Zacchaeus

Welcome

Welcome to Voyage College Church

My name is DP — I’m the campus pastor here

Intro Zacchaeus

Today I’ll be bringing the message on Zacchaeus. It’s a famous story, of a short tax collector.

I’m going to have you read the text with a partner.

Luke 19:1–10 ESV

1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when 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.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Discussion

(v.1-3) Consider the words that describe Zacchaeus and his job. What kind of person was he?

Read v.6-7 and notice the contrast between the two responses. What can we learn from this contrast?

What is most admirable about Zacchaeus? What is most admirable about Jesus in this interaction?

Chief Tax Collector

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Luke 19:1–2 ESV

1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.

Jesus was entering Jericho. He was just passing through. He seemingly didn’t have plans to stay the night there.

Then enter Zacchaeus. We’re told that he’s a tax collector.

And not merely a tax collector. But a chief tax collector.

So who were these tax collectors?

In any society, people who collected taxes for the government are not exactly your most believed agents. But these tax collectors were not IRS agents.

How it worked was that when the Roman Empire conquered an area, they would want to start collecting taxes from that region. But instead of bringing their own Romans in, they’d hire people from that land to turn against their own countrymen and become tax collectors.

And how the tax collectors would make money was that they’d not only collect whatever the Romans were demanding of that region, but they’d collect extra on top of that, or they’d create new taxes, new tolls… the Roman government gave tax collectors a lot of leeway in terms of what they could collect, and so tax collectors got rich off the backs of their own people.

So these tax collectors were hated, considered traitors. The kind of people who would would take this job were people who were greedy enough and motivated enough about money, and didn’t care about the social repercussions of taking a job like that. Or even if they did, they didn’t care because they would get rich off of it.

The closest modern equivalent really is like slightly organized thugs who basically intimidated people for money.

And Zacchaeus was the chief among the tax collectors in a major city like Jericho, which means he must have risen to the top of the ranks and he was really good at this. Must’ve been a pretty ruthless guy. Maybe even brutal.

But we’re told something else about Zacchaeus …

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“Small in stature” —> sense of inadequacy

Luke 19:3 ESV

3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.

He was trying to see Jesus, but he couldn’t because there was a great crowd…. and because he was “small in stature.” Zacchaeus was short.

It’s interesting that the Scriptures gives us this detail. We’re not often told of the physical attributes of people very much. We don’t even know if Jesus was short or tall. So when we get this seemingly random detail in an otherwise compact and swiftly told story, it’s meant to be a significant part of who he is.

He’s short.

I’ve heard people say that short people have done the world much harm. They’ll point out that Hitler was short. That Napoleon was short. There you have it. (Am I hitting a sore spot for some of us?)

But as we put together a profile of who Zacchaeus was, the kind of person who would do this kind of job, and do it so well that he would rise to the top. Then we add the fact that he’s also short in stature. Maybe that had something to do with him being so successful…

Perhaps someone who is “small in stature” … the fact that they feel short, that itself becomes the driving force, the motivation, because maybe he’s got something to prove.

e.g. The guy who never got picked during recess fo basketball, grasping on to the chain linked fence for security …

That person doesn’t say, “hey ok no problem, I’ll watch cause you guys deserve to play and I don’t.”

No they walk away mad. This is a stupid game anyway. I’ll show you. One day I’ll be your boss at work, and it’ll be the revenge of the nerds. I”ll show them…

It’s what’s been called the Napoleon complex, or “short man syndrome.”

But you don’t have to be short to experience this. You can be 6’4”, you could be a supermodel, you could be on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, and you can still have a “short man’s complex” in a sense.

Because all of us, we all struggle with a sense of inadequacy. We all feel like we don’t quite measure up.

What this feels like concretely: “I’m not _________ enough.”

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How do you fill that in?

I’m not tall enough

I’m not smart enough

I’m not funny enough

I’m not charming enough

I’m not competent enough

I’m not good-looking enough

I’m not athletic enough

I’m not witty enough

I’m not social enough

I’m not WHATEVER enough.

What’s that blank for you? In our vulnerable moments, in our honest moments, we can fill this in… probably with many different words. And I bet in some ways even your best friends would be surprised by what you put in there…

RESPONSE: Give some time for people to fill that out for themselves… what would you fill in that blank?

Universal Condition - Shame, Guilt, Sin

Why is that so many of us feel “short” in so many areas? Because this sense of inadequacy, it seems to be universal.

The Bible says that this is a spiritual problem.

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The word most commonly translated SIN in the Bible … actually means to fall short. It means to miss the mark. To not live up to the standard that is set. (Hb. chata; Gk. hamartano)

Spiritually, I think we’re people who know there’s something wrong with us, but we’re not sure how to pinpoint what or how. I don’t know if you’ve ever had situations where you feel itchy somewhere, but it’s hard to pinpoint where, it’s like… around there..

The Bible tells us this deep sense of inadequacy, this sense of shame even, that the most confident and put‑together appearing person feels, that this is universal and that its source is sin.

From the person who is Christian and understands the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man, to the person who doesn’t believe in God at all, there is an awareness of shame and guilt. No culture or nation has been quite able to suppress it. It's there.

If you have a quiet moment of introspection, I think people can trace that to a certain sense that, "I've done wrong," that, "There are things I’ve done for which I feel guilty and shameful.”

We wear masks

And I think that manifests itself in this roaming insecurity and sense of inadequacy. Ever since Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve sinned, what was the first thing that they did?

In the narrative of the great fall, the first thing they do is hide. When they reemerged, they reemerged with covering. They sewed fig leaves together to make covering for themselves.

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We just can't present ourselves as we are because we all recognize, like Adam and Eve, we're not that presentable.

So what do we do? We make a covering for ourselves, we try to wear masks.

When we were younger it was perhaps through seeking popularity. Nowadays for a lot of people, that’s managing your online brand. Making sure what you present to the world is a version of your life thats’ impeccable.

Maybe later on there are other things. Your SAT score. What school you get into. What you’re studying.

Or you take up a cause that you support. We do and say things based on what we think we’re supposed to say and based on what people “expect from us.”

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DISQ: What masks do we put up? What’s the way that you present yourself before the world?

AND: Why do we wear masks?

Possible answers

because we don’t want to be actually known in case we’re not accepted

because we think people want us to be a ceratain way … there are certain societal expectations that we need to fit

we’re not comfortable with who are

What we really want is love

In the Christian worldview, the longing of every person is to be FULLY KNOWN YET FULLY LOVED.

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To be known for the people we actually are … not the masks we put up… And yet to be accepted, included, loved.

But the problem is that we don’t think that people will be able to love and accept us if we’re known for who we are. So we wear masks. We wear the masks that we think others want us to wear.

It’s a way to protect ourselves.

e.g. When I was in high school one of my favorite quotes was one from Socrates: “Sometimes people put up walls, not to keep others out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.”

It’s almost like this insurance policy. We sort of assume we’re going to get rejected by others, and so then we make the first move and we make ourselves hard to love, we just go ahead and reject everyone else around us … we make ourselves aloof and distant … and we hope that there will be SOMEONE out there who will care enough, notice us, pay attention to us enough to break down those walls.

But it’s a strategy doomed for failure and disappointment.

e.g. When somebody acts really tough...I remember those days when guys used to walk around with enormous, baggy pants. It’s sort of coming back. But yeah back in late 90s, early 2000s, that was the thing. Anchor blue beyond baggy pants. And you’d buy 2 sizes too big. It was sort of associated with a certain thuggish aesthetic.

But I think back on myself and all my friends dressing like that, and what we were really saying was, “love me! notice me! i’m cool too. i want to be included so I’m going to just wear what everyone else is wearing and act like I’m too cool for school and hopefully somebody wants to be my friend.”

You know what we needed. Need a grandma to get out of a car and just go up to one of us and just give us a big hug. That’s what we really wanted.

You want love. It is what you want. We wouldn't have recognized it, but in hindsight I can see that those enormous pants, it was a request for love.

That's really what we’re all doing. We’re saying look at my baggy jeans. Look at how smart, how pretty, whatever I am. We want to receive the praise, the approval, the accolade, and the admiration. "You're so special. You're so cute. You're so charming. I'm attracted to you." This is what we desire to hear.

Is this a strategy that is bound to work? No, it isn't.

Because the more successful you are, the more alienated you feel, in some ways.

This is what explains the widespread depression and drug use among the celebrities. We think that this pop star is like this awesome, successful, happy guy, while he's actually thinking to himself, "That’s not really me. I just put on makeup, go to work, smile for the camera. I'm not really this awesome."

They know that the accolades are not really them.

And people can’t give each other this kind of love. We’re too easily impressed. We’re too insecure. We’re always comparing ourselves with one another.

No for someone to be able to FULLY known and FULLY love someone, they have to incredibly secure. Who can possibly love like this?

Only God can “fully know” and “fully love”

There's something about Jesus' response to Zacchaeus. Just through the movement of the story, we get that. We get that Jesus knows Zacchaeus. He knows what's in his heart.

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We’re told Jesus comes and says to Zacchaeus, hurry and come down! I have to stay at your house today.

Jesus treats Zacchaeus like an old friend. Jesus understands Zacchaeus totally. Zacchaeus may fool everyone else, maybe he even fools his own parents with his tough guy image.

But Jesus isn’t fooled by him. He says, man let’s go hang out at your place tonight.

Only God knows you thoroughly. Only He can love you properly and not be fooled.

Crowd gets in the way

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Now here’s Zacchaeus, v. 3 it says he was “seeking to see who Jesus was”

That's spiritual hunger. You’d think someone like Zacchaeus who lives a rough, immoral life wouldn’t want to go near a religious man.

Yet Zacchaeus seeks him out.

But then he runs into the crowd. And because of the crowd, he can’t see Jesus.

The crowd is a recurring character in a lot of the Bible stories. Jesus attracted crowds. They're there. They’re the audience.

But the thing about the crowds, though, is they never make meaningful contact with Jesus. In this particular story, their main contribution is to block Zacchaeus' view of Jesus.

In Jesus’ interactions, the crowds, they’re often grumbling. They watch Jesus, they judge him from afar. This is their judgment on this interaction with Zacchaeus:

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Luke 19:7 ESV

7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

That means as far as they’re concerned, they’re not sinners. Zacchaeus is a sinner, but not me. We’re what society would consider good people.

Yet the crowd’s primary contribution is to prevent genuine spiritual seekers from getting a good look at Jesus.

Who is the crowd? It’s the people closest to Jesus who won’t connect with Jesus. It’s painful but often it’s church goers. It’s those who claim Christianity but don’t really have a real relationship with Jesus. It’s people who say they’re Christian and yet it’d be hard to convict them of being Christian if you actually looked at the evidence of their lives.

It breaks my heart. The ideas that come to mind in our world nowadays when people think about “church” or “Christianity.” People don’t bother to read the Bible carefully and see what it actually says. They don’t bother to try to discern genuine Christ followers from mere church goers.

And why would they? Their picture of who Jesus becomes obscured and distorted by the media or by politics, and nowadays when people think of “evangelical Christianity” they primarily think of it as a people who vote a certain way.

No wonder people are jaded … it’s sad because among people who call themselves Christians and stick close to Jesus, the net effect that a lot of them are having is that they’re just making it hard for genuine seekers, like Zacchaeus, to come to Jesus.

Too many people who act religious on Sunday mornings, and then act exactly the same way as all their friends the rest of the week.

Like Nietzsche said, all those years ago, "I'll believe in the Redeemer if his followers looked more redeemed.”

Being Christian Means Something

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Christ. Christian. The name Christian, it's from Christ. If you call yourself by someone’s name, it should mean something. It’s pretty intense, zealous term to place upon yourself.

But to call yourself a Christ-ian and for that to make no difference in your life … is to say to everybody else … hey you know what this Christ thing it’s not that big of a deal, you don’t need to look into it. There’s not much to it really.

e.g. It's like you're interested in Marxism, but every Marxist you see drives a Tesla and believes in private property.

You then think to yourself.. "What? Does anyone take this stuff seriously?

You join the Marxist club, and see everybody eating caviar and just flirting with each other. Everybody believes in private property.

And then you ask a guy on the side "Hey, are we going to overthrow the bourgeoisie and carry out the proletariat revolution like we’re called to in Das Kapital?"

He’s like, "What are you talking about? We don't read that. We don't even know what's in it. I come here because it’s fun and the girls are cute,"

You'd be pretty disillusioned. You would not respect the Marxist club...

What kind of Christian are you if you grew up in the church, and you went to church, but you've never read your Bible, and Christ is making no difference in your life?

If people followed you and looked at your life, and they could not gather enough evidence to come to a clear conclusion that you're a Christian, and that you follow Jesus...That would be pretty tragic.

What if crowds of people were like that, and there was a Zacchaeus?

There was somebody who was at the end of his ropes. He achieved everything he wanted in life but was empty and hungering for an answer.

He just has this spiritual hunger that he can't even explain. "I want to see Jesus," but he can't because he runs into the crowd. That would be really, really sad.

Running + Sycamore Tree

But thankfully there’s a tree. There's a sycamore tree.

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Luke 19:4 ESV

4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

In the ancient world, men didn't even run because that was considered undignified. To then climb a tree? Even more undignified.

Zacchaeus is a short, ridiculous‑looking guy who everyone hates. He does this undignified thing and climbs a tree to see Jesus.

As one of the latecomers, I imagine Zacchaeus thinking to himself, "Am I actually going to see Jesus? Should I even go?" He sees the crowds already assembled. But he also sees that tree up ahead. He runs up that tree.

This might be stretching Biblical interpretation a little bit, but we should be like that sycamore tree for others.

We talked about the crowds, and how tragic it is that it's the Christians who obscure the view of Jesus from those who want to see him. What about trying to be that tree? Trying to say to the Zacchaeus’ in our world, "Hey, through me, you're going to see Jesus"? That's what we're trying to do on our campus. We’re trying to help people see Jesus.

Last minute, he runs out there.He does something that to the world maybe looks a bit undignified. To run and to climb a tree … but he’s willing to do whatever it takes, because he’s genuinely hungry to see Jesus.

Maybe someone gave you a boost on the way.

They gave you a flier, shared their testimony with you, answered questions you had about Christianity. Maybe someone gave you a Bible or a Christian book that opened your heart a bit more.

This is the story of some of you. You thought "I never thought I'd come to church” or perhaps “I never thought I’d be back at church.”

A lot of you, your story is, "I came to college to escape, to live it up” or “I came to study and focus on my academics and career.”

Coming to Chicago for school… and then attending church. That was not in your plan. And yet you’re here.

Maybe you did the unlikely thing and decided to seek, decided to try and see Jesus despite the prejudices you had about Christianity. You told yourself, I need to investigate. I need to know. I need to find out if God is there and if He can be known. You climbed up the tree.

Jesus hangs out with sinners

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Luke 19:5–6 ESV

5 And when 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.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

Can you imagine the thrill and rush Zacchaeus must have felt at that moment. He probably just about dropped out of that tree when Jesus calls him out and says, "Zacchaeus, old buddy, old pal, I must stay at your house today."

What if that was you? What if Jesus pointed to you and said, "Hey, Bob, I need to go to your house. Mary, I want to go to your house today. I need to stay at your house."

Why Zacchaeus? What is it about Zacchaeus? Jesus liked hanging out with people on trees? No, he's reading Zacchaeus’ heart.

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Luke 19:9–10 ESV

9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Why Zacchaeus? It's because out of all the people in that town, there is one person who knows he’s in need of salvation. He knows that what he deserves is judgment. If there’s one person who knows that he’s a sinner, it’s Zacchaeus.

Jesus says he came to seek and to save the lost. Problem is most people don’t think they’re lost. If you keep saying “I’m not lost” then Jesus has nothing to say to you. There’s no connection there because Jesus said, well I’ve come to save the lost.

In Luke 5 … Jesus teaches something similar…

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Luke 5:31–32 (ESV)

31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

If you say, "No, I'm pretty righteous," Jesus can't stay.

The question in this text turns out to be how do you see yourself?

Are you more like the crowd, saying “I’m not a sinner. That guy over there is a sinner. The people we read about in the newspapers, those are sinners … I’m not”

Or are you more like Zacchaeus. He knows he’s rotten. He’s not smug about it. And as bad as he feels about himself, he knows something about Jesus. He knows he can bring his broken self to Jesus, and sure enough Jesus claims him and embraces him.

Zacchaeus Transformed

One of the sure signs of genuine salvation work in a person's heart is that their values change. What was the highest value for Zacchaeus?

It was money.

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Luke 19:8 ESV

8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

It's not that Zacchaeus needed to do this in order to gain God's favor.

No, Jesus invited himself over to Zacchaeus' house, based on nothing other than his spiritual hunger, his humility, his desperation. Jesus entering into relationship with Zacchaeus is purely by grace.

And in that relationship, Zacchaeus experiences being fully known for who he is, sinner to the core. Selfish to the core. And Jesus says, “You too, belong in God’s kingdom.”

Then what happens? The stuff that he was grabbing onto for dear life, all the money and wealth, he's like, "Oh, this isn't it." He releases it to bless other people.

I don't know what that's for you. I don't know what you have at the core of your value system. What you value more than anything else defines who you are. What is that for you?

If you base your identity on that, a sure sign of God's work in your life is suddenly you realize, "Oh, this is nothing to clutch on to. This is for me to release to other people."

Zacchaeus transforms and becomes a man of generosity. The taker becomes a giver. He becomes a source of blessing to everyone and probably he becomes poor.

TO SEEK AND SAVE THE LOST

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Luke 19:10 ESV

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Seek and save the lost. I don't know when you lost something of value.

But this is how Jesus summarizes this interaction with Zacchaeus. What does this mean? If Zacchaeus was lost, that means that Zacchaeus belonged.

But this is not just about Zacchaeus. Jesus came so that he could save the lost … every person, every man, woman, and child who was created by a loving God — God’s seeking them out. He’s seeking the lost.

What's your identity?

"I've been sought and found. I was treasured and valued by God himself so that he sent his son to look for me, and he found me."

"Where did he find you? Where did he found you? How did he find you? What's your story?"

Now we're sent back into our campus during the four years we're here, rubbing lives in such close proximity, never going to be like that again with so many other people that you share commonality with, and we're to be his hands and feet.

We're supposed to be his finders. We're supposed to tell people, "Hey, guy, put down your mask. You belong to God. There is a love that's eternal, that's heavenly for you. Could that be true? If it is, you wouldn't want to miss out on that."

Personal Response

Feeling “short” drive us toward Jesus. How has your personal sense of inadequacies drive you toward Jesus in your life?

The crowd hindered Zacchaeus’ view of Jesus while the sycamore tree provided a way for him to see Jesus more clearly. What have been the “crowds” or “sycamore trees” in your life that have obscured your view or helped you see Jesus more clearly? How can you be less like the crowd and more like the sycamore tree personally?

Zacchaeus experienced a profound change after his encounter with Jesus, moving from a life focused on selfish and ruthless gain to one of generosity. What values or priorities have shifted for you personally because of your faith?

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