Salvation Today (Luke 19.1-10)

Introduction

There’s a story about a fitness club that was offering a £1,000 prize to anyone who could show that they were stronger than the manager. Here’s how it worked. The boss was a great hulk of a man and he would squeeze an orange until all the juice ran into a glass, and then hand the orange to a challenger. Anyone who could squeeze out even one more drop of juice would win the money.

Many people tried; weightlifters, hod carriers, firefighters, front-row rugby players, vicars, professional wrestlers, and all failed to produce a single extra drop.

But one day this scrawny, weak-looking man signs up for the contest. A crowd assembles and the puny challenger steps up to the stage. After the laughter dies down, the owner grabs his orange and starts squeezing. When he’s done, he hands this bone-dry pulverised ex-orange to the skinny challenger.

But the crowd’s laughter turns to gasps as the man clenches his bony fist around the orange and six drops fall into the glass. The crowd goes wild, and the boss coughs up the prize money. He asks the little guy “What do you for a living - lumberjack, builder, or what?” The guy just smiles and says, “Actually, I work for the Inland Revenue.”

Background

Like the character in Luke’s gospel today… It’s one of the best-loved stories in the Bible; for years, children have sung songs in assemblies and Sunday school about it. “Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he…”

He lived in a place called Jericho, one of the oldest settlements in the world. It is called the city of palms because it’s built around a spring of water. It’s a garden city, surrounded by desert. It was also on a key trading route called the King’s Highway that connected Syria, Israel and Egypt - and because of its lushness and its location it was, and still is today, a prosperous place.

Being a strategically located oasis city, Jericho was also a major customs and excise post. You had to pay duty on anything you transported through that place. And because of that, it was an absolute gold mine for the tax man. It was, in fact, the tax capital of Israel in Jesus’ day.

At that time of course the Romans were in charge – almost everywhere. Their Empire stretched north/south from Hadrian’s Wall to the Sahara Desert, and west/east from Portugal to the Caspian Sea. And it is well-known that they imposed a heavy tax burden on all populations under their control.

Nobody likes paying tax. Not just Coffee Shops, and Internet multinationals. You don’t want to pay more than you have to - and neither do I. But the Jews at this time hated paying it even more because these taxes propped up an immoral and arrogant government with pagan gods. It led to frequent uprisings and revolts.

This is why tax collectors were the most unpopular people in the country. They did Rome’s dirty work and were considered traitors. Everyone thought they were scum; fat cats ripping off their own people.

But no one is beyond the reach of God’s love and grace. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve done, or where you’ve been. Jesus came to show that with God there is always a way back.

Zacchaeus - Before

What about Zacchaeus; what do we know about this particular tax collector? Well, he wasn’t just on the staff – v2 says he was a chief tax collector. Top dog. He gave orders to all the collecting agents in town and took a commission from them. He was in charge of one of the three largest tax offices in the country, and may well have had the best job of them all. 

Not surprisingly, he had become wealthy. He was top of the tax collection food chain. And like all tax inspectors at that time, he was lining his own pockets before he sent the required taxes off to Rome.

He was also a man with a curious mind. He had heard about Jesus because he was talk of the town all over Israel. Everywhere Jesus went there was a big crowd.

Which is when Zacchaeus saw he had a little problem. Danny DeVito claims he is 5’ tall. In fact, he is 4’10”. That was the trouble. He couldn’t see over the crowd, and they wouldn’t let him push to the front, so he climbed a sycamore fig tree which you’ll know if you’ve ever seen one, has low branches and is quite easy to climb.

Why did Zacchaeus want to see Jesus? I think there are three reasons.

Firstly - the obvious. Why do people go to a firework display? Jesus was a sensation. He was box office. The end of the previous chapter tells us how Jesus had just healed a blind man on his way into Jericho. Zacchaeus would have heard the commotion outside so he left his desk to see what was going on.

Secondly - I’m guessing here, but I think his distant memory of a godly mother and father prompted him to find out more. You see, the name Zacchaeus means “good, pure, righteous, upstanding.” I imagine two parents who loved God and named their boy after their hopes and dreams for him, before he became greedy and rich.

(Alexander, by the way, means “defender of men.” I’m sure you want him to have the courage to stand up for what’s right, to have great strength of character. Or maybe you just like the name…)

But I think that Zacchaeus’ parents planted a desire in his life to be good, to be honest, and he lost his way, but when the chance came along to make amends he took it.

Some of you have children who have wandered away from the path you intended for them to take. It’s painful. Where did it all go wrong? Why? After all you did for them? But keep praying for them, keep loving them. It’s never wasted. Your spiritual care is never forgotten.

I think Zacchaeus longed to get back to what his godly mum and dad had always dreamed for him, and that’s why he was determined to get to Jesus. He was ambitious.

You don’t get to be head honcho of the biggest tax office in the land by lacking ambition. When he made up his mind to do get to Jesus, he did it. Listen, anyone who is determined to find God will find him.

There are a hundred things that can get in the way; work, family, leisure, the golf club, even church can get in the way. For Zacchaeus, nothing got in the way. He had to see Jesus for himself. He had to push through whatever it took.

The third reason he was so eager to see Jesus, is this. As we see later in the story, everybody hated him. He was a capitalist, a crook, a collaborator and a cad.

He had fleeced the entire population of Jericho to line his pockets and live in a flashy mansion. He had no friends. But none of his life of luxury made him happy. He was empty inside.

150 years ago, the writer John Ruskin said, “Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.”

More recently comedian Russell Brand said this: “Drugs and alcohol are not my problem. Reality is my problem. Drugs and alcohol are my solution to fill up a hole inside of me.”

Zacchaeus knew about this – and some of you know about it too. Zacchaeus had a gaping void in his soul. He was miserable. All his chasing after the next luxury – at the time it looked so attractive, it seemed so compelling. But his relentless pursuit of money was his ruin. He looked around his flashy villa with its luxury furnishings and it seemed like dust. It left him with a sense of gnawing emptiness. And then Jesus walks into town.

There are six things that happen next that shock the crowd: Jesus noticed Zacchaeus in a leafy tree, Jesus actually spoke to him, Jesus knew him - by name, Jesus called him, Jesus accepted him just as he was and Jesus even befriended him.

Jesus still notices, speaks to, knows by name, calls, accepts and befriends anyone who seeks him.

Zacchaeus – After

“Come down now Zacchaeus” says Jesus. It’s been said that he was converted before his feet hit the ground. He hurried down and welcomed Jesus gladly. Jesus is still looking for people who will welcome him gladly into their lives.

Zacchaeus knew that now was the time and he seized the day. I love his eagerness. And I love it that he’s all or nothing.

Many people want a bit of meditation, a bit of reiki, a little statue of Buddha in the garden, some purple crystals and maybe the Lord’s Prayer as the cherry on top. It won’t do. It is Jesus or nothing; it’s all of Jesus or nothing. That’s what Zacchaeus understood. He couldn’t hang on to his old life and he didn’t want to. It had to go.

Look at the immediate difference between before meeting Jesus and after. Instead of hostility there is hospitality. Instead of grabbing there is giving. It’s instant transformation. It’s not “I will give”, it’s “I give” – Zacchaeus is already writing the cheques and doling out the moneybags.

I was queuing up at a supermarket checkout once. My trolley was brimming over with stuff. As usual, my queue - though visibly the shortest - proved to be the slowest. As I was waiting, the checkout assistant came over and stuck a magnetic sign over my checkout. The sign said ‘10 Items maximum’. She looked at me and said “after you it’s limited items only.” But then, other people came along with three yoghurts in the basket and joined my queue. They started to mutter their disgust to each other about my trolley and how I was out of order. I felt so guilty – but that’s false guilt.

But there’s also such a thing as real guilt, and I feel that also from time to time as well. Jesus came to deal with all our guilt. This is the amazing news: God loves you. You are loved. It’s the most important thing to take away from this morning: you are loved. God loves you.

And he came in the person of his Son, Jesus, to die on a cross for you and for me. And he took all of our guilt, all of our bad stuff, in your place, in my place, in order that we should be free to enjoy life to the full.

This is the most stunning, wonderful news. And to me when I first discovered it as a nerdy, self-conscious, anxious seventeen year old with zits and a brace on my teeth, it was totally life-changing.

Today

Three times in Luke’s gospel the word “today” is found. The first you hear at Christmas – “Today a saviour has been born to you; Christ the Lord” say the angels.

The second you hear at Easter – “Today you will be with me in paradise” says Jesus to the dying thief.

And the third is right here. “Today salvation has come to this house… for the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”

Are you lost? Do what Zacchaeus did. Come to Christ today! Why put it off?

Ending

Let me draw to a close. When the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1912, the ship’s owners, the White Star Line, placed two noticeboards outside its offices in Liverpool. They were marked “Known to be saved” and “Known to be lost.” As each passenger’s fate was confirmed, their name was added to one or other of the boards. The same is true eternally for a world drowning in guilt: either your name is in God’s Book of Life (known to be saved) or it is not.

If this day, God forbid, were to be your last, would you be known to be saved or known to be lost?

I watched a video this summer on an online news site about a petty criminal called Arthur Booth in a Miami court for burglary. And the Judge Mindy Glazer says to him, “One question for you, sir. Did you go to Nautilus for Middle School?” And he looks at her and recognises her and just loses it right there. He breaks down and starts sobbing, saying over and over again, “oh my goodness!” 

She says, with a smile, “I always wondered what happened to you. And looking around she says, “This was the nicest kid, the best kid, in middle school. I used to play football with him. And look what’s happened to him.” Then she shuffles her papers, looks right at him and says, “I hope you’re able to change your ways. Good luck, you’re free to go. Live a better life.”

That’s what Jesus does every day. This is a little booklet called Why Jesus? There are copies in the foyer and on the information stand. Please do take one. It’s free. And there’s a prayer in the back, which you can pray and through which you too can encounter Jesus - today.

Let’s pray…


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 16 October 2016