Luke 19:1-10
Today we’re going to look at what happened to Zacchaeus when he met Jesus. Zacchaeus ends up being an example of what it looks like when a person loves the Lord their God with all their strength. But first he had to get saved. We get to see his life on both sides of his relationship with Christ. We get to see who he was before he became a believer, what God did and who he became as a result of faith in Jesus.
It’s interesting. We can relate to most of the people Jesus talked to in the gospels because they were either ordinary, decent people or people who had great need for some kind of physical healing or deliverance from demon possession. It looks like Jesus came to give people meaning and purpose or to relieve them from suffering. We like that. It’s nice. Jesus likes to help people out.
In the gospels we don’t meet many really bad people who aren’t demon possessed. If they are possessed, we see them as helpless prisoners of spirits. We assume they can’t help being bad and so we like to see Jesus set them free. And then of course they worship Jesus because he did such a great thing in their lives. Otherwise, we like the stories of Jesus healing folks because that’s just beautiful and we can relate to that because we all have needs and if Jesus can really miraculously heal folks, maybe he can do a little something for us too when we need a little miracle.
But Zacchaeus is a little harder for us to like. Nobody likes a tax collector. Not in our day, and especially not in the days that the tax collectors in Israel were sending money away to the oppressive Romans. In fact, the Pharisees had generally put all tax collectors in a special class of unpatriotic, anti-religious sinners just because they worked for the wrong government. The Romans were oppressing God’s chosen people and that made them an enemy subject to the wrath of God. So any Israelite who worked for the Romans was automatically a traitor to the nation and a rebel against God.
In addition, everybody knew that the tax collectors were in the habit of overcharging to line their own pockets with whatever they could get that they didn’t have to send to Rome. They got pretty wealthy this way, but nobody could stop them because the tax collectors had armed Roman soldiers helping them like Repo men! It would have been sort of like the IRS coming after you, with the Mafia backing them up. That is how Zacchaeus got wealthy, as we shall see by his own admission. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector by the way. That means he was in charge of a large enough area that he was collecting taxes from other tax collectors, sort of like upper management, maybe we could even call him a “Wall Street mogul” or “Big government.”
And knowing human nature, even if he had been completely honest about his tax collecting ways and innocent of wrong doing, everybody poorer than him would have suspected him anyway. He just couldn’t get away from the fact that he was forcing people to give him their money. So practically nobody liked Zacchaeus, except other tax collectors, who probably would have been friends with him only to learn how he got to be so good at it.
Who was Zacchaeus before he met Jesus? He was a money grubbing tax collector who may have felt guilt and shame about how he got rich, but didn’t see any way out because he knew the religious leaders of his culture would never forgive him. Besides, he liked the material blessings he realized along the way. So why would a guy like that be curious about Jesus, so curious that he would climb a tree to get a good view?
There are a couple of possibilities. One suggestion is that Zacchaeus really was feeling guilty about the way he had been living. In Luke chapter 18, just a few paragraphs before this story, Jesus told the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
The suggestion is that Jesus didn’t just invent this parable out of thin air, but actually knew a real tax collector, named Zacchaeus, who really was under conviction. So in chapter 19, Jesus went to meet him and show him the mercy he prayed for.
Another suggestion is that Zacchaeus was curious about Jesus because he knew about Matthew, the former tax collector who had joined Jesus’ band of disciples. It makes sense that members of the tax collectors’ guild knew each other at least on a professional level, and considering their position as despised by everybody else, they would only have each other for friends too. So we may wonder what effect it had upon Zacchaeus when Matthew quit his job to follow Jesus.
I think it would make Zacchaeus wonder about Jesus, the rabbi who didn’t mind hanging out with tax collectors. Maybe that’s what made Zacchaeus so curious and determined to get a good look at Jesus, even if he had to endure the ridicule of the crowds and humble himself by doing something as undignified as climbing a tree. The social climber became a tree climber!
Now the stage is set. There he is, out on a limb, and Jesus comes along. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. Can you imagine Zach’s shock and surprise? He never expected this. If he had, he wouldn’t have been in the tree. He would have sent a messenger to extend an invitation to dinner. Instead, Jesus surprised him by looking up to him and inviting himself over. This was a most gracious expression of social acceptance. Jesus said, “I don’t care what anybody says. I want to spend some time with you.” Now Jesus has gone “out on a limb” so to speak, to welcome Zacchaeus in fellowship.
And sure enough the people had something to say about it. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” Funny how Jesus sees an opportunity to bring salvation to a house and all the people see is a man hanging out with the wrong kind of people. They condemn the Savior based on who he wants to save. We must be careful today that we don’t trample down the harvest of souls, by despising the ones we are tempted to frown upon. Instead may the Lord help us see them through His eyes so that we are willing to hang out with anybody and recognize the ones who are ready to hear and receive our gospel proclamation. Zacchaeus is an example of the fact that God cares for everybody and can potentially reach anybody. What did God do for Zacchaeus? He came to him in grace while he was still mired in his sin and offered him forgiveness, a forgiveness that Zacchaeus never thought he could get.
So here’s what happened. Zacchaeus was deeply moved and touched by the fact that Jesus loved him. Probably everything they talked about at dinner that night is not recorded in this story. But Zacchaeus’ response to Jesus’ gracious acceptance and love is made very clear. 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 Zach’s response to grace. And it was much more than the law of his people required. The laws of Israel stipulated that perhaps 23% of one’s annual income was expected to be used to aid the poor. To give away 50% was more than twice what the law required. And in Exodus 22 the law requires a thief to pay back double for what he stole. But Zacchaeus offers twice as much and pays back quadruple! Unlike the rich young ruler who couldn’t bear to part with his great wealth, Zacchaeus’ heart had changed. He was no longer focused on getting rich or staying rich. He had new riches in Christ. He was no longer captivated by his ability to get money out of people. He was no longer content with his lying and cheating ways. He was set free from sin and now he could actively work against it and undo a lot of the wrongs that could be made right in the new strength he had from God! This should make an impression upon us because even in today’s society, money is power and strength. Zacchaeus submitted it to God. He became a man who lived wholeheartedly for the Lord and loved him with all his heart and soul and mind and strength!
So Jesus said to everyone round, for all to hear, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Some people think that means that Zacchaeus got saved because he repented of his wicked ways. But that is not what Jesus is saying. Zacchaeus was lost in his wicked ways. According to everything else we know about the gospel from the rest of Scripture, we must understand that what Jesus meant was, “We know that Zacchaeus has believed our message, has received his forgiveness, and is a new creation. The proof of it is obvious in seeing the new strength he has to do what is good and right. The way Zacchaeus is behaving is the result of the salvation that has come to this house today.”
It’s just like Scrooge in a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. First came his night of dreams and visions that led to his faith in salvation and redemption, then came his good and generous life as a result of having been saved. He could live with otherish love because he no longer needed to take care of himself. God had promised to take care of him.
It could not be the other way around. Think of it. What if Zacchaeus or Scrooge had said something like, “Hmm. I see that I am in trouble with God for being so greedy and selfish. I’d better change my ways. I will now start giving my money away. That way, when I meet God at the pearly gates I can show him what I have done to correct my mistakes and pay for my sins.” In that scenario, the person who is thinking that way is still very much consumed with the selfish desire to save himself. That is still a selfish love, only it has turned its focus from getting rich on earth, to a focus of making sure he gets to enjoy the riches of Heaven.
That is not salvation that makes us strong to love God with an otherish love that trusts Him with everything. That is a selfish scheme to secure for one self the best possible future. We all have to be careful about this fine distinction of whether we are Christians because we want Heaven, or whether we are Christians because we know by faith that God has already given us Heaven and now all we want is to love Him for it!
Now it may be that God gives you a good job and you put your strength to good use in that employment and you might make a lot of money doing it. But what’s the point? Before I was a pastor, I knew a guy once, a foreman I worked for in a factory who said to me, “Sometimes I wonder why I bother to get up in the morning. What’s the point of it all? You work hard to earn money so you can pay your bills. That keeps you alive so you can work hard to earn money to pay more bills. You work to stay alive and you stay alive to work. What’s the point?”
My answer was, “I work for God. The money I earn here is God’s money and the harder I work, the more I earn and the more I can give to the church to build the kingdom. I serve the Lord and that gives my life meaning. This job is just the way God is providing for me and my family.”
The first thing he said after that was, “You give your money away?”
My theology is as follows. In this world, strength is often measured in dollars and cents. Even the Bible makes that connection when it talks about justice for the poor. So one of the best ways we have to show that we love the Lord our God with all our strength is to trust Him to take care of us so that we are free to be very generous in a most otherish way! But this takes discipline. That’s why the church teaches about tithing as a beginner’s principle for whole life stewardship.
Giving that pleases God comes from a heart that is totally in Love with Him as response to His amazing Love for us. That means 100% of a life lived for Him, generous in everything, besides finances. But if I don't practice some baseline of thoughtful discipline such as a tithe principle, not Law, and if I don’t keep track of what I am actually doing, then, because the human heart remains corrupt and deceitful, I will end up giving less than I can afford. I have found that I really can always be more generous than I "think" I can in any given moment. Disciplined, planned giving is better than "reflex" or as some would call it, "Spirit led" giving. But always allow for Spirit led giving to pull you beyond what you planned.
We need to notice that to love the Lord your God with all your strength is the language of action and works. When Zacchaeus came alive in new faith, his response was to love the Lord and his neighbors with all his heart, mind, soul and strength. That showed up in his offer to make good with his money. We say it is the result of salvation, not the cause of salvation. It is not the way of salvation. Jesus is the way. We are saved by faith in Him.
As a matter of fact, only the saved can love the Lord with all their strength. The unsaved are dead and have no strength at all as far as God is concerned. We must keep this in mind because the natural tendency of our hearts is to get this backward. Ask anyone in the world, even if they are religious, especially if they are religious, “What is the way of salvation?” Most will answer, “Do your best to be a nice person. Follow your religion. Worship God. Believe in Him. If the good outweighs the bad, you’re in!” That’s wrong. It will never work.
You are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. God doesn’t need your strength in order to save you. In fact, according to the biblical definition of life, you don’t even have any strength until after you are born again and made alive in Christ by the power of the cross. At the cross, where God the Father reckons your sins removed from you, the power of the resurrection, which is Jesus alive in you, and the power of the Holy Spirit at work in you. Then, once you become a born-again believer through faith in that message and you are saved unto eternal life, what’s it for? With all that power in you is it time to rest and take it easy? What are you going to do with all that life and energy, get a good job, make a lot of money? There’s Kingdom work to be done. You are now energized to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. Where does your strength come from? Your strength comes from God. The only strength that counts for anything in God’s kingdom comes from God. What do you do with your strength? How will you love the Lord your God with all your strength? If you know you are saved by grace through faith in Jesus, like Zacchaeus was, what kind of response is God calling you to offer?
Let us pray.
Today we’re going to look at what happened to Zacchaeus when he met Jesus. Zacchaeus ends up being an example of what it looks like when a person loves the Lord their God with all their strength. But first he had to get saved. We get to see his life on both sides of his relationship with Christ. We get to see who he was before he became a believer, what God did and who he became as a result of faith in Jesus.
It’s interesting. We can relate to most of the people Jesus talked to in the gospels because they were either ordinary, decent people or people who had great need for some kind of physical healing or deliverance from demon possession. It looks like Jesus came to give people meaning and purpose or to relieve them from suffering. We like that. It’s nice. Jesus likes to help people out.
In the gospels we don’t meet many really bad people who aren’t demon possessed. If they are possessed, we see them as helpless prisoners of spirits. We assume they can’t help being bad and so we like to see Jesus set them free. And then of course they worship Jesus because he did such a great thing in their lives. Otherwise, we like the stories of Jesus healing folks because that’s just beautiful and we can relate to that because we all have needs and if Jesus can really miraculously heal folks, maybe he can do a little something for us too when we need a little miracle.
But Zacchaeus is a little harder for us to like. Nobody likes a tax collector. Not in our day, and especially not in the days that the tax collectors in Israel were sending money away to the oppressive Romans. In fact, the Pharisees had generally put all tax collectors in a special class of unpatriotic, anti-religious sinners just because they worked for the wrong government. The Romans were oppressing God’s chosen people and that made them an enemy subject to the wrath of God. So any Israelite who worked for the Romans was automatically a traitor to the nation and a rebel against God.
In addition, everybody knew that the tax collectors were in the habit of overcharging to line their own pockets with whatever they could get that they didn’t have to send to Rome. They got pretty wealthy this way, but nobody could stop them because the tax collectors had armed Roman soldiers helping them like Repo men! It would have been sort of like the IRS coming after you, with the Mafia backing them up. That is how Zacchaeus got wealthy, as we shall see by his own admission. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector by the way. That means he was in charge of a large enough area that he was collecting taxes from other tax collectors, sort of like upper management, maybe we could even call him a “Wall Street mogul” or “Big government.”
And knowing human nature, even if he had been completely honest about his tax collecting ways and innocent of wrong doing, everybody poorer than him would have suspected him anyway. He just couldn’t get away from the fact that he was forcing people to give him their money. So practically nobody liked Zacchaeus, except other tax collectors, who probably would have been friends with him only to learn how he got to be so good at it.
Who was Zacchaeus before he met Jesus? He was a money grubbing tax collector who may have felt guilt and shame about how he got rich, but didn’t see any way out because he knew the religious leaders of his culture would never forgive him. Besides, he liked the material blessings he realized along the way. So why would a guy like that be curious about Jesus, so curious that he would climb a tree to get a good view?
There are a couple of possibilities. One suggestion is that Zacchaeus really was feeling guilty about the way he had been living. In Luke chapter 18, just a few paragraphs before this story, Jesus told the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
The suggestion is that Jesus didn’t just invent this parable out of thin air, but actually knew a real tax collector, named Zacchaeus, who really was under conviction. So in chapter 19, Jesus went to meet him and show him the mercy he prayed for.
Another suggestion is that Zacchaeus was curious about Jesus because he knew about Matthew, the former tax collector who had joined Jesus’ band of disciples. It makes sense that members of the tax collectors’ guild knew each other at least on a professional level, and considering their position as despised by everybody else, they would only have each other for friends too. So we may wonder what effect it had upon Zacchaeus when Matthew quit his job to follow Jesus.
I think it would make Zacchaeus wonder about Jesus, the rabbi who didn’t mind hanging out with tax collectors. Maybe that’s what made Zacchaeus so curious and determined to get a good look at Jesus, even if he had to endure the ridicule of the crowds and humble himself by doing something as undignified as climbing a tree. The social climber became a tree climber!
Now the stage is set. There he is, out on a limb, and Jesus comes along. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. Can you imagine Zach’s shock and surprise? He never expected this. If he had, he wouldn’t have been in the tree. He would have sent a messenger to extend an invitation to dinner. Instead, Jesus surprised him by looking up to him and inviting himself over. This was a most gracious expression of social acceptance. Jesus said, “I don’t care what anybody says. I want to spend some time with you.” Now Jesus has gone “out on a limb” so to speak, to welcome Zacchaeus in fellowship.
And sure enough the people had something to say about it. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” Funny how Jesus sees an opportunity to bring salvation to a house and all the people see is a man hanging out with the wrong kind of people. They condemn the Savior based on who he wants to save. We must be careful today that we don’t trample down the harvest of souls, by despising the ones we are tempted to frown upon. Instead may the Lord help us see them through His eyes so that we are willing to hang out with anybody and recognize the ones who are ready to hear and receive our gospel proclamation. Zacchaeus is an example of the fact that God cares for everybody and can potentially reach anybody. What did God do for Zacchaeus? He came to him in grace while he was still mired in his sin and offered him forgiveness, a forgiveness that Zacchaeus never thought he could get.
So here’s what happened. Zacchaeus was deeply moved and touched by the fact that Jesus loved him. Probably everything they talked about at dinner that night is not recorded in this story. But Zacchaeus’ response to Jesus’ gracious acceptance and love is made very clear. 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 Zach’s response to grace. And it was much more than the law of his people required. The laws of Israel stipulated that perhaps 23% of one’s annual income was expected to be used to aid the poor. To give away 50% was more than twice what the law required. And in Exodus 22 the law requires a thief to pay back double for what he stole. But Zacchaeus offers twice as much and pays back quadruple! Unlike the rich young ruler who couldn’t bear to part with his great wealth, Zacchaeus’ heart had changed. He was no longer focused on getting rich or staying rich. He had new riches in Christ. He was no longer captivated by his ability to get money out of people. He was no longer content with his lying and cheating ways. He was set free from sin and now he could actively work against it and undo a lot of the wrongs that could be made right in the new strength he had from God! This should make an impression upon us because even in today’s society, money is power and strength. Zacchaeus submitted it to God. He became a man who lived wholeheartedly for the Lord and loved him with all his heart and soul and mind and strength!
So Jesus said to everyone round, for all to hear, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Some people think that means that Zacchaeus got saved because he repented of his wicked ways. But that is not what Jesus is saying. Zacchaeus was lost in his wicked ways. According to everything else we know about the gospel from the rest of Scripture, we must understand that what Jesus meant was, “We know that Zacchaeus has believed our message, has received his forgiveness, and is a new creation. The proof of it is obvious in seeing the new strength he has to do what is good and right. The way Zacchaeus is behaving is the result of the salvation that has come to this house today.”
It’s just like Scrooge in a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. First came his night of dreams and visions that led to his faith in salvation and redemption, then came his good and generous life as a result of having been saved. He could live with otherish love because he no longer needed to take care of himself. God had promised to take care of him.
It could not be the other way around. Think of it. What if Zacchaeus or Scrooge had said something like, “Hmm. I see that I am in trouble with God for being so greedy and selfish. I’d better change my ways. I will now start giving my money away. That way, when I meet God at the pearly gates I can show him what I have done to correct my mistakes and pay for my sins.” In that scenario, the person who is thinking that way is still very much consumed with the selfish desire to save himself. That is still a selfish love, only it has turned its focus from getting rich on earth, to a focus of making sure he gets to enjoy the riches of Heaven.
That is not salvation that makes us strong to love God with an otherish love that trusts Him with everything. That is a selfish scheme to secure for one self the best possible future. We all have to be careful about this fine distinction of whether we are Christians because we want Heaven, or whether we are Christians because we know by faith that God has already given us Heaven and now all we want is to love Him for it!
Now it may be that God gives you a good job and you put your strength to good use in that employment and you might make a lot of money doing it. But what’s the point? Before I was a pastor, I knew a guy once, a foreman I worked for in a factory who said to me, “Sometimes I wonder why I bother to get up in the morning. What’s the point of it all? You work hard to earn money so you can pay your bills. That keeps you alive so you can work hard to earn money to pay more bills. You work to stay alive and you stay alive to work. What’s the point?”
My answer was, “I work for God. The money I earn here is God’s money and the harder I work, the more I earn and the more I can give to the church to build the kingdom. I serve the Lord and that gives my life meaning. This job is just the way God is providing for me and my family.”
The first thing he said after that was, “You give your money away?”
My theology is as follows. In this world, strength is often measured in dollars and cents. Even the Bible makes that connection when it talks about justice for the poor. So one of the best ways we have to show that we love the Lord our God with all our strength is to trust Him to take care of us so that we are free to be very generous in a most otherish way! But this takes discipline. That’s why the church teaches about tithing as a beginner’s principle for whole life stewardship.
Giving that pleases God comes from a heart that is totally in Love with Him as response to His amazing Love for us. That means 100% of a life lived for Him, generous in everything, besides finances. But if I don't practice some baseline of thoughtful discipline such as a tithe principle, not Law, and if I don’t keep track of what I am actually doing, then, because the human heart remains corrupt and deceitful, I will end up giving less than I can afford. I have found that I really can always be more generous than I "think" I can in any given moment. Disciplined, planned giving is better than "reflex" or as some would call it, "Spirit led" giving. But always allow for Spirit led giving to pull you beyond what you planned.
We need to notice that to love the Lord your God with all your strength is the language of action and works. When Zacchaeus came alive in new faith, his response was to love the Lord and his neighbors with all his heart, mind, soul and strength. That showed up in his offer to make good with his money. We say it is the result of salvation, not the cause of salvation. It is not the way of salvation. Jesus is the way. We are saved by faith in Him.
As a matter of fact, only the saved can love the Lord with all their strength. The unsaved are dead and have no strength at all as far as God is concerned. We must keep this in mind because the natural tendency of our hearts is to get this backward. Ask anyone in the world, even if they are religious, especially if they are religious, “What is the way of salvation?” Most will answer, “Do your best to be a nice person. Follow your religion. Worship God. Believe in Him. If the good outweighs the bad, you’re in!” That’s wrong. It will never work.
You are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. God doesn’t need your strength in order to save you. In fact, according to the biblical definition of life, you don’t even have any strength until after you are born again and made alive in Christ by the power of the cross. At the cross, where God the Father reckons your sins removed from you, the power of the resurrection, which is Jesus alive in you, and the power of the Holy Spirit at work in you. Then, once you become a born-again believer through faith in that message and you are saved unto eternal life, what’s it for? With all that power in you is it time to rest and take it easy? What are you going to do with all that life and energy, get a good job, make a lot of money? There’s Kingdom work to be done. You are now energized to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. Where does your strength come from? Your strength comes from God. The only strength that counts for anything in God’s kingdom comes from God. What do you do with your strength? How will you love the Lord your God with all your strength? If you know you are saved by grace through faith in Jesus, like Zacchaeus was, what kind of response is God calling you to offer?
Let us pray.
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