TEXT: Luke 19:1-10

SUBJECT: Luke #72: Zacchaeus

Today’s sermon is about a Man who loves sinners and some other men who don’t.

The sinner is named Zacchaeus, and most of what we know about him is bad. Luke says

He lived in Jericho. Jericho was a powerful city in the ancient world, but its power was put to an evil use. The first people to live there were Amorites, who were so wicked the land got sick of them and vomited them out! It was the first city to fight Israel and keep God’s people from taking the land He gave them. When it was destroyed, Joshua put it under a curse—no one could touch the loot—it must be buried with the wicked men who had it. God’s curse on it was so strong that the Israelites were not allowed to rebuild it—and if any did, it would be to his own sorrow:

In other words, his oldest son would die at the beginning of his work and his baby would die at the end of it. For many years, men feared God’s oath, but finally, a man called Hiel of Bethel, defied the Lord and paid for it…dearly,

Zacchaeus lives in a cursed city—cursed by God Himself—a place that smelled of sin and death. Unlike Lot—who didn’t belong in Sodom, didn’t fit in there—Zacchaeus was right at home in the hateful city, for…

He was a chief tax collector and he was rich.

No one likes a tax collector—even if the system he’s part of is a just one. But the system this man served with not just—it was thoroughly corrupt, everyone knew it, and no one better than Zacchaeus.

The Roman Empire was divided into districts and each one of them had to pay a certain amount of money for the privilege of being ruled by the hated Romans! Rome set the figure and tax collectors (or publicans) bid for the districts. Now, let’s say the district in and around Jericho had to pay a thousand shekels a year. The publican would pay the fee himself for the right to collect the tax. Now, if he collected a thousand shekels a year, he’d make no profit. So he collected far more than that—often five or ten or twenty times the fixed rate! He got the money by shaking down the people, threatening them, and so on. He wasn’t at all like an agent of the IRS, but more like a mobster!

Zacchaeus was the Godfather of the Publican Mafia. That’s how he became so rich—by robbing his own people in service to their masters.

Because of what they did—and who they did it for—the publicans were the most despised and hated men in Israel! They were like the untouchables of India; no one would get near them, to brush up against such a man in the market, for example, would defile a Jew and make him not welcome anywhere until he had washed and made an offering to the Lord for his cleansing!

And then—to add insult to injury, Luke tosses off the line…

"He was of short stature".

The man who was so morally and religiously stunted, was also a dwarf on the outside! Zacchaeus is a little, greedy, cruel, and hateful man. His money has bought him a fine home and many servants, but no one loves him, no one respects him; he’s not got a friend in the world.

Except for One.

The publican hears that Jesus of Nazareth is passing through town on His way to Jerusalem. What Zacchaeus knew of the Lord, we can’t say. Maybe he had heard the rumors and wondered if they were true; maybe He is the friend of sinners. Maybe.

Or, more likely, he came out to gawk at a celebrity. The Lord was a very famous Man and had done all kinds of great things—and the tax collector wants to see what all the fuss is about. Maybe he’ll see a display of His great power; it’s not every day you see a miracle. He goes out to see one.

But there’s a problem. Zacchaeus is built like a jockey, but several basketball teams are standing in front of him—and no one’s going to make way…for him. So, he climbs a sycamore tree to watch the Lord pass by.

But the Lord doesn’t pass by. He stops underneath the tree and invites Himself to lunch:

We’ve heard the story so often, that it no longer affects us as it should. The Lord was a Big Man in Israel—and might have had lunch the mayor, with the chief rabbi, with anyone at all! But instead of choosing to dine at the governor’s mansion, He wants to go home with the most reviled man in town!

Nobody is more surprised than Zacchaeus! But surprised or not, he obeys the Lord, jumps down from the tree, and runs home as fast as his short legs will carry him. The order is given!

The Lord and His disciples show up a few minutes later and they all sit down to eat. We don’t know what was said at the table that day, but we know what happened: The Lord saved that wicked old Publican. We know that because of the amazing change that came over him. Remember, a Publican is a thief—his father was a thief, his son would be a thief—it’s who he is! But the man who had always lived for money (and didn’t care how he got it), now lives for something else.

Rich men often make big donations to charity. A few years ago, Ted Turner, gave a billion dollars to UNESCO (I think). But, despite the big gift, he’s still a rich man—a very rich man. I don’t think this was possible for Zacchaeus: setting aside the money he gave to the poor, he also promised to re-pay everyone he had cheated. And that’s the point: he had cheated everyone!

Thus, he didn’t go from being a very rich man to a rich man, but from a rich man to a poor man. The god he had served so long has been replaced by a new God—the God who sat at his table!

Zacchaeus was the happiest man in the world! He must have jumped for joy that day—a good two inches maybe! The Lord was also happy and His disciples shared in the joy.

But not everyone was so pleased. In fact, nobody else was. Luke says,

We tend to blame the Pharisees for this, but the Bible doesn’t. It says the whole crowd who came to see the Lord watched Him in dismay and went their way grumbling about His choice of companions.

Let me say at this point a word about First Century Judaism. The Jews did not think they were sinless—how could they, every offering they brought to the Lord assumed their sin. What’s the Day of Atonement for if there’s no sin to atone for? And so, they’re not calling Zacchaeus a sinner as opposed to themselves as saints without sin.

No, they mean something much nastier than that. Sinner—to their way of thinking—is the opposite of a Jew. In another place, Paul says he and his kinsmen are

Now, was Zacchaeus a Jew? Biologically he was, but because of how he lived he forfeited the right to claim the heritage of Israel. He was a son of Abraham and Isaac in the same way that Ishmael and Esau were: tied to them by blood, but not by Covenant.

In effect, they called him a Gentile—and worse than an ordinary Gentile because he oppressed the people of God. He was an enemy of God’s People, and therefore, an enemy of God.

Were they right about Zacchaeus?

Yes they were! He was everything they said he was. The tax collector was an enemy of God.

But, what they missed was this: God loves His enemies.

That’s the very lesson our Lord was trying to teach them by going home with Zacchaeus! He knew the kind of man he was! He knew the unhappiness it would cause, the protest it would raise, and the persecution that would follow it.

The Lord knew all these things, but He went home with the crook that day so that the people would understand His mission:

Zacchaeus was a son of the Covenant, but his choices in life threw away the blessings God had for him. But Christ comes to the man’s house and puts him back into the Covenant and makes good on all the promises of God! He came to gather up the lost and put them back where they belong: in fellowship with God.

The immediate lesson was for Law-Abiding Jews: Law-Breaking Jews are also loved by God and His Son came to save them!

The broader lesson is for Church-Going Christians: God loves sinners—the worst sinners—and He sent His Son into the world to save them—and not just the nice people like you and me.

For that’s the rub: outwardly, we are nice people. But inwardly—spiritually—we are no better than the publican of Jericho.

We ought to be thankful that Christ came for sinners, because we are sinners! By nature, we are lost; by choice we are lost. And unless God does something about it, our loss will be final!

But God did something about it! He didn’t send us a set of rules to live by, He sent us His Son to give us life. By His own death on the cross.

That’s the message of our story: God loves sinners and wants to bring them home by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

This means: the worst sinner in this room—in this world—has a friend in God and in Jesus Christ. God is not against you; He’s for you! Christ did not come to send you to hell, but to bring you to heaven! Some Christians present God as a Meanie in the Sky, taking pleasure in the destruction of sinners. God presents Himself as a Lover wooing us to heaven.

You need to trust this God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Trusting Christ simply means believing in His love for you and responding in repentance.

It also means: the saints ought to befriend sinners. Not to become like they are (that’s always a danger to watch against), but to make them what we are: followers of Christ.

What impression do you make on sinners—including sinners in your own home? Do you leave the impression that you don’t want them to be saved or—you do, but until they are you won’t like them? This is not right because it is not Christlike. Our God was and is the friend of sinners and we ought to be as well.

Make friends with the unsaved. Not for the sneaky motive of getting them into church, but because you love them and because you want them to have the life you have—life in Christ.

What the Jews meant as an insult, we take as a promise: