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Have you ever had one of those days that stand out as one of
indescribable joy: graduation, your wedding day, the birth of a child,
meeting a celebrity? One day, when I was nine years old, I met Bob
Hope and the guy who played Jethro on “The Beverly Hillbillies”. That
was a big day.
Jane
Marshall describes such a day in her hymn, “What Gift Can We Bring?”.
The first verse that the choir sang said,
What gift can we bring, what present, what token?
What words can convey it, the joy of this day?
When grateful we come, remembering, rejoicing,
What song can we offer in honor and praise?
There are those days that are so special that we want to mark them
with a gift, a token, something to say, “I don’t ever want to forget
this feeling that I have right now.” Zacchaeus had such a day, and
like many of those unforgettable moments, it came quite unexpectedly.
Listen to his story found in Luke 19:1-10 on page 45 of the New
Testament in the pew Bibles in front of you. Hear now the Word of the
Lord:
1He
entered Jericho and was passing through it.
2A
man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was
rich. 3He
was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could
not, because he was short in stature.
4So
he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was
going to pass that way. 5When
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.”
6So
he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.
7All
who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of
one who is a sinner.” 8Zacchaeus
stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord,
I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I
will pay back four times as much.”
9Then
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he
too is a son of Abraham. 10For
the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
This
is the Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. In this
passage Luke recorded for his readers of the day when salvation came
seeking in the sycamore tree. Let us pray.
I’m
not sure what Zacchaeus had for breakfast that day, but my guess is
that it was the same thing he had the day before. There was nothing
special about this day – at the beginning. He must have got word
through the grapevine that Jesus was coming to town. Perhaps he
overheard a couple of people on the street discussing it. It is
obvious he did not have much warning, or else he would have gotten a
curbside seat. One look outside Reed Arena last Monday morning would
give you a sense of what it must have been like. Students, who were
lucky enough to win the lottery for General Admission tickets, camped
out to be the first in and get the best seats. That is the picture I
have of the streets of Jericho near the end and at the apex of Jesus’
earthly ministry. The place was packed and Zacchaeus was like one of
those students who had a class that did not let out until after 7:00
for an 8:00 p.m. tip-off. He was confined to the rafters. You get
the sense in the early moments of this masterful story that
transformation was already beginning to set into the heart of this tax
collector. True transformation is telling.
There was a determination in this rich man that allowed him to put all
appearances aside. He climbed a tree to see this Jesus. Look at why
he did this, “He was trying
to see who Jesus was.” I’ve read this story many times
over the years. I sang about it when I was a little boy. I even
heard Laurinda preach a sermon about him just last month at the
Ekklesia service in the Annex. Yet it was just this week that I
noticed that phrase, “He was trying to see who Jesus was.” The
crowd was too thick and he was not tall enough to see over them. So
far all we know about Zacchaeus is that he was a chief tax collector
(which meant he worked for the oppressive Roman government that was
occupying the land of Israel), and he was rich (which meant he
apparently did quite well at his despised profession). It is no
surprise that the crowd did not yield to his presence or respond
favorably to his pushing. So he climbed a tree, a sycamore tree,
because, “He was trying to see who Jesus was.”
Last month as I sat in the Annex sanctuary, my daughter, Chelsea, was
sitting beside me. I looked out the window that was behind Laurinda,
as she told the story of Zacchaeus. I noticed this beautiful tree
nearly filling the pane of glass, leaned over to Chelsea and smiled,
“Can you see him in the tree outside?” She returned the smile and
nodded, her imagination is as vivid as mine. It was at that moment
that the Lord seemed to whisper to my soul, “There are a lot of people
in the sycamore trees. They are all around you trying to see who
Jesus is.” All they see is us. Can we see them? Jesus can.
Jesus continued through that ancient city of Jericho and came to the
spot where the sycamore tree hung over the street. Luke did not tell
his readers how Jesus knew Zacchaeus’ name, but because he did it made
all the difference in that day for the chief tax collector. This was
indeed going to be one of those unforgettable days - bigger than
seeing Bob Hope and Jethro Bodine in the same day.
There was almost an urgency in Jesus’ voice,
“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I
must stay at your house today.”
Here is another one of those phrases
that nearly leaped off the page this week as I re-read this passage.
He called him by name, he told him to hurry and he said, “I must stay
at your house today.” This word, “must” is the same word Jesus used
when he told Nicodemus, “you must be born again.” It was the same
word he used when he told his disciples that he must suffer many
things and die in Jerusalem, where he was headed the day he came
through Jericho. There is a non-negotiable element to that word and
Zacchaeus seemed to notice that.
“He hurried down and was happy
to welcome him.” Of course, others were not as
touched by the chain of events. Look at what the scriptures say,
“All who saw it began to grumble.” There he goes again, breaking
all the rules established for the Messiah. He seems almost determined
to find the most unworthy recipient of grace and lavish it upon that
person. Jesus saw possibilities where others saw problems: children,
tax collectors, rich people, Roman soldiers, sick people, poor people,
people possessed. Jesus calls them by name, holds them in his arms,
heals them, blesses them, and goes to their house for afternoon tea.
But there was something that Jesus saw in that person on that day.
Transformation was on its way and true transformation is telling.
What gift can we bring, what present, what token?
What words can convey it, the joy of this day?
When grateful we come, remembering, rejoicing,
What song can we offer in honor and praise?
Zacchaeus could not contain himself any longer. Joy had replaced
bitterness, meaning had replaced the monotony of every other day,
transformation had occurred in the heart of that chief tax collector
and he stood up to speak. “I want to mark this day as a day that I
will never forget. First, I am giving half of all that I have to the
poor (remember Zacchaeus was a rich man). Second, if I cheated anyone
by charging them more taxes than they actually owed (a common practice
among tax collectors), I will pay them back four times the amount that
I cheated them.” This was more than any thief would be required to
pay back a person from whom the thief stole. The normal restitution
was 120%, not 400%. What is going on in this man’s heart?
Jesus knew. Salvation was going on. Jesus could see it and
proclaimed, “Today
salvation has come to this house.”
I like how Eugene Peterson
puts this in The Message, “Today is salvation day in this
home! Here he is: Zacchaeus, son of Abraham!” Zacchaeus,
the chief tax collector, was transformed and true transformation
is telling.
It was nearly ten years ago that I met Don. I remember meeting him at
a Stewardship Brunch similar to what we have planned in three weeks,
on March 4th. He came up to me, introduced himself and
thanked me for preaching about tithing. Now you can understand why I
remember this conversation. I don’t often get thanked for that. He
told me that he and his wife decided to step out in faith and tithe.
He said it was the best thing that ever happened in his spiritual
life, since he had become a Christian. Don told me that his finances
had never been better. He had received promotion after promotion and
he assured me that one can’t out give God. Four years later I called
Don for a favor. There had been a terrible death of my friend’s son.
They needed to fly to Colorado and wanted me to go with them. I knew
Don had lots of frequent flier miles and so rather than ask this
family to pay the exorbitant price for a last minute ticket, I asked
Don if he could help me out. He did not hesitate. He called his
airline and had me a round trip ticket in a matter of minutes.
Later, he told me that phone call changed his life. He said he
hoarded frequent flier miles as if they were gold. He found the best
deals to where he could fly the farthest for the fewest miles. He had
a daughter and her family in New Zealand and always wanted to have a
balance that would let him see her at a moment’s notice. He told me
he cringed when I asked for his frequent flier miles, but knew that he
needed to do this. He went on to say that it was that moment that he
gave God everything. “Whatever you want, God, is yours.” Within the
year, Don sold his spacious home followed up on a call to minister to
others through Mercy Ships ministry in the Caribbean and in Africa.
He told me that his life was transformed into more meaning than he
could have ever imagined. Don is back home now, ministering to people
in his own state and helping to care for his grandchildren. But he is
forever changed and eternally grateful that God could use even him,
when he yielded it all to God.
What are you holding onto that is keeping you from experiencing the
transformational joy of this day? God wants access to all that you
have, because this is how love works. When we trust God with it all
and respond to God’s call regarding what to do with it, salvation
becomes evident. We are saved. Saved from ourselves and our
selfishness. We are transformed and true transformation is
telling.
It was a great day when I saw both Bob Hope and Jethro Bodine, but it
was not a transformational day. That day would come years later when
I responded to Jesus’ call, “I must stay at your house” and then again
years after that when Jesus asked for access to the whole house. Then
I was transformed and true transformation is telling.
Amen.
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