A Little Man in a Sycamore Tree
A sermon from guest preacher and church member, Daun Smith:
Luke 19:1-10
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he to is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector of Jericho, a city near Jerusalem. In the times of the New Testament, Israel had been conquered by and was under the control of the Roman Empire. The Romans taxed all the countries under their rule heavily, to support the Roman government. The Romans needed to collect as much taxes as they could but didn’t want to tie up their own personnel to do so. So they recruited local people who paid for the right to collect these taxes for Rome. These local tax collectors paid a set amount to Rome from the taxes they collected and any extra amount that they collected above this set amount was theirs to keep. The more that a tax collector could wring out of his victims, the more he got to keep. The Jewish people hated these taxes because they went to support their oppressors, who, by the way, worshipped Pagan gods. They also hated those who collected these Roman taxes. I’m sure they also knew that they were being cheated as they watched their local tax collector get richer and richer.
Jesus has just come from Perea and has crossed the Jordan River, heading for Jerusalem where the final moments of his life would play out. He proceeds into Jericho, a few miles west of the Jordan river and north of the Red Sea. Jericho is an oasis in this dry desert land. There are palm trees, rose gardens, and a delightful climate. Jericho is a prosperous trade city. A considerable amount of traffic crosses through this city, because main roads cross here and connect Damascus to the north, Egypt to the south, and Caesura to the west. Jesus entering Jericho has attracted a large crowd.
Zacchaeus really, really did want to see Jesus, but why? Was it simple curiosity? Luke says he was trying to see who Jesus was. Perhaps his conscience was bothering him because of all the money he had extorted from his countrymen? Was the Holy Spirit egging Zacchaeus on so that Jesus’s action could have an impact on those who witnessed this event? Was this the Grace of God tugging at him. In John 6:44, Jesus said,”No one can come to me unless the Father draws him. God often uses insignificant or minor things to accomplish his purposes: a child to teach humility to the disciples, another child to begin the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, a sling for David, a handful of grain offered by a widow for the sustenance of Elijah? Was simple curiosity how God offered salvation to Zacchaeus?
Zacchaeus was a short man and could not see Jesus over the crowd in front of him. And I’ll bet that this crowd of Zacchaeus’s townsmen, who disliked him and believed he was a sinner, were not willing to let him squeeze through to the front. So, he ran ahead until he came to a sycamore tree with a squatty trunk and wide, low branches, easy for him to climb and sit among the branches to watch below him.
As Jesus passed below this sycamore, he looked up, and although he had never met this little man, he called him by name. “ Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
Can you just imagine the thoughts swirling through Zacchaeus’s head as he climbed down the tree?
How does he know my name? We’ve never met
What does he want me for? I’m no one special.
Look at the kind expression on his face. I don’t think he means me any harm. No one else has ever looked at me this way since I started collecting taxes.
Listen to the crowd grumbling at me. Wouldn’t it be nice if my townspeople looked at me as Jesus is doing? I don’t need to be doing this job. Maybe I can fix things.
The surrounding crowd ARE grumbling. Palestinians saw tax collectors, as greedy, dishonest blood-suckers or extortionists (sinners). They couldn’t understand how Jesus could associate with a sinner such as Zacchaeus. The Jewish people believed that entering the house of a sinner made them ritually impure. How could Jesus, of all men, do this?
Zacchaeus, on the other hand, is a changed man. He says: “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” This is 400% restitution. In Judaic law, normal restitution added only 20%. Numbers 5:7 says “ the person shall make full restitution for the wrong, adding one-fifth to it and giving it to the one who was wronged.” Twenty per cent, in today’s standards, is equivalent to a good tip for waitstaff in a restaurant, but 400%? This rich man, touched by Jesus, responds with faith and opens up his wealth to be shared. His heart is in the right place. He has gained access to God’s grace.
Jesus’ mission has been fulfilled in the last line of the scripture, “For the Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost.”
Applications for us today are:
There is HOPE! No one is too bad or too wicked to be saved. Jesus is ready to save those who receive him. No one is beyond God’s grace. We are all part of God’s creation.
Just like Zacchaeus, a converted person is a changed person, and will most likely live a life fully different from his or her former life.
Zacchaeus is the only account in the Bible of a rich person being saved. Remember, Jesus said that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
Again, I say —- There is HOPE.
