Reading: Luke 19:1-10
Judea was ruled as part of the province of Syria, after Pompey’s invasion of 63 BC. Roman rule became much more severe over Judea in the year 6 AD, and it was to be directly ruled by Rome, with taxation for the benefit of the occupier.
Taxation in Judea was taken both by the temple authorities and by Rome separately. Nehemiah introduced an annual tax for running the temple. It eventually became a half shekel tax – 2 days wages. The tax covered the cost of sacrifices and incense.
In the northern city of Capernaum (K’far Nahum, “village of comfort”) men came to Peter asking, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?” Jesus sent Peter to the sea and throw in a hook, taking the first fish. Inside its mouth would be a coin. Jesus said, “Take that and give it to them for Me and you.” (Matthew 17:24-27) There is in the Sea of Galilee, a popular fish called “St Peter’s fish.” It has a pouch near the mouth, and is attracted to bright objects. Maybe one of these fish provided the temple tax for two!
But what about Roman taxation in Judea? A tax collector was called (in Latin) a publicanus – we get the word publican from this. Rich Jews vied to be tax collectors for the Empire in Judea. The highest bidder got the post. They had to pay the tax in advance to Rome, then make their living, to they decided on the charges, which could be severe, and in value up to 3 weeks work for Rome each year.
At an earlier time, when John the Baptist was preaching a baptism of repentance by the Jordan river, tax collectors approached him, asking, “Teacher, what shall we do?” John knew of their tendency to cheat. So, he warned them, “Do not intimidate anyone nor accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”
Poorer people often felt cheated. The inevitable view of the people was that tax collectors were unclean. As they were rich to begin with, maybe some of them didn’t care. People do not always care what others think of them if they have all that they think they need in this life. And is that because people think also that it does not matter what God thinks of them?
So, the tax collectors were extremely unpopular, and in most cases, rightly so. In Matthew-Levi 18:17, Jesus told the disciples concerning someone who caused offence but remained unrepentant before individuals and then the church, that person was to be regarded as a heathen and a tax collector.
It is in Matthew 9:11 that we are informed of the Pharisees questioning the disciples about Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners. So this tells us that when Jesus came to Judea and ministered, He deliberately spent quality time having meals with those regarded as the worst in society.
Now we come to look at our text. Jesus came and passed through Jericho. It was ancient then – one of the world’s oldest cities. It is the lowest city in the world, at 846 feet below sea level. And it has an extremely hot desert climate. Jericho, the city of palm trees – was the home of 12,000 priests (Cohenim) and Levites, who maintained the work of the Temple in Jerusalem. And Jericho was the world’s most productive centre of balsam. In the valley of Jericho near the Jordan river, the balsam grew in the dark areas below masses of palm trees, thriving in the extreme heat. Balsam was rare and valuable, because of its aroma. Back in 65 BC, Pompey took specimens to Rome, while during the Roman Jewish war beginning in AS 66, Titus took samples to Rome in triumph. So, for anyone involved in tax collecting, here were rich pickings available! Jesus had already called a chief tax collector, Matthew-Levi, based at Capernaum, on the road from Damascus to the Great Sea (the Mediterranean), to be one of his disciples.
Luke draws our attention to the fact that here in Jericho, with its balsam plants growing in gardens. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector there, and he was rich. This man had a good name and a terrible reputation. Zacchaeus means “pure, innocent.” He made money, especially from the balsam trade, and had charge over other tax collectors.
Zacchaeus had everything in this life, but he was a short man. Here was one problem, and when Jesus was passing through, he wanted to see Jesus. Perhaps he had heard of the blind beggar who was given the miracle of healing, or heard of the words and works of the Lord. Whatever the reason, he had zeal to see Jesus. Do we have that? We always have zeal for the things that we really like. Have we zeal to know what Jesus requires of us, and wants to do for us?
Although Zacchaeus had a problem – being short of stature – he found the answer. Someone moved to see Jesus, but up against an obstacle, was not going to be defeated in this matter. So, to obtain a good view of Jesus, he climbed into a sycamore tree, knowing that the Lord would pass close by. The African sycamore tree, valued for its fruit, can grow up to 60 feet tall. This helped Zacchaeus.
Verse 5 informs us that as Jesus came close by, He looked up and saw Zacchaeus. The Lord knows all about us, and He knows if someone genuinely wants to be His. Zacchaeus now hears the voice of Jesus. Imagine hearing Jesus name you, clearly, and in a warm tone. “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” Now this was said by the divine Son of God. He deliberately invited Himself to the most disliked man in town. Zacchaeus would surely have barely had any friends, apart from his junior tax collectors. Jesus wanted people to know that He would spend quality time with a well-known – perhaps the best known – sinner in Jericho.
Here was a situation in which one person at least was very pleased – Zacchaeus – for he would have time with the Master. So, he was very joyful.
But verse 7 tells us that everyone else complained. “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” Were they right or wrong? I think that right and wrong. They were quite right that Jesus did choose to be a guest, by His own choice, with a man known to be a sinner. And the likelihood that he had cheated plenty of them with extra charges to their taxation is great. But they were wrong as well – because they thought that Jesus should not have associated with a sinner. That raises the issue of what Jesus came to this earth to achieve. Did Jesus come to visit good and respectable people, or did He come to mix with people who were poor quality? If we analyse how people responded to the Lord in His public ministry, we find that most religious people – Pharisees and Sadducees – rejected Him. They so often felt important in service to God. Very few rich people showed Him real respect. But people who did not over-value themselves, and those who had a zeal to enquire what God would want to do for Israel, these were the ones drawn to the Lord.
In about AD 55, Paul wrote to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 1:26,27), “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.”
Paul said this a decade and a half later. It gives us Paul’s observation that in the household of faith, not many mighty, wise and noble are called, but the foolish things of the world put to shame the wise. And back in Jericho, the people thought that Jesus had made rather a mistake, wanting fellowship with someone so obviously ignoble and shameful. But God’s logic is not ours, and we have to recognise that God chooses to choose and bless those who know that they must be lowly before God and men. If we do not think too highly of ourselves, but do come to see that Jesus wants to be near us and bless us, we can be usable in His service, and whatever the outside world thinks of us.
Verse 8 gives us the only quote of what Zacchaeus says on that occasion. “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor. And if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” From being a money grabber from people in his area, there is a sudden and dramatic transformation of the man. But what happened to him was a real and lasting experience for the good. Some people come to the Lord nowadays from having Christian parents, and at an early age. Some are witnessed to as adults, and believe the Bible’s analysis of themselves as sinners who need to trust Jesus, the only sin-Bearer.
I once heard a young man in a church service who, having been asked by the pastor to give his testimony, went forward and said how one day he picked up the Bible at home, read it, and believed in Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. Brief though his testimony was, that had been his genuine and lasting experience.
Vv9,10 end this portion of the Word of God. This shows that Jesus confirmed the statement of Zacchaeus to be genuine. Zacchaeus – even a chief tax collector – was saved. And Jesus was very pleased that a Jewish man was saved. “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
All of mankind is lost, and we have lost our way, and lost the ongoing blessing of God, because of being sinners like Adam. But if we act like the big sinner Zacchaeus and give our lives to Jesus, then we will be forgiven and be able to come under the blessing of the only Saviour of lost mankind.