Year C : 3 November 2019
Last week we met a tax collector in the temple, a tax collector who returned home justified and knowing God’s presence. This week we meet another tax collector, one named Zacchaeus who ends us going home with a guest he didn’t expect.
Before we get started I think I should let you know that I’ve always liked Zacchaeus. I’ve always felt I could relate to him because he and I have something in common … we are, apparently, both short! At times this can be really annoying. It can be hard to see properly in a crowd, and because you can’t see what’s going on it can be easy to feel like you are missing out.
My family must have realised I was going to be short early on because when I was little I was bought a seat/stool. The words on it date it now, and lots of people buy little steps for their children, but not so many buy them for their 40 year old daughter-in-law’s so they can reach the top shelf of the kitchen cupboards. Does anyone remember the song “Short People” (by Randy Newman) … I was lucky enough to have that dedicated to me on national radio by my brother-in-law.
Well that’s enough about my height, or lack of it. Let’s get back to Zacchaeus.
Luke is the only gospel where we hear about Zacchaeus, and the passage tells us that he is a chief-tax collector, working in Jericho. As we have heard before, tax collectors were not well liked. Zacchaeus, as the chief tax collector, is more than not well liked. Because of its location Jericho was an important customs centre. As chief tax collector Zacchaeus had contracted with the Roman overlords for the right to collect revenues (literally tolls) in the district. His neighbours would have despised him for sharing in, and supporting, the Roman domination.
So, the news has spread that Jesus is coming to town and Zacchaeus wants to see him, as do countless others because there is a crowd. Zacchaeus is so keen to make sure he gets a good view that he “ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way”. (19:4) Zacchaeus desire to see Jesus prompts him to act in a way that could have made him the subject of ridicule, climbing a tree like a child, but he doesn’t care.
We always assume that Zacchaeus is short because he climbs a tree, but the text is ambiguous and it might actually be Jesus who is short and therefore hard to see in the middle of the crowd. Either way, Jesus and Zacchaeus meet when Zacchaeus is up the tree.
Zacchaeus takes the initiative to seek our Jesus, despite the obstacles that are put in front of him – a large crowd, a community that want to shut him out. By climbing he has overcome the first obstacle.
As Zacchaeus actively seeks Jesus, we discover that Jesus has been actively seeking too. Jesus stops at the tree, looks up and says “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” (19:5)
Jesus singles Zacchaeus out as though his whole purpose of visiting this day was to meet with him. It seems that he knows of Zacchaeus as he calls him by name. There is a sense of urgency when Jesus tells him to hurry down from the tree, saying that he must stay with Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus doesn’t waste any time but “hurried down and was happy to welcome him.” (19:6) Can you imagine how Zacchaeus must have felt? Here is a man who is not welcomed by his community and has had to work hard to see someone he is interested in, only to have that person call him by name and tell him he’s coming over to hang out for a while. Zacchaeus must have been beside himself, it’s no wonder that he was happy to welcome him. The one that everyone had come to see had noticed him, the one who the crowd dismissed.
In this, the second obstacle is overcome. Even though the crowd grumble and name Zacchaeus “a sinner”, he has been has been accepted by the most important one in the community.
As Jesus and Zacchaeus head down the road, Zacchaeus stops and tells Jesus how he has (or will) made amends if he has defrauded anyone, and how he has given (or will give) half of his wealth to the poor. Whether this is something he has already done, or is willing to do, depends on the biblical translation we use. We like to think that this is a confession but Zacchaeus never actually confesses anything, and may simply be defending his reputation.
Nor does Jesus commend him for his penitence, or his faith, or his change of heart. Jesus simply pronounces blessing. This blessing is not based on anything that Zacchaeus has done, but simply because he is, like those grumbling around him, an Israelite, a son of Abraham. “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.” (19:9)
Here is a space where we see attitudes changing. Zacchaeus is changed because he is accepted. By naming Zacchaeus as a son of Abraham, Jesus changes the crowd’s perspective too. The inclusive love of Jesus has made a difference. This is what Jesus came to do, to “seek out and to save the lost,” (19:10) and it would seem that the crowd was also ‘lost’ that day.
There are a couple of things we can take from this passage. The first is that anyone who desires to see Jesus will, and that anyone who desires to see Jesus will be seen by Jesus, including those who are on the margins. Jesus is still at work in order to find, save and restore, and we are his agents in the world.
Secondly, the passage reminds us that sometimes the greatest saints are those we might not easily recognise. They feature often in Luke’s gospel where it is the Roman centurion who has great faith, the Good Samaritan who is the true neighbour, the woman who wipes Jesus’ feet with her hair and understands his mission, and the Samaritan leper who has gratitude. These saints are hidden and unexpected, perhaps because they are usually excluded and at the margins of organised religion. Perhaps Zacchaeus was one of these too.
There is a message of salvation in this story, but it might be more than that of seeing sinners repent. Of course that is great, but it is also important to look for the saints who act justly in places where we do not expect to see it. Are we ready to see the saint in our neighbour, First People, refugees, or the ones we look down upon because of our ideology or misjudgement? For if we open our eyes to truly see, maybe that is also where salvation lies.
Amen.
Rev Heather Hon – November 2019