Zacchaeus Luke 19:1-10

-Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.

We were on our annual Christmas trek to Chicago. Each year we brought our family to spend time with Grandpa and Grandma and visit the museums. This year we decided to finish our Christmas shopping at suburban Woodfield Mall. In the midst of all the fun and excitement, one of us noticed that little three-and-a-half- year-old Matthew was gone. Terror immediately struck our hearts. We had heard the horror stories: little children kidnapped in malls, rushed to a rest room, donned in different clothes and altered hairstyle, and then swiftly smuggled out, never to be seen again...We split up, each taking an assigned location. Mine was the parking lot. I'll never forget that night--kicking through the newly fallen snow, calling out his name at the top of my lungs. I felt like an abject fool, yet my concern for his safety outweighed all other feelings.

Unsuccessful, I trudged back to our meeting point. My wife, Martie, had not found him, nor had my mother. And then my dad appeared, holding little Matthew by the hand. Our hearts leapt for joy. Interestingly enough, Matthew was untraumatized. He hadn't been crying. To him, there had been no problem. I asked my father where he had found him. "The candy counter," he replied. "You should have seen him. His eyes came just about as high as the candy. He held his little hands behind his back and moved his head back and forth, surveying all the luscious options." Matthew didn't look lost. He didn't know he was lost. He was oblivious to the phenomenal danger he was in. This is a candy-counter culture, where people who don't look lost and don't know they're lost live for consumption.

I. Zacchaeus Seeks Jesus vv. 1-4

In our passage, we are introduced to a man named Zacchaeus

He’s a guy that you probably remember singing about in your childhood

If you remember anything about him, it’s probably that he was short, but he’s a much more interesting person than that.

There’s some good news about Zacchaeus:

He has an important and powerful position- He’s a chief tax collector, representing the imperial government

He has wealth- by the nature of the position, he has been able to leverage his way into serious wealth

There’s also bad news:

His position has brought shame and separation

To his fellow Jews, he is a traitor who has betrayed them to an enemy occupier

To the Romans and Gentiles, he’s still a Jew.

To everyone involved, he is going to be marked as corrupt, taking advantage of his position and enriching himself on the backs of others

This man is the one who is seeking Jesus

We don’t get any insight into why Zacchaeus is seeking Jesus, but we know that he is

Perhaps, Zacchaeus sees Jesus as the answer to his disconnection from the community and the shame of his position

There’s a problem though. Zacchaeus can’t seem to get to Jesus on his own

He’s short and there’s a crowd

However, Zacchaeus is marked by his ongoing pursuit of the Lord

What is the pattern of your life? Are you seeking Jesus?

II. Jesus Seeks Zacchaeus vv. 5-6

There is good news out there: Zacchaeus may not be able to get to Jesus, but Jesus is able to get to him

He sees Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree and is aware of him

He names Zacchaeus and acknowledges him: this is the shock!

He invites himself to Zacchaeus’s house and initiates a relationship with him

I hope that we will note the shocking forwardness of Jesus here:

He takes command of the situation

This is beyond anything that Zacchaeus could have imagined when he was searching for Jesus

It turns out, Jesus was searching for him

Zacchaeus has a choice to make. How will he respond to Jesus?

It is rapid

It is obedient

It is joyful

I believe that we could all learn something from the pattern of Zacchaeus’s life!

A friend often told me about the problems he had getting his son to clean his room. The son would always agree to tidy up, but then wouldn’t follow through. After high school the young man joined the Marine Corps.  When he came home for leave after basic training, his father asked him what he had learned in the service. “Dad,” he said. “I learned what ‘now’ means.”

III. Zacchaeus Repents and Renounces vv. 7-8

The crowd responds to Jesus here quite negatively

No one wants a Messiah who would go to the home of a traitorous tax collector!

Across the spectrum, they despise Zacchaeus, yet he is the one that Jesus pursues

What will happen when Zacchaeus welcomes Jesus in?

He repents: He used to take from the poor. Now he intends to give to the poor. This is a radical reorientation of his life

He renounces: He acknowledges his past sin, having defrauded the people and he commits to make restitution

I think that we have a wrong-headed notion of what repentance is:

It is not sorrow over sin

It is a change of mind and a change of action

Where there is no change, there is no repentance!

I think something really noteworthy is happening here:

The people were offended that Jesus was dining with a sinner

However, after Jesus enters in, the man is a sinner no longer: he experiences transformation

IV. Jesus Rescues and Restores vv. 9-10

This transformation is on full display in the words of Jesus

Two things have taken place:

There is a restoration-

Though Zacchaeus was an outsider to his fellow Jews, Jesus acknowledges him as a son of Abraham

He is no longer just a son of Abraham by birth; he is now a son of Abraham by faith

There is a rescue-

This transformation takes place because he has been rescued

Jesus came to seek and to save Zacchaeus

Jesus came to seek and to save you!

1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Salvation, Desire For

The well-known scientist and author Carl Sagan, in a PBS documentary titled “Chariots of the Gods,” commented on the new optimism that there is life elsewhere in the universe: “It’s nice to think that there is someone out there that can help us.”

Unfortunately, this remark implies that for Sagan there is no God, and so his hope of help from other beings is a blind hope, a hope that assumes that other beings exist and that their race will not be affected with the depravity that is so evident in all human endeavor. And that they would be interested in helping us.

Will you receive Him today?