Text: Luke 19:1-10 The Message (MSG)
Zacchaeus
19 1-4 Then Jesus entered and walked through Jericho. There was a man there, his name Zacchaeus, the head tax man and quite rich. He wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in his way—he was a short man and couldn’t see over the crowd. So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by.
5-7 When Jesus got to the tree, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is my day to be a guest in your home.” Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree, hardly believing his good luck, delighted to take Jesus home with him. Everyone who saw the incident was indignant and grumped, “What business does he have getting cozy with this crook?”
8 Zacchaeus just stood there, a little stunned. He stammered apologetically, “Master, I give away half my income to the poor—and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.”
9-10 Jesus said, “Today is salvation day in this home! Here he is: Zacchaeus, son of Abraham! For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost.”
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen
This passage about Zacchaeus is probably one of the best-known stories in the New Testament. We’ve all heard it since we were children. And we think we know all there is to know about this passage.
But it may well be that this story is not what we think it is. We always read this account and assume that Zacchaeus has a conversion experience when he encounters Jesus that changes his life and puts him on a different path. This interpretation is logical and clean and shows cause and effect.
Yet that interpretation is not supported by the translation we just heard (it’s also not supported by the King James Version or the Revised Standard Version). In verse 8, Zacchaeus says: “I give away half my income to the poor – and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.” He does not say “I will give” or “I will pay” – it sounds as though he’s already doing it. No wonder we read that he is “a little stunned” – apparently he’s actually trying to be a good guy, but the crowd just won’t give him a break! They just stubbornly refuse to look beyond what he does for a living. Giving money to the poor doesn’t make up for the fact that in order to give to the poor, he first extorts money from them, nor does paying those he’s cheated four times what he took from them excuse the fact that he cheated them in the first place.
Note also that nowhere in this passage does Zacchaeus even admit, much less confess, that he has sinned; nor does he express any repentance for what he’s done. In this, Zacchaeus’ behavior is in stark contrast to that of the other tax collector we encountered last week, who really was penitent.
What’s more, Jesus does not commend Zacchaeus’ penitence, or his faith, or his change of heart. Instead, he merely pronounces a blessing, a blessing based not on anything Zacchaeus has done but simply based on the fact that Zacchaeus, just like all the people who are standing around grumbling. is an Israelite, a son of Abraham. And when Zacchaeus tells Jesus what he’s been doing, it’s not in response to anything Jesus has said; rather, it’s a response to the grumbling of the crowd. Jesus’ presence no doubt had a lot to do with it, but mostly it is his bewilderment at the crowd’s complaint, and Zacchaeus feels the need to defend himself. In any case, Zacchaeus is not turning over a new leaf as much as he is lifting up an old one for all to see.
So, why does all this even matter? If this isn’t the perfect conversion story, what is it? I think, first, we might take it as yet one more way in which Jesus does the unexpected. It’s very significant that Jesus calls Zacchaeus by name. He’s very intentional with this summons. Throughout his gospel, Luke shows us Jesus taking sides with those on the margin, those considered down and out, those not accounted as much or even held in contempt in the eyes of the world. Even though Zacchaeus is rich, he is despised by his neighbors for the way he got his wealth; he counted as nothing, even as less than nothing. Yet of all the people in that crowd, Jesus singles him out. Did he know of Zacchaeus’ unexpected and even extraordinary behavior? We can’t know, but since Jesus is God, it’s certainly plausible. Be that as it may, by seeing Zacchaeus, by calling him, by staying with him, and above all by blessing him, Jesus declares for all to hear that this one, even this chief tax collector, is a child of Abraham…and child of God, fully as much as any of them. This story shows that Jesus is, as always, at work seeking out those who are lost – no matter how they got that way – in order to find, save, and restore them. Can you imagine anything more comforting, more reassuring, more heartening than that?
And there’s more! Almost everything about this story seems preposterous, even impossible — that a chief tax collector would want to see Jesus in the first place; that Jesus would stay in his home; that it would be revealed that this sinner exceeded the law by examples of generosity that he did completely on his own without anyone forcing him; that Jesus would declare not just him but his whole household saved? Preposterous, but true; Zacchaeus’ story is more evidence of the profound and limitless possibilities that can happen in the presence, and by the loving power, of Jesus – because remember that Jesus declares just before this passage that what is impossible for mortals is nevertheless possible for God (18:27).
Zacchaeus also is an example of what all of us disciples also want: We all have a desire to see Jesus; we crave his presence. Zacchaeus is also a metaphor – he can’t see Jesus because he is too short, both physically and morally, and so the crowds prevent him from seeing Jesus (at least at first). Yet Zacchaeus is so desperate to see that he will not be put off. He risks even more humiliation by climbing a tree so he can see Jesus. If we look at it this way, the story of Zacchaeus tells us that anyone – anyone! – who wants to see Jesus will. Even more than that, it tells us that anyone who desires to see Jesus will, in turn, be seen by Jesus and in this way have their joy made complete.
No one is left out in the cold. Not those who have been left on the margin, not those who have been ruled out of bounds,, not those who just want to see Jesus but have been prevented from doing.
When we let this sink in, we can’t help but feel God’s love wash over us like a warm tide; and we are simply left to proclaim THANKS BE TO GOD!
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.