Go climb a tree

WOULD YOU CLIMB A TREE FOR JESUS?

Perhaps a silly question…perhaps not. Would you climb a tree for Jesus…really would you? That is what Zacchaeus did. And the results were, what I pray you have come to expect, that Jesus meets Zacchaeus.

I write, “I pray you have come to expect…” because as we have been reading Luke we certainly have gotten used to the disciples struggling to understand what it means to follow Jesus. We see the repeated predictability of  the religious of the day…they are like the chorus of a song…repeating and repeating their objections, all the while their hatred growing. We should now be noticing the way Jesus speaks to “people in the crowds” who call out to him that they are his fans (he wants followers not fans).

So I write “I pray you have come to expect…” that anytime anyone makes an effort to seek Jesus with a genuine interest…Jesus responds.

Read through the story and then I will offer a few closing thoughts.

Jesus and Zacchaeus

19 He entered Jericho and was passing through. ² And there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. ³ And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small of stature. ⁴ So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.⁵ And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”⁶ So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. ⁷ And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” ⁸ And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” ⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The Parable of the Ten Minas

¹¹ As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. ¹² He said therefore, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.¹³ Calling ten of his servants^] he gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’ ¹⁴ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ ¹⁵ When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. ¹⁶ The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’¹⁷ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant!  Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’¹⁸ And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’¹⁹ And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ ²⁰ Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; ²¹ for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ ²² He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? ²³ Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ ²⁴ And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ ²⁵ And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ ²⁶ ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ²⁷ But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”

The parable of the ten minas is a bit intense, but consider it alongside of Zacchaeus. In Zacchaeus we see the result of someone responding to Jesus and his love. To emphasize how strongly, how completely, Zacchaeus responds, we need to notice some details. He was a “chief tax collector”. What does that mean? It means he was a crook…and a very good one. The Romans would “hire” Jewish people to collect taxes from their kinsman and then give that money to them, the Romans. So if you are Jew, you do not like tax collectors. They are traitors serving the opposition. To make matters worse, the Romans did not pay these tax collectors. To make a living they had to charge “more tax”. These “higher taxes” were often a function of the effectiveness (or ruthlessness) of each individual tax collector. Hear again the complaint from the religious of the day, “He eats with tax collectors.” Consider anew that he called Matthew, a tax collector, as one of his trusted 12.

Now Zacchaeus, well the text reads, “…he was a chief tax collector and was rich.” Do you get the picture! Jesus goes and stays out his house. Consider Zacchaeus response. “If I have defrauded anyone, I pay them back fourfold”. “If” really “if”…he is a tax collector…he has defrauded many…and it is “tax refund” day!

Zacchaeus shows us what it means to “serve in response” to Jesus. The parable of the ten minas shows us what happens when fear creeps in…or even worse…when there is direct rejection…so at the end of all this…I tend to say… “go climb a tree for Jesus.”