Sunday, April 15, 2007

Andrew G. Pittman
Sunday Morning
April 15, 2007

Jesus and the Tax Man
Luke 19: 1 - 10.

I. Introduction.
Lee Strobel was a confirmed Atheist. He had the best education offered by the secular world, including a Journalism Degree from the University of Missouri and a Law Degree from Yale. He spent thirteen years as a Journalist and eventually became the Legal Affairs Editor of the Chicago Tribune.
As a journalist and a lawyer, Lee Strobel had been trained to be a professional skeptic. He doubted everything, until it could be proven by the weight of evidence. And that is why he refused to believe in Jesus. He was not convinced that there was enough evidence to settle all his doubts.
In 1979, something strange and totally unexpected happened to Lee Strobel. His wife became a Christian and began asking him to attend church with her at the Willow Creek Church in suburban Chicago.
Just one year later, Lee Strobel began a monumental quest to research and discover the truth about the Christian faith. His original intent was to prove that his wife’s new faith was not true and get her off his back about going to church and becoming a follower of Christ. He approached this project just like he would an in-depth article for the legal section of the Chicago Tribune. He traveled all over the United States to meet with experts and conducted hours of interviews to get all the facts about the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus.
Can you guess what happened as a result of all his research? On November 8, 1981, Lee Strobel decided that the evidence overwhelmingly proved that Jesus of Nazareth was the Incarnation of God himself…That Jesus died a painful and humiliating death on a Roman cross…That Jesus rose again on the third day…That the Christian faith was the truth. In Strobel’s own words, he discovered that “It would require much more faith for me to maintain my atheism than to trust in Jesus of Nazareth.”
Lee Strobel became a Christian that day. He later left his position with the Chicago Tribune to become Teaching Pastor at Willow Creek Church in Chicago and now serves in a similar position at Saddleback Church in California. He also sat down and wrote a book that details his interviews and research to help other atheists to weigh the evidence and decide for themselves to become followers of Christ. (The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998.)
Lee Strobel’s story serves as an important reminder for us on this First Sunday After Easter. We have just celebrated the highest and holiest of all Christian holidays. Jesus died on the cross…Jesus rose again on the third day…What’s Next?
Lee Strobel discovered for himself that Jesus died and rose again. But he was not content just to understand the facts…He understood…Then he asked the question: Why Is This Important? What are we going to do next?
Our Scripture today is not taken from the biblical events that followed the resurrection…But it does illustrate Why Jesus died and rose again and What’s Next.
Read Luke 19: 1 – 10.


II. The Rich as Outcasts.

We usually associate the story of Zacchaeus with memories of our childhood and singing the song: “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he. He climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see…” But this is not a sweet, children’s story. This is a scandalous story of Jesus reaching out to the untouchables.
Since today is April 15, and Tax Day…Just imagine how you feel about paying your taxes. No one likes to pay taxes. We worked for the money, and we want to take home all the money we worked for. It was even worse in Jesus’ day. Zacchaeus was despised, and verse 2 indicates how despised Zacchaeus truly was.

Wealthy…This is very difficult for us to understand, because our culture looks at the wealthy differently than the ancient Jews did…Late Jewish theology had developed to an association of poverty with piety. In the previous chapter (18: 24f) Jesus had described the difficulty of the rich entering heaven. Wealth indicated independence & self sufficiency, even rebellious spirit…rebelling from religion. Poverty indicated dependence & need for God.

Tax Collector…Usually understood as traitor and a thief. Collected taxes for Roman Empire from Palestinians. They were not paid by government, but from what they collected. They collected tax plus profit.

Chief Tax Collector…Worse than simple tax collector. The Chief Tax Collector set the fees & contracted lower tax collectors (Publicans) to do the actual collecting. Zacchaeus, possibly had been so good at what he did that he rose to management.

Total package. Luke described Zacchaeus as everything necessary to be worst possible sinner. And the original audience would have recognized that.

Zacchaeus was highly criticized by the religious establishment. The Pharisees were separatists. They taught the Jewish people not to run around with “sinners.” Separate yourselves from all evil people.

Dominant theme in Luke’s Gospel involved outcasts as recipients of salvation…Women, children, blind, lepers, Tax Collectors. This was an important and welcomed theme to Luke’s readers…Readers were just like you and me…Gentiles, non-Jews who were previously considered left out of God’s plan of salvation…And Luke shows us that it is possible for both Jews and Gentiles to be saved…Poor and Rich…Men and Women…Jesus came that everyone might be saved.




III. Jesus Associated with Known Sinners.

When J. associated with Zacchaeus, the religious folk began to whisper. Jesus was “Guilty by association.”

There was a common belief that for a person to partake in ill-gotten gain was same as participating in (or at least giving approval to) the crime that brought it about. Therefore, Jesus was guilty in their eyes. They accused Jesus of being Zach’s partner.

But Zach. did not remain a sinner for long. A real change / conversion took place in his life. Jesus called him a child of Abraham.
Zacchaeus demonstrated fruit of his new kind of life.

Repaid fourfold. . .Jewish law only required additional 1/5
Gave away half his possessions to the poor.

There was a real change…A conversion that took place in his life…

When I use the word “conversion” I don’t necessarily mean sudden conversion…But a change ALWAYS take place when a person encounters Jesus.

For some this conversion takes place over a course of time, slowly…For Zach. it was sudden.

When a baby is born, there is a certain degree of suddenness. One day there are two, the next day there are three. But this is not a sudden change, it is a process that took at least nine months to complete.


Read Luke 19: 10.


IV. Jesus and the Lost.

How many times have we heard sermon or bible lesson on this story with Zacchaeus as the hero? Verse 10 turns this view completely around.

No longer is the story about Zacchaeus searching for Jesus. Jesus initiated salvation!
Nobody else knew that Zacchaeus was in the tree.
No mention in Luke or other Gospels that Jesus knew Zach.
Jesus invited himself to dinner (v. 5)
Son of Man CAME. . .Active.
Son of Man SEEKS. . .Active.
Son of Man SAVES. . .Active.

The story of Zacchaeus is a story that describes the two sides of salvation. On one hand, Jesus has come into the world to search for sinners. On the other hand, there is a distinct responsibility for each of us to “come to Jesus.” One of my favorite verses that captures this best is John 6: 44… No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…

There are always 2 sides to salvation…The Father must draw…The individual must come.

Jesus stood at the foot of the tree calling Zacchaeus. But Zacchaeus. put himself in that tree where Jesus could call, and Zacchaeus accepted the Savior’s call.





V. Conclusion.

This is what Easter was all about. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save all who are lost. Easter is about salvation…Salvation for you and me…Salvation for the world.

And guess who Jesus came to save…Jesus didn’t come to save the good, religious, and church going people of the world. Jesus came to save the outcasts of the world…Outcasts like you and me…Luke was assuring his readers that salvation had come to them, even though they were outcasts: Gentiles.

We even see this by observing Jesus, the places he went and the people he spent time with…Jesus did not spend most of his time inside the church with Christians. Jesus spent his time in the world with those who needed to hear his message of salvation.

If we are to be the light of the world, then we must live in the darkness of the world in order to be effective.



The story of Zacchaeus is not a sweet, children’s story. It is scandalous and offensive. If you find this to be offensive, so be it…There is no other Gospel.