October 30, 2022
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Luke 19:1-10[1]
Zacchaeus, the
chief tax collector, was known for colluding with Rome and skimming from the top
of the collections. He was rich but despised, an outcast among his people,
called a sinner by the grumbling crowd. We don’t expect a happy ending for
Zacchaeus.
Jesus has criticized
the rich several times already in Luke’s Gospel. “Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God… But woe to you who are rich, for you have
received your consolation” (6:20, 24). Remember the parable, “The land of a
rich man produced abundantly” (12:16)? And of course, there’s the one about the
rich man and Lazarus (16:19-31). We expect a rebuke of Zacchaeus, and actual
rich man standing before Jesus, caught red-handed if you will.
And yet, there
is something different about Zacchaeus. He is the twist in the parable, the
turning of the tables. We expect a rich and powerful man to push his way to the
front of the crowd, or stand whispering in a doorway with the other rich men of
Jericho as Jesus passes through. Instead, discarding all decorum, Zacchaeus runs
ahead to climb a tree, just to get a good look at Jesus. And not only did he
see, he was seen! Jesus called up to him, called him by name, and honored him
by staying at his house.
A more pompous
or self-righteous person might be apprehensive of what Jesus might say to him,
a powerful rich man. Instead, “he hurried down and was happy to welcome him”
(v. 6). The crowd was shocked by the social outcast being honored by Jesus. But
Zacchaeus was joyful, overcome by love, and declares his lavish commitment to
generosity. He will give away half his possessions to the poor, and repay his
fraud with four times as much. Not with grudging acquiescence, but with a smile
on his face and light in his heart.
“Salvation has
come to this house,” announces Jesus (v. 9). Zacchaeus was who he was, but he
is a child of Abraham, just like the rest of the crowd. He belongs to the
family of God. He may have been lost, but now he has been found, and that is
worth celebrating. After all, that is the mission, “to seek out and to save the
lost” (v. 10). In seeking out Zacchaeus, Jesus shows the extravagant love of
God who seeks out the lost, searching for those who have wandered away, because
they still belong to the family of God.
We often focus
on finding God, finding Jesus. We may think of ourselves as lost, seeking for
the one light, for salvation. We stumble around in the dark, not noticing that
our eyes are closed. Perhaps we’ve wandered away looking for quicker, easier,
more seductive ways of life. What we have forgotten is that Jesus is looking
for us. Jesus is seeking for us, walking miles and miles to find us, again and
again. And it may only take opening our eyes or climbing a tree for us to be
seen, to be found, to be called by name.
You may recall
how, in the parable of two who went to the Temple to pray, the Pharisee bragged
of his righteousness: “I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income”
(18:12). He already thought of himself as righteous, justified, saved. Here we
see a different response. Zacchaeus, who has not been so righteous before, has changed
his ways. “I will give to the poor… I will pay back four times as much” (v. 8).
In this moment, standing before the Lord, in the midst of the crowd grumbling
about this sinner, Zacchaeus has been transformed. Without any sense of arrogance,
and without being asked, he pledges his fortune in restitution for his crimes,
in repentance for his sins. He is changed, and his mended heart will be seen in
his new commitment to kindness, justice, and generosity.
We might think
of repentance as the work required to earn God’s love and salvation. Here we
see a better definition. Repentance is an act of gratitude for the grace
extended by God. It can be an act of remorse, but it can also be an act
motivated by joy. I messed up. I want to do better; I want to be better. And
thanks be to God, I can be. The thing I find to be important is to remember
that God doesn’t need us to pay back God for what we’ve done wrong. It is the
people we’ve harmed who need our restitution. It is the poor we’ve ignored and those
we have cheated who need our acts of repentance. It is our community that must
see the change in us. God already loves us, has sought us out save us. Now we must
commit ourselves to acts of justice and love among God’s people in thanksgiving
and in joy.
[1] The
scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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