The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Ephphatha Parish of the Deaf
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY
If you met an important, powerful person, do you think it would change your life? (pause a moment to let people think)
Or...suppose you never expected to meet that important, powerful person, and all of a sudden, that important and powerful person came directly to you and asked to come to visit you! Would THAT make a difference in your life? (pause a moment to let people think)
You might be sitting at your desk at work and all of a sudden the President of the United States comes into the room, comes straight over to your desk, and asks, May I come home and have dinner with you? How would you feel then? How would that change your life? (pause a moment to let people think)
Well, that's what happened to a man named Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector, and so people hated him. The way taxes were collected back in Jesus' time was different from the way they are collected now. The government didn't have much to do with it. They did not send out income tax forms, and there were NEVER any refunds or exemptions.
What happened was this: the government would decide how much tax money they should get from a town or a district. Then they would have an auction, and one rich person would pay all the taxes for that town or district. This person then became the tax collector for that town or area. And then the tax collector would go to every citizen and give them a tough time until each person paid back to the tax collector the amount that was that person's share.
You can see why people hated tax collectors. They often added extra amounts to the fair share of each person's taxes. Sometimes they added big penalties too. The tax collector made a big profit and the citizens got poorer and poorer. Also, the tax collector had done business with the Roman government to get the job of tax collector, and this meant that the good Jews hated the tax collector even more. On top of being corrupt and taking more money than he should, he was doing business with the enemy, the Romans!
Back in 1776 in America, just before Americans revolted about English taxes, that would be enough to get the tax collector tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. But in Israel during the time of Jesus, the Roman army was very strict and would not let the Jewish people rebel against the tax collectors.
So...that's why Zacchaeus, and other tax collectors like him, was hated so much.
Well, Zacchaeus had, of course, broken a lot of the ten commandments. He had lied about what people owed him. He had stolen by taking more money than he was supposed to take. He had been tough, not kind, with widows, orphans and poor people who really did not have money enough to pay taxes at all. And then he was working for the hated Romans.
You can understand why nobody would save him a front place along the road, when Jesus came to town.
And to make matters worse, Zacchaeus was short...a little short man, and he couldn't see over the heads and shoulders of the people along the edge of the road.
But he really, REALLY wanted to see Jesus. So he went and climbed a tree! Now he could see! (pause a moment)
I suppose he was planning to watch Jesus come to town and then go back to work collecting taxes, and then go home and put his feet up and maybe have a nice cool cup of wine.
But that's not what happened!
Jesus came to town, and he came straight to the tree where Zacchaeus was sitting on a branch. Come down from there, Zacchaeus, Jesus said. I'm coming to your house for dinner!
I bet Zacchaeus must have almost fallen out of the tree! That was a shock, all right! Jesus, the man who seemed to be so holy and know so much about God, was going to come to dinner with
Zacchaeus! Maybe he was going to scold or punish Zacchaeus for all the wrong things he was doing? And wait a minute...was there enough food in the house for Jesus and his disciples to eat? Was it fancy enough food for such an important guest?
Zacchaeus slid down out of the tree and hurried home to get the servants to start cooking and cleaning so he could welcome Jesus properly when he arrived.
When Jesus arrived, it wasn't just Jesus. His disciples came too, and it seemed like they must have brought along all the low-life people they saw along the way...the prostitutes and beggars and pickpockets and so on. And
Zacchaeus had of course invited some other tax collectors. Nobody who was "nice" would come to his house, but the other tax collectors were glad to come get a free meal. You know how much they all liked money! The religious leaders of the town stood outside the house and complained. Look at Jesus go in there! Why, he's going to eat not just with tax collectors, but with all the prostitutes and thieves and low-life folks in town!
Well, that wasn't the only surprise. After supper, Zacchaeus told Jesus his plans. First, he would repay everything that he had taken from other people. He would pay back four times the amount he got from cheating.
Then, he would give half his money to the poor, to make up for the times he had been tough on poor people who couldn't pay their taxes.
It seems that Zacchaeus had read or heard what the prophet Isaiah had heard from God so many years ago. That was the first lesson we read today. You remember God said he was sick and tired of people making a big show in the temple while they broke God's laws in private. God said he would not pay any attention to the offerings and services and prayers from the temple. He only would pay attention to people who kept the Laws of God, taking care of the sick, the weak, the orphans, and being honest and fair in their dealings.
Because, you see, that's what Zacchaeus was doing that day.
And Jesus said to him pretty much the same thing that God promised to the people who were honest and took care of people in need. God said, No matter how much you have sinned, if you put it right the best you can, I will take away your sins and bless you. What Jesus said was almost the same: Salvation has come to this house today...the Son of Man (Jesus) came to find the ones who were lost, the sinners, and forgive them.
That meeting in the streets of Jericho changed Zacchaeus' life. He gave up the job of tax collector. He paid back four times all the money he had forced people to pay him. He gave half of his personal money to the poor. And then he left Jericho and followed Jesus, taking the new name of Matthew. He even wrote a book about Jesus. It's in your Bible.
Can you remember when and how YOU met Jesus? How did it change YOUR life?
