This week, we are looking at an event from history where,
as Jesus was passing through the city of Jericho, a man named Zaccheus, who was
a Jewish tax collector, tried to get close to Jesus. However, because of the
large crowds that had also come to meet and greet Jesus, Zaccheus was unable to
get close enough to Jesus. We discovered that Zaccheus was hated and despised
by the crowds that had come to meet and greet Jesus. Zaccheus was an outsider
who had no status or stature in the eyes of the community. Zaccheus was small
in stature in the eyes of the community who viewed him as a traitor who was far
from God and was an outsider when it came to how God viewed him.
Luke then explains that Zaccheus responded to his small
stature by running ahead of Jesus and the crowds so that he could climb a
sycamore tree. You see, Zaccheus climbed the tree because Zaccheus had already
been watching Jesus from a distance. Zaccheus was already familiar with who
Jesus was. Zaccheus had heard the word on the street from his tax collector
friends when it came to Jesus. And now Zaccheus wanted to be in a position
where he could see Jesus more clearly. Zaccheus viewed the crowd as an obstacle
to him getting to know Jesus at a deeper level. So Zaccheus was willing to do
whatever it took to get a closer look at Jesus. Today, we will see Luke revel
how Jesus responded to seeing a grown man in a tree in Luke 19:5:
When Jesus came to the place, He looked up
and said to him, "Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at
your house."
Now to fully understand the significance of Jesus
response here, we first need to understand something about the culture of the
first century. You see, in the culture of the day, staying at one’s house was
more than simply getting a meal and a bed for the night. Instead, in the
culture of the day, staying at one’s house was a sign of a desire to develop a
deep and personal relationship with someone.
So by asking to stay at Zaccheus house, Jesus was
communicating to Zaccheus that He desired to develop a relationship with him.
Notice what Jesus says to Zaccheus here. If Jesus was talking to Zaccheus in
the language we use in our culture today, the conversation would have sounded
something like this: Zaccheus, hurry up and come down here. I need to you to
get down from that tree and meet Me. I need you to hurry up because I must stay
at your house. I must stay at your house because I want to get to know you and
hang out with you so that we can develop a relationship between us. So get down
here.”
Now I want us to take a minute to place ourselves in this
story as Zaccheus. You’re Zaccheus. You are an outsider who is despised and
hated. You have your own category. You are a tax collector and sinner. You have
no standing or stature in the community. Nobody wants to hang out with you,
never mind have a relationship with you. And now Jesus wants to hang out with
you so that He can develop a relationship with you. What would you be thinking
at this point? What would you be feeling? How would you respond? We see
Zaccheus response in verse 6:
And he
hurried and came down and received Him gladly.
Luke tells us that Zaccheus responded to Jesus offer to
hang out with Him by scurrying down the tree and warmly welcoming the opportunity
to extend hospitality to Jesus. What is so interesting is that the word gladly
here is the same word that is translated as joy in our English Bibles. This
word refers to having an attitude of delight in life that is not based or tied
to circumstances.
You see, in spite of the fact that he was viewed as an
outsider and was hated and despised, Zaccheus was fully focused on the reality
of Jesus desire to have relationship with him. Zaccheus experienced an attitude
of delight in life that was based on how Jesus viewed him in spite of his
circumstances or how others viewed him. Luke then gives us a glimpse of how the
crowds responded to Jesus engaging Zaccheus in verse 7:
When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, "He
has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner."
The crowds, upon witnessing this encounter between Jesus
and Zaccheus began to loudly and publicly express their disapproval. Their
complaint, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would
have sounded something like this: “What is Jesus doing! Does Jesus not know who
He wants to hang out with and develop a relationship with! I mean Zaccheus is a
tax collector and sinner. Zaccheus does not measure up to our moral standards
and expectations. Zaccheus is an outsider who is far from God. Jesus should not
be hanging out or getting to know people like Zaccheus.”
Now here is a question to consider: If you were to place
yourself in this story, who would you be? If you were to place yourself as a
character in the story, would you be a part of the crowd? If you were to place
yourself as a character in the story, would you be Zaccheus? Who would you be
if you were to find yourself in this story?
What I find so fascinating about Jesus is that those who
were outsiders who were far from God felt comfortable to hang out with the Son
of God, while those who thought they were insiders who were close to God were
very uncomfortable hanging out with the Son Of God. Luke then reveals for us
how Zaccheus responded to Jesus and the crowds in verse 8:
Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord,
"Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I
have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much."
Luke tells us that the crowd’s accusations against Jesus
for wanting to hang out with such an outsider like him provoked Zaccheus to
stop in his tracks as he walked with Jesus toward his home. Zaccheus then
responded not to the crowds, but to Jesus with a powerful statement: "Behold,
Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded
anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much."
You see, Jesus pursuit of Zaccheus; Jesus desire to hang
out with and develop a relationship with Zaccheus had changed Zaccheus heart.
Instead of being driven to be greedy, Zaccheus was now driven to be generous.
Instead of being driven to extort money from others, Zaccheus was driven to
restore what he had taken by extortion to others. And to demonstrate his sorrow
for wronging others, Zaccheus was willing to pay restitution equal to four
times what he had extorted from others.
Now the big fancy church mumbo jumbo talk word for what
happened to Zaccheus here is the word repentance. The
word repent literally means to feel remorse that results in a change of one’s
mind and heart. To repent means more than simply feeling sorry for something
you did; to repent means that you feel sorry for what you did and the sorrow
that you feel drives you to change something in your life. To repent is to
change the trajectory of your life that is moving away from God back to God.
Zaccheus had been watching and hearing about
Jesus. Zaccheus had heard about the message and teachings of Jesus, either
first hand or through his tax collector friends. And what Zaccheus had seen and
heard about Jesus as he watched Jesus led Zaccheus to want to get closer to
Jesus. Zaccheus heart was changed as a result of Jesus offer to hang out and
enter into relationship with him. And Zaccheus change of heart resulted in a change
of the trajectory of his life that was moving away from God back to God. And
that change of trajectory resulted in a change of behavior that lined up with
the message and teachings of Jesus.
Friday,
we will see Jesus response to Zaccheus...
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