Zacchaeus the “Innocent”
“Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through town. 2 A man there named Zacchaeus, a ruler among tax collectors, was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but, being a short man, he couldn’t because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to that spot, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down at once. I must stay in your home today.” 6 So Zacchaeus came down at once, happy to welcome Jesus. 7 Everyone who saw this grumbled, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this household because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 The Human One came to seek and save the lost.” Luke 19:1-9 CEB
Intro: I’ll be honest. This car was owned by a teenage boy. It is way overpriced. It burns oil and smokes. It gets horrible gas mileage and something in the trunk smells like rotten eggs on the inside. How many of you would like to buy that used car? Anyone? No?
Then there is the young couple who was trying to come up with a name for their first baby girl. They narrowed it down to two possibilities. Sally was one choice. Suri was the other choice. So they decided to look up the origin and meaning of the names. Sally is Hebrew or old English meaning princess. Suri also in Hebrew means princess but in Japanese Suri means pickpocket and in Hindu means pig. How would you like to live your entire life with a name like pickpocket or pig?
Now we come to Zacchaeus. Every child Sunday school class has taught the story of Zacchaeus. There is even a child’s song that we could sing. “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.”
Zacchaeus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name meaning “innocent.” (Holman Bible Dictionary) He is described as a corrupt tax collector in first-century Jericho. Even here in Luke 19 the crowds were displeased with Jesus because “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner.” I have never once heard a sermon about an honest tax collector. It seems that I was always led to believe that Zacchaeus is just like all the other rich, and corrupt, and dishonest, tax collectors in the bible.
But I became intrigued when I read from a parallel bible showing the New International Version says, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor.” Along side the King James Version that says “Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.”
So I posted a plea on Facebook to all Greek aficionados. We preachers really like to take a close analysis of the grammar which most of the time does not really do much to advance our understanding of the story as a whole. It is more often an exercise in boring futility.
Even in a seminary chapel service a sermon going into detail parsing the Greek text as either punctiliar or linear, defining the verb as present indicative active tense would cause most people to fall over in their pew from boredom.
I know that if you had in your hands rotten tomatoes that most of you would probably be throwing them at me right now as I ran and hid for cover.
But I believe that there is a part of the story about Zacchaeus that needs to be preached.
Just because the advertisement for a used car for sale that says: Garage kept. Highway miles. Owned by a little old lady who drove it mostly to church on Sunday. May not be true.
It may not be true that Zacchaeus was such a shady, fraudulent, dishonorable person either. Oh, the crowd said he was.
In fact the crowd murmured and grumbled and was displeased that Jesus would go to Zacchaeus’ house for dinner. But think about “who was the crowd?”
In the crowd were Jews, original descendants of the tribes of Israel that ultimately wanted their Jewish nation restored. Zealots who were radical militant wanting to overthrown Roman along with its tax collectors. Pharisees and other religious political party leaders who wanted influence and power. To them anyone associated with Rome or the collection of money for its government would have been seen as bad.
But we have to remember that Zacchaeus’ name in Hebrew means “innocent.” How would you like to live your entire life with a name like innocent?
(There are biblical examples that teach us that a person’s name is often given to a child based on the circumstances of the family or mother. See for example the name Jabez found in 1 Chronicles 4:9.)
The truth about the bible with all its stories and parables and teaching of Jesus is that underneath the surface of the drama, there is a deeper plot, an often hidden factual moral that Jesus is trying to teach us a truth, a reality, a real life lesson based on facts not fiction.
What if we translate the Greek word give “didomi” δίδωμι as indicative present active tense, as "I am donating" or "I am giving" which has the force of "I not only have been giving half of everything I have to the poor but I plan to continue to give in the future."
This turns the story on its ear because this now means Zacchaeus is actually a more "righteous" man than the religious leaders in the crowd who excluded Zacchaeus. They would not even give him a place in line to see Jesus pass by. They made a barrier and between him and Jesus because of Zacchaeus’ profession was a tax collector. They judged him, convicted him, and denied that he even to be allowed to see Jesus. Zacchaeus was shunned and mocked and excluded and had to climb up into a sycamore tree just to get a glimpse of this Messiah Jesus.
Imagine living your whole life with the name "Zacchaeus" or Hebrew your name is "Innocent" imagine if you were a good and honest tax collector (which was almost unheard of in those days) but you had lived up to your name and was good, honest, and a moral person, present indicative active tense, parsed grammatically as linear in contextualized translation. Meaning Zacchaeus was a good moral person, he was a generous giver, was an honest businessman. He was a philanthropist, a humanitarian, a charitable donor. There wasn’t anything he needed to change about his life except one thing and that was to meet Jesus.
How many good, honest, moral, Zacchaeus' do you know who need to meet Jesus?
You can be hated by the crowds and be innocent. You can be innocent by standards of the world and be lost and bound for hell.
This story about Zacchaeus happens at an important place and at an important time. Jesus is in the city of Jericho which about seventeen miles from Jerusalem. So in just a few short days Jesus will be entering the Holy City followed by a parade like none that has ever been seen in Jerusalem before. It is a few days before Palm/Passion Sunday and Holy Week.
Jesus has already predicted his death in Luke chapter 18. Three times Jesus has told the crowd of Jews. The crowd of religious people. The crowd of moral elites. The crowd of decedents of Abraham. The richest, the best the most powerful Jews are being told by Jesus that their physical birthright as honorable as it maybe will soon be null and void. The Old Covenant will be done away with and a new Kingdom will be ushered in.
Luke 18:32-34 “Jesus will be handed over to the Romans to be mocked and treated shamefully and spit upon. The will whip him and kill him but on the third day he will rise again. But they didn’t understand a thing Jesus said. Its significance was hidden from them, and they failed to grasp what he was talking about.”
The crowd will yell and shout and wave palm branch as Jesus enters the Holy City and goes to the Temple to set up His Kingdom. Jesus’ own disciples try to rebuke Him and cannot grasp what he is telling them.
So it is no accident that this Jesus has dinner with a man named “Innocent” only a few short days before Jesus is crucified. Jesus brings salvation to Zacchaeus’ home. Salvation to anyone who kept the law, but lacked only one thing and that is to accept Jesus Christ as Messiah. To believe that Jesus is Lord of Lord and King of Kings.
A woman walked up to a pharmacist and asked if he had anything that would help cure hiccups. The pharmacist ducked down under the counter and after a moment leaped up yelling loudly. The frightened woman fell to the floor stunned at what had just happened. She asked why in the world did you do that?
The pharmacist said, “At least you don’t have the hiccups anymore.” The woman replied I never had the hiccups I wanted something for my husband who is waiting outside in the car.
How many times in life do we jump to the wrong conclusions? Rush to the wrong judgment? Many times we are just wrong about people and wrong about how things really are.
Judging from Jesus’ reaction to Zacchaeus the crowd was just wrong about him. Zacchaeus was a person of faith. His testimony was one of putting his faith into action. He demonstrated generosity, kindness, mercy. Is Jesus in your head and heart? Are you both a Christian in name and action? How does your faith result in action? What changes do you need to make?
Closing: Lord forgive us we pray for not only the mistakes we often make. But for also jumping to the wrong conclusions as well. Lord help us have open minds about new possibilities that we may grown in understanding and love toward one another. Amen.
