Luke 19:1-10
If you could pick an ideal height, how tall would you be?
What occupation would you least like to do?
When was the last time you climbed a tree?
Since only the tax collectors knew the rate required by Rome, they could inflate the rate and keep the difference. Though a Jew, Zacchaeus would have been hated as a traitor who got rich at his people's expense. For Jesus to go to his house was improper in the eyes of their fellow Jews.
- God is ... What do we learn about God in this passage?
- We are ... What do we learn about people in this passage?
- How does Zacchaeus compare with the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-30) in his approach and response to Jesus?
- What unique spiritual challenges do gifted, beautiful, or wealthy persons face? Can such a life situation become a curse?
- How sympathetic are people likely to be with someone like Zacchaeus? Why?
- If you had been Zacchaeus when Jesus stopped under his tree and told him to "come down immediately," how would you have felt? (Scared, special, embarrassed, suspicious, surprised that he knew my name)
- Why did Zacchaeus volunteer to make such generous restitution to those he had cheated? (He felt guilty, his heart was full of love and gratitude toward Jesus, he wanted to be accepted by the community, or a miracle had happened in his life.)
- Why does Jesus dine with him? Why does this bother others? Do you think Jesus' words in verses 9-10 stopped the crowd's muttering?
- If you had been Zacchaeus at the end of the story, how would you feel? (Clean inside, included in God's family, brand new, loved, broke, etc.)
- I will ... What has the Holy Spirit revealed to us in this passage? How can I apply it to my life this week?
- Where did Jesus first find you? (Up a tree? Out on a limb?)
- How might a church show acceptance to all people?
- How did he get you to join him?
- Jesus saw the positive qualities in Zacchaeus. Who really affirmed you when you were a kid and felt like a "little guy up a tree"?
- What wrongs do you need to make right? Do you need to make amends to anyone? If so, how will you do it?
- What relationship most helps you to feel good about God's love?
- You can ... Who do you know who needs to hear this? Feel free to share with others by social media links at the bottom of this.
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WHEN I THINK of Zacchaeus, I see Danny DeVito--someone short, crooked, and a little flamboyant...
As an employee of the Roman government who made himself rich by skimming the tax money, Zacchaeus was ostracized from Jewish society. He's scum. And since he manages the local tax collectors, he's a crook managing other crooks. His mere presence disgusts his fellow Jews because he is a reminder that they are an occupied country. Roman soldiers stand next to his tollbooth, enforcing his collections.
But Jesus boldly intrudes into Zacchaeus's life. He stops and looks up at him, and then invites Himself over for dinner and to stay the night. This is similar to the President stopping his motorcade to say he's coming to your house--Jesus is the hottest thing to hit Israel in a few hundred years. If you were Zacchaeus, you'd be honored. Yet I doubt the President would say "I must stay" or "come down immediately" (literally, "hurry up").
But in the first century "good people" didn't eat with tax collectors because a meal was not just about eating; it was a sharing of life. Jesus' willingness to eat with Zacchaeus told everyone that Jesus not only accepted the tax collector, He also forgave him. This disgusted the crowd. Jesus had broken a social taboo.
When we love, we get dirty. Here the dirt comes the opinions of people who look down on Jesus for associating with someone who has stolen from his fellow Jews and divided their money between himself and the Roman government.
Why does Jesus intrude? He's on a God-directed mission to seek and save what was lost. Jesus sought out Zacchaes. He didn't just wait for people to come to Him. He is an invading king. But what a strange kingdom: the poor, outcasts, prostitutes, Samaritans, and women! No wonder Jesus told Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). Paul E. Miller, "Saying 'Yes' To Gentle Intrusion," Love Walked Among Us, 149-150
"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10
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#Evangelism
August 5, 2003
A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. (Luke 19:2-4)
People often talked about his parentage. There were rumors in Jericho that his father had been a Roman merchant, his mother a Jewish prostitute. There was no basis for those stories, of course. But when your job is to shake down your fellow countrymen in the name of the occupying forces, no one worries too much if the gossip going around about you is actually true. They never called him by his given name anymore. When they saw him coming, "ben-zanah" was about the most polite description they used -- "son of the whore." He had heard much worse than that.
His skin had gotten thick. On most days, most of the insults rolled right off his back. He had chosen this life, after all. Long ago he had stopped attending the synagogue, even before they had voted to throw him out. He knew that he didn't belong there. He tried to remember the last time he had been to worship at the temple in Jerusalem; it had been years. His only trips to the city now were to deliver the taxes that he and his sub-contractors had collected. And when he went, he avoided the temple. Oh, he doubted anyone would recognize him, but why take the chance? They weren't his kind of people, anyway.
He had friends. Acquaintances, anyway. They came often to the luxurious home paid for and furnished by the "commissions" he collected. Hey, a guy had to make a living. And Rome didn't care how much their tax collectors took as long as Caesar got what was his. So Zacchaeus enjoyed his wealth by throwing lavish parties for the other cast-offs in and around Jericho. Roman officials and military. Other tax-collectors. Prostitutes. Criminals. They didn't look down their noses at him, they were glad for his hospitality and always ready to share some food and wine and singing. They didn't cross the street when they saw him coming or whisper about him behind his back or spit at him or threaten him like the "respectable" people in town.
News travelled fast in Jericho. Someone had seen the teacher everyone was talking about, Jesus, on the road into town. Pretty soon everyone was talking about it. Some said he could do miracles. Some talked about his teaching. Some said he was a prophet; some even thought he might be the Messiah. What intrigued Zacchaeus most was overhearing someone recount a story he had heard Jesus tell. It was about a Pharisee and a tax collector in the temple, and Jesus has said that the tax collector's sorrow for his sin had made him more acceptable to God than the Pharisee. That had cracked up everyone who knew the arrogance of some of the Pharisees. It awakened in Zacchaeus something he thought was gone forever. Right then and there, he had decided that he needed to see this Jesus.
The crowd had already lined the street into town when Zacchaeus got there. Standing on tiptoe, he tried to peer over the heads of the mob. Cursing his 5'2" body, he tried to push through to the front. The mob shoved him back, shoved him down. That's when he heard someone say, "There he is!!" The crowd started to cheer; Zacchaeus felt like crying. He couldn't have explained why seeing Jesus was this important to him; something just told him he had to. Then he noticed the tree.
He hadn't climbed one since he was a boy, but he didn't hesitate. He was just able to grab the lower branches on the short tree. He got his foot against the trunk and started to leverage himself up. He found a knot for his other foot, reached up and found he was able to reach a higher branch. Then suddenly, he was sitting on a thick branch, clutching another in white-knuckled hands, looking down on the scene below him. There was a group of men and women on the road, but which of the men was Jesus? It hadn't occurred to him that he couldn't identify the Galilean. He was just about to shout Jesus' name when one of the men in the crowd looked up. When he saw Zacchaeus sitting in the tree, he smiled. No, he didn't just smile. He laughed out loud. He threw back his head, closed his eyes, and cracked up. He leaned on the shoulder of one of the guys standing next to him. He wiped tears from his eyes. And just when Zacchaeus was starting to feel self-conscious, Jesus spoke.
"Zacchaeus!" he shouted over the crowd noise. The crowd went silent.
How did this man know his name? Had someone in the crowd told him? Great, just great. "Zacchaeus ben-zanah," no doubt. Jesus chuckled again. "Zacchaeus, come down right now," he ordered. Then his face got serious. His eyes got intense. The smile straightened. "I HAVE to stay at your place today." It was a curious thing to say. It wasn't a request, and it wasn't a demand. Something was compelling Jesus to eat with Zacchaeus just as something had compelled Zacchaeus to climb that tree to see Jesus. A few people tried to explain to Jesus who his host was. He waved them off. Zacchaeus heard the muttering around him as Jesus told him to lead the way. Zacchaeus shook his head. Associating with him had turned Jesus from hero to zero in this town in seconds.
Jesus and Zacchaeus talked all day and late into the evening. Zacchaeus talked about what he did for a living. He admitted his faults. He even wept as he described his longings to worship in the temple, to join in the prayers at the synagogue. He hadn't even realized how much he missed the reassurance of knowing that whatever happened he was a son of Abraham and a recipient of the promises God had made. He motioned toward the door, toward the crowd still milling around, wondering what was going on in the house. "They call me "Ben-zanah," he said, shaking his head. "And it's not even true."
Zacchaeus was shocked to see tears in Jesus' eyes, and not tears of laughter this time. He bent down a little, looked the tax collector right in the eye. "I want you to know something, Zacchaeus. I want you to know that God loves you. I want you to know that he doesn't share the opinion of you that these people who claim to be so close to him share. He knows you deep down and loves you. He wants to forgive you. Those promises he made are for you,too."
Zacchaeus drew in a deep breath sharply. The tears started to fall again. He started to object, started to list his sins. Then he remembered the story that had intrigued him, that the tax collector had been justified because he was sorry for his sins. "Lord, if that's possible, right now I give half of everything I have to the poor. And....and...and if I've cheated anyone, I'll pay them back four times over!!!"
Jesus smiled and laughed again. He put an arm around Zacchaeus and led him to the door. He threw it open, and people milling around outside stopped in their tracks. "Salvation has come to this house today," he shouted, smiling. "And I want you people to know something; this is no longer Zacchaeus ben-zanah here. This man standing beside me is a son of Abraham, just like the rest of you. The promises are for him, too!"
They're for each of us, I think Zacchaeus would tell us. They're for everyone who feels a compulsion to see and know Jesus and acts on that compulsion. Whether that compulsion leads you to climb a tree, to pray, to go to church, to pick up a Bible, to talk to someone, to be baptized, to make some changes -- whatever it leads you to do, act on it. That desire to know Jesus is from God, and it will end with your salvation. It will end with you being a child of the promises that he has made to those who belong to him.
"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
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