We are called to follow Jesus
To respect Gods creation
To love and serve others
And to seek justice and resist evil
Song “Teach me to dance” https://youtu.be/iMeAyiZ1niE
We say the Lord’s Prayer in our own language
Reflection on Luke 19v1-10,
One of the themes of Luke’s gospel is that Jesus has come to seek and save the lost. So who are the lost? Immediately before the story of Zacchaeus we have the story of the encounter between Jesus and the rich ruler, who cannot sell all he has and give to the poor and so goes away sad.
So the story goes like this;
Jericho was a major trading town, serving as the main customs point for all imports into Palestine from the East. It was deep in the Jordan valley, about 30 kilometres east of Jerusalem. Jericho was famous for its export of balsam, a spice from the sap of the balsam tree. The balm of Gilead. Jericho had an avenue of sycamore fig palms with low branches, which Jesus would have moved along. It was a tax centre being at the junction of various trade routes used by camel trains
Zacchaeus was determined to see Jesus. Zacchaeus, as the chief tax collector, of the area, would take a cut for himself from the taxes he raised for the Roman administration. In today's terms he was a kind of corrupt politician, very wealthy, and hated. He had heard of Jesus and so he was determined to meet him.
Zacchaeus was the head government official in Jericho for the collection of revenue and other government business. He would have purchased this rite, and tendered for this contract. As part of the tax component, a percentage went to the tax collector, set at his discretion-a powerful corrupt politician. As a chief tax collector Zacchaeus was considered unclean due to his contamination both with money and dead bodies. He would also have been seen as a Roman lackey. He was therefore regarded as religiously and socially unacceptable
He was very rich. Zacchaeus in Hebrew means pure and innocent. He was trying to see Jesus but he couldn’t because of the crowd and because he was short!.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree which looks like an oak tree and can grow into a very large tree.
So then Jesus decides to stay with Zacchaeus. Jesus reads human nature and he certainly reads Zacchaeus. Here was Rome's local representative willing to degrade himself by climbing a tree to get to meet with Jesus. Zacchaeus is rewarded by Jesus' acceptance of him, and as a consequence Jesus invites himself for tea. Zacchaeus is over joyed!
But the crowd is not impressed. Not just the Pharisees, but everyone was muttered/complaining. Jesus has gone to stay with a real sinner! Zacchaeus' response is to offer of half his wealth to the poor and to repay fourfold to those he has unlawfully exacted taxes. Those who are forgiven much, love much.
He stands up to make this announcement because it is important and he is standing his ground! A 50% giving is excessive; the Pharisees regarded 20% as generous. He has cheated, defrauded. He offers far more than the law required.
God has come to this corrupt man. Here is a true "son of Abraham, a spiritual son.
Today Salvation has come to this house/household.
The Son of Man has come to seek and saved the lost. Jesus work was to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel and this is central to Old Testament prophecy and to Jesus ministry, cf. Ezk.34. There is a sub-text of positive propaganda in Luke about tax collectors. What is at issue is humility. Jesus has come to save sinners not those who think they are righteous(18v9f)
So we know little else than that there was a Zacchaeus who became a bishop of Jerusalem shortly after Jesus death and there is a house in Jericho called Zacchaeus house!
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than the rich to enter the kingdom of God (Luke 18) but Jesus says to Zacchaeus “Today salvation (wholeness/repair) has come to this house”. Zacchaeus had been restored to the community as a Son of Abraham. a true Jew. An outsider has become an insider.
Zacchaeus represents those who are excluded by the religious, the little people who are pushed out of the way. Who are the little people we push aside and don’t mix with because they are not respectable? Who would be Zacchaeus in our community? Who would Jesus move from the edge to the centre? Who are the invisible in our churches and in our society that God cares about and so should we? Some of the people who are invisible are among us!
Faith as small as a mustard seed saves. Zacchaeus, the outcast, receives the gospel message. He is one of the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Song “The Lords my Shepherd” https://youtu.be/-eIQQayhpak
We will live justly
We will love kindly
We will walk with God. Amen
The Blessing (Russian)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Az3fmE7dq00&t=4s&pp=2AEEkAIB
