Proper 26 C

Seeing Jesus by Means of a Tree

St. Luke 19:1-10

3 November 2013 – Redeemer

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Since this morning’s sermon is about a thieving tax collector I need to confess right away that I stole some parts of my sermon. I stole the historical information about Rome and tax collecting from Pastor Gorlitz – who writes his sermons earlier in the week than I do. Now that I’ve documented my sources it isn’t really stealing – it’s research.

Zacchaeus, tax collector, rich tax collector. If you’ve ever wondered why tax collectors were so despised let me give you that information I learned from Pastor Gorlitz. In the Roman Empire there was no property tax. There were no school levies. There was no income tax. They had one tax. About 90% of their revenue came from sales tax. There was no IRS, no bureaucracy, no 10,000 page tax code that required thousands of lawyers and accountants to decipher. There were three or four Roman Senators in charge of imperial finances. They simply looked at a given area, determined the amount of taxes needed from that area and put that amount out for contract.

So let’s suppose Senators Reid, Pelosi, Franken, and Klobucher sit down and determine that the Saint Cloud Metro area needs to generate one million dollars of revenue for the United States – if we’re imagining that the IRS is gone, we might as well wish for low taxes. Now Zacchaeus being a rich man with connections, pays that one million dollars up front for the contract to collect taxes in this region. The government is satisfied that they have their money. All Zacchaeus has to do is get his million back – so he stations his team of tax collectors on every road, path, and bike trail entering and leaving Saint Cloud. If you’re bringing goods into sell he taxes you. If you’ve loaded up your trailer full of lumber at Menards or groceries at Cash Wise he might stop you on the way out and tax you. And since the Federal Government has their money, they don’t care how much Zacchaeus collects. There is no supervision or checks and balances. Since Zacchaeus has the same heart that you and I have he will collect all that he can get, probably far more than the million he paid for tax contract.

If that wasn’t enough for people to look down on Zacchaeus remember he is also working for a foreign government. He’s collaborating with the enemy for his own good. He’s selling out his people (and stealing from them) for Rome. Tax collector, enemy collaborator and he was short. I’m guessing that because of who he was and what he did Zacchaeus’ height was also a great source of mockery and derision. You couldn’t get much lower than Zacchaeus and that fact isn’t lost on Saint Luke who records that Zacchaeus was so short he had to climb a tree just to see Jesus.

This past week in catechesis we talked about the seventh commandment. You shall not steal. One of the terms we learned under that commandment was “stewardship.” Stewardship is the belief taught in God’s Word that everything you have is a gift from God – house, home, land, animals, clothing and shoes. God gives you your daily bread, all that you need for living. You do not own anything according to the Bible. Your home – not yours. It’s God’s gift for your dwelling. Your business or employment – not yours. Work is His gift so you can make a living and serve your neighbor. Even your body is not yours to do with as you please. It too is a gift of God. When you understand what stewardship means it becomes painfully obvious that you are a Zacchaeus. You’re a cheat. You act as if God’s gifts really belong to you. You keep more than you need and give the leftovers back to God or to your neighbor. We’re all thieves – coveting what God has given to others, pouting because His gift giving isn’t fair, scheming how we might get our hands on someone else’s treasure. Because of our selfish and scheming hearts, we are petty, little people. Like Zacchaeus it is only by means of a tree that we can see Jesus.

Zacchaeus was short. He literally had to climb a tree to see Jesus. Can you imagine how this looked to the rest in the crowd? Can you picture Zacchaeus climbing that old fig tree in his $2000 Armani suit, $500 wingtip shoes, trying not to scratch his $15,000 Rolex? How humiliating? Therein lies the difference between Zacchaeus and the crowd. He had been humbled, not by his shortness, but by his sin. His money and his wealth, his stealing and cheating, had not given him life. The Jews hated him and the Romans used him. If you would have seen him you would have thought he had it all and yet Zacchaeus knew it was nothing. So it didn’t matter if he tore his suit, scuffed his shoes, or scratched his Rolex. He was seeking, as Saint Luke tells us, to see who Jesus was.

And who is Jesus? Zacchaeus would soon find out. Jesus is the God who comes for Zacchaeus. “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. Jesus is the God who comes for thieves and cheats, for stewards who confess they’ve acted like owners, for those wanted it all and ended up with nothing. Jesus is the God who comes for sinners. He is the God who comes for you.

The only way to see Jesus is to see Jesus like Zacchaeus, by means of a tree. Zacchaeus wasn’t looking for Jesus to legitimize his tax work or to give his business some PR. Zacchaeus didn’t want to add the Apostles as friends to his Facebook account. Zacchaeus was lost. He was dead. He was a sinner who knew his sin and realized his death. And then from his treetop perch Zacchaeus was invited down, but really he was invited up, up into the presence of God, up into the feast of forgiveness that Jesus delivers to sinners.

Jesus has not come to make your life easier. He didn’t come to make you feel better about yourself. He came for one reason – to seek and to save the lost. You can only see Jesus by means of a tree – the dead tree upon which He hung outside of Jerusalem. Jesus is on that tree so that we can see God. Jesus is Zacchaeus on that tree – because Zacchaeus deserves to die. He stole, cheated, collaborated with the enemy. Jesus is you on that tree – He’s taking your death. You’ve stolen from God. You’ve pretended that what He gave you was yours to do with as you please. You complained because you think you deserve more than you have. And Jesus on that tree takes it all away. He seeks you by being one with you. He saves you by taking your place in hell, under God’s judgment, in your grave with your death.

Zacchaeus welcomes Jesus joyfully to his house and Jesus is hated because of it. This is the way of God’s Kingdom. Broken and humbled sinners, sinners who have been brought low like Zacchaeus love Jesus, for in Him they have life. Jesus didn’t ask Zacchaeus for anything. Instead Jesus gave him everything – forgiveness, life, an eternal future. I wonder what the crowds thought when Zacchaeus came out with his check book and started writing out checks, big checks to the widow he robbed and the businessman he bankrupted. They probably thought he was as crazy and misguided as this Jesus guy. Jesus eats with sinners and a tax collector gives out refunds four times the amount he collected.

The story of Zacchaeus gives us another glimpse into the economy of God’s Kingdom. It is an economy that simply doesn’t work on earth. It is an economy in which a perfectly good son is killed and a thieving, cheating son is given life. It is an economy where tax collectors write big checks and where there are no records kept – forgive 70 times 7 in your marriage, with your children, even your enemy. It is an economy where there is no fear of debt or deficit because God’s supply of forgiveness cannot be exhausted. Zacchaeus gives more than he owes, even as Christians forgive those who trespass against us, even as Christ on that tree forgave us more than we could ever count or measure. There’s no counting in God’s economy, there are only gifts immeasurable, forgiveness and salvation for Zacchaeus and for you in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Pr. Bruce Timm

2 November 2013 anno Domini