Luke 19:1-10
- Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.
- A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
- He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd.
- So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
- When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
- So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
- All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ “
- But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “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.”
- Jesus said to him, “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.”
The story of Zacchaeus is one of the most well-known stories of the bible. It was also my favorite story when I was young. Since this story is so familiar, it seems there is no room for a new interpretation of the story, as the story line of the main character’s passion, repentance and salvation frequently appears throughout the bible. However, when you read the bible, especially when you encounter a well-known story again, you should consider it as God’s word that illuminates you at the moment, not as a book that simply records the past. As you discard your prejudice toward the bible, your faith grows, and your life experiences get accumulated, the bible will be newly interpreted for you within your current living place.
Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector in Jericho. Because tax collectors were appointed by the Roman Empire, they were considered to work for the Roman Empire, not for Jews, and therefore they were hated as betrayers by Jews. One day, Zacchaeus heard that Jesus would pass by Jericho, and climbed up a tree to see him. Upon seeing Zacchaeus, Jesus said he would stay at Zacchaeus’ house. Then Zacchaeus said to Jesus that he would give half of his possessions to the poor, and pay back whatever he had cheated four times the amount. Jesus proclaimed a salvation to Zacchaeus (9-10)
Salvation
Brothers and sisters, which part do you think is most important out of the ten verses of today’s reading? Zacchaeus climed a sycamore-fig tree? I must stay at your house today? I give half of my possessions to the poor? No. The core sentence is “Today salvation has come to this house” in verse 9. That proclaim of Jesus is the conclusion and core of the whole story. Now I would like to talk about the nature of the salvation that Jesus proclaimed here.
First, let us think about how Zacchaeus lived after he had met Jesus. Do you think he was free from all the sufferings and pains of life afterwards? Although the bible does not record his entire life, we can guess that he must have suffered from diseases, and had conflicts with his family. Probably he must have been treated in the same way as before by Jews as long as he worked as tax collector. In sum, he must have experienced all kinds of human experiences, as human, even after he got salvation from Jesus.
Jesus’ salvation is apocalyptic; anyone who lives in history cannot help but being imperfect even if he gets salvation. His salvation is not something that’s realized at the present but something that will be fulfilled in the future. It is not something human can perceive but something that transcends human perception. In theological terms, the kingdom of God has already come upon us, but is still coming. That is, salvation must be interpreted within the dialectic picture of human history and God’s transcendental world.
Today I don’t want to go deeply into the theological interpretation, but I’d like to understand the meaning of his salvation, and the reason why Jesus proclaimed salvation at Zacchaeus’s place. Let us take a look at the moment of Jesus’ announcement “Today salvation has come to this house”. It was right after Zacchaeus said that he would give up half of his possession. Many people in fact have interpreted that it was Zacchaeus’ repentance that brought his salvation. His act was actually very ethical and evaluated as a good deed that’s worth salvation.
However, it goes against the nature of Jesus’ gospel to say that Zacchaeus’ good act motivated Jesus’ proclaim of salvation, because salvation is not a reward from a good deed. As in Romans 1:16, salvation is the power and grace of God, but not the result of good deeds of human. In fact, to interpret salvation as the result of good deeds was the main idea of Medieval church. The wrong idea of Medieval church had to be turned over by the Lutheran reformation which was based on the truth that salvation is solely God’s grace in Romans 1:15.
The crowd who were muttering
Then why did Jesus proclaim salvation at Zacchaeus‘ house? What would have been his motivation? To answer that question, note that Jesus was saying toward not only Zacchaeus but also the crowd surrounding him. They are the people who gathered to see Jesus when he arrived in Jericho. They are also the people who began to mutter when they heard Jesus saying he would stay at Zacchaeus‘ house in verse 7. There were also people who rebuked the blind man and told him to be quiet in the previous chapter (18: 39). Those people criticized Jesus whever Jesus was seeking the poor, the sick and the alienated.
People tend to not accept other people with their own ideas and principles. They also tend to treat other people with animosity or indifference. They claim to do so in order to protect themselves, just like the muttering crowd. To them, the teaching of Jesus was very different from what they had been taught, and the act of Jesus looked off the mark according to their own standards. I’d like to label the mind of those people as the mind of a closed world.
Similar phenomena keep happening today as well. Sometimes, prejudiced and self-righteous believers are considered as faithful ones. As a preacher, I sometimes feel that many people want to hear what they want to hear, rather than try to follow God’s word that guides and corrects their life. This kind of “exclusivity” makes the faith and teaching of Christianity something biased and narrow-minded.
In today’s scripture reading, Jesus describes his duty as in “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost”. What he said was completely contradictory to what people believed at that time. According to the Jewish traditional ideas, salvation must come to the righteous like the Pharisees, not to sinners such as Zacchaeus. Also, the Son of Man in Jewish belief was supposed to save the Israelites, but Jesus was saying that he came to seek and to save what was lost.
God’s salvation occurs beyond human ideas and expectations. God sees wrong all those attempts to confine God’s salvation within a humanistic frame. In contrast, those who give themselves in for the work of God have true belief, and they live in “the open world” of the kingdom of God. This is the conflict that’s happening in Zacchaeus’ place. The conflict between the closed world of the crowd and the open world of faith that’s realized by the sinner Zacchaeus. Jesus saw in the heart of Zacchaeus his openness and faith, and he finally proclaimed salvation.
It’s not easy to open our mind to the work of the kingdom of God, as humans don’t deny themselves easily. Salvation is God’s grace, blessing and power that comes upon those who open their heart to God. I pray that all of you eagerly respond to God’s invitation to his open world. Amen.