Generosity Lived in Faith
Luke 19:1-10
If you have ever been part of a Vacation Bible School, chances are good that you remember the following song.
“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!
And as the Savior passed that way.
He looked up in the tree.
And he said, "Zacchaeus, you come down, for I'm going to your house today"
"Yes, I'm going to your house today"
Do any of you remember that song? Well, if not, you have learned it now, and perhaps it will be an earworm for you as you drift off to sleep this evening!
This is a familiar story to children and adults, and in some ways, it parallels our story from last Sunday of Matthew’s encounter with Jesus. Let’s take a closer look at this well-known encounter to see what it might teach us this morning.
This story is found only in Luke’s Gospel and is very similar to the story of Levi (identified as Matthew the disciple who also wrote the 1st Gospel (Matthew 10:3)
We begin by learning that a tax collector named Zacchaeus is interested in Jesus.
Perhaps he has either heard about Matthew’s conversion (Jericho and Capernaum aren’t that far apart) or heard that Jesus was truly a friend of tax collectors and sinners, as Luke’s Gospel says (Luke 7:34). He was Jewish by name. Still, he was seen as unclean by fellow Jews. Why is this?
As we learned last week, tax collectors in those days were responsible for collecting taxes from Roman subjects. However, they were free to collect additional taxes as they saw fit, thereby making a significant profit. Opportunities for theft and fraud were rampant, making them generally despised by the public at the time. The higher position you held in such a corrupt system, the greater one’s complicity. In addition, tax collectors were seen by Jewish society as unclean due to contact with Gentile (unclean) subjects.
Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector at the top of the entire corrupt enterprise. So, if you think Matthew was despised, you can multiply that hatred 10 times. Despite that hated, corrupt position, despite him being ritually unclean, it turns out that Jesus is also interested in Zacchaeus!
Jesus singled him out and told him to come down, that he was going to eat with him at his own home. He was going to an unclean, hated individual’s home to dine with him.
This story has three components, as well as a common theme found in last week’s calling of Matthew to become a disciple.
First, sight is critical. Zacchaeus desires to see Jesus and climbs up a sycamore tree to get a better view. But even as he is trying to catch a glimpse of this prophet, Jesus looks up, sees Zacchaeus up in the tree, and calls him down.
A second significant detail is wealth. Luke, more than any other evangelist, is consistently concerned about matters of wealth and, correspondingly, the treatment of the impoverished. In this case, a rich man receives Jesus with joy and promises to give half of his wealth to the poor and to restore fourfold any amount he may have defrauded. (More about this in a moment), And Jesus announces that the impossible has now happened as “salvation has come to this house” (19:9).
This result is quite different than the other stories Luke has in his gospel about those with wealth. In the previous chapter, a rich man, when asked to give away all he had, departs from Jesus in sadness. When Jesus declares that it is nearly impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, the disciples — who, like most of the time, believe wealth to be a sign of God’s favor — are incredulous.
In this story, however, a rich man turns over a new leaf, and in one sense, becomes an example in restoring all he had gotten by stealing from others, and in fact, increasing their return fourfold.
The third component to consider concerns stature. Zacchaeus is short, as the song reminds us, “A wee little man, and a wee, little man was he.” Yet, he was short, not just in physical stature, but also in terms of his moral standing among his neighbors who, no doubt, despised him. Their reaction when Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ home is to murmur (That is, γογγύζω GonGOOzo — to grumble, complain) about this man, short in size and community stature, for he was a sinner who did not deserve such mercy from Jesus.
This brings us back to last week’s story, where Jesus extended mercy to another hated tax collector, Matthew. Matthew’s response to being given this gift of mercy was to follow. Zachaeus’ response to being given this gift of mercy was to repent- to turn around and give back. For so much of his life, he was focused on getting, accumulating. Now, through his encounter with Jesus, he felt compelled to give, and to give greatly. For Zachaeus, his life was no longer about getting. It was now about giving back.
This brings me to my main focus for this morning. As we encounter Jesus and experience joy and love, we respond in faith and in joy. That has been true in my life and my journey with Jesus.
As a young child, I was like Zachaeus in some ways, focused on getting verses giving.
As a child, we always traveled to my grandparents' home in Vallejo, CA, for all the major holidays. And one of the holidays I looked forward to in particular was Thanksgiving. In part, it was due to the grand spread my grandmother cooked for Thanksgiving. She was such a wonderful cook. But, after dinner, something I looked forward to even more was looking through the Sears Christmas catalog, dreaming of all the things I wanted for Christmas. How many of you remember looking through that catalog as a child? I would go through and circle items I wanted to get and show them to my parents. I loved the holiday of Christmas! I knew it was, in part, about Jesus, as I learned to sing "Away in a Manger" and "Silent Night" as a young child. But I also knew the competing story of that holiday, about Santa giving gifts to good kids. As a child, I found that story a bit more compelling! I was totally focused on getting things, not on giving them yet.
Around the age of 7, I can remember being invited to a birthday party for a kid in my neighborhood who lived next door, named Patrick, whom I eventually became good friends with. My mom told me I had been invited to his birthday party and that I needed to get him a gift, using my own money. This was one of the first times I used my own money to buy something for someone else. Initially, I wasn’t too keen on spending my hard-earned allowance on someone else. But in time, I got excited as I thought about giving a friend something I hoped he would like. I think I bought him a couple of Hot Wheels cars, because Hot Wheels were the Bomb in those days for young boys! When he opened my present, he got excited, and I remember feeling good about giving someone something. That was the beginning of my journey from being focused on getting to being focused on giving.
It was around this age that I got to know more about Jesus, that he loved me and in great mercy had given up his life for me. I wasn’t sure exactly what that all meant, but I was compelled by it. I began to hear the stories of his life and of his teachings in Sunday school and from my mother. As I got to know and love Jesus, much like Matthew and Zachaeus, I felt compelled to do something. I heard there was a new members' class being led by the pastor, Rev. Charles Link, and I attended as an 11-year-old. Rev. Link welcomed me into the class just like Jesus would have and treated me like the other adults in the room. So, on December 16th, 1973, I decided to let Jesus into my heart in front of the congregation of Rancho Cordova Presbyterian Church. My focus on giving versus getting grew from this moment on.
As a teenager, I gave back to Jesus by working with kids in a church summer program. I gave back to my church by agreeing to serve as an elder at age 15. I gave back to Jesus even more when I eventually accepted the call to be a youth group leader, which in time led to my first full-time church job as a youth director and, eventually, to my call to ministry as a full-time pastor.
Now, admittedly, I still like to get things from others. I still love unwrapping something under the Christmas tree that is for me. Yet even at Christmas, I love to give back to others. I often ask folks to give me something at Christmas in honor of Jesus and his giving to me. So, a gift from Heifer International or the Presbyterian Giving catalog (as opposed to the Sears Christmas catalog, which sadly does not exist any longer), where those in need receive a flock of chicks or some other gift that gives back, is just as good as unwrapping a Buffalo Bills Josh Allen jersey or classic old video game! Thanks to my encounters with Jesus, I am increasingly learning to respond to his gift of mercy by giving, as I follow him each day.
Although Maya Angelou was never officially appointed as the U.S. Poet Laureate by the Library of Congress, in 1993 she was widely recognized as the first African American poet laureate of the United States in an unofficial, honorary sense during the presidency of President Clinton. When it comes to giving versus getting, Angelou wrote, “I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.”
Like Matthew, like Zachaeus, we are called to respond in faith to Christ’s mercy extended to us and give. May you, too, respond by looking for worthy causes in our church and community, giving and liberating your souls as you follow Christ. Alleluia. Amen.
