Today we’re continuing our Advent journey, continuing with the same KEY WORD as last week – RELUCTANT – but thinking about that through the lens, the story of a different KEY PERSON > today that person is Zacchaeus, the short-statured tax collector from the gospel of Luke (19:1-10).
So what do we see in this story, how do we see Jesus at work here, how can we learn more about who Jesus is, this Jesus we’re getting ready to celebrate coming to be among us in only a few weeks’ time…
Few key things to pull out here >
Zacchaeus – a name which means ‘innocent,’ far cry from his reputation as a dodgy tax collector – ‘wants to see Jesus.’ He WANTS TO SEE HIM, this is a key point for us in the season of Advent we’re going to look into a bit more in a few weeks time.
Jesus uses his name, he knows who he is! They haven’t met before but Jesus knows his name! And not only that, he’s inviting himself round for dinner! Jesus breaks down barriers in an instant here.
And Zacchaeus responds by saying he will ‘right all of his wrongs,’ he will give away possessions and payback people he says he may have cheated in the past
And Jesus says ‘salvation has come to this house’ – isn’t that the best thing that could ever come to your house! Then he says why, because he has come to ‘seek and save the lost.’
So there’s all that, but there’s another key point that helps us understand HOW Jesus does these things, and WHY he does these things:
Jesus says Zacchaeus is a ‘son of Abraham.’
Simple but profound line that we’re also going to come back to in a few weeks’ time, but there’s another aspect to this story, an important point for context, and a representation of our theme of RELUCTANCE going on here > who’s RELUCTANT here?
The people, the people who see all this happen, they’re the ones who are reluctant, about who Jesus says he is and why he does what he does.
The people have questions about this Jesus, they are critical of him.
They don’t believe what he’s saying, what he says he’s going to do.
They judge him, what are the words used here: ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’‘
It’s an amazing line isn’t it, how could he do that, how could he visit – let alone even associate with – this ‘lower-form of people’ known as sinners…
Does any of this sound familiar to you, to us today?
This way of thinking, this perspective that the people have, this reluctance to believe, to trust, to have faith in this Jesus?
It might be hard for us to admit – one of the reasons we practice it week in week out when we confess our sins in our time of worship together – to admit that we have been just like these people were. No better than those who would look down on other people, who would say ‘that person is not good enough,’ these sinners are not good enough, so we’ve got nothing for them and we have nothing to do with them.
We heard John the Baptist’s strong words for these sorts of people in our gospel reading today: ‘You brood of vipers’ he says! He’s not mincing words, he’s not avoiding the issue is he!
People who are quick to point the finger at others doing the wrong thing, but have forgotten they need to look in the mirror! They need to become aware of their own sin, it’s not enough to point out the sin of others. God is the judge of that, we are called not to be judges but to be servants – but we forget that part pretty quick don’t we.
We know this, but we all make the mistake of judging others while not holding ourselves to the same standards. We judge others, we look down on others, and in doing so we even judge Jesus, we even question and doubt and criticize the Saviour of the world, who comes not to hang out with people who’ve got it all sorted but to ‘be the guest of sinners.’ What sort of God is this?!
This is a God who goes TO people in need, not away from them. It’s in Jesus’ words today: he ‘came to seek and save the lost.’
If someone asks you ‘why did Jesus come into the world,’ that’s your answer! To seek and to save the lost – and who are the lost? We know this too – that’s us, we’re the lost ones, the ones who have got it wrong, the ones who need God’s help.
It is SO important for us to have this front of mind in our walk as Christian people. Many other things can come and go about church and being Christian, many changes happen in the course of our lives, but it is SO important for us to know deeply what this is all about:
We are lost, and Jesus comes to find us. We are called to find others, not judge them or belittle them or look down on them as if they aren’t good enough for God. If God hadn’t sought us out and found us, we wouldn’t be here.
I wouldn’t be here if God hadn’t sought me out and called me, and it’s the same for you. None of us would be here if God hadn’t sent his Son to find us, to welcome us in, to call us home, to save us from our sin and to walk with us on the journey.
We’re going to look again at the story of Zaccheaus in a few weeks time as we get closer to Christmas, as we start to shift from reluctance to expectation > that’s the movement here, that’s the journey we’re going on through the eyes and the lens of these two interesting bible characters.
To round out today let’s take another look at what we heard in our second reading, words we said together at the start of our service today too – Romans 15:4 >
‘For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.’
All these things we hear in God’s word, all these stories and people and perspectives, all the stories of Jesus’ life and ministry, this is what it’s for > Paul sums it up beautifully, and we add in Jesus words about Zacchaeus and see what we end up with:
God’s word is there to teach us, so we can learn, so we can be encouraged through endurance, for what?
So we might have HOPE. One of our Advent words of course, hope that goes along with peace, love and joy.
And what is that HOPE?
That Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, all those who are lost and need a Saviour, just like you and me.
Hope in Jesus who would take his people from reluctant to expectant, from hopeless to hopeful, from weary sinner to forgiven child.
Serious hope to hear about this Advent //
Tom Kitson 