Zacchaeus
We are not told in this passage regarding
Zacchaeus that he was doing anything illegal.
It was common for tax-collectors to increase their collections and live
off the difference between what the Roman government expected and what they
actually collected. We don’t know that
Zacchaeus was doing this; however we do know that he was rich and he does
promise to restore the defrauded fourfold.
Whether we are told about it or not, there is likely some sinful
behavior of which he had become convicted as he met Jesus.
Here we have our first lesson of the
day. The true believer is convicted of
sin. We can all try to bury sin for a
while; but the true follower of Christ will be eaten away by the knowledge that
a part of their life is in rebellion against God. Again, this doesn’t imply perfection because
we all have sin in our life. But it does
imply an attitude of repentance. The
true believer cannot help but confess.
Like a Child
The next thing that we see with this
Zacchaeus story is that his attitude is like a little child. Zacchaeus is a rich and therefore a powerful
man, but he acts different than his status would indicate. What rich man runs to see anyone? What rich person climbs a tree? No, the rich assume that important things will
come to them. Zacchaeus demonstrates a
very important point to those who desire to be a disciple of Christ. We are all spiritually poor. None of us are too good to run to Jesus. None of us are too good to climb a tree to
get a better look at Christ. The true
disciple does whatever it takes to get close to Christ. The true disciple doesn’t sit in their house
waiting for Christ to come to them; the true disciple leaves his home and runs
to wherever Christ happens to be.
Change Is a Part of the Process
The last thing that we learn from
Zacchaeus is that Christ changes the true disciple. We run to Christ and He makes us confront our
sin; then we change. Zacchaeus was
wealthy in the world but poor in Christ – until he met Christ. Then this wealthy man becomes truly rich in
response to Christ. We are not saved by
our works, but we work because we are saved!
Zacchaeus is willing to part with his wealth because Christ has changed
him. Zacchaeus wants to change because
the Spirit now lives within him.
Servants and Business
The parable that follows the story of
Zacchaeus must not be confused with the parable of the talents from Matthew
25:14-30. There are several significant
differences. In Luke, there are ten
servants who each receive the same amount but receive a different reward. In Matthew there are three servants who each
receive different amounts but those who are rewarded receive the same
reward. I’ll not discuss the relevancy
of these differences in the main blog post, but if someone wants to do so in
the comments section I’d be happy to talk about it!
In Luke’s parable we have each servant
given a mina (a little more than three month’s wage) and they are told to do
business. They could invest it
themselves or even give it to bankers for interest. Whatever they chose to do, they are commanded
to do business. Thus we have the trouble
when the third servant is brought back and who has done nothing with it except
protect it. The master gave a specific
order and the servant disobeyed that order.
The mina was not to be protected, it was to be used!
So it is with our faith. So many of us are content to keep our faith
secure in our heart. No! God can keep our faith secure; we need not
worry about it. Go out into the
world. Talk to people about God. Make yourself vulnerable to ridicule and
rejection. Trust that God will keep you
safe – if not physically safe then definitely eternally safe! God does not want us to build up walls to
keep our faith “secure” if it means not interacting with the world.
In this respect, I am eternally
grateful to God for giving me the parents that He gave to me. My parents did a phenomenal job making their
faith open to me knowing that I would ask them some pretty tough
questions. And I did, believe you
me! But the vulnerability of my parents’
faith fostered my faith. There were a
few – but not many – other people who truly impacted my faith with a genuinely open
and vulnerable faith life. But that’s
what God is talking about here. Parents,
dive into faith with your kids.
Teachers, dive into faith with students.
Pastors, dive into faith with “the flock.” Friends, dive into faith with your
friends. Just do it!
I’ll not miss the warning given here,
either. The servant who kept his mina
secure ended up losing his mina. It
isn’t just the case of “gaining different rewards;” it is actually the case of
“gaining different rewards or choosing to lose everything in the end.” The last thing I want to do is to hear God
say to me at the time of judgment: “Why didn’t you do anything with the faith I
put within you? Therefore I will take it
from you. Depart from me.” That would be horrible! I don’t mean to scare people, but it is one
of the points of this parable. Charles
Spurgeon even said of this parable: “We must either make progress or else lose
what we have attained. There is no such thing as standing still in
religion.” So I urge us, let’s do
something with our faith besides keep it locked up safe in our heart!
Peace
This post is already getting long and I
have more to cover. So I will shorten my
reflection on the triumphal entry to a single comment. I’ve never paid attention to the cries within
the crowd for “Peace in heaven.” But
that’s what they say: peace in heaven.
There is no peace on earth; and as long as people reject God there will
not be peace on earth. But through
Christ there is the possibility of peace with God. That’s really neat. We cannot have peace with each other on
account of sin, but we can have peace with God and those who are God’s people.
Of course, it is this idea of peace
that connects to Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem.
Because they do not recognize this peace offering in Christ, they will
suffer violence. Jerusalem will be
surrounded and destroyed – again. Those
who reject God choose to embrace the violence of the world alone. At least those who receive God know that they
face the violence of the world with God!
Den of Theives
And this propels Jesus to cleanse the
Temple. God’s house has become a den of
robbers. People rob the masses of money
in converting their money to buy sacrifices.
People rob the masses of true faith in their false teaching. The “religious” are often more in the
business of robbing and stripping the masses than they are in the business of
preaching and teaching truth. That is
indeed something to mourn.
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment