All Saints Sunday &

Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost-November 04, 2007

(Preached at Providence Lutheran Church, Holland, Ohio

by Pastor Dennis R. King)

"What a View!"

(Luke 19:1-10)

The grace and mercy of our Lord, Jesus Christ be with you.

There is a story, a true story, even though it may sound a little strange. However, I know it is true because it has a teller who was there. It is a story about a person who was getting ready to paint their front porch. She did not want to get any paint on the floor of her porch. So she went to great detail to take two-sided sticky tape, and tape it all the way around the porch. Then she went in to get a piece of plastic which she was going to stick to that tape. But while she was gone (something distracted her for a while) the tape that she had meticulously put in place disappeared. She was puzzled. Who would take all of her tape? Who would have taken the time to take all that tape up? Then she saw something moving in the yard. What she discovered was there in the yard was a snake. The snake had gotten stuck in the sticky tape and in the process of trying to get unstuck from the tape got more stuck. It got more stuck and more stuck until it had twirled and spun and stuck to itself. It twirled and spun some more until it had pulled off all the tape that the women had put down. The snake was in a real fix because it could not get itself unstuck from itself. So the only thing it could do was lay there and roll and spin and try to get unstuck but it could not.

To tell you the truth there are many people in this world who are like that snake. They get themselves caught in a problem and then they try to get out of it on their own and they muddle things up worse than it was before. They continue on until they have their life in such a mess that there is absolutely nothing they can do to help themselves. They are like that snake going through life rolling around trying to get unstuck from themselves. Feeling somewhat frustrated and miserable, even depressed with life, they cannot help themselves. I wonder if Zacchaeus was in that situation. Being a chief tax collector you know that he did his job well. When I say he did his job well, I mean he brought a lot of money in as he went about collecting taxes. He was probably spoken well of in Rome as one of the best tax collectors. Zacchaeus knew how to collect taxes. He also knew how to skim a little off the top to put in his own pockets. He knew what the Roman authorities would like to receive so he worked hard not only in deceiving them but also the common people. No doubt he over taxed people and considered it to be his job. Zacchaeus was not very well liked. I do not know how well you would like someone from the IRS, if they came to your door, especially, if they wanted your taxes in cash now? I suspect a farmer would say, "Well it is out there in the field...I haven’t earned it yet.” But the tax collector would demand, “Oh no, I want it today!" You most likely would have to sell something to scrape together enough money to pay. (Those taxes in Zacchaeus day may have been as high as fifty or sixty percent.) Zacchaeus wanted to be paid now. Zacchaeus was a sinner. His sins were more obvious than some others because of the life-style he lived and the job that he had.

Then he heard about this Jesus. He wanted to see Jesus. You may wonder why? Why did Zacchaeus want to see Jesus? Did he just want to say that he saw him so he could tell others? “O yes, I saw him.” Did he want to see Jesus do something like perform a miracle or heal somebody? Did he want to be able to say that he was there in the presences of Jesus when he healed someone. One wonders why? Did Zacchaeus realize that his life was in such a mess and that he had lost most of his friends because of his tactics? He truly wanted some help? Did he think that this Jesus could help him? Could it be that he was troubled? His problems were overwhelming? He was discouraged and alone. Had he tried everything else using his wealth that now he was down to the very last resort? The only thing left that he could think of was to see Jesus. You could imagine Zacchaeus seeing that his opportunity was passing by him. There was Jesus. If only he could get through the crowd, he could see him. Every one in that crowd probably had their spot. They were not about to give it up for anybody else. If Zacchaeus pushed into the crowd the crowd pushed back because no one wanted to miss the opportunity to view Jesus. So Zacchaeus had to find some other means in which to see Jesus. Seeing that sycamore tree handy there, he decided that he would climb it so that he could see Jesus. Now I have climbed a few trees in my day. A sycamore tree is a nice climbing tree because one can get up about thirty feet in about thirty seconds. Sycamore trees have nice branches that are spaced just right for stepping, for pulling oneself up and for hanging on when you want to see things. And from that height it is amazing what one can see. If you remember your days in your youth or remember being in a high place looking out. What a wonderful view you have! When you are in a sycamore tree and it is the right time of the year and the leaves are on. You cannot even be seen, but you can see everybody and everything that passes your way.

One wonders? Zacchaeus climbed that tree to see Jesus but Jesus had to be looking for Zacchaeus in order to see him in that tree. Think about that fact. How often do we come to worship, how often do we come to the house of God to share our burden, our concerns and all of our troubles. Maybe sometimes we come because we are literally all stuck to ourselves, discouraged and depressed and we want to see Jesus. But Jesus is already looking for us. We have come thinking that we are going to see Him but He is already here looking for us. Think about that fact. Who sees who here? Who looks? Who really sees? Zacchaeus was looking for Jesus, but it is Jesus that sees him. It is Jesus who calls him out of that tree and says, “I am going to your house today.” It is Jesus who has a message of salvation to bring. It is Jesus who has come for that very purpose. Zacchaeus may have been looking for Jesus for the wrong reason, but Jesus was looking for Zacchaeus for the right reason that He might save him. Jesus opens the door for this sinful tax collector to come into the Kingdom so that Zacchaeus might become part of the family of God. It is a comforting thought is it not? To think that though I come to worship him, He has already found me, knows my concerns, recognizes me as I truly am and wants to open the door of the kingdom to me. Wonderful! Marvelous!

Zacchaeus went looking for Jesus, but it is Jesus who sees Zacchaeus and sets him free. It is Jesus who sees us and who wants us to live that abundant life, wants us to be free. He wants us to see Him and live with Him each and everyday. He wants us to wake up in the morning and remember whose we are and that we are in relationship with Him and that He is with us. The Kingdom of God is open to us and Jesus will help us get through each and every day. If only we would view Him, see Him there as we begin the day. He wants us to have that life and salvation. Zacchaeus may have been selfishly looking for Jesus hoping upon hope that Jesus could do something for him. But boy was he surprised when Jesus not only fulfilled his hope and desire but also transformed him, making him a new person, changing his life dramatically.

If you have been following the gospel lessons from the Gospel of Luke, during the last several Sundays you have heard read the account of the Rich Man and Lazarus, The Richer Ruler, and now Zacchaeus, the Tax Collector. In the text from the Rich Man and Lazarus, we heard that between Lazarus in the arms of Abraham and the Rich Man a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to there or there to here cannot. Then from the text of the rich ruler you we heard the words, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God! Indeed, 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.” Then we hear in Luke 18:27 that “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” Here in the Zacchaeus account Jesus says to Zacchaeus, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

Now this is the true Gospel. It sends chills down my spine. Zacchaeus was a greedy, selfish, lying tax collector and because of his lifestyle he was bound for Hell along with the rich man on the other side of the chasm from Abraham and Lazarus. It was impossible for him to save himself. But what was impossible for him was possible for God. Jesus crosses over that chasm and saves Zacchaeus bringing him salvation and life in the Kingdom of God. What was impossible for Zacchaeus because of his sin was not impossible for God to overcome.

What good news for us! No matter how sinful or how terrible we are or how far from God we are, Jesus crosses over that chasm and comes to us to save us today. This is the Gospel. Jesus desires to come to our house today. We cannot save ourselves because we are all stuck up like that snake in our sins but Jesus can free us and save us for the Kingdom. Amen.