt Chandler writes about a time he and a couple of his friends invited a young woman named Kim to a gospel concert. Matt was hopeful that Kim would come to Christ that evening; however, what occurred was a "train wreck." In retrospect, Matt was grateful for the experience because it changed the way he saw how to proclaim holiness in light of the cross of Jesus. Chandler writes: The preacher took the stage, and disaster ensued …. He gave a lot of statistics about STDs. There was a lot of, "You don't want syphilis, do you?" His big illustration was to take out a single red rose. He smelled the rose dramatically … caressed its petals, and talked about how beautiful this rose was and how it had been fresh cut that day.
Then he threw the rose out into the crowd, and he encouraged everyone to pass it around. As he neared the end of his message, he asked for the rose back …. but by then it was broken and drooping, and the petals were falling off. He held up this now-ugly rose for all to see, and his big finish was this: "Now who in the world would want this?" His word and his tone were merciless. His essential message, which was supposed to represent Jesus' message to a world of sinners, was this: "Hey, don't be a dirty rose."
Matt didn't hear from Kim for a few weeks, until one day her mother called Matt to inform him that Kim had been in an accident. Matt immediately went to visit her.
In the middle of our conversation, seemingly out of nowhere, she asked me, "Do you think I'm a dirty rose?" My heart sank inside of me, and I began to explain to her the whole weight of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that Jesus wants the rose. It's Jesus' desire to save, redeem, and restore the dirty rose.(Matt Chandler, The Explicit Gospel, Crossway, 2012, pp. 206-208)
Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save those who are lost. And what is impossible with people is possible with God!”
