The Seeking Savior

Introduction

Have you ever lost something? I mean, who hasn’t right? You search everywhere for it. If you grew up with siblings like I did, you start accusing each other, “did you go in my room? Did you take my stuff?”

Then after searching for so long, it gets to the point where you don’t even care about what you lost…you just want to know where it went… because you know it’s around here somewhere.

Luke 19 tells us a story about a man named Zacchaeus and Zacchaeus was a….wee little man. Oh, you’ve heard this one before.

This is one of the most familiar stories in the Bible because we treat it as a children’s story, much like Noah and the Ark or David and Goliath.

It’s amusing. It’s sweet. It’s non-threatening. This perception is unfortunate. Because this story is not meant to be cute. It’s not be relegated to the category of nursery rhyme or treated as a harmless fable to entertain children. It’s not about a wee little man, it’s about a lost man in desperate need of Jesus.

To the original audience this story was more than surprising, it was scandalous. Its meant to overturn our expectations and it confronts our prejudice. It exposes our self-righteousness and it puts on display for us the unexpectedness of God’s Grace in all its glory.

Before we get into the chapter, let me give you some context. Luke 19 occupies a strategic place in the book of Luke that is meant to put a spot light on it. In Luke chapter 9 the Bible tells us that Jesus begins his journey to Jerusalem in order that he might die on a cross for our sin. Chapters 9 – 19 tells us of Jesus’ journey and the story of Zacchaeus describes for us the last scene, the last public encounter Jesus has before he reaches Jerusalem.

So with that in mind let’s look at Luke 19:1 – 10

The Sinner’s Condition

There are at least 4 key features to this story that Luke wants us to notice. The first thing that Luke wants you to notice is the sinner’s condition.

Luke introduces a man named Zacchaeus. His name meant “righteous one” or “pure one” but there was nothing pure or righteous about Zacchaeus. In fact, the way Luke describes Zacchaeus would have caused those in the early first century to hate him. Notice what Luke says about him.

a. He was a chief tax collector and he was rich. Tax collectors were despised people. They were seen as thieves who would raise taxes beyond what we required and pocket the extra money. They were hated because they we not only seen as thieves, but they were seen as traitors to their own people. Tax collectors were fellow Jews who now worked for the Roman Empire who was actively oppressing them and the so the tax collectors were making money off of their oppression.

It’s hard for us to wrap our minds around how much hate the people had for tax collectors. Zacchaeus was despised at the lowest level of hatred and animosity. He couldn’t go to the synagogue. He couldn’t go into the home of any of the Jews. No self-respecting Jew would ever enter into his house. He couldn’t even eat a meal with them. Tax collectors were isolated completely so that the only people who surrounded them were other outcasts and rejects. If you read the rest of Luke’s gospel you’ll notice that tax collectors are always lumped together with the most vile and morally corrupt sinners.

Also notice that Zacchaeus wasn’t just any tax collector. He was a chief tax collector, which implies he had many people working for him. When we read this passage, we often treat Zacchaeus as an innocent victim. Yes, Zacchaeus was an outcast socially, rejected by many but he wasn’t a victim. He was not a victim of the system, he was the system. He was the oppressed, he was the oppressor.

From the beginning, Zacchaeus is seen as a picture of a man who is opposed to God. He is a reflection of who we really are. When it comes to our sin, we are not victims, we are perpetrators. We are guilty ones. In our sin we oppose God and by doing so we reject any relationship he would have with us. We have turned away from God. This condition is characterized as being lost. Zacchaeus is a lost man.

b. Luke tells us something else, that Zacchaeus was short. Zacchaeus had heard rumors of a man who had the power to make the blind see, and to make the cripple to walk. He had heard rumors that Jesus had even raised the dead.... and word on the street was, Jesus was scheduled to pass that way and Zacchaeus wanted to know, who was this man?

There was a crowd that always followed Jesus and Zacchaeus being short could not see over the crowd. Notice that the crowds would have let a dignified man through, but the crowd hates Zacchaeus so much they don’t let him through. You can almost picture the crowds stepping in front him and pushing him aside, edging him out.

So Zacchaeus runs ahead of the crowd to a nearby tree in order to gain a vantage point. This tells us something about Zacchaeus. Dignified men in the time of Christ didn’t run according to the social custom. This tells us something else about Zacchaeus’ condition, it demonstrates Zacchaeus’ desperation.

Which brings us to the next aspect that Luke wants us to notice.

The Savior’s Compassion

Luke wants us to see the Saviors compassion. Look again at verses 5 -6.

a. Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus so he runs ahead and he climbs a tree which had low hanging branches.

Perhaps he had heard rumors that this famous teacher who raised dead men to life also made friends with people like him.

And this is the part of the story where the focus begins to shift. As Jesus walks by, he does something surprising. Remember there’s a big crowd here, and a lot of people that Jesus could have singled out. Instead, he addresses Zacchaeus.

b. There’s no mention of how Jesus knew his name. Luke tells us that they had never met. We started this story thinking that it was Zacchaeus who wanted to see Jesus, but now we see the real story. It was really Jesus who wanted to see Zacchaeus.

He not only wanted to see Zacchaeus, but he says “I must stay at your house.” Jesus is saying it is a necessary thing. This must happen. Why was it necessary? Because Zacchaeus needed to be saved. Because God’s plan was unfolding in the life of Jesus and his plan included Zacchaeus’ salvation. It was not an accident, it was not by chance. God’s sovereignty is the dynamic driving force behind every moment, including this unlikely encounter.

It is as if Jesus is saying, “Zacchaeus, this is God’s moment for you.” I look at the people in this room and I would dare say there are few like Zacchaeus. Jesus is passing by today and he is saying, “This is God’s moment for you.”

c. Do not overlook the setting too quickly. Jesus invites himself over to Zacchaeus’ house. Now, I don’t know about you, but my mom raised me not to invite myself over to someone else’s house, which was the culture I grew up in. In order to understand how shocking this part of story is, you have to understand what it meant to host someone in your home. For the ancient world, hosting guests in your home, or eating meals with them meant that you fully embraced them. It was a sign of acceptance, it meant you aligned yourself with this person. It demonstrated your social status. You were careful who you ate with. So when we see Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners, he is breaking the boundaries and upsetting the cultural norm. It wasn’t just bad manners, it was dishonorable. It was scandalous. That’s why the crowds complain in verse 7, “he has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

d. Zacchaeus being a chief tax collector could never fathom hosting in his home someone of Jesus’ celebrity status and reputation as a man of God. Could you imagine what Mrs. Zacchaeus said that night when he came home with Jesus and 12 of his good buddies. Give a girl some warning next time you bring home the son of God. Zacchaeus couldn’t pass this is up. It was a once in a life time opportunity. Zacchaeus could never hope to host someone of such fame and honor.

But that’s the beauty of the gospel isn’t it?

Jesus welcomed Zacchaeus. He had fellowship with Zacchaeus.

That we as sinners could never approach the holy God of heaven. Our sins have made us outcasts. Yet God invites us to fellowship with him. He embraces us. That is the compassion of the Savior – Jesus is the friend of sinners. Zacchaeus recognizes the gesture of grace and he seizes the opportunity. He hurried down from the tree and notice what Luke says, he received Jesus joyfully.

So what are we to learn from it? That Jesus is willing and able to save anyone. No one is hopeless. No one is too far gone. No one is too lost for Jesus to save. Not even a lost tax collector like Zacchaeus.

The compassionate Savior is one that seeks sinners! This is normally the part of the story where the children’s song ends…but that would be too easy.

The Crowd’s Complaint

In contrast to the Savior’s compassion, Luke highlights the complaints of the crowd.

a. Upon hearing Jesus’ very generous invitation, the crowd begins to grumble. In the Greek, Luke uses a word that is else where used for violence and to tear down. There was a hate in their tone.

Surely many of them felt slighted that Jesus didn’t stay at their homes. There must have been a better, more appropriate person Jesus could have stayed with. Here Jesus is, disrupting our expectation and our cultural norms.

I’ve read this chapter many times in preparation and the more I read it the more real this crowd becomes. If the crowd had their way, Zacchaeus would have remained lost. But this is the scandal of grace; God’s grace always includes those who we wish to exclude.

b. Can we be honest? There are some people that we don’t want God to forgive. When we read these stories we tend to think, of course Jesus gave the sinners grace - he’s Jesus that’s his job. But when we meet people like this in real life, we tend to think that Jesus should punish people like Zacchaeus.

We must ask ourselves a hard question, why did the crowds grumble? The crowds grumbled because they were blinded by their own self-righteousness.

Self-righteousness is that voice of pride in you that says none of this is about me. I’m alright. There are worse people than me. It’s the voice that says, this message is not for me, it’s for someone else.

Listen, self-righteousness blinds us to our own need for God’s grace, and it blinds us to work of God’s grace in the lives of others. The most dangerous thing you can do today is believe the lie that you are too good for the grace of God.

c. Our self-righteousness causes us to miss out on the work of God. Do you realize that many people came to see Jesus passing through Jericho that day but there was only one person that encountered him? Christians, how many times have you gathered to see Jesus only to watch him walk by. Sure, you know Jesus, you’ve been around Jesus but you’ve never met him. You don’t know him.

d. Here’s the truth. It can get a little crowded around Jesus. Crowds always follow him, but they always miss what he is about. Many people believe in Jesus but few behave like him.

Jesus doesn’t do this just to make people mad, he is demonstrating a bigger truth for the crowds. The boundaries of the Kingdom of God are being demolished. They are being expanded and reconfigured to include not just religiously acceptable people. The Kingdom is being expanded to embrace sinners and outcasts.

Jesus by doing this is redefining how people get right with God, by receiving and embracing him. Jesus didn’t need a place to sleep that night. By staying at the house of Zacchaeus, Jesus was extending forgiveness, he was extending fellowship.

In the eyes of man Zacchaeus is not a likely candidate for God’s grace. But Jesus is the master of the unlikely. And as the story draws to its conclusion Luke wants us to to see this. Jesus is the master of the unlikely and Luke shows us this with the sinner’s conversion.

The Sinner’s Conversion

a. Hearing the crowds complaint, Zacchaeus turns to Jesus and pledges to give away half of his possession and to give back four times the amount he stole. The Jewish law required that if you stole money that you pay it back plus a fifth of what you stole. So if you stole 100 dollars you would give back 100, plus 20 more. Zacchaeus is demonstrating for us here true repentance.

Zacchaeus not only seeks to right his wrongs, but he goes beyond that because of the joy he found in Christ. What a beautiful picture. There’s no religious formality here. Just a transformed heart.

Romans 2:4 tells us that it is the kindness of God that leads to repentance. When you realize the kindness that God has extended toward you, it causes you to give out of the joy the overflows in you. Zacchaeus not only experienced a forgiveness of sin, but because he received Jesus he experienced a restored relationship with God.

Jesus seeks the lost.

Most Jewish people believed that salvation belonged to all Israelites by virtue of their descent from Abraham, except for those who excluded themselves by heinous crimes. In Ezekiel 34:6 and 11, God took over the mission of seeking out the lost sheep because the Jewish leaders had failed (less directly relevant, cf. also Wisdom of Solomon 6:16).

Conclusion

In closing let me ask you two reflective questions.

How do you view the lost? Not just in abstract but I mean specific people. Do you look down on them and see them as inferior, because they don’t live up to your standards. Not worthy of your attention. Maybe you seem them as inconvenient. Or do we view them as lost people who need help. I don’t mean lost like a wallet, or misplaced keys. I mean like someone who has fallen overboard a ship at sea. They are adrift, helpless and in grave danger of perishing. We are surrounded each day by people who are in danger, drowning in the sea of sin. They are people just like me, just like you. They are drowning and they just need you to throw them something, your time, your love. A life preserver of the gospel.

Who do you identify with today? Are you one of the crowd? Has your self-righteous blinded you to your need of God’s grace? Has it blinded you to needs of others?

Perhaps you identify with Zacchaeus and you recognize that you are lost. That God is seeking you out, he’s calling your name and inviting you to fellowship with him. If that’s you, this is God’s moment for you. If that’s you today, come talk with me after chapel. Jesus is passing through today, don’t miss him.