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Zaccheus & His Big Tree

Dr. Larry Thorson
August 12, 2007

Luke 19:1-10

1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a sinner."

8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." 9 Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

I’m going to guess that Zacchaeus may have earned the equivalent of today somewhere over $200,000 a year as a chief tax collector. His boss, the Roman government would charge the Jewish people a certain tax and Zacchaeus could pocket anything over what the Romans required. That made him very rich and very hated by his own people.

To help your imagination, if he lived today he probably would have had the equivalent of a beautiful 6500 square foot home, one of those new $165,000 Bentley Continental GT sports cars even a heart shaped pool. In other words he was one of those guys who had it all. He was living the dream. What more could he have wanted?

Yet verse 3 says “He wanted to see who Jesus was.” I was visiting my mom when she was still living in San Jose one time in recent years and my son and I went to an All-Comers track meet at nearby Los Gatos High School. Los Gatos is one of those communities where I noticed a one bedroom, one bath cottage had sold for 1.7 million dollars.

On a perfect summer evening weather wise (which is almost every summer evening there) we took a walk downtown stopping to window shop at the Ferrari and Aston Martin dealership then walked across the street to the Rolls Royce dealership. I was thinking these people have it all here, riches, weather, beautiful terrain. What more could they want? But I remembered what my dad used to tell me when he was a plumber in Los Gatos as I was growing up, although we didn’t live there. He would talk to a lot of people who lived there because he was really good at engaging people in conversation. His plumbing fees cost about the same as a therapist but he made house calls and therapists didn’t so I think people often requested him for more than just plumbing. He always told me, don’t let the outside fool you about Los Gatos, those people are really hurting inside. Money can’t buy happiness.

As I walked that night I also thought about Zacchaeus, how he had it all but there was something his money couldn’t buy him, a chance to see Jesus. I don’t think Jesus had a big evangelism strategy to convert the chief tax collector and then start a “Tax-Collectors for Jesus, Inc.” ministry with a website and a board of directors. He was simply passing through Jericho, doing what he had been called to do, seeking and saving the lost. He looked up in a tree and saw a man who had determination to seek him and invited himself over to his house to stay that night.

Jesus’ mission was to seek and to save that which was lost and Zacchaeus was lost. Lost is when you can’t see Jesus because you’re too short or you’re too fat or you’re too rich or you’re too poor or you’re too drunk or you’re too abused or you’re just too blinded to realize you need him. Lost is when no one will even talk to you about Jesus because they assume just by your lifestyle that you wouldn’t be interested.

Look at what the crowd in Jericho didn’t do. They didn’t invite Zaccheaus in. They didn’t make a path for him to meet Jesus. Instead they muttered about him being a sinner. They didn’t like him. He was a Jew who betrayed his own people by collecting taxes for the Roman government and then overcharging exorbitant fees and getting rich on them. But even more tragic, they didn’t invite him in because they were too busy getting close to Jesus to let him.

Jesus’ mission wasn’t to build a church for the people he thought we could be friends with. His mission wasn’t to spend the night with Christians listening to Christian music, talking about Christian books and eating Christian food blessed with a Christian prayer. His mission was to seek and to save anyone who was lost. Thank God that was his mission or we’d all be headed for you know where.

What this story shows us is that God sees value in people we don’t see value in like Zaccheus. The people we most despise are the very people God sends us to seek for him.

Several weeks ago I shared with you my personal struggle with Methodists because of my experience in Texas where they were big, rich and powerful and wouldn’t share anything with me. It was frustrating and I knew that it was an area that God was going to ultimately deal with me about.

Never in my wildest imagination did I think that Methodism would climb into my bed but that’s what happened when my wife was called to pastor the Winchester United Methodist Church. Now to help my wife in part of her ministry means I have to help a Methodist church. That’s how God sometimes deals with our prejudice.

God called Methodists and Presbyterians not to have beautiful buildings and fine concerts. God didn’t call us to compete for the souls of church going people, God called us to send us on a mission to save others like Zaccheus, sometimes the people we least like.

If you have a prejudice today against European people, or African people, or Asian people or poor people or uneducated people or moochers, or anyone who looks like the people who have hurt you just look up in the tree. Look closely because the person you ignore or despise is the person Jesus is reaching out. The person serving your table at lunch, the person bagging your items at Stater Bros, all people with names, a history and God reaching out to them.

One way you know if you love Zaccheus is if you’re willing to rearrange your Sunday morning schedule to drive someone to church who can’t get here on their own. Do you think “I love Zaccheus so much that if I had to I would go with him to one of those loud rock and roll services where he could meet Jesus?” Do you think “I love Zaccheus so much that I would drive 13 miles or so to Winchester or French Valley to help teach a Sunday School class, or help put up chairs, or run a sound booth for a new church near his home where he could meet Jesus? If you can’t say “I love the Zaccheuses of my world” whom you can see and experience, you can’t say “I love Jesus” whom you can’t see.

This morning I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes. In this room there are two kinds of people. One is like Zaccheus. He was raised in a Jewish faith in God but somewhere in his life his pursuit of his career pulled him away. But you’re here today for whatever reason just like Zaccheus was and Jesus is calling you to come down from the tree because he wants to spend the night in your house. I want you to open your heart and pray this prayer with me. “Lord Jesus I open my heart to you, come and live within me. I am willing to make right to those whom I have wronged. Thank you for inviting me into your kingdom.” If you prayed that prayer Jesus just moved into your house.

The other kind of person is like the good hearted people who were crowding to get near Jesus. You’ve been following Jesus for a long time. You’ve been so intent on getting close to him that you don’t even notice Zaccheus in the tree or care. You’ll never get closer to Jesus until the lost and the hurting begin to matter to you. If you ask God to help you to care God will give you new eyes to see the lost. God saved you through Christ in order to send you out to minister to those people. It’s time for us to repent, to open our eyes to the Zaccheus’ of this world. Pray with me this morning “Lord Jesus I have said I love you but I haven’t made even a path for Zaccheus to meet Jesus. I ask your forgiveness and wisdom in making a path for them to you.” In Jesus’ name. Amen.