By Rev. Charles J. Tomlin, BA, MDiv, DMin.
Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership,
November 17th, 2019
There is something odd about the sight of a grown man up a tree.
The Reuters news service recently carried a story about a Polish man who climbed a tree to avoid a taxi fare which totaled just a few dollars. Pursued by the irate taxi driver, the passenger climbed a tall tree, jumped from branch to branch and hurled bananas from a shopping bag at a crowd which soon gathered at the scene.
More than a dozen firefighters were called in and spread out an air-bag under the tree as a police psychologist was sent up in a ladder‑bucket to negotiate with the man.
After a two‑hour stand‑off, the man agreed to come down. But he learned a hard lesson. He may have to pay many times the original taxi fare he tried to evade. At last report the fire brigade was planning to send him a $4,300 bill for the rescue operation.
(From Dynamic Preaching, “Man in a Tree”, by King Duncan, in Fourth Quarter Sermon, 2007).
Most of us recognize the Bible character in today’s text from the children’s song about ‘the wee little man…who climbed up into a sycamore tree’. While this was a fun song to sing with children, what we need to understand is that this story, about a man up in a tree, is anything but a children’s story. And while the Bible described him as small in stature-- so small he couldn’t see over the crowd,---there was something very ‘big’ about him too. So big, that it got his name in the ‘papers’ of Scripture.
In this message, we want to consider what made this little man big in everyone’s eyes?
HIS CURIOSITY ABOUT JESUS
The first big thing about Zacchaeus was that he shouldn’t have been looking for Jesus. He was a little man, but he was also already a big shot. In that world he had it made it. He was rich. He was in complete control of his own life. The only one he had to answer to was Rome. And so long as he was making Rome money, he was, for the most part, left alone. He had a system that worked. Again, as long as he was putting money in the coffers of the Roman authorities and the Emperor, he was guaranteed a life of luxury and pleasure. He could do as he pleased. He was living the life that everyone wants.
What is strange, however, is that even with all he seemed to have going for him, he wants to get a good look at Jesus. Perhaps he’d heard about Jesus as a popular itinerate preacher. He just wanted to see Jesus for himself. He was so curious about him, however, that he climbed up a tree to catch a glimpse of this popular, moral and spiritual teacher. Why did he do this? Doesn’t he realize that curiosity could ‘kill the cat? Did he not understand that Jesus would not condone his way making his luxurious life mostly off the backs of the hard working poor? Just one look, and that’s all it would take for Jesus to make him feel very bad about the way he has chosen to live his life, and to make a living with his life.
That certainly says something to us about Jesus’ popularity. At this particular time in his ministry, Jesus was a star. Eventually the crowds would turn against him and even cry out for his crucifixion, but when he had this encounter with Zacchaeus, Jesus was a public sensation. A celebrity. an icon, with all kinds of fans and groupies following him around.
It’s amazing how taken ordinary people can be with celebrities. Zacchaeus reminds me of the funeral I conducted at a Funeral Home in Greensboro. Conducting funerals in that Funeral home was always a challenge. Where they seated the speakers, you couldn’t see anyone in the crowd until you stood up. In one service, for a very wealthy lady, I stood up and looked out in the crowd and saw Elvis Pressley. Not the real one of course, but an imitation of the real one. He was an Elvis Pressley looked alike who worked at Myrtle Beach. The lady that had died knew him personally, loved to watch him perform and often showered him with gifts after his performance. Because of their close relationship, he had promised he would come to her funeral in full Elvis attire. He would do this in her memory and in honor of their mutual love and respect. It was heartwarming, and funny too. He was a very nice guy. It shook me up, but also chocked me up to see ‘Elvis’ in a funeral audience.
Another fellow who loved Elvis was Dennis Wise. He earned a reputation as the ultimate Elvis Presley fan, back when Elvis was the number one entertainer in America. Wise’s love for Elvis drove him to bizarre lengths. He had his face lifted and his hairline contoured by a plastic surgeon to make himself look like Presley.
Wise began his worship of the rock idol when he was five years old. He has every record Elvis ever made and pictures in the thousands. He even has a couple of books about Elvis in Japanese and Chinese, and some leaves from the front yard of Graceland, Presley’s home.
Wise admits he never met Elvis personally. He did see him on the stage four times, he says. Once he stood up on the wall at Graceland for twelve hours trying to get a glimpse of the singer, but Elvis had so many people around Wise could never get close.
When Jesus was famous, we can understand why people wanted to get a look at him. But who would want to look at a teacher who might make you feel bad about yourself? When you have everything you want, the last place you would want to go is to hear a teacher who has been challenging people to leave ‘everything’, ‘give it all away’ and ‘comes full and follow’ him! Who wants to look the guy who’s not just taking the offering, but is putting demands on everything about your life?
This is what’s so strange about this text. We can understand that Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus for himself, but why did he dare to show up in the crowd along the road that day? And what made him so curious that he dared to climb up a tree to risk everyone seeing him and giving Jesus the opportunity to look straight through him? Why did Zacchaeus risk this? Why did Zacchaeus give Jesus a chance to mow him down with God’s righteousness that might expose his wretchedness in front of God and everybody. Why didn’t he just stay ‘lost in the crowd’ and better yet, just have stayed home. Why was he so desperately and dangerously curious about Jesus?
JESUS’ COMPASSION TOWARD THIS SINNER
There is only one possible answer to Zacchaeus’ blatant curiosity. The answer is found in what happens next. When Jesus saw Zacchaeus’ curiosity, he responded in the most unexpected way; with grace and with the kind of compassion that comes with openness and opportunity. Do you see it? Instead of condemning Zacchaeus for how he lived his life, Jesus revealed a very different understanding of God’s presence. Instead of being outwardly judgmental and opposing, Jesus was warm, forgiving and hopeful. Jesus offered and invited himself to go home with this ‘sinner’.
What makes this story so important and Jesus so interesting is not that Zacchaeus got himself into position to see Jesus, but it was because Jesus already knew Zacchaeus. He called him by name. Can't you see Zaccheus so stunned by this revelation that he nearly falls out of the tree? Jesus knew his name. Here Zacchaeus is in his sleazy position in life, wallowing in unhappiness, looking ridiculous--a grown man of great wealth perched up in a sycamore tree--and Jesus knows his name.
Think of the implications of this truth: Jesus knew Zacchaeus There is a story about an old minister was dying. A young man who was also a minister came to visit him and offered to read to him from the Scriptures.
”Do you have any favorite scripture you would like to have me read?" the younger man asked.
"Yes," said the old man. "Please read the first chapter of First Chronicles."
The young man read the requested chapter. It was not easy. Chapter 1 of First Chronicles consists primarily of genealogies. Names. Hebrew names. It was hard work pronouncing the some two hundred fifty unfamiliar names in the fifty-four verses. The old minister listened with eager attention to every name.
When it was finished, he uttered a fervent Amen. He said, "Thank you, my son; that was so comforting." The young man was frankly puzzled. "Please tell me," he said, "what is so comforting about the chapter?"
"Ah," said the old minister, "just to think that God knew them all by name!"
Isn’t this what makes the ‘gospel’ the gospel? It is not just a gospel for the world, but it’s a gospel that has our name on it. And the God of this gospel cares, and loves, as the song says, ‘EVEN ME.”
Jesus put Zacchaeus’ name on the gospel. Jesus put your name on it too. Haven’t you wondered, like those critics of Jesus wondered what makes a God who demands righteousness and holiness to enter into the heart and home of a pagan, and unbeliever, an infidel, or a down-and- dirty, scoundrel? Why did Jesus go home with him, when there were so many other well-deserving candidates that Jesus could have visited? Of all people, why would Jesus risk his own reputation to spend time with him?
Why did Jesus go home with this sinner? There’s only one answer. Again, the answer is the gospel. And get this: it’s the gospel with your own name on it, too. It’s an answer that has nothing to do with how good or bad we are, and everything to do with who God is. God is love. God is compassion. God’s heart is open to engage the hurting, aching, empty and lostness in our souls.
Many years ago, pastor Steve Crofts had been to a Christian camp in upstate New York. Five days of two-a-day meetings had exhausted him. So when he got on the plane in Albany, he planned to sleep. But the elderly woman beside him wanted to talk. "Are you flying to Baltimore?" "Yes," he said wearily, "there I'll change for North Carolina." Then he shut his eyes and slumped in his seat, all body language meant to say politely, "Leave me alone. I'll go to sleep now."
Still the woman rattled on. "Oh, I do hope it is not raining in Baltimore!"
He thought to myself, "Lady, who cares?"
On and on, she talked. So finally Steve set up and politely inquired, "Why are you flying to Baltimore and so concerned with the weather?" That's when she told him her husband was dead, his casket was in the jet's storage, and his graveside funeral would be in Baltimore. So she was hoping for good weather.
Then Pastor Steve asked God to give me strength to listen to her for an hour. And she told him how they met, about his career in sales, how their only son died in a war, and of his last years in an awful bout with cancer.
The plane landed and he walked her to a taxi that would take her to a funeral home. As he shut the door, she was saying to the driver, "Do you think it will rain today?" And the pastor caught myself praying, "Please, God! Let him listen to her.”
At the center of this story, what we witness, and what controls the direction of this story, has much more to do with what’s going on in the heart of God, than in the heart of Zacchaeus. All those people were there, with their eyes fixed on Jesus, but Jesus’ had his eyes fixed solely upon the little man who was up a tree, out on a limb, and was curiously trying to get a glimpse. But at the center of this story that tells the tale, is that Jesus was ready and waiting just for him. Jesus knew he was coming, and called him by name. And Jesus stood ready, not just to invite himself into Zacchaeus home, but to also invite himself into Zacchaeus’ heart, by offering him the grace of the hope and healing for a better life through the God who ’so loved the world’, which includes scoundrels like Zacchaeus too.
THE CONVERSION OF HIS WHOLE LIFE
God’s compassion is about who God is. Nothing we can, can’t, do, or don’t do can change God’s love. God is love. He can’t be anything else.
Still, although love is who God is, and although God’s love is not necessarily about us, God’s love is for us. This is what love does. When we love, like God loves, our love is for a. Just like God cannot be love without loving, God’s love reaches beyond himself, looking for someone to love. God’s love, goes looking to love because compassion is what offers meaning, hope, and opportunity for life. Love is constantly seeking to love and to help make life what it is supposed to be.
When love goes seeking to give love, and when love is received, the energy of life infuses the human soul and life looks different, because life much become and be different. This is exactly what happened to Zacchaeus. When unconditional love came home with him, his heart, his perspective and his outlook on everything was changed. We call this conversion. Jesus called it salvation. When love invited itself into Zacchaeus’ life, and Zacchaeus answered yes to God’s unconditional love, everything changed. And it wasn’t just a change in Zacchaeus heart, it was his whole life that was changed, including changing the most personal part of his life, for him; his pocketbook.
Where has loved changed you? How has love changed your life? Notice, that Jesus did not announce that salvation came, until there was evidence of an appropriate response in Zacchaeus’ own life. Without some outward sign of inward response, there is no proof of love, of conversion, or of salvation, either. God loves us unconditionally, but that love remains only about God and his nature, until we respond reciprocating that love with our hearts, so that we are changed in both word and deed. And this is exactly what Zacchaeus does. He reciprocates unconditional God’s love for him by proving his love from Jesus in a brave, bold, and brazen act of repentance.
So often we hear the word “repentance” used as a synonym for “being sorry.” Being remorseful for our sins. Repentance is far more than that. Zacchaeus Displays his true, change of heart, when he says, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” He shows he’s serious about Jesus because he loves him even when it hurts. That’s repentance!
Speaker Les Parrot tells about a pig that flew aboard a US Airways jet from Philadelphia into Les’ home city of Seattle. Two passengers convinced an airline representative that the pig needed to fly with them as a “therapeutic companion pet”--like a seeing-eye dog--so the representative decided to permit the pig to sit with them in the first-class cabin of the plane. It was a decision he would soon regret. Passengers described the 300-pound pig as “enormous, brown, angry, and honking.” He was seated in three seats near the front of the plane, but the attendants reportedly had difficulty strapping him in. “He became restless after takeoff and sauntered through the cabin,” one passenger said. “He kept rubbing his nose on people’s legs trying to get them to give him food and stroke him.”
Upon landing, things only got worse. The pig panicked, running up and down through economy class and squealing. Many passengers, also screaming, stood on their seats. It took four attendants to escort the beast off the plane. And when they reached the terminal, the pig escaped only to be recaptured in another part of the airport. When asked to comment on the story, a US Airways spokesman named David said, “We can confirm that the pig traveled, and we can confirm that it will never happen again.” (Shoulda Coulda Woulda: Live in the Present and Find Your Future (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003).
Again, that’s repentance. It happened. It was a mistake. It will never happen again. When Zacchaeus found who and what he had been looking for, he responded with everything he had and answer with whatever he needed to do. He found everything his heart ever needed in this man Jesus. So, as he gave his heart to Jesus, Jesus gave God’s promise to him, “Today salvation has come to this house . . .” Zacchaeus was now a changed man. He wasn’t simply a better man, he was a man who had moved from darkness to light. He was a man Jesus came to save.
In 1898, a young bank clerk named William Porter was convicted of embezzling money from a bank in which he had worked. He spent the next three years in prison. In prison, Porter was determined to change his life. He began writing short stories to earn money for his family. One of his prison guards, a man by the name of Oren Henry, encouraged William Porter. He believed that the former bank clerk could make a fresh start after his release.
One day, the prisoner asked the prison guard for an unusual favor: could he have Oren Henry’s name? You see, a new man starting a new life needed a new name. Oren Henry graciously agreed, but he made William Porter promise that he would take good care of that name. In 1901, after his release from prison, William Sydney Porter became a well-known writer; his short stories are considered classics of English literature. You may have heard of this reformed writer yourself. His pen name was O. Henry.
Zacchaeus also had a new name following his encounter with the Master. Now he could be called Christian. Don’t you think he took good care of that name? We probably wouldn’t be reading about him, if he didn’t. Luke’s gospel was written by someone who had to have carefully selected this story. He too, was lifting up Jesus as a savior by telling us this one whom Jesus truly saved.
How about you? What are going to do with the name that could be yours? Is there a void in your life that only God can fill. God knows your need. God awaits you with open arms. If so, today is your day to begin. Amen.
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