The story of Zacchaeus
Story: On 12th February 1809, in a one room log cabin with a dirt floor on a farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky, a baby boy was born.
When he was only 9 years-old, his mother died.
He was a boy with rugged determination. And although he only had less than a year of formal education, he succeeded in becoming a lawyer.
However he wasnt satisfied with that. He wanted to REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE and so entered US politics.
If he was going to have maximum impact, he believed that he had to achieve the highest position in the land that of being president of the United States.
Being a man of perseverance, he tried and tried again – and he failed and failed again.
His list of failures was embarrassing:
YEAR FAILURES or SETBACKS
1832 Lost job and was defeated for state
legislature
1833 Failed in business
1835 His Sweetheart died
1836 Had nervous breakdown
1838 Defeated for Illinois House Speaker
1843 Defeated for nomination for Congress
1846 Elected to Congress but lost
renomination in 1848
1849 Rejected for land officer for Illinois
1854 Defeated for U.S. Senate
1856 Defeated for nomination for Vice-
President
1858 Again defeated for U.S. Senate
But in 1860 he was elected President.
And by now you have probably guessed who I am talking about - Abraham Lincoln, probably the greatest of all American Presidents.
His persistence paid off. I’d have given up long ago but Lincoln persevered.
He had a vision of what he wanted to do – and the setbacks that he had did not deflect him from his goal.
In our Gospel reading today, Zaccheus had a goal – to catch a glimpse of Jesus – but he was too small to look above the Crowd.
He could have given up – but he didn’t.
So he did something that was very undignified for a top Roman tax official . Imagine the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown shinning up a tree to get a view of Jesus!! That’s how undignified it was!
Zaccheus had a goal and nothing would deflect him from it. He put his heart and soul into it – even to the point of having the indignity of shinning up a tree.!
He wanted to see Jesus.
In this story I see three important points:
1. Zaccheus looked for Jesus
2. He invited Jesus into his house
3. His meeting with Jesus changed his lifestyle. He showed his faith by what he did
My first important point is that
1. Zacchaeus looked for Jesus
Zaccheus lived in Jericho. As a tax collector he was extremely unpopular. And perhaps very lonely
As I mentioned last week, tax collectors were seen as the lowest form of life in Jewish society – they were outcasts
Do you remember last week in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector what the Pharisee said
11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ’God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.
Tax Collectors didn’t have their reputation for nothing. They were unscrupulous. They did charge more than they were entitled to. And they used the Roman Army to enforce their will. And there was no Court of Appeal to resort to if you felt you were being unfairly taxed.
Just before Jesus started his ministry, John the Baptist came calling the people to repent of their sins and be baptised. And we read in Luke’s Gospel that
12Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"
13"Don’t collect any more than you are required to," he told (Luke 3:12 & 13.)
Tax Collectors weren’t very nice people
Zaccheus was a hard businessman – otherwise he wouldn’t have been a chief tax collector and very rich
But this hard businessman came looking for Jesus. He felt a need.
It is quite a challenge to us isn’t it to look beyond the tough exterior to see the real needs of people beneath.
Zaccheus heard about Jesus – and wanted to see him, so the only way he could get to him was to climb up the tree.
There are so many people around us climbing up trees to look for Jesus - and we are too busy to notice them.
May the Lord bring such Zacchaeus’ to our prayers today.
People look for Jesus in many different ways:
Zaccheus climbed a tree;
Blind Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus (Mk11;46-52),
Jairus came running to Jesus in his need (Lk 8:41), the paralytic was let down through the roof of a house to find Jesus (Mk 2:4) .
As Servants of God, we are called to help people find Jesus.
My second point from the story today is that
2. Zacchaeus invited Jesus into his house
We read: 5When Jesus reached the spot (where Zacchaeus was), he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." 6So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. (Lk 19:5)
Jesus knew what Zacchaeus was longing for. For we see Jesus mission clearly set out in verse 10:
10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
And the Bible records that Zacchaeus was absolutely delighted when Jesus invited himself for dinner and welcomed him gladly.
I am reminded if some words of Jesus in the Book of Revelation where he says to people who are looking for him:
20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. (Rev 3:20).
Zacchaeus took that idea literally – if we come to Jesus, we not only have to sit down to supper with him, but we have to clean up the place too!
The bystanders began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a ’sinner.’ " (v 7)
But Jesus was only interested in finding the lost
Do we have a heart like Jesus had for the lost?
I wonder if the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector wasn’t prophetic of what happened here at Zacchaeus’ house
My third point is that
3. Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus changed his lifestyle.
It is interesting that Jesus did not say – as he walked into Zacchaeus house- Today salvation has come to this house.
He said it in response to what Zacchaeus said in v.8
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."
That was a real change of lifestyle
Becoming a Christian can seriously change your lifestyle. Because believing in Jesus, is not as I said last week simply giving intellectual assent to the teaching of Jesus. It is more – it is putting his teaching into effect in your life
St James puts it very well when he says:
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder.
20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"[5] and he was called God’s friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
Jesus recognised that salvation came to Zacchaeus, not just because he invited Jesus into his house but because he cleaned up his act. Zacchaeus decided to stop living for himself and live instead a godly life
Story: I would like to leave you with a story from Eastern Europe
A man came into Court to give evidence, but he considered the Bible too holy to swear an oath upon and so refused to do so.
The lawyer for the defence approached the bench and asked for the man to be excused that formality, because he was such a holy man.
He then went on to tell the Judge a story about the man’s holiness.
“One day this man was on his way home from church, with the church offering in his bag. He was set upon by two crooks who stole the money. Fearing for their eternal souls, he called after them: “I give you the money – it’s mine – the church offering is at my house at home. Go in peace”
The Judge glared at the lawyer and said; “You don’t seriously believe this drivel, do you?” to which the lawyer replied: “No!”
The judge rounded on the lawyer angrily” Why the Dickens are you wasting my time, when you don’t even believe it yourself.”
The Lawyer replied: “My Lord, if any one started such a rumour about you or me, no one would have believed it. The very fact that such a rumour can take hold in our village speaks volumes for this man’s piety.
Conclusion:
If we want people to come to Jesus, we need to show them that our lives are different.
As someone once put it to a Christian as he tried to share his faith: Your life is speaks so loud; I can’t hear what you are saying.
