Text: Luke 19:1-10
Title: Journey to the Cross...and Beyond (Part #2)
Jesus passes through Jericho, a location 1,000 feet below sea level, headed to Jerusalem, which is 2,400 feet above sea level. This is Christ’s final journey to Jerusalem where he will be crucified and raised from the dead.
Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector, which probably means he was the “commissioner” of this district of Jericho with other tax collectors working under him collecting the taxes. This would mean that he not only received his own wage, but made commission on all the other tax collectors, as well. All tax collectors were despised by their fellow Jews because they were viewed as collaborators with the Roman government, which oppressed them. They were also guilty of extorting money from their fellow countrymen by forcing them to pay taxes well beyond what Rome required. This is the means by which tax collectors enriched themselves.
Zacchaeus embodied two facets of the nation’s populace: the outcast/despised on the one hand and the proud/self-sufficient on the other. Both needed the Savior.
Three Important Reminders for Broken People:
Title: Journey to the Cross...and Beyond (Part #2)
Jesus passes through Jericho, a location 1,000 feet below sea level, headed to Jerusalem, which is 2,400 feet above sea level. This is Christ’s final journey to Jerusalem where he will be crucified and raised from the dead.
Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector, which probably means he was the “commissioner” of this district of Jericho with other tax collectors working under him collecting the taxes. This would mean that he not only received his own wage, but made commission on all the other tax collectors, as well. All tax collectors were despised by their fellow Jews because they were viewed as collaborators with the Roman government, which oppressed them. They were also guilty of extorting money from their fellow countrymen by forcing them to pay taxes well beyond what Rome required. This is the means by which tax collectors enriched themselves.
Zacchaeus embodied two facets of the nation’s populace: the outcast/despised on the one hand and the proud/self-sufficient on the other. Both needed the Savior.
Three Important Reminders for Broken People:
1. God says I matter...even though I feel small and insignificant.
A. He was small in physical stature.
B. He was small in the “view” of others...because he was a tax collector.
- Despite this man’s wealth and official power, he is unable to penetrate the crowd.
- The tree he climbed was a Ficus sycomorus, i.e., the fig-mulberry. It grew in the Jordan valley to a considerable height; the low, spreading branches made it fairly easy to climb.
- Zacchaues runs ahead and climbs up in the tree to see Jesus. It is highly unusual for a wealthy Jewish man to run, let alone climb a tree. Any sense of pride that he normally might have exhibited as an official of power and wealth was totally gone.
- He was hungry for something that was missing in his life and he had not found in the other avenues of life where he had searched.
2. God gives me hope...even though others have written me off.
A. He commands Zacchaeus to come down from the tree. Jesus takes the initiative in helping Zacchaeus!
B. He went to eat at Zacchaeus’ house.
- In this culture, to eat with a person who had ill-gotten gain was viewed as if that person were “a partaker in the crime.” One of means they used for dealing with a person like Zacchaeus was to shun him. Some Jewish Rabbis said that you didn’t even have to treat tax collectors as human beings, but as animals.
C. The essence of what it means to be lost (19:10) is that you are separated from the One Who gives meaning, purpose, and value to life...now and in eternity!
3. God won’t give up on me...even though I’ve done some really bad things.
A. Zachaeus’ life was dramatically changed by the power of the Gospel.
- The law required a penalty of one-fifth as restitution for money acquired by fraud (Lev. 6:5; Num. 5:6, 7), so Zacchaeus was doing more than was required. The law required 4-fold restitution only when an animal was stolen and killed (Ex. 22:1). If the animal was found alive, only two-fold restitution was required (Ex. 22:4). But Zacchaeus judged his own crime severely, acknowledging that he was as guilty as the lowest common robber.
B. “Salvation has come to [you]” (19:9). Notice how he addresses Jesus Christ as “Lord” (19:8).
- Zacchaeus was changed through an experience with Christ, not a command of Christ!
- “When you meet God in Jesus Christ you get swept up into a story of such cosmic drama and beauty that you are forever changed.” --J.D. Greear
- Nobody is beyond the grace of God and anybody can become His child...by faith in Jesus Christ! He’s still changing lives!
