Luke 19:1-10

Transcript

00:00:00:03 – 00:00:26:19
Clint Loveall
See everybody. Hope you had a great holiday. Thanks for joining us. After a little bit of an extended time off as we move our way into the new year and as we continue through the Gospel of Luke, find ourselves today in the 19th chapter, a great kickoff story, a story that I think, you know, if you grew up in Sunday school, if you hung around church, maybe even if you didn’t, it’s probably one of those stories, you know, or at least know something about it.

00:00:26:24 – 00:00:51:25
Clint Loveall
Jesus and Zacchaeus, I think this is one of those stories, Michael, that because we kind of know it, sometimes we miss the undercurrents of it, but we’ll see. So hopefully there’ll be something new as we go through this. I’ll just read it for you quickly and then we’ll circle back and talk our way through it. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through and a man was there named Zacchaeus.

00:00:51:39 – 00:01:13:39
Clint Loveall
He was a chief tax collector and he was rich. He was trying to see Jesus. But on account of the crowd he could not because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead, climbed Sycamore Tree to see him because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and he said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down for I must stay at your house today.

00:01:13:44 – 00:01:34:50
Clint Loveall
So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him all who saw it begin to grumble and said He’s gone to be a guest of one who is a sinner. Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.

00:01:34:55 – 00:02:00:40
Clint Loveall
Then Jesus said to him today, Salvation has come to this House because he too is a son of Abraham, for the son of man came to seek out and save the lost. This is this is a great story, I think, for lots of reasons. Michael, It’s memorable. It has, you know, relatively few characters, has the detail of Zacchaeus being short, climbing a tree.

00:02:00:45 – 00:02:23:06
Clint Loveall
When I was growing up, we had a song in Sunday school that we sang. I suppose that’s drilled into the minds of a lot of people. It’s kind of a visual. It’s kind of a visual story. I don’t think we’re probably telling people anything that they don’t already know. Tax collectors then and now. Not on the favorite list for a lot of people.

00:02:23:11 – 00:02:52:12
Clint Loveall
A little bit nuanced in Jesus day. The tax collector was typically a Jewish person who worked under Roman authority to collect taxes from other Jewish people. And so they were especially kind of not always loved. And one of the common practices not clear whether Zacchaeus did or didn’t do it, but one of the common practices was as long as they kept it reasonable, they could add something to the taxes and keep it for themselves.

00:02:52:12 – 00:03:08:34
Clint Loveall
And if they didn’t get too greedy and they didn’t get a lot of complaints. The Romans kind of looked the other way and let them do that. And so, again, not accusing Zacchaeus of that, but when you say tax collector in that time and place in that culture, that’s one of the assumptions that follows it.

00:03:08:47 – 00:03:36:42
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, it’s sort of like a commission for doing the job well in some way and self-determined. Yeah. And that gives you a sense for how much tax collectors, whether Zacchaeus did it or not, he has that kind of job that people look at with the expected passion that they’re being swindled and not only being swindled, but it’s to benefit the oppressing power, it’s to benefit the people that the people are not even interested in being subservient to.

00:03:36:43 – 00:04:04:21
Michael Gewecke
So it makes the connection here far more powerful, though I think because of the song, I think because of the fact that this story makes it into children’s Bibles, I think we maybe miss some of the deeper meaning of it, because let’s look here in the beginning of this story, what is Zacchaeus doing? He’s trying to figure out who this Jesus is.

00:04:04:21 – 00:04:33:36
Michael Gewecke
Literally, verse three, He was trying to see who Jesus was, which makes him in. Luke, as you’ve been with us throughout this time, is significantly different character than many of the characters that we found. We’ve had people who are trying to hunt Jesus down, to argue with him and to prove him wrong. We’ve had people who are seeking things from Jesus, but here, Zacchaeus, he doesn’t need to add to his life as a person who Luke goes out of his way to explicitly say is rich.

00:04:33:37 – 00:05:05:53
Michael Gewecke
No, Zacchaeus wants to know who Jesus was, but he can’t do that because he can’t see it’s a barrier. His height is to being able to answer that question. So he innovates. He comes up with the answer of the tree, and then Jesus does this thing of inviting himself to Zacchaeus. His home and hospitality remains a discipline and a practice today, but to invite yourself to another person’s house was unto itself abnormal.

00:05:05:58 – 00:05:33:37
Michael Gewecke
To do so to with a tax collector is unheard of. And now you’ve got to also remember Jesus has been having all of these debates and arguments with Pharisees and scribe to the law people who took the moral code very, very seriously. This kind of dinner engage ment is not how the how do we say it. It’s not the kind of stuff of fantasy and beautifully brushed artwork in children’s Bibles.

00:05:33:37 – 00:06:04:46
Michael Gewecke
This is socially inappropriate. This is a landmine. You walk on this and you’re no longer going to be a reputable teacher of the law because you’re now consorting with the untouchable. You’re literally dining with the enemy in a substantial way. And so there’s a really kind of extreme turn that this story is taking because it’s exemplifying Luke’s deeper point of how much Jesus is serious about this claim that he’s come to save the lost and who the lost are.

00:06:04:51 – 00:06:33:58
Clint Loveall
Yeah, And again, whether or not Zacchaeus deserves the label, look at the reaction. They saw it and they began to grumble, saying he’s gone to be a guest of one who is a sinner. And the implication is Jesus should know better. He should either know Zacchaeus or he should certainly know that a wealthy tax collector is is a sinner is the wrong kind of people, the wrong crowd.

00:06:34:03 – 00:06:59:47
Clint Loveall
And Jesus here is with him on the short business. Michael We’ve made a lot out of that historically. I don’t know what it does or doesn’t tell us. I mean, I suppose it says something about Zacchaeus being unwelcome in the crowd. Maybe they wouldn’t give him a spot. Maybe it also says something about the length to which he was willing to go to see Jesus, that he runs ahead and climbs a tree.

00:06:59:52 – 00:07:32:56
Clint Loveall
Both things in Jesus culture that would have been considered pretty unmanly or pretty kind of not done by men of the day. Maybe there’s a message in that. Other than that, I don’t think there’s there’s no value judgment in that. He’s just simply he’s not a large man. And, you know, again, what is interesting and where Luke wants to take us, we’ve seen this kind of story before, but now it’s with a wealthy person.

00:07:32:56 – 00:07:58:09
Clint Loveall
We’ve seen it with we’ve seen it with sinners, we’ve seen it with outcasts. You know, one of the one of the complaints was prostitutes and sinners and the wrong kind of people. Here’s a wealthy person who is presumed to have gotten his money the wrong way. And now Jesus is critiqued again for being with him because he’s a sinner.

00:07:58:13 – 00:08:22:14
Clint Loveall
And we don’t get a lot of commentary about that because the story moves us very quickly to the culmination, which is Zacchaeus is response to Jesus being in his home. And this is where I think we begin to get a sense of the kind of impact that Luke wants us to see on an encounter with the Christ.

00:08:22:19 – 00:08:46:01
Michael Gewecke
So I want to just very quickly put this in contrast this story with another story. If you’ve been with us now for some time, you know that the way that we go through the Bible is a little slower than some ways of studying. Where we go section by section. It it maybe feels like a long time ago, but in the Book of Luke, it’s not long ago that we had in chapter 18, verse 18, this rich young ruler who comes to Jesus.

00:08:46:01 – 00:09:06:14
Michael Gewecke
And in contrast to Zacchaeus, who’s generally disliked this young man, says to Jesus, Hey, listen, I’ve kept the commandments, I’ve done the religious stuff, and Jesus doesn’t argue with them. He says, In fact, the only thing left lacking is to distribute your money, sell all that you have, distribute your money to the poor. Then you’ll have your treasure and have it and follow you.

00:09:06:27 – 00:09:29:15
Michael Gewecke
Verse Follow me. Verse 23 Jesus says, The text says. But when he heard this, the rich young ruler became sad, for he was very rich. And that just puts in contrast the story that we’re looking at today here. Another rich individual comes to Jesus. This individual, too, is interested in discovering who Jesus is and what he has for him.

00:09:29:20 – 00:09:52:21
Michael Gewecke
And in this case, Jesus doesn’t even prod Zacchaeus. He doesn’t even call him to account. Zacchaeus somehow understands when he discovers who Jesus is that this is now required of him. And as the text presents it, as Luke tells the story, he is immediately willing to give up of his treasures. This is a thing that he’s willing to do.

00:09:52:21 – 00:10:11:44
Michael Gewecke
And to whatever extent, you know, that’s a telling of Zacchaeus. His story, when put in parallel or in opposition to the rich young ruler’s story. I think that Luke is making it very clear here that there are different ways that people who have worldly wealth respond to the gospel, and there’s something important to learn in that exchange.

00:10:11:49 – 00:10:33:38
Clint Loveall
Yeah, and the response here is pretty impressive, Zacchaeus says. You know, Lord, I, half of everything I have, I will give to the poor. And if I have wronged anyone and again, it’s not clear that he’s saying he hasn’t, or if he is acknowledging that he has that sort of left open ended. And there’s a point in that that we’ll talk about in a moment.

00:10:33:43 – 00:11:15:06
Clint Loveall
But what he says is, if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I’ll make that good four times over. I will pay back four times as much. And if that seems extravagant, remember that we are in the Gospels, that the Gospels present us with an extravagant response to an extravagant grace. Jesus, the Son of God has come to the home of a sinner, and when He does, the sinner who encounters him is changed, is made new, new priorities, new practices, new promises.

00:11:15:10 – 00:11:42:10
Clint Loveall
A new life of faith. And then we get to this, the end here. And interestingly, fascinatingly, Luke doesn’t comment on it. Now, Jesus doesn’t say, Yeah, good job, well done, sir. I told you people. So all he says is today salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham. Now, that is probably a clapback at the people who said, Well, he’s a sinner.

00:11:42:10 – 00:12:04:18
Clint Loveall
You can’t go there. He’s a sinner. Well, yeah, he’s a sinner, but he’s a son of Abraham. He’s a child of God before he’s a sinner. He’s that underneath being a sinner, he’s a child of God. But also here’s where I think we realize again what a wonderful storyteller Luke is, because Luke has made the reader ask questions of Zacchaeus.

00:12:04:22 – 00:12:25:33
Clint Loveall
Well, did he do anything wrong? What’s his deal? Why was he there? What? What happened? And all Luke wants to tell us is he’s a child of God, a sinner who meets Christ and changes his ways. And so even by presenting a character with some mystery to him, Luke moves us ahead to get to the bottom of it.

00:12:25:33 – 00:12:48:01
Clint Loveall
The only thing Jesus ultimately cares about is that Zacchaeus understand who he is and what it means that he is a son of Abraham, a child of God. And and we get this. This is a wonderful devotional passage because it challenges us to say what what in our own life have we changed? What practices have we changed? What sins have we made?

00:12:48:01 – 00:13:03:29
Clint Loveall
Right? What what relationships have we reconciled? Because Christ has come, quote unquote, to our house as well. This is a really tightly written, well narrated this. This is, I think, one of Luke’s best.

00:13:03:34 – 00:13:30:34
Michael Gewecke
So I think a question that this text leaves me with is, I think an intentional question maybe, and that is specifically when and where does this exchange happen at the end of this time with Zacchaeus, because verse seven, all who saw Jesus going to that house are grumbling and that’s where he where they say he’s going to be the guest of a sinner, Jesus will be.

00:13:30:39 – 00:13:50:52
Michael Gewecke
What’s fascinating is this exchange between Zacchaeus and Jesus may happen on the road to Zacchaeus, his house. You know, I think in our imaginations we might read this and think, well, after he sat with Jesus and after they had a long conversation, you know, maybe, maybe that is the case. But I don’t think the text goes out of its way to make that clear to us.

00:13:50:52 – 00:14:15:46
Michael Gewecke
I think there’s a real possibility that Zacchaeus is so quick to respond to who Jesus is, that in other words, when Jesus makes the invitation, it’s all been done for Zacchaeus, that that revelation moment creates a conversion of the spirit, and he becomes a person whose entire life values are realigned, not because of the dinner, but because of the one.

00:14:15:46 – 00:14:43:46
Michael Gewecke
And I think that language then the son of man came to seek out to say the last Zacchaeus, his story, like all gospel stories. And if you’re Christian, like all good stories ultimately tell the story of how the son of man or the son of God, how Jesus Christ has come into an intersection of our lives, has transformed us in that intersection and everything that follows, including the dinner after, becomes a different event or detail.

00:14:43:46 – 00:14:52:18
Michael Gewecke
Now, I won’t make 100% clear. Clear. I’m reading the that into the text like this, but I think there is some ambiguity there that I find interesting.

00:14:52:19 – 00:15:16:00
Clint Loveall
Well, pull that. Pull that up again, Mark, I think you’re onto something because notice verse nine here. Then Jesus said to him today, salvation has come to this house because he so he it says that he’s speaking to him, but then he uses the third person, the pronoun he. So who is Jesus telling this to? To the reader, to the listeners, To the grumbles.

00:15:16:04 – 00:15:16:55
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, right.

00:15:17:00 – 00:15:38:51
Clint Loveall
Who? I do think there is some ambiguity. Ultimately, though, the point for Luke I think gives us verse ten for the Son of man came to seek out and save the lost. In other words, if you’re in the crowd and you think Jesus is ultimately concerned with who would share the right houses to go to, who are the right people to interact with?

00:15:38:56 – 00:16:05:11
Clint Loveall
Who who do the religious people around me think I should and shouldn’t interact with or talk to? Jesus couldn’t be less concerned that Jesus mission is not to maintain these false standards, not to take these separations that are enforced upon the people and live by them. Jesus mission is totally different. The son of man came to seek out and save the lost.

00:16:05:11 – 00:16:31:16
Clint Loveall
And I think that’s a a beautiful challenge for those of us who read it, not only to think in the story of our self as Zacchaeus, the unworthy one who is visited by the Christ, but also the challenge of If we whose house would we grumble if we saw Jesus going to All right, who do we think is outside the limits of grace and the gospel and the good news?

00:16:31:21 – 00:16:40:03
Clint Loveall
Who’s on the other team that we’re not sure about? And I think Luke has done a really nice job of challenging some of our assumptions in this text.

00:16:40:04 – 00:17:09:33
Michael Gewecke
That’s one thread that you could follow throughout the book of Luke. It’s a question What is the farthest lost that Jesus will go to save? Who who’s the very furthest edge on the map? And Luke makes it abundantly clear through every story that he tells of Jesus that Jesus will go to the furthest extent. There is no end of the map to which Jesus is willing to go so that He can bring the sinners back.

00:17:09:37 – 00:17:29:28
Clint Loveall
And I think you could add to that that the only people Jesus seems not able to find are the people who won’t admit they’re lost. Yeah, that’s bigger context. We can we can unpack that more as we get toward the crucifixion story. But yeah, that’s certainly, I think, a theme that runs through the Gospel of Luke.

00:17:29:33 – 00:17:50:36
Michael Gewecke
If you’re just finding this video right now, we’re glad that hope you found something helpful here in the story of Zacchaeus. Give the video a like if it’s been helpful for you share it Subscribe for more like this. If you’ve been following along the study, then welcome back. We’re glad to be back and we’ll be back on our regular cadence and pattern and we wish you all well as we continue this journey together until tomorrow.

00:17:50:40 – 00:17:51:10
Michael Gewecke
Be blessed.

00:17:51:10 – 00:17:51:55
Clint Loveall
Thanks, everybody.