When Jesus Comes By
Notes
Transcript
Little Big Man
Little Big Man
Have you ever been somewhere where you just didn’t fit in - you just didn’t feel like you belonged? There was an area of Kansas City that Lisa and I liked to go to when we lived there called “The Plaza.” It was a strikingly beautiful place, especially at Christmas time. Here is a picture of what it looks like during that time. We would go there mostly just to look around because we really couldn’t afford to shop at the stores there. Our favorite parking spot there was on the roof of Saks Fifth Ave. There we would park our Chevy Cavalier alongside the BMW’s, Mercedes Benz, Lincolns, Cadillacs and other cars we couldn’t afford. Our Cavalier was a pretty nice car, but it just didn’t fit in with the others. That’s OK, though, because when we walked through the doors into the store, it was clear that we didn’t fit in there either. I felt about the same way last year when I went to the game at Heinz Field wearing my Cleveland Browns hat.
Jesus had a way of including those that otherwise seem completely out of place in His story. Last week we looked at a parable about a highly respected Pharisee and a scumbag tax collector – only in Jesus’ story about these two, it is the tax collector that went away forgiven while the Pharisee remained caught up with his own righteousness which could never save.
Today’s story begins with Zacchaeus, a searching sinner.
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 the lost.”
We have heard this story from the time we were little – we immortalized the story with the children’s song. “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he – He climbed up in the sycamore tree for the Lord He wanted to see. But as the Lord was passing by, He looked up in the tree. And he said, Zacchaeus, you come down! For I’m going to your house today!” Wee Zacchaeus is such a peculiar little man. It seems fitting to call him “wee” the way a Scot might, or the way some families call children named for a parent “Little Dave” or “Little Ann.” Even though he was a social outcast at the time, it is fun to think of wee Zacchaeus relaxing with the great saints and apostles of the early church. In a group photo, he would either be sitting in the front of the group, like vertically challenged people often do. In ten short verses we learn a lot about this little man from Jericho. Not only is he rich; as the chief tax collector, he is particularly despised by his fellow Jews. The chief collectors were known for colluding with Rome and for taking advantage of others to make a good profit for themselves. They were assumed to be corrupt, and they were hated!
If you were reading the Gospel of Luke from the beginning in one sitting, you would definitely not expect this story to end happily for Zacchaeus. Luke has had quite a few harsh things to say about rich people before this story comes along. Early in the Gospel, Jesus blesses the poor but warns the rich, saying, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation” (6:24). In chapter 12, he tells a parable of the rich farmer who hoped to build bigger barns in which to store all his crops, but that very night he was called to account by God. A few chapters later, he tells another parable, about Lazarus in heaven and the rich man in hell. In chapter 18, just before our passage, the rich young ruler walks away from Jesus sad.
But this story is different. This important and disliked community businessman did something extraordinary. He had obviously heard a bit about this man Jesus who was coming through town. He wanted to get a look for himself, but those crowds got in the way. I guess he got tired of looking at the backs and bottoms of tunics, and put pride aside to get a good view. He dashed ahead of Jesus and climbed a sycamore tree, whose low branches made a good climbing tree for a little man. Today, it is not that unusual for rich people to run. We watch them play baseball, football, and basketball - all games where in the pros, reach people run. But in Jesus’ day, it was unheard of for men to run, especially rich men. But Zaccheus swallows his pride and runs!
This story always reminds me of the Hall of Fame Parade that takes place in my home town of Canton, Ohio every year. When I was a kid, my dad would hoist me on to his shoulders so I could see. Later, when I marched in the parade in the marching band, I saw that in certain parts of the parade route, people would climb in to trees to get a good look at what was happening. Zacchaeus, we are told, not only climbed a tree, but he ran ahead to find a tree that would give him a good look. He was searching for Jesus. This sinner was searching for something greater than himself.
People today are searching today in all kinds of places. They are looking for something to believe in. They are searching in all kinds of places. I remember when I was searching for what to believe in. I had been raised in the church, and I early came to know Jesus as my savior, but I went through a time when I searched for myself to discover if what I had been taught was true. People who are searching need to see Jesus in us!
The good news for Zacchaeus is that not only was he searching for Jesus, Jesus was searching for him.
Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem to face his death when he encounters this man whom we might rightly expect him to rebuke. Jesus is always welcoming the wrong people and confounding the good righteous people. If wee Zacchaeus had been like the Pharisee in the parable from last week’s reading (18:9–14), self-righteous and pompous, then Jesus probably would have walked right by him.[1]
But Jesus could see that there was something different about this man’s deep desire to see Jesus. He didn’t just want to see Him – it was more than just curiosity.
The story of Zacchaeus tells us something about looking for Jesus, even as he is looking for each one of us. It is comforting to remember the last words Jesus says in this story: “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost” (v. 10). Our salvation is not contingent on our efforts—praise the Lord! He comes to seek and to save us! That doesn’t mean that we don’t do our part, but it is He who relentlessly pursues us!
("We are well IN THE SHELTER, the 33.") That seven-word message set off a wave of euphoria in Chile and around the world. It had been written in red letters on a scrap of paper and taped to a drill bit that penetrated an area of a gold and copper mine just north of Copiapó in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile-written by the 33 miners who had been trapped 2,300 feet underground 17 days earlier.
The Copiapó mining accident, as the world came to call it, became the most watched rescue mission in world history. There was every reason to believe that the miners had not survived the initial cave-in and, if they had survived, they would likely starve to death before they could be reached. Rescuers on the surface had no idea where they were in the labyrinth of tunnels, ramps, and rooms that spread out underground like arteries, veins, and capillaries.
But "the 33" survived the blast and took refuge in an area three miles from the entrance to the mine. Then 17 days later, when a 6 ½ inch exploratory drill bit punched through the roof into their pitch-black sanctuary, they let the world know: "We are well."
As soon as rescuers discovered the miners were alive, a collaborative effort began to devise a way to get them out. The rescuers included three international drilling rig teams, every ministry of the Chilean government, engineers and technicians from NASA, and more than a dozen multinational corporations. On October 13, 2010, fifty-two days after the miners were discovered-69 days since the cave-in-all 33 were brought to the surface alive.
The final rescue took 24 hours as the miners were brought to the surface one at a time in a specially-designed, bullet-shaped capsule, barely larger than a human being. The capsule contained oxygen and medical monitors. The capsule was lowered through a shaft until it reached the miners. One at a time, each miner stepped into the capsule and stood upright, sunglasses and monitors in place, ready for the 15-minute ride to the surface. It is estimated that more than one billion people around the world watched some or all of the televised rescue of "the 33." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Copiap%C3%B3_mining_acident#Extraction]
While the Copiapó mine rescue was definitely a dramatic and glorious end to what could have been a terrible tragedy, it is not the largest, most difficult, or most critical search and rescue effort ever conducted. The most difficult and most critical search and rescue attempt was initiated by the incarnation of Jesus Christ who said, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).
The result of this encounter was a spectacular conversion – salvation came to Zacchaeus. Not only did he find salvation, but he also committed himself give half of his possessions to the poor and to return 4 times the amount if he had defrauded anyone out of any money. In contrast to the rich young ruler from chapter 18 who went away sad when Jesus told him to sell his possessions and give to the poor, this tax collector volunteers to give half of his possessions to the poor.
When God comes in to your life, your life changes!
In the 3rd-century, a skeptic named Celsus made fun of Origen (a Christian leader of day) "When most teachers go forth to teach, they cry, ’Come to me, you who are clean and worthy,’ and they are followed by the highest caliber of people available. But your silly master cries, ’Come to me, you who are down and beaten by life,’ and so he accumulates around him the rag, tag and bobtail of humanity."
And Origen replied: "Yes, they are the rag, tag and bobtail of humanity. But Jesus does not leave them that way. Out of material you would have thrown away as useless, he fashions men, giving them back their self-respect, enabling them to stand on their feet and look God in the eyes. They were cowed, cringing, broken things. But the Son has set them free."
That’s our goal - our objective - to rescue the cowed cringing, broken things of society.
Not too many years ago newspapers carried the story of Al Johnson, a Kansas man who came to faith in Jesus Christ. What made his story remarkable was not his conversion, but the fact that as a result of his newfound faith in Christ, he confessed to a bank robbery he had participated in when he was nineteen years old. Because the statute of limitations on the case had run out, Johnson could not be prosecuted for the offense. Still, he believed his relationship with Christ demanded a confession. And he even voluntarily repaid his share of the stolen money! Today in the Word, April, 1989, p. 13.
Has God changed you completely
[1]Laura S. Sugg, “Pastoral Perspective,” in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year C, ed. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, vol. 4 (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), 260–262.
Psalm 73 describes the life that is changed by God - I want this always to be my testimony throughout my entire life.
New Living Translation Psalm 73
23 Yet I still belong to you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
leading me to a glorious destiny.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
I desire you more than anything on earth.
26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
but God remains the strength of my heart;
he is mine forever.
27 Those who desert him will perish,
for you destroy those who abandon you.
28 But as for me, how good it is to be near God!
I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter,
and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.