So, we’ve heard the story of the wee little man who climbed up in the
Sycomore Fig tree. Zacchaeus is a Hebrew
name that means innocent; in a way that’s kind of funny
for a Bible character who is a tax collector.
In Jesus’ day parents often named their children according to their
character traits…sometimes so honestly brutal it’s embarassing, like Isaac
naming his younger of twin sons Jacob, which means trickster
or deceiver.
Zacchaeus was named innocent, but according to Luke
he was anything but!
The crowd considered Zacchaeus a notorious sinner
because he was a Jew who was a government contractor, hired by the Romans to
collect his countrymen’s taxes.
Zacchaeus could collect any amount he wanted, even above the rate the
Roman Emperor expected; he just about had a license to steal.
It was no wonder tax collectors were hated!
What we see in this story is a shadowy reference of three people…first we
see:
1.
Jacob, who was a
sneaky, deceiving self-server. But
Scripture tells us Jacob wrestled with God and came up changed…he was Israel,
the namesake of God’s special people.
Then there was:
2.
Zacchaeus, who
was considered a traitor to his nation, a despicable, greedy man who meets
Jesus and becomes a repentent, generous, philanthropist. And, finally we see:
3.
You…and me,
because…in some form or another…we’re all Jacob or Zacchaeus in the making.
The task we have in front of us today as we wrestle (as did Jacob wrestle with
God at the river Jabbok) is to unpack the truth about the man behind the fig
leaves…and maybe learn something about ourselves in the process. We do this to better understand how to come
out from behind our fig leaves that leave us shamefully lacking in our walk
with Jesus. We want to be honest in our
relationship with God, so we can receive His presence like the tax collector
did, with great excitement and joy!
Here are 7 adjectives to describe the man behind the fig leaves:
There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, Luke 19:2a
The good
Doctor Luke calls Zacchaeus the chief
tax collector. It’s said
that the lead dog goes where he wants, and the rest have to follow and look at
the chief’s wagging tail. Zacchaeus may
have been a wee little man, but he was the most
influential man in that part of the world.
This story is
all about how Zacchaeus came to be a disciple of Jesus. That seems odd, as powerful people tend to trust
their own lead, not follow someone else’s.
But the story tells us something about the man who climbed up in a fig
tree…he knew his power was nothing compared to what he’d seen in Jesus.
2. Zacchaeus was Very Rich
and he had become very rich. Luke
19:2b
It’s
interesting in this story how the religious rulers pointed out that the chief
tax collector was a crook, when they were in charge of the temple “business”. They demanded everyone exchange their Roman
money for Temple currency to pay required tithes every year. This was done at a rate that would make
today’s 29% credit card interest look like a great deal! The rulers also sponsored selling sacrificially
pure animals (doves, lambs) for more than a month’s pay.
The rulers
complaining about Jesus associating with a sinner like Zacchaeus was the
proverbial pot calling a kettle black!
Zacchaeus was certainly guilty of the worst kind of greed, but he had
nothing on the crew down at the Temple!
They were a mob in clergy robes!
3. Zacchaeus was Very Curious
He tried to get a look at Jesus, Luke 19:3a
Jesus had
gone viral by this point, and Zacchaeus not only had heard of him, Zacchaeus
knew he had to know more about this healer from God. Today we would call the tax collector a seeker,
someone who isn’t ready to jump-in, but wants to know more about Jesus.
It occurs to
me that Zacchaeus was farther along in his seeking than we are told. Rich and powerful people have assistants to
do the dirty work. Idle
curiosity might have caused Zacchaeus to send a staffer…but this is
full blown, hands-on seeking. This
powerful rich man personally shimmied-up that Sycomore Fig
tree; the curious tax collecting seeker had to see for himself!
but he was too short to see over the crowd. Luke 19:3b
My daughter, Jennifer and I have this teasing thing that’s been
going on for years. She is a person of
Zacchaeus-like stature. Short jokes
abound! It’s never mean-spirited stuff,
but I try not to push the envelope.
Elwood Baker is a dear friend of more than 35 years. He’s 90 and still preaching the Gospel. He is not much more than 5’ tall and loves to
laugh about it. He told about how once
he was in a meeting, and the one conducting the meeting saw his raised hand and
told him he could speak. As Elwood began
to speak, the chair of the meeting said, stand up and speak up. Then he said, oh…you ARE standing!
We know that despite his shortcomings, at the
end of this story Zacchaeus is the hero compared to the religious good
people. And therein is a key we mustn’t
miss; it is a mistake to look at the outside and judge the inside. Morally-speaking, Zacchaeus and the religious
leaders were on even ground. The
difference between the two was that, eventually, Zacchaeus was willing to
repent, to do something about his shortfall of character; the religious leaders
just grumbled and judged him because of what they saw – a tax collector.
But we always do that; it’s human nature. Look at the TV ads – they are all about
physical attributes, especially those of the sensual and strength issues. It’s all about the men’s muscles and the
model’s hair and shape. How shallow and
temporary – trust me, eventually the hair either turns
gray, or turns loose, and the body grows weaker and everything sags. We need to concentrate not on the shortness
of physical stature, but on the tallness of whatever is eternal!
5. Zacchaeus was Very Empty
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus
was going to pass that way. When
Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.” Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took
Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. Luke 19:4-6
Zacchaeus was a very empty soul.
When Jesus invited himself to dinner at Zach’s house he was overwhelmed
with joy. That tells us something
important here. As a rich, influential
man he probably entertained his social circle with lavish parties.
But that kind of stuff grows old in a hurry. Look at the lifestyles of the rich and famous
and see the emptiness behind the glitz and makeup. Look at the long list of suicides. Zacchaeus was headed down that road, and
Jesus brought good news. Like Adam,
another man hiding and very empty behind fig leaves, the tax collector had just
been friended by the One who could make a difference.
Incidentally – did you notice that the first word spoken between
these two men was from Jesus’ lips? He
called the man hiding in the fig leaves Zacchaeus; Jesus
called him by name. Scripture tells us
that’s the way it will be on resurrection day.
Jesus knows who belong to the Father, and, like he called Lazarus out of
that stone, cold, dead grave, he will speak the name of everyone who had called
on the Name that is above every name!
And then, right in line with the rest is the fact that:
6. Zacchaeus was Very Lost
But the people were displeased. “He
has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the
Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have
cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” Luke 19:7-8
Once again we see two reactions here. When Jesus friended Zacchaeus, the religious
leaders were furious; they grumbled. And
that is always a mark of the lost, who don’t know they need to be saved.
The other reaction is by the lost man, Zacchaeus, who recognizes
his shortfall of standing before the God of eternity. His reaction is to repent – to change – to
turn around from the way he had lived, greedy, predatory, stealing the life out
of anyone he could oppress…and start giving back.
There’s a word in this text that’s too important to miss today – GIVE! At the risk of being a Greek nerd, let me say
that word is in the indicative, present-active tense in the original
language. Simply put, Zacchaeus had just
committed to not only giving back what he’d stolen, he was going to actively
live the lifestyle of giving from that moment on. He stood before Jesus and gave up the one
thing that had always stood between him and God, his wallet!
Zacchaeus, VERY Powerful, Rich,
Curious, Short, Empty,
and Lost was now:
7. Zacchaeus was Very Found
Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has
shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man
came to seek and save those who are lost.”
Luke 19:9-10
Salvation –
don’t leave earth without it! That’s the
message of the Gospel Jesus came to announce.
Zacchaeus heeded the message and God came into his life, and that life
changed immediately and for eternity.
The religious
rulers practiced eisegesis, seeing and hearing what they wanted, distorting the
message and living a lie. All they had
were the clergy robes on their backs; salvation, for them, was a mirage that
would never be real.
Jesus practiced what the prophet Amos had preached. In his prophecy Amos said his “profession”
was never to be a prophet, rather it was to tend fig trees[2]. Those who tend Sycamore-Fig trees
help the fruit ripen by slashing. They
put a little gash in the fig, encouraging completion of the growth cycle.
That day Jesus crossed paths with Zacchaeus, he could have walked past,
just basking in the crowd’s adoration and praises. But Jesus recognized one piece of fruit
hiding behind the fig leaves that needed a push to ripen. Having the living Son of God come to your
house, when your house is built on robbing others is something like getting a
gash in what needs to be exposed to the sun.
Zacchaeus could never be the same once Jesus made the offer.
And that leads us to the other takeaway:
Zacchaeus’ Response
There were really two responses, or more accurately, a response, and a
growing echo of that response.
First, there was a glad reception of Jesus’
offer. Zacchaeus said “YES” to
Jesus. And then the diminutive tax
collector emptied his heart of greed, and his wallet of ill-gotten gains; he
gave away what was making him (sin) sick.
But, then the best of all, Zacchaeus found his life had changed, and now,
instead of hungering after earthly wealth, all he could think about was the
heavenly riches of giving, blessing the lives of others he had previously ruined. He had taken the first step towards God, and
Jesus turned it into a dance of joy!
The echo of what happened to Zacchaeus is the evidence of a life proving
what Jesus said one day to a group of would-be followers in his hillside
sermon:
Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of
your heart will also be. Matthew 6:21
If you want to know what real joy is like,
Zacchaeus, Jacob, Russell, come out from behind the leaves; stop being a
spectator, watching with the crowd.
Instead, invite Jesus into your home.
Just be ready to have a radical change when He gets there!
In the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…Amen!
[2] But Amos replied, “I’m not a professional prophet, and
I was never trained to be one. I’m just
a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore-fig trees. Amos 7:14
