Measuring Up

Scripture: Luke 19:1-10

Luke 19:1–10 NIV

1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

11/2/2025

Order of Service:

Announcements

Opening Worship

All Saints Day Liturgy

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Communion

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes:

Week 1: Communion

All Saint’s Day Service

Opening Prayer:

God of unfailing light,

in your realm of glory

the poor are blessed,

the hungry filled,

and every tear is wiped away.

Strengthened by this vision,

may we follow in the way of holiness

that your Son made known in life and death. Amen.

Measuring Up

Jericho

We've journeyed through Luke's Gospel for several months, exploring beloved stories from chapters 15-18. Today's passage is one of the most famous—a story many of us learned as children. Those faithful teachers who served our church understood something profound: children know what it means to be lost in a crowd of adults, to be unseen, unable to glimpse the Jesus everyone else is talking about.

Some of us learned a song about this scripture that helped us remember it forever. Would you sing it with me?

"Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he. He climbed up into the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. And as the Savior passed that way, he looked up in the tree. And he said, Zacchaeus, you come down. For I'm going to your house today. For I'm going to your house today."

Now, if you've never heard that song before, you might think it's strange. But Luke gives us this story as a culmination of everything that's come before. He arranged these accounts carefully as Jesus traveled from Galilee toward Jerusalem, teaching his disciples what God was doing in their lives and in the lives of all God's people.

The story takes place in Jericho—that famous fortress city whose walls once seemed impenetrable. Generations earlier, God sent Joshua and his people to march around those walls, proclaiming God's name and celebrating his goodness. Through their obedient praise, God knocked down those physical walls and claimed the city for his people.

Now, just as Joshua didn't avoid that city on his way to the Promised Land, Jesus didn't avoid it on his way to Jerusalem. He headed straight for it, determined to knock down spiritual walls and rescue his people so they could follow him faithfully again.

Zacchaeus

This story made Zacchaeus a celebrity for the first and only time in his life. To understand it well, we need to read it like a child would—our adult viewpoint misses the heart of this story.

Can you remember being a child, three or four years old, in a crowd? Do you remember when the top of your head barely reached your parents' waist, and you had to crane your neck to see their faces? And how exciting it was when they got down on your level, eye to eye, and for a brief moment made you forget how small you were?

The Bible rarely mentions people's height. It tells us Goliath was nine feet tall—a giant. King Saul was one of the tallest in his tribe. Beyond that, we know little about anyone's stature. But in the New Testament, Zacchaeus is the only person specifically noted for being short. Archaeologists tell us people in that era averaged closer to five feet tall than six. So imagine how small Zacchaeus must have been for Luke to specifically point out his shortness. He never grew out of that place where he had to look up to everyone. Standing in crowds, his view was always blocked by backs and shoulders. People tripped over him, not even seeing him there.

Though he was well-known as a wealthy tax collector who extorted money from his neighbors in Jericho, he was not truly seen. He had money, perhaps even bodyguards, but remained invisible in the ways that mattered.

But Zacchaeus heard about Jesus. While others heard stories of healing and powerful teaching, Zacchaeus may have heard something more specific: that Jesus had chosen a former tax collector as one of his first disciples, that he regularly ate with tax collectors, and that he told stories that painted them in a more promising light than they'd ever received. We know Zacchaeus could have heard this because Luke tells us in chapter 15 that people were grumbling about exactly this behavior.

As crowds gathered at the edge of town to meet Jesus, hoping he might enter the city and work miracles among the poor and sick, Zacchaeus saw the crowd become a wall between him and Jesus. In those days without photographs or videos, he'd heard about Jesus but couldn't pick him out of the crowd. He'd never seen his face. And with that human wall forming, it looked like Jesus would pass through town without Zacchaeus ever knowing what he looked like.

In desperate inspiration, he spotted a tree and climbed it—awkward for a grown man, but probably ignored since he was the size of a child and wasn't taking up space anyone else wanted. There in that tree, finally head and shoulders above the crowd, he could see the face of Jesus and attach a vision to the name and all the hope that came with it.

Zacchaeus was used to being ignored and left out, even before becoming a tax collector and discovering what it meant to be despised—the only kind of attention he could get. Then, in one of those moments that surprised everyone, Jesus moved through the crowd and looked up to Zacchaeus.

We're so used to looking up to those above us in status and righteousness. But the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, looked up to greet Zacchaeus sitting in his sycamore throne as the despised chief tax collector of Jericho. And Jesus said, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today."

Repentance

The disciples who had followed Jesus from the beginning should have learned by now not to be surprised by who Jesus chose to approach, even inviting himself into their homes. He'd surprised them with the woman at the well, the demon-possessed man in the cemetery, people of questionable heritage, and even Jewish leaders like Nicodemus. If Jesus had a standard for who he reached out to, it seemed to be whoever surprised everyone else.

So once again, we find Jesus surrounded by a crowd with different opinions about who he is and what they want from him. The dinner party at Zacchaeus's house included the disciples, just along for the ride. Perhaps some were beginning to remember when Jesus first came to them, realizing they weren't so different from Zacchaeus after all. But the people are grumbling—the same complaint again: Why is Jesus spending time with repugnant sinners? When the crowds and religious leaders used the word "sinners" in the Gospels, they didn't mean everybody who sins. They knew everyone sinned—that's why there were temple sacrifices. As long as you tried not to sin and sought forgiveness quickly, you were considered a good person. They wouldn't call you a sinner.

The word "sinner" typically appeared next to "tax collector" and "prostitute." It was a term for people who brought down the whole community for their own gain. For Jewish people already under Roman oppression, these sinners didn't just give the town a bad name—they threatened to bring God's judgment on everyone. These were people who made life worse for everybody else.

Slow down when reading this story, because it goes by so fast. Zacchaeus hears the grumbling, but he's not upset they're calling him a sinner. He knows what he is. He's heard the same or worse his whole adult life. He's not worried about what they're saying about him—he's worried about what they're saying about Jesus. They're questioning why Jesus is spending time with him.

Here's this man who was so desperate just to see Jesus's face. That's all he wanted. Not only did he get to see and talk to Jesus, but Jesus invited himself to his house. There's no greater honor. Zacchaeus was probably thinking: if I die tonight, I will have reached the pinnacle of my life, having the Messiah in my house. And these people were trying to ruin that moment and take Jesus away from him.

For someone that small to choose the life of a tax collector required tremendous courage. He probably faced death threats regularly. But I wonder if, for the first time in his life, he felt truly afraid—not that he would come to harm, but that Jesus would leave him. That Jesus would hear the crowd's reasoning and realize, "What am I doing here? There are people of better character just outside the door." Zacchaeus was afraid Jesus would leave.

So in a wild, over-the-top act to get himself right with Jesus immediately, he declares he'll sell his possessions and give to the poor. And where he took money unjustly, he would pay back not 100%, not double or triple, but four times as much. Those he robbed would become rich off him. Within days, he would become one of the poor himself.

Jesus smiles and looks at his disciples: "See this? This is why I came here." Not just to Zacchaeus's house, but something deeper—reflecting back to the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine for one lost sheep, the woman searching for one lost coin, the prodigal son who returns. "This man is a son of Abraham too. Everyone else wrote him off, including himself. But today, salvation has come to this house. The lost has been found. This is why I came into our world."

This is the response Jesus has been looking for since he began preaching, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Just verses before, Jesus encountered a rich young ruler who had done everything right—went to synagogue, learned the law, was an upstanding citizen. Jesus congratulated him, then asked him to sell his possessions and follow. That good man couldn't do it. He had too much to lose.

But down the road, Jesus picks a man out of a tree who also had wealth and power, who used money to keep himself safe. When the thought entered his head that Jesus might leave, he couldn't get rid of his stuff fast enough. He repented. He turned away from the old life.

Repentance—turning away from the old life of sin. That's the metric Jesus uses to see how we're measuring up as his disciples.

Redemption

Repentance is the measure Jesus uses to evaluate us, so our goal is to grow in faith and be disciples who follow him faithfully. That's our part of the relationship. But in this passage, Jesus tells us he has a measure for himself as well. The standard he uses is our redemption.

Scripture clearly states that salvation comes from faith alone, not our works. But we do have work, and that work is repentance. We turn away from the things that keep us from Jesus, those that try to pull us back and chain us to our old life of sin and death. Luke told us the angels rejoice more over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who never needed to. But our repentance is meaningless without Jesus’s work, and his work is about redeeming our lives.

Jesus came to save the lost and to bring back those separated from God's family. Not just in some supernatural, legal sense, but to truly change hearts, minds, and lives. He came for the Zacchaeuses of the world.

Even though Jesus ascended into heaven, he continues to work through the Holy Spirit. And through that Spirit, his power and work continue through us. The more we repent, the more we open ourselves to becoming vessels of that redeeming grace.

For some of us who may be more like Zacchaeus—going in the opposite direction from Jesus—repentance means turning around 180 degrees. But Jesus was redeeming more than just Zacchaeus at that dinner. There were twelve disciples following him for some time, Pharisees and religious leaders with sins in their lives but nothing as dramatic as Zacchaeus. Jesus showed them that truly living for God is more than just saying no to sin. It requires supernatural courage and wisdom, a power beyond ourselves.

For some of us, repentance simply involves opening our eyes to see others as Jesus does, opening our hearts to love them as He does. That may not require a complete 180-degree turn. It might involve a small shift, a little to the right or left. Or maybe, like in this story, it involves lifting our eyes to see those who look down on us, or getting on our hands and knees to look into the eyes of those beneath us—those we sometimes overlook. It takes repentance to get into position to see things through Jesus’s perspective.

When we do that, it opens us to new possibilities—not just repenting for ourselves, but allowing the Spirit and grace of Jesus to flow through us to touch lives around us. We become the apprentices the Master calls to walk with Him, watching Him transform sinners into saints. We hold the people as He works on them. We give Him the tools when He asks. And we witness what it's like to see someone’s life transformed, even as ours continues to be shaped.

Today, we remember those we've lost this year. For some, other names from previous years may come to mind. But think for a moment: Who were the people who supported you while Jesus was working on you? Who gave their time, resources, energy, and kindness? Who forgave you when you didn't deserve it? Who repented enough to position themselves to be instrumental in your receiving the grace Jesus offered? Who are those saints? Some may have gone home to be with Jesus. Others may still be here, fighting the good fight.

Brothers and sisters, that's the goal—to become those kinds of people. It's Jesus's goal to shape us into those people. No matter how long we have in this life, Jesus is working to transform us into them.

So how do we get there? Most of us have an idea where to start. We get clarity when we think with the end in mind. Instead of assuming we'll have tomorrow, put yourself in Zacchaeus's shoes.

If you only had five, ten, or fifteen more minutes with Jesus before he moved on to someone who really wanted him there—not just by their words, but by their actions—what would you do to convince Jesus to stay? What would you do to show Jesus you were ready for whatever he had for you?

What would it take to be ready for him to come and visit you today?

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, today we thank you for seeing us. Long before we knew your name or had any idea of who you are, you saw us while we were small and petty, covered in sin and selfishness. In the days we didn't know better, and in some of the days that we did, you saw us. You could have found people who were more deserving of your attention, but you came to us, and we weren't ready for you. You invited yourself into our homes when we didn't know how to invite you into our hearts. You got down on your hands and knees to look us in the eyes, and to proclaim to us, once and for always, that you loved us, that you forgave us, that you were adopting us into your family, and that you invited us to live with you.

Lord, we are not ready for you. And we're worried that we may never be, because you are a holy God, and we are not ready to live with you. And every word you speak, everything you do, every breath that you take, we are not ready for you. And even as you call us to be like you, and do the things that you do, to follow you as your disciples, Lord, we don't even know where to begin, but we know that you do.

And so we offer ourselves to you, Lord. We throw ourselves under your patient grace, with all the courage that we can muster. And we pray that, as you help us turn away from our old life every day, you will finish the saving work you started in our lives, the day you invited us to walk with you.

We lift this up in Jesus' name. Amen.