Faith Presbyterian Church - Birmingham
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Faith Presbyterian Church - Birmingham
Luke 19:1-10; Jesus and Zacchaeus
Jason Sterling March 2, 2025 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL Bulletin
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If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me to the Gospel of Luke. So go to your New Testament. Matthew, mark, luke, we're in Luke 19 this morning. It'll be on the screen behind me, it's in your bulletin. If you have a Bible, I want to encourage you to keep it open. This morning we're going to look at some context that I think is helpful for understanding this passage. So keep your Bible open, if you have one.
Speaker 1:We have been in a series called Meals with Jesus. That's the way we've been navigating the gospel of Luke and looking at these different meals over the past several weeks where Jesus is eating with people. He is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal, it seems in the gospel of Luke, and so we've been looking at these different meals and they have been teaching us about Jesus. They've been teaching us about who Jesus is, the realities of his grace, and they've been teaching us about his mission in the world. And this morning we're looking at another meal where Jesus eats and goes to the house of a man by the name of Zacchaeus, and this is a really significant passage, and the reason why it's so significant is because of its placement in the Gospel of Luke. At the end of Luke 19, we have what's known as the triumphal entry, and that is when Jesus goes into Jerusalem and begins the last week of his life. And so this story is the last story of Jesus' earthly ministry that Luke leaves us with. And I think that's really significant, because it's as if Luke is saying because the last week of Jesus's life takes up a lot of the gospel, but it's as if Luke is saying this is the story that I want burned into your heart and into your mind, because this story, perhaps more than any other, tells us who Jesus is and what he came to do in the world. And so, with that in mind, follow along with me. This is Luke 19, 1 through 10.
Speaker 1:He entered Jericho and was passing through and behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich, and he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd, he could not, because he was small in stature. Not because he was small in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him before he was about to pass that way, and when 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. So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it they all grumbled he has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord behold, lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. And Jesus said to him Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost. This is God's Word.
Speaker 1:Let's pray and ask for the Holy Spirit to help us. This morning, father, we do come and ask for your help. Holy Spirit, help the one who preaches. Fill me with humble boldness, as Martin has already prayed. Fill, ask for your help. Holy Spirit, help the one who preaches. Fill me with humble boldness, as Martin has already prayed. Fill me with your spirit. And, lord, I pray that you would be the center of everything that happens in this church always, but I'm praying it specifically this morning, lord, that you would be here and that you would be present and that you would be on the move and that we would see Jesus in him only and that every person here would have an encounter with the Lord, jesus Christ, that would not leave them the same. That's a big prayer, but I am asking you to do it, and so please come and do it. May we encounter Jesus through his spirit. In Christ's name, amen.
Speaker 1:As I was preparing this week, I found myself all week week singing. Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee hey. That went way better than I thought. Perhaps you grew up in the church, you went to vacation, bible school and you found yourself learning this passage through singing that song. And if you have no idea what's happening right now, don't ask and be thankful. Seriously, that is a song. If you're not familiar, that oftentimes people who grow up in the church learn as a kid in order to learn this story in Luke, chapter 19.
Speaker 1:But there's a big problem, isn't there? The song completely misses the point of the passage. If you're listening to that song, the focus is on the fact that Zacchaeus is vertically challenged and that he's a wee little man, that he's short, that he's small in stature, and the problem is the height of Zacchaeus is the least important detail in the entire story. Now, the point of this story is that Zacchaeus is lost, that Zacchaeus is a sinner that desperately needs Jesus. The point of this story is that Jesus loves sinners, and Jesus loves Zacchaeus and he pursues him, because lost people like Zacchaeus matter to Jesus. They are of great value to him. It's why he came into the world. You see it in verse 10. Jesus, the son of man, came to seek and save the lost, and so we're going to walk through this story and, by the grace of God, I'm praying that we see it with new eyes this morning.
Speaker 1:We're going to look at this under three headings, this passage. We're going to look and see what it teaches us about ourselves. Secondly, what it teaches us about Jesus, and it's really wonderful. And lastly, what it teaches us about faith and what it teaches us about change Ourselves, jesus faith. So let's look at those three headings. Number one what does it teach us about ourselves? Look at verse two. We're introduced as Ikea's and we learn two things about him. One, he is rich. Secondly, he is a tax collector. Not only is he a tax collector, he's the chief tax collector, and in the previous passage again context here.
Speaker 1:Martin preached this a few weeks ago in Luke, chapter 18. You'll remember, there's a story right before this of Jesus and a rich young ruler. And this rich young ruler, jesus, said sell everything, give it to the poor. And remember he couldn't do it. And he walks away sad. And then Jesus looks and says what it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And the disciples are shocked and stunned by that statement. Jesus is not saying that wealth is bad, but what Jesus is saying is that wealth and riches can be very dangerous. Why? Because you see it all the way through the scriptures. Because they can keep you from seeing that you're really needy. They can keep you from seeing that you're really desperate. They can make you think that you're self-sufficient, that you need nothing. They can make you think that you're self-sufficient, that you need nothing. They can make you and keep you, I should say, from being dependent upon God and desperate.
Speaker 1:And Luke follows that story of the rich ruler with the story of another rich man, this story of a man named Zacchaeus. And as a wealthy city, jericho was a major trade route. It was one of the three major centers for collecting Israel's taxes. And so it's not surprising that collecting these taxes made Zacchaeus a very wealthy man, and he was the chief tax collector. The only time that phrase chief tax collector is used in the entire New Testament Because Luke is trying to get us to see.
Speaker 1:This man had great wealth. He was the ultimate middleman. He was skimming off the proceeds of all the customers' revenues as they made their way to Rome. And I love what Kent Hughes, a commentator, says. No wonder Zacchaeus was so rich. He was the kingpin of the Jericho tax cartel and tax collectors in that day. Not only was he rich, but he was a tax collector who was considered in that day the worst of the worst. They had sold out their own people for their own private interest. They were thieves. They stole and defrauded their own people. People hated them and you see it in this passage. Everyone hated them with a deep passion.
Speaker 1:And Zacchaeus knows what he's doing is wrong. You look at it in verse 8, you get hints that he knows what he has done and who he is and that he's immoral and wrong. But here's the point I want you to see in the story immoral and wrong, but here's the point I want you to see in the story. What is being displayed here is that Zacchaeus is the poster child for the least likely person to enter the kingdom of God and become a Christian. Because, again, not only is he wealthy but he's a tax collector and he is the bottom of the barrel. They would have looked at the rich ruler and said, man, he might get in. They would have never looked at Zacchaeus and said that guy is getting in the kingdom of God. They would say he's lost, he has no hope from salvation, it's impossible for him to be saved. And what I want us to see is that we might not have Zacchaeus' specific sins, but Zacchaeus is a picture of all of us apart from Jesus.
Speaker 1:Ephesians 2, verses 4 through 5, we're dead in our sins. And then you get the two perhaps biggest words in all of Scripture we are dead in our sins, but God, who is rich in mercy, when we were dead, made us alive in Christ Jesus. It's why Jesus says to the rich ruler what is impossible with man is possible with God. You see, we don't just simply need a little knocking off the rough edges, a little moral improvement or character development or more information so that we can better ourselves. We are lost, apart from Jesus, and in need of total rescue. And the good news that we see in this passage is that Jesus came for us. He came for the lost, he came to seek and save the lost. Why is this so important for us to talk about this morning? Because if you don't get this, you don't get Jesus. If we don't see this, we miss Christianity. We miss the entire point and reason that Jesus came into the world.
Speaker 1:And in verse 7, the crowd is mumbling Jesus eats with sinners. You see, the crowd does not think that they need to be rescued. They do not think that they are lost. It is bad friends to be lost. It's worse to be lost and not know it. That's when you're in the greatest danger. If you don't see that you're desperate, then you won't want to be found or see your need to be found. And it is not an accident. Again, the Bible is not put together haphazardly. It's not an accident.
Speaker 1:That's sandwiched between the story of the rich ruler in Luke 18 and this story of Zacchaeus. What do you see? What story is sandwiched between the story of the rich ruler in Luke 18 and this story of Zacchaeus? What do you see? What story is sandwiched between there?
Speaker 1:The story of Jesus and a blind beggar Luke 18, 35 and following. And Jesus is passing by and the beggar doesn't run up into a tree to see Jesus. You know what the beggar does? He falls down on his face and he says Lord Jesus, have mercy on me. And then, if you look at the passage, all the people are going Shh, be quiet. What are you doing? You know what the blind beggar does. It says even more loudly, does it says even more loudly he cries out Jesus, have mercy on me. A sinner, that's it. That is to be our posture, that is to be our cry. We see our need, we see our sin and our desperation and we fall down and we say Jesus, have mercy on me. That's the first point. We see something in this story about ourselves. Secondly, we see something really beautiful about Jesus. Look at verses 3 through 4.
Speaker 1:Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus. We're not completely sure why. Perhaps he'd heard about Jesus. Perhaps he'd heard that Jesus was a friend of tax collectors and sinners from his friends, or whatever. But for whatever reason, he wants to see Jesus and he does it in what was considered back then a very undignified way. First of all, he runs, which a gentleman in that day would never run it again was considered inappropriate and undignified. And not only that, he does something even more undignified he climbs up in a tree because he wants to see Jesus.
Speaker 1:Verse 5,. When Jesus comes to the place, he looks up and says Zacchaeus, hurry, come down, for think about how strong this word is, for I must come to your house. Jesus saw his visit with Zacchaeus as part of his divine mission. Again, it's part of why he came into the world is to go and spend time with people like Zacchaeus. And he says I'm going to your house. Notice who goes first in this passage. Who takes the initiative? Jesus takes the initiative. Zacchaeus doesn't stop for Jesus the initiative. Zacchaeus doesn't stop for Jesus. Jesus stops for Zacchaeus and he calls Zacchaeus by name. Why? Because he had known Zacchaeus' name from all eternity. And the point is that the lost do not find Jesus, he finds them. You don't go looking for Jesus. Jesus comes looking for you.
Speaker 1:Verse 6,. He hurries down, he receives Jesus joyfully. And then look at what it says the crowds and those that were there and it seems to be a lot of people here. It says, not just some of them grumbled, not just a few people or one person, they all grumbled. Jesus is going to be the guest of a man who is a sinner, this community that shuts out Zacchaeus so that he can't see Jesus and so he has to run and climb a tree. But notice the dramatic climax of the story. Jesus shifts the crowd's hostility against Zacchaeus to himself and Zacchaeus becomes the recipient.
Speaker 1:In this story, the chief of tax collectors becomes the recipient of unexpected love. Jesus extends grace and love to the oppressor, to the chief of all the tax collectors, a man named Zacchaeus. Does he endorse what he's doing? Absolutely not, but he does love him. He's doing? Absolutely not, but he does love him.
Speaker 1:And I want us to stop, and I want you to get into this story for just a moment. Can you imagine I mean think about this All the people now again, not just one. They have all turned to Zacchaeus, who they hate Because of who he is. He's completely exposed. You know what it's like when you have everybody looking at you and you've done something really shameful. Think about what that's like. That's what Zacchaeus, that's where he is. He most certainly felt shame. If it were you or I, I would run and hide and wouldn't come out for a very long time. And so Zacchaeus is bracing for impact, as you might imagine. And here Jesus, who knows his name and knows everything he's ever done, he's got to be saying what does Jesus possibly want with me? What does he want to meet with me for? Why is he calling my name? What is he going to say to me and do to me? Will he shame me too in front of all of these people? And you know what Jesus does, and you know what Jesus does. He looks at Zacchaeus and he says, out of all the people in this village, zacchaeus, I love you and I want to hang out. Let's go back to your house and let's have dinner together.
Speaker 1:A friend of mine he's a pastor. He had a very prominent person in his church fall into sin and my friend walked with him through this and he was restored and the Spirit did a great work in this man's life and changed him. And then the guy moved. He was going for a job transfer and so he moved his entire family away and had settled on a church. And so he calls my friend the pastor and he says, hey, would you call the pastor of this new church that we're going to. And would you? I want him to know all of this before he meets me. But just tell him everything, tell him my story, tell him about my sin and what I've done.
Speaker 1:And my friend, the pastor, he was taken back by the openness and the vulnerability and he asked when did you really change? When did you go from being a person who had this secret life to this person who now is open and transparent and vulnerable and wants to be known? You know what the man said. He said it's when you brought me before the church leaders to confess my sin and all the things that I was deeply ashamed of. Confess my sin and all the things that I was deeply ashamed of. He said I walked into that meeting and I thought I was going to be scorned and yelled at. And he said, instead, those men wept with me and they prayed for me. And he said, after the prayer, I was expecting coldness and shunning and instead they came over and, one by one, they gave me a hug. And he said those hugs, they changed me. He said, and in the midst of my shame, I realized for the very first time that Jesus was not ashamed of me, and that changed me and friends. It changed Zacchaeus too.
Speaker 1:One of the scariest things in the world, is it not? Is to be known all the way to the bottom, because we are so afraid that if someone knew us all the way to the bottom that their eyes would fall and that they would turn and run the other way. That's our fear. Friends, jesus knows your name, he knows everything that you've ever done, he knows you to the bottom and he doesn't run. He enters in and he loves you and he wants to have dinner with you and to be with you. He knows those who are hiding in pornography, in substance abuse. He knows those who are flooded with anxiety and depression and crippled by shame and busyness and self-righteousness. And fill in the blank and Jesus calls you by name and says come down, I know and I love you and I want to go, hang out and be with you and be your friend. Do you believe that this morning, friends, Jesus is so much better and so much more beautiful and wonderful than we think he is? Lastly, change tells us something about change, something about ourselves. Something about ourselves, something about Jesus, something about change. What happens when you experience love like this, when you're loved by Jesus. Well, if we come down and we receive Jesus, it will change your life and you will never be the same. That's what happens with Zacchaeus. Jesus accepts Zacchaeus where he is, but he does not leave Zacchaeus where he is.
Speaker 1:Romans 2, verse 4, one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture. It does not say it is the scorn of God that leads to repentance. Do you know what it says? It's the kindness and the mercy and the love and the grace of God that leads a person to repentance. You know what it says? It's the kindness and the mercy and the love and the grace of God that leads a person to repentance. I say this a lot. I'm going to keep saying it, because if we don't get this and we miss this, you get religion and you miss the gospel.
Speaker 1:But please notice in this story, the order of grace. Jesus goes first. We love because Jesus first loved us. Zacchaeus is in a tree. Jesus doesn't say come down, clean up your life and then I'll have lunch with you. Jesus does not say, hey, stop cheating and I'll be your friend. Or hey, zacchaeus, pull your life together and then maybe we can be friends. No, he doesn't do that. That's not the gospel. You see, his love precedes our repentance, his love causes our repentance. Listen to Ralph Davis here. What a quote he says.
Speaker 1:The thing that changed Zacchaeus listen to this was not Jesus' decision to stay overnight. Rather, it was Jesus' deliberate act of becoming Zacchaeus' substitute by shifting the town's hostility away from Zacchaeus to himself. Zacchaeus doesn't stop cheating and then get the love of God. No, zacchaeus gets the love of God and then he stops cheating. That's the order of grace, verse 8,. We could spend a whole sermon on this. But Zacchaeus gives away 50% of his assets, then he gives back fourfold of anyone who's defrauded him, and so he gets the love of Jesus and all of a sudden, money and possessions. They start to loosen their grip on Zacchaeus and they're no longer a god or an idol. Now, instead of white knuckling and being selfish, zacchaeus is open-handed and giving A son of Abraham, a member of the family of God. Today, salvation has come to his house and it radically changed his life, especially when it comes to the way he related to his possessions and to his stuff and to his money. Don't get caught up in the percentages. That's the temptation in this passage. Now, the point of the passage is what happens in a person's life when they experience the goodness and the love of Jesus. Like Zacchaeus, when we experience the forgiveness and the mercy of Jesus, it shapes and changes us forever. When you, deliberately, when you see Jesus becoming your substitute and taking upon himself the hostility and wrath of God for our sins, like Zacchaeus, we all of a sudden start moving to a person that's free, have you experienced the love of God in such a way that it has changed you and set you free? I'll close with this story.
Speaker 1:Marianne Bird was from Brooklyn, new York. She was born in 1928 and she has a memoir called Whisper Test and in this is her story. She talks about growing up as a young girl with multiple birth defects. She had a cleft palate, a crooked nose, disfigured face, lopsided feet, all sorts of physical things going on that caused her tons of pain, but it was nowhere close to the psychological pain that she experienced. No one wanted to be her friend.
Speaker 1:The kids in her school made fun of her and then she went to second grade and she had a teacher named Miss Leonard, and Miss Leonard would give every year again we're talking 1930s here would give a hearing test to the students and the way she would do the hearing test is that the students would come up to her door and they'd have to put their ear up to the door and she would sit in her desk in a chair and she would whisper something like the sky is blue, or the sun is out, or you have new shoes. And if they could hear what she was saying and repeated it back to her, they would pass the hearing test. And then here comes Mary Ann Bird and she says in her memoir I waited for those words. I put my ear to the door and waited for those words that God must have put in her mouth, those seven words that changed my life forever. Mary Ann Bird puts her ear to the door and Miss Leonard doesn't say the sky is blue, you have wonderful shoes. Mary Ann Bird hears the teacher say Miss Leonard say I wish you were my little girl, and she says it changed her forever.
Speaker 1:Into her shame came a whisper of love and affection that changed her. That's the story of Zacchaeus and friends. I want to tell you the thing this morning that you're most ashamed of. I want you to hear Jesus whispering your name and calling you his beloved. I want you to hear Jesus saying come down, come and live, come and be free. Whatever it is that you brought into this room, friends, jesus is not ashamed of you. Jesus doesn't meet you with shame. He meets you with love and affection. And if you experience that, it will change your life, will you come to Jesus? This morning let's pray, Father, thank you, thank you for loving us, thank you for your mercy and grace. Would you forgive us for our pride For not thinking that we are needy? And, lord, I pray that you would come, holy Spirit, and that you would help us to see ourselves as we really are, but we would also see you for who you really are, and that we would come and experience transformation in life and freedom. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.