Luke 19:1-10
Notes
Transcript
It’s always amazing to see a master at work, isn’t it?!
Especially when it’s something you feel passionate about - for runners, that’s Sabastian Sawe finishing the London Marathon in under 2 hours!! That’s incredible.
Or when it’s stirs up something inside of you, inspires you in some way - for space geeks, that’s seeing people orbit the moon for the first time in 60 years! Wow.
Or watching someone do something you find terrifying - like running marathons or orbiting the moon!!
At the least, seeing a master at work makes us want to learn from them, to get even a little better at what they do, to build our skills, our passions, even overcome our fears.
In Luke 19:1-10, we see a master at work. The master!
On Tuesday evenings this half term we’re working through some training resources on how to share the good news of Jesus with people who don’t yet believe.
Some people find it really inspiring. Some find it helpful. Some find it terrifying!
But as the church, it is essential that we take seriously our responsibility bring the message of Christ to the lost people around us. Jesus has left us with the task of making disciples of all nations. That’s why we’re on earth! It’s why we’re alive.
So, as we watch the master at work in Luke 19:1-10, we need to pay attention to what he does, how he does it, and what we learn from him.
Luke helpfully gives us a summary of his whole gospel in v10:
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’
And we’ve seen the way that Jesus has so frequently sought those on the fringes of society, hampered by afflictions, beset by sin.
As we look at his interaction with Zacchaeus, let’s notice the lostness of the lost, how Jesus personally pursues the love, and how he lovingly challenges the lost.
This is the master’s guide to soul-winning:
NOTICE THE LOSTNESS OF THE LOST
NOTICE THE LOSTNESS OF THE LOST
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
This isn’t particularly unusual. Jesus has been such people before, not least Levi (Matthew), who is now one of his disciples.
What stands out at this point, though, is what Jesus said in the previous chapter after talking with the rich ruler:
Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’
That shocked his followers!
Those who heard this asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus replied, ‘What is impossible with man is possible with God.’
We’re told that Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and wealthy.
This is the only reference to a chief tax collector in this period, not only in the NT but outside it as well. And yet it seems that the whole Roman tax collection system was a kind of pyramid scheme, or like the old Avon scheme.
Get recruited as a tax collector, recruit other tax collectors, take a cut of their earnings, let them recruit others, take more cuts etc etc.
So, the statement that Zacchaeus was wealthy is probably an understatement.
And it should be fresh in our minds just how hard it is for a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of God.
Zacchaeus is lost. He is a lost child of Israel. He has been bewitched by wealth and he’s been lured into working for the Romans to make his fortune.
And for all his wealth, it was likely that Zacchaeus led a sad and lonely life.
Did the thrill of success wear off? Did the piles of cash lose their lustre?
We don’t know, but something prompted Zacchaeus to take a look at Jesus.
He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
Now, Zacchaeus was a very little man, and a very little man was he.
To have a chance of seeing Jesus for himself, he needed to get higher. No one was going to let him get a better view. So he had to do something that people didn’t do in those days: climb a tree.
This is a major clue to just how lost Zacchaeus was, and how eager he was to see Jesus. He was willing to set aside his dignity, social standing, to humiliate himself by hoisting his robes and exposing his legs.
Who else likes to climb trees? Children!
What did Jesus say in the previous chapter?
Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’
Notice this man’s lostness. The emptiness is was presumably feeling. The way he’s searching for answers, or a way out, maybe for a new life.
Do you know anyone like that? Have you ever encountered someone who seems to have become disillusioned with the life they’ve been living, and have started questioning everything?
Maybe that’s you right now?
People are more lost that they realise. Perhaps they don’t know what really makes them lost.
Some will think they’re going in the wrong direction, they need a change of career, change in relationship, change in outlook.
All these are signs of lostness.
We’ve got to pay attention to those signs, to recognise lostness, and more importantly - help people to recognise their lostness for what it really is: separation from the God who made us, caused by our rebellion against him.
Notice the lostness of the lost.
Jesus seemed to be drawn to those who were lost!
And then, like the master...
PERSONALLY PURSUE THE LOST
PERSONALLY PURSUE THE LOST
It didn’t take long for Jesus to notice the lost man hanging from the tree branch! It’s almost like he’d come to Jericho for this very purpose.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’
Now, some people seem to have knack for knowing exactly what to say and how to say it. How to engage with people, make an instant connection, and draw them into relationship and conversation.
Jesus was clearly one of them.
I’m married to another.
But I find this quite hard. Rather than drawing people to me I’m quite sure I scare them off! It feels awkward and forced, and it doesn’t come naturally.
So, if you’re like me, we need help from the master.
Notice a few things from what Jesus does here.
His interaction with Zacchaeus is:
Personal
Personal
Jesus addresses him by name.
Of course, Jesus has divine knowledge on his side! Even though they’d never met, he knew Zacchaeus better than he knew himself.
We have to work a little harder.
But it surely starts with the name. Showing someone you care enough to learn the name, how to properly pronounce it, what they like to be called (never Rich, or Richie, or Ricky, in case you’re wondering!), and showing that you’ve remembered.
But, of course, it goes deeper than that. It’s about learning who that person is and what makes them tick, what sort of thing they appreciate, what will make them feel like you get them.
For Zacchaeus, who was hated by most, and probably didn’t get many visitors, what Jesus said next might have made him fall out of the tree!
“I must stay at your house today.”
This is where Jesus began to make a...
Genuine connection
Genuine connection
“Must” suggests that this was important. Of course, we know that this was to be a divine encounter, God’s plan for Zacchaeus.
But it maybe suggested to Zacchaeus that Jesus was serious about him. He really wanted to spend time with him, that this meeting was important.
Sometimes, when it comes to evangelism, we might be tempted to think that we just have to get the job done, win the argument, speak the truth.
But the most important thing is the person in front of us. They need to hear the truth, but in their context. They need answers, but to their questions.
Jesus took steps to make a genuine, personal connection with Zacchaeus.
And the response of Zacchaeus shows just how much this meant to him:
So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
He didn’t mess about! Clearly, this was a big deal to Zacchaeus.
We can only imagine that he felt seen and known by Jesus, despite everything he’d ever done.
For so many people, that’s enough to get them paying attention to the message of Jesus.
How can you personally pursue the lost people that you know in a way that opens the door for talking about Jesus?
The master shows us some simple things we can do to make it personal - learn the name, genuinely connect.
And then comes the hard bit!
LOVINGLY CHALLENGE THE LOST
LOVINGLY CHALLENGE THE LOST
While Zacchaeus welcomed Jesus gladly and began preparing a celebration in his home, others weren’t so happy.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’
And with that comes the reminder that Zacchaeus was hated for a reason. He was a traitor to his own people, who had lined his pockets with the hard-earned money of ordinary Jewish people.
It’s not hard to imagine that while Zacchaeus grew richer and richer, many grew poorer and poorer, lives were impacted, maybe families broken apart as some were sold into slavery.
Suffering and misery, while Zacchaeus lived the high life.
We shouldn’t forget that. Jesus certainly didn’t.
We don’t know what conversations happened around the table in the home of Zacchaeus.
But we know other conversations that Jesus had with people who had lived questionable lives.
To the woman at the well:
The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.
To the woman caught in adultery;
‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’
To those asking about a tragic event:
Unless you repent, you too will all perish.’
Jesus didn’t hold back from confronting the sin in people’s lives. We can well imagine that Jesus said something similar to Zacchaeus.
Or maybe he didn’t need to. Maybe Zacchaeus had already decided that he was leaving his life of cheating behind.
Maybe the reaction of the crown made him wake up to what he needed to do:
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.’
This is repentance in action. Not just feeling bad about sin, but taking steps to put things right.
In the case of Zacchaeus, it shows that his heart was changed. He no longer lived for his wealth. He was concerned to please Jesus and serve the people he had wronged.
Lost people need to know how lost they are, and through the personal connection we make, we can lovingly, gently point out the ways in which people are living in God’s world as though God doesn’t exist. How they are in rebellion against their king and creator.
And showing them that God himself has taken steps to mend what they have broken through Jesus!
There’s no good news without the bad news.
I said to folks at Christianity Explored this week: if someone on the Titanic tells you there are lifeboats, you might think, ‘So what!’ But if they first tell you that the ship is sinking, then the news about lifeboats is the best news you’ve ever heard!
That’s what happened here to Zacchaeus.
Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.
Are we ready to have those conversations? To recognise the lostness of lost people. To personally pursue lost people and lovingly challenge them in their lostness?
We’ve seen the master at work!
May he give us the boldness to seek the lost so that he might save them according to his grace.
