September 10 - Identifying with Zacchaeus

0:00September 10, Luke 19 He entered Jericho and was passing through, and behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich, and he was seeking to see who Jesus was. He was not on a kind of the crowd he could not, because he was small and stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sickamortry to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, frime us stage your house today. So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled. He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner, and Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord,

1:05behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it for fold. And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham, for the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He said therefore, a noble man went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling tan of his servants, he gave them ten menace, and said to them, engage in business until I come. But his citizens heeded him and sent a delegation after him, saying, we do not want this man to reenover us. When he returned, having received the kingdom,

2:06he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came before him, saying, Lord, your Mina has made ten Mina's more, and he said to him, well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, your Mina has made five Mina's, and he said to him, and you are to be over five cities. Then another came, saying, Lord, here is your Mina, which I kept laid away in a hanker chief, for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not so. He said to him, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit, and reaping what I did not so.

3:08Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest? And he said to those who stood by, take the Mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten Minas. And they said to him, Lord, he has ten Minas. I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, you did not want me to rain over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethvehj and Bethany at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples saying, go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a cult tied, on which no one has ever yet sat, untie it and bring it here.

4:08If anyone asks you, why are you untying it? You shall say this. The Lord has need of it. So those who were sent went away and find it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the cult, its owners said to them, why are you untying the cult? And they said, the Lord has need of it, and they brought it to Jesus. And throwing their cloaks on the cult, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, teacher, rebuke your disciples.

5:10He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out. And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace? But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground. You and your children within you and they will not leave one stone upon another in you because you did not know the time of your visitation. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, it is written, my house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes

6:10and the principal man of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do for all the people were hanging on his words. Identifying with Zacchaeus and Boscombe. You know that sting of not being light. You know the people who would avoid you in the grocery store who would look the other way if they saw you in the parking lot. People who would mutter and would begin to grumble. We all have Zacchaeus moments when we feel as disliked and shunned as a tax collector. Six times the socially rejected tax collectors are mentioned in the book of Luke and every single time, positively. It's a pattern into which you can weave the ends of your frayed heart. Jesus is drawn to the rejected

7:12and the rejected are drawn to Jesus. And it's the people who draw themselves up as the respectable who find Jesus repelling. Why? Because when you feel essentially respectable, you want religion. And when you know you are essentially rejected, you want the gospel. In religion, it's the respectable who search for a God to impress. But in the gospel, it's God who searches for the rejected to save. The only respectable people who become Christians are those who realize they aren't. It's not that even the rejected are accepted by Jesus. It's that only the rejected are accepted by Jesus. Only those who confess that they're reliance on self-sufficiency and supposed morality is as sinful as any other sin. It's only when you realize you aren't respectable

8:12that you are no better than the rejected, that you are fully accepted. Jesus speaks straight into the ache of our hearts. Today, salvation has come to this house, verse nine. Not that salvation will come, but salvation has come. Jesus is here. You don't have to perform or be perfect or pretend. You need simply to know a person, one who pursues you. Jesus doesn't give Zakia a checklist before he shows up. Jesus just shows up right where we are. Salvation isn't about keeping rules. It's about keeping at rest in the work of Christ, keeping company with the grace of Christ, keeping your joy through the strength of Christ. Like Zakias, you have to position your heart to see Christ in all things.

9:13Zakias climbed the limbs of a tree. We turn the pages of Scripture. Zakias had to make himself look less than respectable in order to see Jesus. To be like Jesus, we too must be willing to look less than respectable. If we've positioned our lives to see Jesus, we must go to the rejected, eat with the less than respected, and make time for the rundown and the reviled and rebuffed. These are the words of Christ. I must stay at your house today, verse five. This is our Zakias moment. We, the accepted, and we receive him joyfully, verse six.