Luke 19:1-10

Luke 19:1-10

19He entered Jericho and was passing through it. ²A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. ³He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. ⁴So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. ⁵When 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.” ⁶So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. ⁷All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” ⁸Zacchaeus 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.” ⁹Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

This is one of the most well known gospel stories, possibly because of the well-known children's song, "Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man." There is something inherently comical about this story: a little man, running down the street and climbing a tree because no one would let him through. But in truth, we don't know much about Zacchaeus.

We really only know two things about him: he was a tax collector and he was short of stature. Being a tax collector for the Romans seemed to bring out the worst in people. Rome was smart when it came to collecting taxes. They knew that no one has ever liked tax collectors. So Rome got native people from their own regions to collect their taxes. Tax collectors paid the Romans up front what the tax for a specific region would be. Then tax collectors would recoup their tax payment from the population. Tax collectors then could then legally, and with the support of legal hired thugs, extort money from the entire population. Most tax collectors (it seems) took in a lot more than what they paid to Rome. All of the extra went into their own pocket.

But the question that I think about is this: What would possess a man of wealth, power and security to open himself to the ridicule that Zachaeus did by running and climbing up in a tree. In that culture as well as our own, men of stature do not run. You make other people run to do things for you. But something made Zacheaus let go of his pride, and do something absolutely ridiculous. Perhaps it was that Jesus had welcomed, sat, and ate with so many other "untouchables". Perhaps he was just so eager to see the man who had done so many wonderful things. Perhaps the Spirit spontaneously moved him to so that he left his position and pride behind him and was able to simply be excited that in Jesus, God was walking toward him.

We don't get excited by much anymore. We are too cynical I think. We would prefer a god that doesn't make us jump, run, or climb trees. But through the Zacheaus story we remember that we are called to joyful response unbounded by our pretenses of dignity. Before God the only dignified response is unrestrained joy.

Now, part of that joyful response is Zacheaus's sudden desire to live in harmony with those around him. The act of giving away half his goods, and returning four fold those whom he had cheated reveals how much God had changed his heart in this encounter. A strong desire for economic justice and charity took hold of him. These reflect the desires that God has for us as we live. The challenge for us is to respond with the faithful joy that Zacheaus does when God invites Godself into our hearts.