Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Emotion Tone
Anger
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Fear
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Analytical
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Tone of specific sentences
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Anger
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I recently went in to see my dear friends Ed & Sue.
We watched a movie together.
If you ever get to see the movie, “The World’s Fastest Indian”, see it.
You may ask, why did we watch it?
It’s not about an indian- it’s about an Indian.
An Indian Motorcycle
That is Burt Munro’s 1920 Indian Scout.
It had an original top speed of 55 mph.
In 1926, Munro began to modify his motorcycle.
When he was done in 1967, it had a top speed of just over 200 miles per hour.
In 1967, at the age 68, Burt Munro rode a 47 year old modified Indian motorcycle that he had built on a poor man’s budget- and it set a world land speed record that still holds today.
But that’s why we watched the movie.
We both love motorcycles-
But after I watched it, I wondered if he liked it.
I wasn’t sure.
So, the next day, I called and asked.
His response was what I hoped for.
He said he couldn’t stop thinking about it all day.
It was what I hoped he would say.
“O Brother, Where Art Thou?”,,,,
What we expect from others.... keep that thought in mind.
Luke tells us several things in his gospel.
And this particular story, or Zaccheus, a tax collector fits into a multiple of those “things” that Luke talks about a lot.
What do you do when you have the “Problem” of too much money?
Why does Jesus so often identify himself with the worst of sinners?
What about the faith which is placed in Jesus and discovers new life in the process?
Jesus has come to Jericho.
It appears he is not stopping to stay.
It appears he is walking through, until someone else enters the story.
Zaccheus, the friendly tax collector.
Next door.
Not just any tax collector- the chief tax collector.
This means, that not only was Zaccheus taking your money- he was also taking money from those understudy tax collectors- meaning he had quite a racket going on.
And it was so good, he was rich.
To understand how rich- because he was materially loaded- you have to have a sense of the greek word that is used in this verse.
The word has the notion of “flow”.
So, in other words, the riches and material wealth that Zaccheus enjoyed were a constant flow- a fountain of wealth.
And if you were living next door to Zaccheus- you would have known that that new car and that fancy pool out back- well, technically, that was yours.
Because everything Zaccheus had he had stolen from you and everyone around you.
And you also knew there was nothing you could do about it.
Make no mistake, the people of Jericho would be shocked to know how many times Zaccheus’ story was told in the past 2000 years.
And they would be shocked by the way children and adults alike seemed to love- their friendly neighborhood tax collector- chief tax collector.
Zaccheus was short.
As Jesus approached, Zaccheus prepares by climbinb a sycamore tree.
As Jesus sees this man up a tree, he tells him to come down for he MUST stay at his house today.
Welcomed Jesus into his home.
Joyfully- Lazarus was genuinely happy that jesus had come to his house.
Everyone- the whole town.
grumbled- it means to grumble to be easily heard.....
Jesus has been grumbled about before… look at Luke 5:30
Look also at Luke 15.2
Grumbling.... remember when the Israelites were brought up out of bondage?
They couldn’t find water, and so we learn the people grumble against Moses in Exodus 15.24
The next thing you know they are hungry and they grumble against Moses and Aaron in Exodus 16.2-3
The problem with their grumbling is that they had experienced an amazing taste of God’s grace, and yet they found a reason to complain.
There are 2 points to this verse we need to see.
Zaccheus has accumulated a lot of stuff.
And you and I have a lot of stuff.
If there’s one thing that will indicate our spiritual condition- it will be our attitude and use of the things we own.
Listen to Luke 14.33
All of our stuff really doesn’t matter- Zaccheus apparently has come fact to face with that truth.
Look at Luke 18.22
The one thing that would have held this man back was his stuff.
And secondly, look at the change in Zaccheus’ attitude towards what he’s accumulated and how he accumulated it.
We love to talk in the church about repentance.
But in Judaism, repentance ALWAYS involves restoration.
Listen to Leviticus 5.16
So to be clear- restitution involved paying back everything and 1/5th.
But look closely at what Zaccheus did:
He gives half of what he had to the poor- and he would pay back those he has wronged at a rate of 400 percent!
Make no m istake.
unlike the rich young ruler- Zaccheus has changed.
Salvation has come to his house.
This is Isaiah’s imagery.
The idea of seeking and saving the lost= Jesus identifies himself as the seeker (the Son of Man) and Zaccheus as the found (see vs.()
Remember what Jesus said in Luke 4:18-19
If you don’t see anything else today, look closely at that last verse; Because Jesus is telling us that He has done exactly what His Father, God , expected Him to do.
If anything, He exceeded God’s expectations.
But as you know, “Past Performance is No guarantee of Future results.”.
We look at this story of Zaccheus and we celebrate it.
WE sing about it.
We make sure our children know it.
This “little man” climbs a tree to see Jesus- what is not to love about that?
Jesus orders him down and comes to his house.
Zaccheus changes.
Even repents.
Even restores what everyone he stole from was owed.
What’s not to love?
Well all of that is true.
We emphasize it and celebrate it.
it’s the part of the story we don’t emphasize that causes us problems.
Look again at Luke 19.7
Luke’s entire theme for who Jesus is is found in Luke 4.18-19
Zaccheus was rich-but he was more poor than rich.
He didn’t know Jesus.
Jesus came with good news to the poor.
Zaccheus was captive to his greed.
All he could think about was how to accumulate more.
And Jesus came to proclaim liberty- freedom- to this captive.
Zaccheus was blinded by his money.
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