Luke 19:1-10
Jesus and Zacchaeus
Opening
Question:
- Have you ever witnessed a person, on whom
wrong/negative judgment is made, even though that person has numerous good
qualities, but that very wrong judgment and treatment compels him/her to be
bad? Or in a simple word, have you seen a person being spoiled by the wrong
judgment/treatment he/she gets?
- Well I
have witnessed one. He is from a broken family and is raised by his
grandmother. He did stumble in the early stages of his life. And as he grew up
he wanted to change and fit-in in the church and society. But despite the
effort he made and the number of revival and prayer meetings he attended, the
treatment he received was the same. In fact, he came to me one day and shared
that his efforts were just futile/meaningless as he received harsher treatment
and ridiculed him as ‘Lamb in a wolf skin’. What’s worse was that the so called
active church members would tell each other to be more careful with their house
and properties, to ensure that all the windows and are properly locked, as he
has come out from revival camps.
Yes I understand that what he needed was Perseverance
but at times it made me think that we, the so called good Christians were just
stimulating the evil out of him instead of nurturing the good in him.
- So basing on the story of the encounter of Jesus and Zacchaeus, I entitle my sermon as “Don’t stimulate the evil out of others.”
1. Luke 19:1-10:
This
story has often been picked out to address certain Christian morals principles
like – Right way of approaching Jesus, Humility, Perseverance in the search for
God etc. But this morning I want to focus not on the virtue of Zacchaeus but
rather on the right/ideal treatment on Zakhi-es by Jesus.
The name and person Zacchaeus is found only once in the
Bible, i.e., in Luke’s Gospel alone. It is most probable that Luke derived it
from the special Lukan source. It is also well befitting to have it written by
Luke himself as Luke’s central theme is gospel for the poor and the outcast.
2. Was Zacchaeus a sinner?
We find
the allegation of Zacchaeusas a sinner in v. 7 (All who saw it began to grumble
and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner). Some
scholars opine that this particular verse might be the redaction of Luke in
order to present the idea of Jesus as “friend of sinners and tax collectors”.
Nevertheless, the Jews who
undertook to collect taxes for the Roman rulers were the most despised people
in the Jewish community. Not only were they serving the oppressors, but they
found it easy to abuse the system so as to line their own pockets by exploiting
their fellow Jews. Corruption was common with this class if we compare with Luke 3:12-13 (12Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked
him, "Teacher, what should we do?"
13 He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount
prescribed for you.")
And in v.8, he himself testifies that he is a
sinner - Luke 19:8 - if I have defrauded anyone of anything
– Here, “ei tinos ti e-su-ko-fan-tee-sa”
is the most significant admission and confession. It is a condition of the
first class ei and the aorist active
indicative that assumes it to be true. It is possible that he may have heard
audible complaints from the crowd.
3.
How did Jesus make judgment on the sinner Zacchaeus?
It is obvious that Jesus was aware of the sins
of Zacchaeus, but unlike the people (probably Pharisees) around him who were
pre-occupied and blinded to see only the imperfect part of Zacchaeus, Jesus saw
the positive side, the repentant heart. As we read on, we see that it was Jesus
himself who even took the initiative in their encounter, and told him that he
had to stay at his house.
Friends, just as
Newton’s law of motion states – ‘Every action has the same or opposite
reaction,’ let us remind ourselves that if there is evil, there is good. It is
a fact that we all possess a good side and evil side in us. Likewise, a person
might be quite hopeless/bad in one area, but s/he might be as good as
professionals in other areas. Let us learn not to make the overall
judgment/impression on a person from his/her failures, but let us learn to see
all the other good qualities that s/he possesses.
4.
What was the consequence?
In v. 8&9 we see the result/consequence - Zacchaeus received salvation. I will pay
back four times as much reflects back the requirement of Torah (Exodus
21:37, 2 Samuel 12:6) - For a man stealing what is essential and showing no
pity, Torah required to pay back fourfold. This shows that Zacchaeus did not only receive salvation, but also transformation. He is now a religious pious
man who is ready to abide by the laws of Torah. I assume that had Jesus not
stayed with him, he might want to retaliate against those people. Their
allegations might stimulate the evil within him and he might have levied more
taxes on them.
Friends, let us be
reminded that our simple positive treatment of a person can mould him/her to
become better person. Our understanding of his/her failure and a simple
appreciation can be a great motivating force, and more importantly, it can
change his/her life.
May God bless us all. Amen
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