Luke 19:1-10

Zacchaeus. It is a favorite story. Children often like it because Zacchaeus is, well, vertically challenged, as they are. A favorite old Sunday School song (bet some of you can sing it -or at least part) Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he. Something something, Climb up in a sycamore tree. Something. But I think we get so caught up in Zacchaeus up a tree that we miss the point.

I remember one time the kids in Sunday School were studying short Zach. The art activity to reinforce the story was to color a tree and somehow attach this figure up in it and when you pulled on the string and said, “Zacchaeus, come down” the paper character would fall down to the base of the tree. The kids had a good time pulling the string and saying, “Zacchaeus, come down” But what’s the point of that activity? All you have is a paper Zach.

Our children learned about Zacchaeus with Laura Grace this summer; they know the story. Let’s reclaim the story from the kids and do the grown up version, what do you say? Let’s unpack the Zach and see what is inside.

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. It won’t be long before he is riding on a white donkey into Jerusalem, palm branches waving, coats on the road. It won’t be long before Jesus is breaking bread with the disciples for the last time, uttering something cryptic like: This is my body given for you. It won’t be long before he is hanging on a cross, taking on the sins of us all, on the cross. It won’t be long.

On his way Jesus goes through Jericho. Crowds seem to follow him wherever he goes; he has been creating quite a buzz throughout the countryside. In Jericho lives a very rich man named Zacchaeus; he is the chief tax collector, collecting taxes from his Israelite neighbors for the Rome, who occupies and oppresses their country. A tough job but somebody has to do it. Bet you have already figured out that it didn’t make Zach the most popular person in town. He had turned traitor to his own people to work for the hated Romans. Not only that, it is highly probable, though he hasn’t been tried by jury of his peers yet, that Zacchaeus was corrupt, requiring people to pay extra and pocketing that money, a temptation hard for many a person to resist. He was certainly a big player in a very corrupt system and he got to be a very rich man somehow.

Well, Zacchaeus hears that Jesus is coming through and he wants to see who Jesus is, maybe because he’s heard that this noted rabbi is a friend of tax collectors and sinners. He is curious enough that he runs ahead to perch up in a sycamore tree so he can have a good view because, of course, you know, he’s too short to see over the heads of the others.

But Jesus is not going to let him be a curiosity seeker and spectator; he spots him camouflaged up in the branches and he says, (help me out here) “Zacchaeus, come down.”

Truth is that there are lots of people who are curious abut Jesus, who want to check him out from a non-committed distance - like camouflaged in a sycamore tree. They are the kind who wander into church but want no one to see them. They are the kind who will join a church’s Habitat for Humanity project but not come to worship. They are the folks that show up at Christmas and Easter. They are the folks who come to church because they feel like something is missing in their lives but they don’t really want to get involved. Don’t let Jesus get too close. Just sit above the crowd in the sycamore tree and look and listen.

“Zacchaeus, come down.” And he does but before Zach can even get the leaves brushed off his tunic, Jesus announces. “I’m coming to your house for dinner.” Guess he can’t keep his distance from Jesus any longer. This popular teacher, Jesus is going to be a guest in his house. He’ll be the envy of everyone around. That will show them.

Well, not exactly. Everyone around is indignant, not envious. “Why is Jesus cozying up to that crook? Why is hanging out with the likes of him? ”

Now if you look at the scripture, it isn’t really clear here. Zacchaeus seemed to be transformed, but I don’t know whether it was while he was still standing on the roots of the sycamore tree or when they got to the dinner table.

But I’m betting it was at the dinner table. I’m guessing that it was after Zacchaeus had a good chance to hear Jesus, to look into his face, to feel his own heart get warm and then melt. I suspect that it was after Jesus took the bread and blessed it and broke it and said something cryptic about “given for you” that something holy happened. I’m thinking that’s when it happened. I’m thinking that that’s when Zacchaeus was so convicted of his dishonest ways that he was ready to turn his life around and make restitution for those he had cheated. I think I know enough about human nature to feel sure that Zacchaeus didn’t just become a whole different man with a whole new understanding of God and money and responsibility to love neighbor just because the Lord called him down out of a tree. I believe it was when they had time to talk, when the short man truly met Jesus that he changed and was never the same.

Zach’s response to Jesus is, well, he is a man with a changed heart. Something must have happened. Something powerful. He announces “I’ll give half of what I have to the poor and repay any I have cheated four times over.” He is making restitution in a really big way and in addition giving half of all his money and possessions to the poor. I’m telling you he is a transformed man.

In part I’m also led to believe that this transformation happened at home because of the end of the story. At the end Jesus says: Today is salvation day in your home; today is salvation day in your home. Then Jesus says, “For the son of Man came to restore the lost.”

Jesus will meet you where you are. But be careful. When you allow yourself a true encounter with Jesus, up close and personal, it can change your life. It can make you do bold, exciting, energizing, life-changing things, like admitting wrongs, making things right, being outrageously generous, serving the poor and being truly, truly joyous.

It is a good story, but it is not just a kid’s story. It is our salvation story. Where are you in this narrative?

In short, the short man’s story is this: Curiosity, non-commitment, encounter, communion, repentance, salvation, transformation, grace, commitment, reconciliation, compassion, generosity. Shouldn’t it be our story as well?

Sermon by Dr. Charlotte D. Nabors
Central Congregational Church, Dallas, Texas
November 4, 2007