“A THIEF, A CON MAN, and A SKUNK”

Luke 19:1-10
  

We’ve all had the experience when we were just little kids of being at a parade where we couldn’t see past the person in front of us, right?  Perhaps the person in front of us was too tall or too wide.

As a result, we had a hard time seeing the marching bands, the prancing horses, the fire trucks flashing their bright red lights. 

If we were lucky, maybe we got hoisted up on the shoulders of our father or grandfather and as a result were able to clearly see the parade...the bands, the horses, and the fire trucks.

We’ve also all been to parades where as adults we couldn’t see and had to improvise – climb on top of a garbage can, a car, a park bench, light pole, etc.

Today’s Gospel story is a story kind of like that.  You see, there was this big parade for Jesus … and Zacchaeus, a short little man, couldn’t see past all the people in the crowds.  He really wanted to see Jesus, but he didn’t have anyone’s shoulders to stand on … so he improvised.

Let me set the scene for you…

First, the parade is held in Jericho. Jericho was a wealthy city – a veritable Garden of Eden – an oasis of date palms and balsam groves. 

It exported its products all over the known world. Jericho also lay along the great caravan routes, and was a beehive of commercial and human activity.

Second, it is “circus” time.  See, Jesus has become a circus star.  Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, healed Bartimaus of his blindness and turned the water into wine.

Hey, if you can turn water into wine, you instantly become a circus star, a super star.  Jesus had superstar status, and the tens of thousands of people passing through the city wanted to see him.

Anyway, in such a large crowd, there was no way that short little Zacchaeus could every see Jesus; he needed to get higher, someplace to see over the multitude.  A short distance away he spots a sycamore tree, right there on the same side of the road that Jesus would be traveling.

So Zacchaeus runs ahead and climbs the tree.  Now a sycamore tree is some 50 to 75 feet tall and up to 50 feet wide – more than tall and wide enough to get Zacchaeus above the crowd. Up Zacchaeus climbs, takes out his bag of pomegranate seeds, his bottle of soda and waits. 

Sure enough, a short time later, along comes Jesus. Zacchaeus can see the donkey and “The Man” through the leaves, coming up the road. 

People are shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” 

Wow!  What a seat.  And then the donkey stops right beneath his branch.  What luck!  His friends will never believe it.  He has a ringside seat.

Then to his amazement, Jesus looks up and says, “Zacchaeus, come down, I must stay at your house today.”  

Zacchaeus thinks to himself:  “How does he know my name?  ... How would he know me? ... Why me?  ... What does he want with me?”  

Zacchaeus quickly slides down the tree, the buttons bursting from his shirt with pride. 

“Jesus, I would be honored to have you come to my home, the loveliest villa in Jericho, right down there overlooking the river.” 

As Zacchaeus sashays to his house, everyone is gawking at Jesus and Zacchaeus, which, of course, pleases Zacchaeus immensely.

But, the crowds aren’t too pleased with Jesus’ choice of his new found friend.  Zacchaeus is the most despised man in Jericho, a crook.   

He works for the Roman government, collecting their taxes, and as the chief tax collector in town Zacchaeus would pad the tax, for his own personal benefit. 

If there is an immoral skunk in town, Zacchaeus is the man.  A thief, a con man, but untouchable because he is protected by the Roman government.  What a poor choice Jesus made.

Those facts obviously didn’t deter Jesus … and so off to Zacchaeus’ home they go.

After Jesus and Zacchaeus have spent an unknown amount of time in his house, Zacchaeus comes out the front door and addresses the large crowd, who finally quiet down. 

He says, “I apologize to you folks. I have been cheating you for years now.  You know it and so do I.  I have been a cad, taking advantage of my position.  I’ve gotten rich at your expense.  I apologize. 

“To make it right, I will pay back each one of you from whom I have stolen. Actually, I will repay you back four times the amount I cheated you.  Yep, each and every one of you.  In addition, I am giving half of my goods to the poor of our fine city.”

The crowd is shell-shocked.  Their cynical sides can’t believe it.  One man pipes up: 

“Sure Zacchaeus, we’ll believe it when we see it.  The Old Testament law is clear; you need to repay us what you stole from us plus 20%; but you say you are going to repay 400%?  What’s the gimmick, Zacchaeus?  What’s the trick?” 

Another suspicious person chimes in: 

“Half your goods to the poor?  You never cared a rip for the poor.  You never dropped a dollar into the alms plate.  When they rang bells for the poor at Hanukkah, you walked right on by the bucket. 

“You often said:  ‘let the poor go to work and not live off handouts.’ We’ll believe it when we see it, Zacchaeus.”

Well, about that time, Jesus walks out, puts his arm around Zacchaeus, and quiets the crowds.  “Today, salvation has come to Zacchaeus’s house, because he too, is a son of Abraham. For I have come to seek and save the lost.”

Salvation comes to Zacchaeus’ house.  One conversation, one visit with Jesus and Zacchaeus is forever changed from a taker to a giver.

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.

As a pastor, I’ve observed it time and again. When Christ takes up residence in our lives, we become generous. Somehow he loosens our grip on our wallet, our pocketbook, our credit card. Giving becomes an opportunity, not a requirement.

The Rev. Edward Markquart put it this way: “No person has had an authentic encounter with the living Christ unless a generous heart is the result.

“Please don’t tell me how much you love Jesus, instead, let me see your 1040 tax return that details your charitable donations. Tell me how you spend your free time. Fill me in on your plans for retirement.”

He went on to say, “If all that is about you and yours, if it’s all self-serving, then you need to invite Jesus over for lunch. As a result of that encounter with Jesus, for Zacchaeus, a 50% tithe seemed an appropriate response. You and I are invited to decide for ourselves what our response will be.”

The story of Zacchaeus is the story of the power of the grace of God to genuinely change a human being. It is a story about a man who was transformed from greedy to generous, from selfish to selfless, from a thieving heart to a thanksgiving heart. 

And all that from one little visit from Jesus.  Don’t you wish you were a fly on the wall in Zacchaeus’ house that day?  Don’t you wish you were in on their conversation? 

I mean, if only we knew what Jesus said, then perhaps we could say similar things to each other, and we too would be changed and become equally generous.

What could have changed Zacchaeus?  The fact is, Zacchaeus was the biggest immoral crook in town, a reprobate, the worst of all possible sinners and Jesus sat down and ate a meal with him.

What does that say about Jesus?  What does that say about Zacchaeus?

I think it says, among other things, that Jesus loved Zacchaeus --even though he was the worst of sinners. Jesus loved him, and in that love, Zacchaeus was transformed. And that’s pretty Good News!

It’s Good News because it means that when you and I are at our sinful worst, Jesus continues to love us too.  That truth is at the heart of this story.  And it is within that quality of love that a person is changed.

See, Jesus wants us to be people of great faith, whose great faith makes a difference in the way we live our lives, great faith which makes a difference in the way we give offerings to God.

And that only happens when Jesus gets into your heart, like he did with Zacchaeus.

How does Jesus do that?

Lloyd C. Douglas in his classic, “The Mirror” from the American Pulpit series, imagines the following exchange between Jesus and Zacchaeus.

“Zacchaeus,” says the carpenter gently, “What did you see that made you desire this peace?” 

“Good master -- I saw mirrored in your eyes -- the face of the Zacchaeus I was meant to be.”

The love of God does not change us from who we are into some other -- better person, but calls from within our souls the essence of the person we were created to be. 

To be lost is to be dissociated from the person God made us to be.  Salvation is to discover who we are and who we can become through the love of Christ.  We do not have to make ourselves into anything.  The power of God will create us from within. 

No one is ever changed to be a generous person unless Jesus gets into their heart; and when Jesus gets into your heart, your life will be changed. 

And how do we get Jesus into our hearts?  Well, first we have to come down out of our sycamore trees. If we are keeping him at arms length, we minimize his affect on us.  Jesus won’t ever force us to do anything.  We need to open our heart to him.

When Jesus calls, we need to respond.  When Jesus asks himself over to lunch we need to be prepared to say COME ON IN! 

There is actually no slick formula to follow, there is no special words to say.  It is all about being open to his call, open to his invitation.  And when we are, look out!  Anything can happen.

I love the story.  I can see it so clearly.  Short little Zacchaeus wanting to see Jesus of Nazareth, the religious superstar, but all those people were in his way.

Cleverly, Zacchaeus looked down the Jericho road and climbed a sycamore tree and waited, and sure enough, here came Jesus.  The donkey stopped right underneath where Zacchaeus was perched on a limb. 

Jesus said:  “Zacchaeus...come down...for I am coming to your ... heart ... today.” 

Amen.