Zacchaeus in a Tree

Before we read our text for today, it will be help to remember the role of the tax collector in first century Palestine. Tax collectors were charged by the Roman government to collect taxes from their neighboring villagers by whatever means they deemed necessary. The Romans did not care how much the tax collectors received so long as Rome received its designated share. Historians tell us that tax collectors would often collect far more than was due and keep the extra for themselves. They not only were seen as traitors in the eyes of their people; they also enriched themselves greatly off the backs of the poor. Zaccheus, the chief tax collector of the vital economy of Jericho, would most likely have been despised and rejected by his community. But also note that just prior to this text, in chapter 18 of the gospel of Luke, we have a bit of foreshadowing perhaps. In chapter 18, Jesus tells a parable about a repentant tax collector. The repentant tax collector serves as a model of prayer while a prideful Pharisee is scorned.

[Luke 19:1-10]

During my sophomore year in college, I would borrow my roommate’s blue two-seater Fiat and drive about a mile and a half to Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis, where Rebekah Abel Lamar currently serves. I would park across the street from the church, enter the narthex just as the service began, and make my way to the upper corner of the balcony far in the rear of the church. I do not recollect any particular reason why that was my habit. I just knew that I wanted to be in worship, but in that season of my life, I was not seeking out any interaction with the pastor or congregation. To be honest, I wanted to be present, but I did not necessarily want to be “seen”.

I remember one particular Sunday when I had come down the stairs and was heading out of the narthex to make a quick exit and return to campus. Suddenly Dr. Henry Strock turned, held out his hand, and spoke to me. I had been noticed. He had seen me sitting far in the balcony and wanted to say hello. I was glad to meet him, but it was a brief introduction and I did not hang around. I quickly crossed the street, got back in my roommate’s Fiat and headed back to campus.

I can relate in some measure to Zaccheus hiding out in the sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus. The story of Zaccheus is a wonderful Vacation Bible School story. Most children can relate well to being shorter than adults and not being able to see when a parade of people are passing by. And many children love to climb trees and can relate to Zaccheus wanting to climb up to a place where he could see over the heads of all the adults. What we might miss, if we do not dig a little deeper, is the utter shock! to a Middle Eastern audience. We might think it humorous for a grown man to climb a tree. Middle Easterners find this behavior outrageous, embarrassing, and absurd. Grown men, in particular men of any means, do not climb trees! Luke including the tree in the telling of this story was just a shocking to the original hearers as was the story of the father of the prodigal, the one who ran down the lane to welcome home his son. Grown men do not run and certainly do not climb trees in Middle Eastern villages!

There was something more going on than Zaccheus simply wanting to catch a glimpse of Jesus. This chief tax collector – wealthy, powerful, and yes, most likely despised by his community – does something over-the-top and unexpected. Given the nature and shape of a leafy sycamore tree, he may have been seeking to do so privately, out of view, with no expectation of being noticed. A sycamore tree stands tall with broad leaves and full branches. A sycamore would be a good place to hide from the crowd in plain sight, so to speak.

In the parable I mentioned about the two men praying in the temple, the one who went home justified before God, Jesus told them, was not the prideful Pharisee who boasted of his fasting and tithing, but the repentant the tax-collector, who stood far off, would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Jesus went on to say; “for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’” (Luke 18:14) Let there be no doubt that the act of a Middle Eastern man climbing a tree was an act of humility before God and others, a precursor to repentance and transformation.

The name Zaccheus is a Hebrew baby name, sort of like the name “Chicharito,” which some of you will recognize. “Zaccheus” means “clean” or “pure.” Perhaps Zaccheus longed for an earlier time in his life, when as a child he climbed trees, lived a more clean and pure existence, felt closer to God and more welcomed by others. Perhaps in Zaccheus’ younger days he had fewer resources, but many more friends.
Also in the previous chapter of Luke, Jesus reprimanded his disciples:

“Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them;
for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.
Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”
(Luke 18:16-17)

In one sense, little Zaccheus humbled himself as a child in order to see Jesus.

We often talk about Jesus’ radical welcome in the gospel of Luke – his welcome of the leper and the beggar and the Samaritan – but here we find something different. Jesus does not simply “welcome” the wealthy chief tax collector of Jericho. Jesus notices him in the tree, calls him by name, and then he invites himself to Zaccheus’ home for dinner that very night! When church members talk about the popular question:

What would Jesus do?
Is this what we had in mind?

Sometimes we may forget how Jesus was bold, assertive, and proactive in relation to strangers, and particularly in relation to those excluded as outsiders. Jesus did not wait for Zaccheus to show up at the synagogue on Saturday; Jesus invited himself over for dinner!

Who may be the Zaccheus’ of our community, of Atlanta? And what role might the church play in their salvation and the salvation of their households? It could become a personal challenge for the church today that Jesus came “to seek and save the lost,” not merely to wait for those who were lost to show up at the synagogue. As a congregation, most visitors report to us that we do a good job of welcoming people. For the most part, when guests show up at our door, Alan Kenton and Dudley Larus and others do a great job of noticing them, of seeking them out, and making them feel welcome. Thank you Alan and Dudley! But how many of us walk the streets of Decatur or our neighborhoods, notice a “seeker” – someone who seems interested in the things of God, and then invite ourselves over to their home for dinner?

Real transformation came that day to the household of Zaccheus. Luke reports that he and all of his household were “saved” by the radical grace of Jesus. And this was much more than some inner conversion of the soul. Zaccheus’ encounter with Jesus changed not only his inner life and the condition of his household, but had an immediate impact upon the entire community. Because Zaccheus was saved by grace, the poor would have food to eat and the defrauded would finally know justice.

I do not know about you, but I want to know the end of this story. I want the gospel writer, the careful and detailed physician Luke, to go back to Jericho some decades later and interview Zacchaeus and his neighbors. Did Zaccheus do as he promised? Did he return a full half of the proceeds he had collected to the poor? Did he payback fourfold, twice the requirement of the law, those whom he had defrauded? What was Zaccheus like a month after Jesus departed? Or a year after that fateful dinner in his home? What was the response of Zaccheus’ household? If he was married, what did his wife think about his change of heart? How did his children, if he had any, feel about him parting with half of his possessions, possessions that would one day be theirs?

We cannot know the answer to these questions. What we can do is answer those questions for ourselves. What will we be like one month from now? One year from now? How will we respond in our lives to being in the presence of Jesus? What tangible changes might we make in our lives to find reconciliation with God and restoration in damaged relationships with others? What impact could come to our household and our community as we turn to Jesus and seek to make things right, to settle accounts in our lives?

Zaccheus seemed joyful as he parted with half of his possessions. He discovered that it was not necessary and even damaging to hold tightly to everything he had hoarded. He discovered the joy of giving and providing for others, of letting go of what he did not need and investing freely and radically for the sake of the coming kingdom of heaven. With our capital campaign just around the corner, perhaps this is more of a stewardship sermon then we realized! When you consider Zaccheus’ pledge of 50% of his possessions, the tithe, 10%, no longer seems so sacrificial!

Have you heard about the The Giving Pledge campaign? Warren Buffett and many other billionaires have made a promise to will a full half of their estate, a full 50% or more, for the sake of the needs of the world, and they are visiting other wealthy people of the world to encourage them do the same, to contribute their wealth to philanthropic causes, either during their lifetime or upon their death.

Are you familiar with the book “The Power of Half”? The book describes the story of a family who lived just miles from here. After some soul-searching questions from their teenage daughter about their resources in relation to the needs of the poor, the family sold their house, downsized into a smaller dwelling, and gave half of the proceeds of the home to the poor. “Jesus looked at (the rich young ruler) and said, ‘How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ Those who heard it said, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus replied, ‘What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.’ (Luke 18:24-27)

Certainly, there is an element of the stewardship of resources that should be wrestled with in this story. There is also an important element of social justice. An unjust wealthy person repays the poor whom he has defrauded fourfold of his own volition, without a court of law requiring him to do so. There is also an important element of restoration to community. As the chief tax collector, Zaccheus had not been a welcome part of the social fabric of Jericho. Zaccheus had not been invited to other people’s homes, unless they wanted something from him. No one but Jesus was inviting themselves to his home. Zaccheus – despised, hated, and feared – was known for misusing his power and taking advantage of the poor.

At the heart of the story is that, by the grace of God made known in Jesus Christ, people can change. One evening with Jesus brought salvation to the home of Zaccheus. Zaccheus’ whole life and the life of his family was transformed – from despised to appreciated, from outside to inside, from shunned to welcomed, from death to life.

That Sunday back in college when Dr. Strock spoke to me as I exited the sanctuary, how shocked would I have been if Dr. Strock had told me he was coming to eat lunch in the refectory with me and my friends that afternoon?! Figuratively speaking, what if Jesus were coming to your home today? What impact might that visit have upon your household, upon your relationship to your neighbors, upon your use of resources? What we know from this text is that Zaccheus was lost and then was found. He was blind but then could see. Even Zaccheus was recognized by Jesus as a child of Abraham, a beloved child of God…as are we all.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like Zaccheus, and like you and me.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Todd Speed
Decatur Presbyterian Church
Decatur, Georgia
October 30, 2016