Sermons from Moorpark Presbyterian Church

Louie DePalma Threads the Needle

by Dave Wilkinson

Luke 19:1-10

"Zacchaeus was a wee little man

And a wee little man was he.

He climbed way up in a sycamore tree,

For the Lord he wanted to see ...."

We can have fun with the story of Zacchaeus. But it’s very serious. In Luke, it is Jesus last personal encounter before his arrival in Jerusalem and the events leading to his death. The final line gives the purpose of Jesus' ministry: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Saving the lost is what Jesus is all about.

The salvation of Zacchaeus is connected to the two events that immediately precede it in Luke’s Gospel. The healing of the blind beggar -- the deliverance there of a man lost in blindness and poverty -- corresponds to the deliverance of a man lost in wealth and corruption. The connection to the story before that - - the story of the rich young ruler is also clear. The salvation of a rich man is there stated is humanly impossible -- "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" The impossible now takes place in the salvation of rich little Zacchaeus.

Nobody likes Zacchaeus. When they saw him oiling down the sidewalk they crossed to the other side of the street. He is short, rich, smart, corrupt -- a first century counterpart of Danny DeVito’s character Louie DePalma from "Taxi." That’s the image I want you to keep in your mind.

The tax collectors are a despicable bunch. They are actually using the oppression of their own people for profit. The Roman government's policy is to tax all the provinces under its control, and these tax collectors are Jewish citizens who take advantage of that taxation -- getting a commission on all of the taxes they collect for the government and pocketing altogether what they collect beyond their government quota.

From a tax-collecting perspective, Zacchaeus had it made. Taxes were collected at three places inland -- Capernaum, Jericho, and Jerusalem -- and he had one of the big three. Jericho had a commanding position at the crossing of the Jordan River and one of the prime approaches to Jerusalem. And Jericho was rich due to its great palm forests and balsam groves. As chief tax collector Zacchaeus was head of a tax-farming corporation with collectors who extorted from the people, then paid him before he paid the Romans. He was the kingpin of the Jericho tax cartel and had the scruples of a modern-day crack dealer. He was filthy rich in the fullest sense of the term. Not a likely candidate for the kingdom!

And, of course, he was hated. In the eyes of his countrymen, his littleness was more than physical. He was a despised nobody. Some of the locals would have liked to see if they could put him through the eye of a needle -- "squeezed out," as C. S. Lewis put it, "in one long bloody thread from tail to snout." But he had Roman power behind him, so nobody could touch him.

Jesus is coming through the ancient city of Jericho on the way to Jerusalem.

Jesus meets Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus is fascinated with Jesus. He figures out which way Jesus is going to come through town, and he works it out so he can be there. He climbs a sycamore tree and settle into a secure, comfortable perch with leaves to protect him. Nobody will see him now -- certainly not the Pharisees and the other who are always bugging the tax collectors.

Zacchaeus finds himself in a jam. Like many other people he wants to see Jesus. He wants to hear Jesus speak. But he want to see Him and he wants to hear him on His own terms -- from the safety of his tree. We are often the same way. We want a good view of Jesus but we want it form a safe distance. That's what Zacchaeus wants. And everything is going along quite well until he gets more than he bargained for. That's what happens. He is sitting in the tree, the leaves cover him. He has his 35 millimeter camera with the telephoto lens from the tax revenues. He has his cassette recorder with the directional mike also from the tax revenues. He is a rich man. He has everything he needs. He wants to look down and see Jesus.

Let's go inside Zacchaeus' head for a moment. We can hear him muttering to himself, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if He would stop just below the tree at a perfect camera angle. Maybe He'll get into one of his famous dialogues with the Pharisees. I'd love to see Him put them down again! Maybe He'll be talking with the disciples, or perhaps some sick people will come along and He will heal them. That would be interesting too. I wish I'd brought my video recorder — I wish they’d been inventeed."

Maybe that's all he wants out of this. He wants to see all that he can see on the best possible terms. But maybe, just maybe, he wants a lot more. He’s heard more about Jesus than just that He as power. He hopes that Jesus might actually have something for him.

Philip Yancey writes in The Jesus I Never Knew: "Unlike most men I know, Jesus loved to praise other people. When He worked a miracle, He often deflected credit back on the recipient: "Your faith has healed you." He called Nathanael "a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." Of John the Baptist, He said there was none greater born of women. Volatile Peter He renamed "the Rock." When a cringing woman offered him an extravagant act of devotion, Jesus defended her against critics and said the story of her generosity would be told forever.

"The Gospels show that Jesus quickly established intimacy with the people He met. Whether talking with a woman at a well, a religious leader in a garden, or a fisherman by a lake, He cut instantly to the heart of the matter and after a few brief lines of conversation these people revealed to Jesus their innermost secrets. People of his day tended to keep rabbis and "holy men" at a respectful distance, but Jesus drew out something else, a hunger so deep that people crowded around him just to touch his clothes..

"Jesus was "the man for others," in Bonhoeffer's fine phrase. He kept Himself free -- free for the other person. He would accept almost anybody's invitation to dinner, and as a result no public figure had a more diverse list of friends, ranging from rich people, Roman centurions, and Pharisees to tax collectors, prostitutes, and leprosy victims. People liked being with Jesus; where He was, joy was."

It is possible that Zaccaheus has heard one particular story that would touch his own heart. Perhaps he had heard of the conversion of another tax collector named Levi. We call him St. Matthew. He was now one of Jesus' followers. Perhaps he had even known Levi. Palestine was a small place, and tax collectors would have naturally hung out together. Because Jesus had ministered to Levi and others of his crowd, he had irked the religious establishment and was known as a friend of "tax collectors and sinners." For Zacchaues, that reputation is just maybe an open door.

It is also very likely that Zacchaeus had found his wealth and lifestyle unsatisfying. A sense of unease made every pleasure unfulfilling. Nothing lasted. This same lack of satisfaction is what drew St. Augustine to Christ, as he wrote in retrospect to God: "You were always present, angry and merciful at once, strewing the pangs of bitterness over all my lawless pleasures to lead me on to look for others unallied with pain" Like Augustine, Zacchaeus was drawn by the severe mercy of dissatisfaction.

Also, it is very probable that Zacchaeus was weary of being hated by his people. When people hassled him, he gave as good as he got, but he was miserable. The relentless contempt of his people left him desolate and alone.

When Jesus stopped by the sycamore tree, hidden Zacchaeus would have naturally tensed, maybe even experienced a quick sweat. And then sheer terror gripped his soul as Jesus (and the crowd) lifted His eyes. Zacchaeus braced himself to be a further spectacle of ridicule -- especially when Jesus called him by name. But in Jesus' use of his personal name there was a hint of grace, because the same all-knowing eyes that earlier had seen Nathanael under a fig tree and discerned his guileless character now saw Zacchaeus and his guilty character, and Jesus called him, just as he had called Nathanael, to Himself. As Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus' home, He did not say, "I would like to stay at your house;' but "I must stay." Jesus regarded his encounter with Zacchaeus as a divine mission. His seeking Zacchaeus was a work of sovereign grace.

The crossing of their lives at the sycamore was a work of divine providence. The camel was about to go through the eye of a needle!

Zacchaeus knew he was a thief and oppressor. Years before, he stopped trying to be anything more or better. He knew right from wrong. His conscience, though marred and numb, could remember that he wasn't treating people fairly. He had succumbed, given in, quit trying to be more than he was. If everyone called him a sinner, he might as well be a sinner.

But Jesus called him not a sinner. Jesus called Zacchaeus to Himself. Jesus invited him to be a student, a disciple, and a companion. No one had invited Zacchaeus to anything of a better life in decades. Wholesome dreams for him had ended about the sixth grade.

Zacchaeus change? Impossible! Except for one thing -- he was sought out by Jesus.

To the crowd's amazement, off strode Jesus as the half-pint kingpin of the Jericho tax machine hurried alongside. Jesus and his disciples would spend the night there according to Palestinian custom. And sometime during that stay, probably after much discussion and prayer, a little big man would formally stand and declare for all Jericho to hear, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." .

Earl Palmer writes: "What Zacchaeus runs into -- and what changes his life -- is the acceptance of Jesus. Zacchaeus becomes inwardly healed and, therefore, outwardly ethical. That's the biblical norm. When a person's life is touched by the grace of Christ it will show up in the way he or she behaves."

For starters, Zacchaeus gave 50 percent of everything he had to the poor. This went far beyond the normal requirement of 20 percent of one's income. And then, from the remaining 50 percent he pledged to make restitution to the tune of four times the amount of what he had extorted. He had cheated many people, and now he placed his entire fortune in jeopardy to make things right. In effect, he lived out the command that had earlier caused the rich ruler so much grief: "Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me" (18:22). He was walking through the eye of a needle and living to tell about it.

Zacchaeus is saved. Jesus announces that salvation has come to his house. But let us also look at the cost. It wasn’t free.

In verse 7, Luke writes: "and when the people around Jesus saw it they all began to grumble, saying, "he has gone into be the guest of a man who is a sinner."

This is an interesting verse. When Jesus healed the paralytic who was let down through the roof and then forgave his sine, it says that the pharisees and the scribes murmured at Him saying, "who is this that forgives sins. Only God can forgive sins." We have numerous accounts where either the Pharisees, scribes, lawyers or Sadducees murmured at Jesus. Even the disciples of John the Baptist are said to have murmured. But now we have a text where they all murmured -- that means the disciples too! Everyone is upset with Jesus -- maybe even Matthew who thought that one saved tax collector was enough — or maybe Matthew knew better than anyone else what Zacchaeus had done.

Jesus stops beneath the tree where Zacchaeus is hiding and the disciples and all Jericho hug themselves in anticipation. Maybe Jesus will zap the whole tree. Or maybe he will give Zacchaeus a good tongue lashing -- "I see you up there Zacchaeus. To bad for you tax collector! You betrayer of Israel. You oppressor of the masses." That's what he was. He deserved every bit of holy hell that Jesus could give him. Or maybe Jesus could have just said, "I see you in the tree Zacchaeus:" and left it there. Then everyone could have laughed at foolish, found-out Zacchaeus.

Jesus could have sealed his popularity with the people with any of those actions. But they way He actually finished the sentence offended them all. "I'm glad I found you up in the tree Zacchaeus. I must come and spend the night in your home."

Some commentators suggest that this was the last straw for the nationalistic Judas --the event that led him to go make his deal with the chief priest to betray Jesus. Zacchaeus gains ground. But Jesus loses ground. Zacchaeus passed through the eye of a needle not as a "long bloody thread from tail to snout" but because of the blood of Jesus.

"Today," Jesus says to Zacchaeus, "salvation has come to your house." But Jesus pays a price for that salvation -- a price He pays willingly because, as verse 10 records, Jesus said that his mission was to seek and to save the lost. Jesus has far more in mind for Zacchaeus that Zacchaeus had in mind for himself. But that's the way salvation always is.

Mother Teresa visited Phoenix in 1989 to open a home for the destitute. During her brief visit, she was interviewed by KTAR, the largest radio station in town. In a private moment, the announcer asked Mother Teresa if there was anything he could do for her. He was expecting her to request a contribution or media help to rise money for the new home. Instead she replied: "Yes there is. Find somebody nobody else loves, and love them."

She learned that from Jesus.

We are all familiar with the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But there is another gospel which also has much to teach us. This is the "Gospel According to the Enemies of Jesus." It was men who hated Jesus who called Him the "friend of sinners’ But that name, meant in insult, is very comforting to me because that’s who I am — a sinner. And I really need a friend.