SCRIPTURE: Luke 19:1-10
TEXT: 10For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” THEME: When we see Jesus Jesus sees us. INTRODUCTION The Stories in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament are vehicles for truth about God. They were not written down as the events unfolded but were repeated as stories and passed down from one generation to another as an oral tradition. In 700 B.C. during Israel’s captivity in Babylon, a written language was developing. This was the opportunity for their stories of the Old Testament to be written down. Their children were learning the Babylonian stories, so the Hebrews took some of these stories and retold them instilling their values, perspective and knowledge of God in them. The details of these stories may have changed, but the Hebrew themes have been preserved in them as they have been passed down through the generations as vehicles of God’s truth. SCRIPTURE If we pay attention to the details in this story, we may come out with different conclusions about Zacchaeus than what we have assumed. Jesus is very near to Jerusalem. His wandering around in the Judean countryside is finally coming to an end, as he nears his destination through the city of Jericho. This city, with its wall coming down was the entrance way for the people of God to make their way back to their ancestral home from Egypt. They had a new leader Joshua, who was leading them home for something new. In the Gospel of Luke, the previous rich people in the were not named, but Zacchaeus is. His name means innocent or clean. But he is not just any old tax collector, he is the Chief tax collector, meaning that he has many other tax collectors under him making him rich. Our assumption is that he has chosen money over relationship, making him unsympathetic and separating himself from the religious community. Until he hears that Jesus is coming to town and has just got to see him. Maybe he has heard from the other tax collectors who sat at a meal with Jesus. The Stories of Jesus healing, helping, teaching must have been on people’s lips. His portrayal of God is not as judge but more as parent. He had to see what Jesus looked like. We are like that, we want to look into his eyes, see his smile, see how he is dressed, watch him as he walks, hear his voice, see the color of his hair and the complexion of his skin. Here is another detail we get about Zacchaeus, he is short. He can’t see through the crown lining the street, so he has to runs up ahead and climb a sycamore tree, taller than the heads in the street to see Jesus as he passes by. Then Jesus sees him, calls him out and honors him by staying with him. “Hui Zacchaeus, I spock you, up there. Hayaku! I going Kau-kau your house today.” Zacchaeus pledges to give half of his wealth away to the poor and to repay anyone he had cheated by 4 times, But here’s the thing. What if this was not the defining moment for Zacchaeus? What if Zacchaeus has had his ‘Aha’ moment about who Jesus was already because of all of the things he has heard about Jesus? And what if Zacchaeus was already living a life of belief in Jesus as the Son of Man? Zacchaeus could have made the switch from greed to humanity, the switch from wealth to choosing the religious community. He’s made the economic shift that Jesus was talking about where masters prepare the meals for their servants after a long day of plowing the fields, with appreciation and respect for each other they sit down to eat together. There is an interesting Greek tense called ‘aorist present future’ where they talk about something that will happen in the future, even though it has already taken place in the present. So, the giving of half his wealth to the poor is something he has already done. The pay back of anyone by 4 times, has already been done. But Jesus raises this up as a recognition of a changed life so he can be accepted back into the religious community that has been stereotyped out of. We can think this, because the detail that is missing from this story, is the woeful expression of guilt that needed to be forgiven like that the Pharisee in the previous passage witnessed from a tax collector in the temple. APPLICATION What does the community of those who have the honor of having Jesus dine in their homes look like? How should we treat each other in community? If Jesus has come to save the lost, who are the people Jesus has been gathering in the Gospel of Luke? Samaritans, a crippled woman he healed on the Sabbath, Pharisees, a man with dropsy, the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, inattentive shepherds, people who lose things, children, those with fake friends, Children of light, children of this age, beggars, Abraham descendants, those with a mustard seed faith, a Samaritan leper, a nagging widow, thieves, rogues, adulterers and tax collectors, are valuable to God and welcomed at Jesus’ table. The details of this story begin to change our view of the residents of heaven, it will be made up of sinners who are human like us. When we look at the world, we can think that it is in trouble, with wars, climate change, environmental challenges, global warming, sea levels rising, the declining forest, extreme weather, our political divide, gun violence, racial inequalities. We are just a heartbeat from destruction. But this is not how God sees us. God sees us as good. Redeemable, loved and sends Jesus not to judge us, but to love us. We see God the way we want to see God but Jesus reveals to us how God is. God come to us. In flesh and blood, in the incarnation, to create with us again, life, community, relationships, faith, covenant, a people of God. This is salvation. New worship beyond the temple into the church. CONCLUSION The nature of a good story is that we can think about it and see different things in it each time. At first glance we might have thought the Good news of the story of Zacchaeus is that God loves short people, but there is more to it than that. Of how we can believe in Jesus even before seeing Jesus face to face, Just by what others tell us about, or by what we read about Jesus in the Bible 2000 years later. Sometimes, we fail to see with our own eyes what is before us because of our stereotypes, our prejudice, our privilege, or our assumptions. We like to grumble about what others are doing instead of discovering what really is going on. One last detail I couldn’t figure out was the sycamore tree. It is a symbol of change and transformation because of its association with Zacchaeus. What was significant about it? Then I saw a picture of a Sycamore tree in Jericho that has been designated as the tree Zacchaeus climbed. It has low hanging branches, that reach out and welcome us to climb up to get a better view and sturdy enough to bear our weight. For no other reason than being the right kind of tree a short rich man could climb easily. Maybe coming to see Jesus is not as hard as we make it out to be.
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