Introduction: What would you do if you knew you had less than two weeks to live? Less than two weeks to accomplish anything of significance in life? Less than two weeks to spend with loved ones? Less than two weeks?
Today is Palm Sunday. A day when we normally remember the entry of the Lord into Jerusalem to the sound of a cheering throng of smiling faces. A day when he was welcomed with jubiliant shouts of Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed be the Son of David. But today we are going to back up a couple of days. To meet the Lord at the second last dinner recorded in scripture. A supper that took place with less than two weeks left in the life of our beloved Saviour.
“Once more, and now for the last time, were the ford of Jordan passed, and Christ was on the soil of Judea proper. Behind him were Perea and Galilee; behind Hime the Ministry of the Gospel by word and deed; before him the final act of His life, toward which all had consciously tended.” (Edersheim)
So to Jericho he came. Jericho, the famous perfumed city, renouned the world over for its Balsam from which was made the famous perfume. It is said that the sweet scent hung in the air even miles away from the fortified city. Here the palm trees grew in abundance, the air was always warm and the streets overhung with spreading trees. Here, in this city, dwelt more than half of the Priests actively serving in the Temple at Jerusalem. And the city turned out to welcome Jesus as he passed through its gates.
Surely he was surrounded already, not only by his ever present disciples, but by the scores of pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem for the annual feast of Passover which would soon begin.
Did anyone take note of the look of determination on Jesus face? Or were they all caught up in the joy of spring and Passover to notice the Master’s resolute demeanor. With less than two weeks to live, the Lord was certain to make every moment count. There was a purpose for the journey to the perfumed city.
I. The Missing Man
If Jericho had many priests as residents, it seemed to have just as many publicans – the Tax Collectors were everywhere. For where there was money, there were those anxious to collect Caesar’s share, and line their pockets in the process.
The head of all these tax collectors, the ruler of them all, was an unassuming man of small stature. A man who’s name meant ‘pure’ but was anything but pure; Zacchaeus, the chief publican. He was a man who had everything that wealth had to offer. The best in designer robes, the finest Italian leather sandals (no doubt), and gold rings on every finger. He owned a home in the exclusive district of town, not far from the royal palace built by Herod’s son. His home held every imaginable amenity and luxury. Pools of water filled with exotic fish, a beautiful balsam grove and shady palm trees. Servants lined the halls ready to meet his beck and call. Fine art, pottery and sculptures provided interest for his occasional visitors. Perhaps even a Roman bath in which to recline. No expense was spared in the construction of his home. Yet in spite of it all Zacchaeus was a missing man. Or perhaps said differently, Zacchaeus was a man who was aware that something was missing.
Why had Zacchaeus amassed such wealth? Why had he chosen his profession? Perhaps it was the best way he could think of for wreaking revenge on those who had tormented him so mercilessly growing up. Surely he must have had a difficult time, being so noticeably shorter than everyone else. Perhaps he wanted revenge and the best way to do it was to pimp taxes for Rome. Perhaps it was his way for compensating for his lack of stature. Surely people would have to respect gold, and with it the man that held it. But it hadn’t worked. For all his wealth he felt empty.
He came to the streets this day with the deep hollow, sickening feeling that haunted his every quiet moment, that something was missing, something he couldn’t buy; something he couldn’t seem to find.
Zacchaeus would have fit in well in modern 21st Century society. For we know what it is to feel like something is missing. Who hasn’t chased down the end of the rainbow only to find that the pot is filled with ‘fool’s gold’?
In this modern culture, it is common to find expression through music, and no one expresses our feeling of being lost better than Sarah McLaughlin’s haunting song ‘Fallen’. Listen to her lyric:
Heaven bent to take my hand
And lead me from the fire
Be the long awaited answer
To a long and painful fight
Truth be told I tried my best
But somewhere along the way
I got caught up in all there was to offer
And the cost was so much more than I could bear
Verse 2
We all begin with good intent
Love was raw and young
We believed that we could change ourselves
The past could be undone
But we carry on our backs the burden time always reveals
The lonely light of morning
The wound that will not heal
It’s the bitter taste of losing everything that I have held so dear
Verse 3
Heaven bent to take my hand
Nowhere left to turn
I’m lost to those I thought were friends
To everyone I know
Oh they turn their heads embarassed
Pretend that they don’t see
But it’s one missed step
You’ll slip before you know it
And there doesn’t seem a way to be redeemed
Chorus
Though I’ve tried, I’ve fallen...
I have sunk so low
I have messed up
Better I should know
So don’t come round here
And tell me I told you so...
Jesus once said, ‘Anyone who seeks to keep his life will lose it, but anyone who will lay down his life will find it again.’
Perhaps you’ve never had the vast riches of Zacchaeus. But surely you know the feeling that you are lost and searching for something you cannot find. Perhaps you have searched for it in love, or money, or success, or even religion, yet still you are empty.
II. The Seeking Man
Why did Zacchaeus want to see Jesus? In a city like Jericho, populated as it is with so many priests, did Zacchaeus really come just to see another ‘religious leader’?
Was it curiosity that brought him from his mansion into the streets?
Was it hope? Hope that Jesus might offer something he hadn’t yet tried?
Was it something less tangible, just some sort of sense that he had to see Jesus, had to talk with him for just a moment?
Did Zacchaeus feel guilty about the life he had led? Was his conscience pricked as he sought out the Lord? Or did he, like so many today, simply feel a roving anxiety that he wrote off as indigestion or insomnia?
Did Zacchaeus actually expect to meet the Lord, or did he just want to see if this ‘rabbi’ looked any different from the others?
Had he heard him speak, or just heard the whisps of His teaching passed on in popular conversation?
Scripture doesn’t answer these questions, it only tells us that Zacchaeus’ desire to see the Lord was so strong that he was willing to risk stepping into a less than friendly crowd unprotected. Someone once observed that Zacchaeus must have been black and blue by mid-day from all the elbows and prods he received. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t break through the crowd to see Jesus.
So he threw aside his pride and sense of decorum and running ahead of the procession he climbed into one of the Sycamore trees that spread over the street. From this vantage point he would be sure to see Jesus as he passed by.
Have you ever been this desperate to find something? Desperate enough to not care what anyone else thinks? Desperate enough to risk insult and injury? Desperate enough to look dumb? Have you ever found yourself up the tree, clinging to a branch and clinging to the hope that nothing can get worse, and maybe this thing you are seeking will make things better.
Jesus once said, ‘Keep on seeking, and you will find.’
III. The Changed Man
The moment arrived finally. The procession seemed to crawl up the road towards the tree, but at last Jesus was passing by right below Zacchaeus. Then it happened, the completely unexpected. Jesus stopped and peered through the branches and looked right into the eyes of Zacchaeus.
What did Zacchaeus see when he looked into those eyes? What did they silently communicate? Jesus’ eyes always seemed to see more than anyone else’s eyes could.
Then Jesus spoke, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
Can you hear the audible gasp from the crowd, then the murmuring sound of disapproval. Of all the homes to go to in Jericho, this city of priests and devout Jews and Jesus chooses the most hated man in the city. The head tax collector!
There are two things that we must now observe from the passage. The first is the description of how Zacchaeus responded to Jesus’ self-invitation to his home. It shows us something of Zacchaeus’ heart and his desire.
The Bible says, “So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.” Let’s read that again slowly, so we don’t miss the significance of what Luke is telling us: “So he made haste and came down and received Him joyfully.” Already we discover that Zacchaeus has responded with faith. He has understood that Jesus is inviting himself to dinner, but is inviting Zacchaeus to enter the kingdom through faith, and he joyfully RECEIVED Him!
The second point of interest apparently took place at the table of Zacchaeus. For we are told that Zacchaeus stood up and made this declaration: “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore four-fold.”
Jesus proclamation tells us the spiritual reality that has taken place. “Jesus said to him, ‘Today, salvation has come to this house…’.
What saved Zacchaeus? The fact that he had just given up all that he had? No. The fact that he had received Jesus in faith and with joy. The surrendering of all he has is simply the outworking of salvation. For what Zacchaeus found in the Lord was worth more than all he had.
We learn from Zacchaeus that salvation has a transformational element. It is able to take even the hardest, most jaded character, and replace bitterness with joy. But only when the good news of the kingdom is received!
Conclusion: Look with me at Jesus words in verse 10. Jesus concludes this episode with Zacchaeus with these words, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost.”
This is interesting. In fact, as we come to know scripture we discover that there is something much deeper happening in this story, something stranger and more powerful than any of us would have expected; something that would have shocked even little Zacchaeus if he had known.
For at first glance it appears that it is Zacchaeus who feels that there is something missing. But Jesus comment tells us that he too came to Jericho this day looking for something. That he too came with the sense that something was not right, that he was incomplete. In a wonder of grace we discover the truth in Ephesians that the Lord Jesus considers himself incomplete until every one of those chosen from the foundation of the earth have come safely home. So if Zacchaeus had knowledge of something missing, the Lord also sensed it; there are many who are lost today, and everyone of these the Lord feels as something missing.
So we find that Zacchaeus comes seeking something. Can you picture this scene: We are making our way down the street, the crowd thronging around. The character is searching, scanning back and forth, but unable to see the one he was looking for. The crowd is blocking his view. The crowd is jubilant, joyful, pressing and jostling in on him. Moving along the road he sees a sycamore tree on the road ahead, that is surely where he will go, that is where he will encounter him. So making his way in that direction he heads down the road towards the tree. It takes a few moments to get there, the crowds are thick. But arriving at the base of the tree he stops. There he tips his head back and looks up, sure enough, there in the tree; legs dangling like a little child, and clinging to a branch for dear life is the one he came seeking, a lost son by the name of Zacchaeus. “Zacchaeus, hurry out of that tree, for I am coming to lodge with you today.”
Are you surprised? Did you miss the fact that while Zacchaeus came seeking something he didn’t rightly understand, the Lord Jesus CAME seeking Zacchaeus. The words he use make it clear that this was a part of his mandate. He says, I MUST stay at your house’.
Does it surprise you to know that the Lord Jesus is also seeking you?
Finally we are reminded that all of these happenings occur no more than 2 weeks before the cross. Jesus has left Nazareth for the last time. He will not look upon Capernaum again. He will not walk the shore of Galilee until after the cross. The next week will be a roller coaster of emotion as the crowds greet him as their king at the beginning of Passover, and turn him over as an insurrectionist before the end.
So we see an extraordinary parallel. For Zacchaeus stands up and makes the pronoucement, (if you will permit a paraphrase) “I surrender all that I have to own you.” And Jesus, reply is similar, “I surrender all that I am to make you mine.”
Where does he say that?
In the phrase that reads, ‘Today, salvation has come to this house.’ For Jesus alone knows that in order to forgive this man’s sin, he will have to bear it to the cross at the Divinely appointed time, and there make atonement for it with his own blood.
So at the table of Zacchaeus, the chief tax-collector, we meet a man who sought and found what he was looking for and was profoundly transformed by the experience; and we find across the table the Master who has sought and found what he was looking for, and will shortly be irrevocably changed to complete the experience. And, I wonder, if you were to look closely at the faces gathered there, might you not find your own, as another who was sought and found by one who has given all to own you; and the question remains – will the experience leave you changed?
