Jesus has been doing ministry in the region of Galilee which is the northern part of Israel and he is making his final journey to Jerusalem, which is in the southern part of Israel.
And he is heading to Jerusalem during the season of Passover, an annual feast where God’s people would travel, usually by foot to the city of Jerusalem to celebrate their story of God’s deliverance from Egyptian slavery . . . so the road would have been packed with people.
And along the way there would have been small towns that would swell during this season, as those who were on pilgrimage passed through and they would stop to get supplies, or lodging or maybe the kids want a happy meal from McDonalds.
Well, that's Jericho. And Jericho was a flourishing city, not just because of the tourist industry but because it lay along this caravan route, which made it possible to export its products all over the world. So it was a beehive of commercial and human activity.
And in this prospering city was a man named Zacchaeus who was a tax collector. And Scripture tells us that he was both wealthy and powerful as if that were some kind of indictment . . . and it was.
You see, the Roman government at this point had taken over God’s people and were ruling over them. And they would appoint some who were Jewish to be tax collectors to collect money from their own people and hand it over to the godless Roman government.
And the way the tax system worked was like this; there was a chief tax collector with a staff of tax collectors . . . and these guys were the ones to collect money for the government but anything they could extort beyond that was theirs. So basically, their job was extortion.
And so they would collect taxes on anything they wanted. A cart, for instance, could be taxed for each wheel, for the animal that pulled it, and for the merchandise it carried.
And if they can’t pay the tax then they would seize homes and assets and cars and bankrupting people by taking their savings accounts and retirements account and their children's college fund.
And after they collected the tax they would have to pay a percentage up the pyramid to the guy at the top and that top guy was Zacchaeus; the chief tax collector.
So as a chief tax collector in a prosperous city on a caravan route; there was lots of money to be made.
So as you can imagine this guy is loaded. He’s got private jets, vacation homes, a staff to serve him, only eats the finest of foods, only drinks the finest of wines, and he lives the life of a god.
Ironically the name Zacchaeus means “righteous one” or “pure one” but amongst his own countrymen; he was regarded as human filth. And the religious leaders had proclaimed him as unrighteous and spiritually unclean and spiritually hopeless.
Now the money was nice, to be sure. But to live as an outcast among your own people, with no one to call a friend, no social life, not allowed to go to church or celebrate religious holidays with your family, no involvement with others except those who wanted to use you for their own ends . . . it had to have been a lonely and depressing place.
But along comes Jesus and word is out that Jesus is different. He has a reputation for being comfortable with those on the fringes of society . . . children, women, blind guys begging on the side of the road and maybe even tax collectors. After all, he has told a few stories where it has been the tax collector who is the hero . . . so maybe this Jesus was worth checking out.
Now that was easier said than done. Zacchaeus was short, and seeing over or through a crowd was a real chore. Trying to squeeze through a crowd to the front was no sure thing, either. Sharp elbows would fly when the townspeople saw the hated Zacchaeus vulnerable in the crowd.
His only hope was to run ahead of the crowd and find a sycamore tree, with its low, spreading branches that afforded a ringside view of the way Jesus was to come. And that's what he did.
So imagine this . . . here’s this short, balding, well-dressed, rich man. I kind of imagine Danny Davito in nice clothes and he’s hauling it down the road, with his little legs pumping as fast as they can go and his gown flailing in the wind to this tree where his body guards help him up.
He waited there in that tree, probably not quite knowing what to expect, as Jesus came into view.
And then, the most amazing thing happened . . . Jesus stopped and looked up at him and then he calls him out by name.
We don’t know how he knew his name; maybe the Holy Spirit, or one of the 70 that Jesus had sent ahead of him to prepare the way for his coming had told Jesus about him or perhaps even because this guy was so notorious that everyone knew who he was.
We don’t know . . . but Jesus saw him and calls out, “Zacchaeus” . . . “righteous one” . . . and then he says, “come on down from there because I’m going to your house”
Now this may seem rude at first, Jesus invites himself over and he has with him 12 disciples and an entourage of other followers who are all really hungry, so it's gonna be a big event.
But what Jesus is doing is telling Zacchaeus, “I want to be your friend.” Because going to someone's home and having a meal with them, in that culture, as ours, that's an act of friendship.
And he does this in front of the crowd.
Now, it’s not very popular to be friends with Zacchaeus. Believe me no one else in that town wants to hang with Zacchaeus. And if you do, it’s not something you let people know about. It’s not one of those things you post on Facebook, “headed to Zacchaeus’ house for dinner”.
But Jesus is telling everyone, “Zacchaeus is my friend and I’m going to his house and we’re gonna eat a meal together because I love Zacchaeus and I want to restore him as child of Abraham and heir to the kingdom of God” . . . isn’t that amazing.
Now, I suppose Zacchaeus could have stayed up in that tree and refused Jesus' invitation. Plenty of people do. It is certainly much easier to go on with our life and to continue with our agenda than to allow Jesus to invite himself over for lunch and delve into our inner core.
But Zacchaeus’ response was, “You want to eat with me, get to know me, become a part of my lift . . . man; no one wants to do that so Yeah, let’s do this thing”.
And so he receives the love, and the grace, and the mercy of Jesus.
But the crowd . . . they’re not all that happy about this. They’re not all tweeting, “Yay! Zacchaeus just got saved . . . we’re so excited”. Instead they were grumbling. How could this so-called Messiah even acknowledge, much less eat with the most notorious sinner in town?.
But let me say this . . . there seems to always be grumbling when God’s grace is poured out because we’re afraid that Jesus is going to simply forgive people, and all of the evil and injustice that has been done will just be swept away and there won’t be any justice . . . and we want justice! We want people to get what they have coming to them . . . especially if we’re the ones who have been wronged.
How could Jesus just simply forgive someone? It would make sense for him to forgive me and love me because I’m loveable but a guy like Zacchaeus?
But the truth is this: Jesus not only forgives people, he changes them . . . and this is what happens with Zacchaeus.
We really don't know what happened at Zacchaeus' house. All we see are the results, and those results tell us a great deal. Zacchaeus makes a two-pronged pledge: to give half his yearly income to the poor and to return any stolen funds four times over.
Jewish law only required restitution of the money plus twenty percent…but Zacchaeus thought four hundred percent interest was more appropriate.
This is like a friend of yours borrows your Hyundai and they never bring it back.” For some, maybe that's a blessing, but for most it would be a curse. You say, “I lent them my car and they stole it!”
Then you get a text, “Hey, I met Jesus, I feel terrible about stealing your Hyundai, so I parked my BMW in your driveway. The keys are under the mat. Please forgive me.”
That’s what’s happening here. Zacchaeus comes down and he has a party at his house and Jesus and the disciples come over and he experiences God’s grace and he gets saved and they're rejoicing. And in his rejoicing, he becomes generous and in his generosity he makes this pledge . . . and because of this pledge others get to rejoice too and in their rejoicing they too have an opportunity to become generous!
“Sweetheart, you remember Zacchaeus?” “Yeah, the guy who ripped us off and he took all the money out of our kids' college account.” “He got saved and he said he's gonna give us four times more . . . you know what that means . . . we can adopt that child in Ethiopia that God has placed on our hearts”
Zacchaeus generosity created this ripple effect of rejoicing in the community that even the poor were rejoicing . . . “Man, we don’t have to beg for food anymore. We don’t have to rely on faith café to feed our families.”
And I can’t help but wonder how the grumbling people felt. Probably a little embarrassed.
Don’t grumble when people get saved. Don’t grumble when God is at work in someone’s life. Wait and see what God does through that person . . . and I promise you there will be rejoicing which totally outweighs the judgment you were looking for.
Now I think it’s noteworthy that this is a rich man and earlier in Jesus’ ministry, he said that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
In fact, roughly 25 percent of his teaching is about money, wealth, possessions because they are an indicator of the human heart . . . “For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.”
Here Jesus gets a camel through the eye of a needle. Jesus accomplishes what he said was impossible but that’s what grace is all about. God sent his son to do what no one else could do, not with money, not with tradition, not with anything else but Jesus.
And something in that encounter with Jesus changed the way Zacchaeus saw the world. This man had made his living taking from others, and suddenly, after one meal with Jesus, he is giving money away like he's the United Way of Jericho.
His eyes are opened and as a response he is willing to do away with his false gods; those things that he has given his life to and received his identity, comfort, and security from.
But when Jesus takes up residence in a life, that’s what happens . . . we become generous. Somehow he loosens our grip on our wallet, our pocketbook, our credit card and giving becomes an opportunity, not just a requirement.
This meeting with Jesus "redeemed Zacchaeus' past, it transformed his present, and it re-directed his future."
Isn't that what God wants to do with all of us?