"What did he see?"

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The importance of this morning’s scripture revolves around some form of the question, “What did he see?”  And if we use our imagination a little bit we can easily see this parable play out in our minds.  We are introduced to a character named Zacchaeus who is short in stature and a tax-collector.  Jesus’ reputation had preceded him and Zacchaeus had come to know that Christ could offer him salvation and forgiveness for the mistakes he had made.  Being a tax-collector, Zacchaeus was not very well like in Jericho which means the crowd would have gone out of their way to make it even more difficult for Zacchaeus to see Jesus as he approached.  This is when Zacchaeus decided he would climb a tree to be able to catch of glimpse of Christ.  And it was this effort that would change the life of Zacchaeus forever.  The lesson here is that we must sometimes go out of way to see Christ work in our lives.  But if we do, it can also be that effort that could also change our lives forever.  

As I prepared for this sermon, there was one question that kept coming to me.  “What did he see?”  I was constantly asking what did Zacchaeus see when he got into the tree and caught a glimpse of Jesus?  If Jesus would not have called on Zacchaeus and went to his home with him, would the sight of Christ been enough to change Zacchaeus?  We will never know the answer to that question but what we must understand is Jesus saw the effort that Zacchaeus had made and decided to go with to his home.  Jesus followed him home.  Imagine the surprise of Zacchaeus when Jesus told him to come down from that tree and invited himself to Zacchaeus’ home.  More than that, imagine the surprise of the crowd when Jesus decided to be a guest at the home of a sinner.  But the truth is, Jesus has always invited himself into the hearts of sinners.  Jesus makes his home with each of us.

So this led me to ask, “What did Jesus see in Zacchaeus?”  What made Zacchaeus different than the rest of crowd?  Why did Jesus pick him over every other person that day?  I use to ask myself a question similar to this quite often.  When I would see the hand of Christ at work in lives of others, I would often wonder why God was so active in their life and not mine.  The difference was that those other people were willing to climb a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Christ and at that point in my life, I was not willing to climb that tree.  It is safe to assume that Christ knew that Zacchaeus would be willing to make the appropriate changes in his life but how many others in that crowd would have been willing to do the same given the opportunity?  What did Christ see in Zacchaeus that made him different from the rest of crowd that day?  I think it is safe to say that there were many others who also would have been saved had Christ joined them in their home, instead of going with Zacchaeus.  So why did Jesus choose Zacchaeus?  What did he see in him?  We must remember that Christ was drawn to those who were often discarded by society.  In the scripture from last week, we saw Jesus using the example of the man, who was also a tax collector, and who prayed for forgiveness.  Jesus liked to use those who were least likely to be saved to spread his message.  This is why he chose Zacchaeus, because Jesus knew that Zacchaeus could change the lives of others through his work as a tax collector.  From that day forward, when Zacchaeus would do his job as a tax collector, he would do it more honestly and start to change people’s perspective of himself.  If Christ could change the mind and heart of a lost and dishonest tax collector, then he could also change others.  If one evening with Christ could change Zacchaeus in such a way that he was willing to repay those he had cheated four times over, then imagine what Christ could do in the lives of others.  Jesus’ ministry was relatively short, so he had to choose those who could have the greatest impact on the the lives of others after Jesus’ time on this earth was over.  

It is easy to be like those in crowd who muttered, “Would you look at that, Jesus chose the biggest sinner of us all to go and eat with...”  It is easy to sit back and think that we are not good enough for Christ to come and make his home with us.  We can easily become complacent in our faith and think that God is showing favoritism to others instead of climbing that tree.  We must ask ourselves, “What does God see in us?”  Are we going to be like Zacchaeus or are we going to be like the crowd?  Are we going to complain about others receiving attention from God or are we going to do something about it?  The crowd went home thinking that Christ did not care about them, that Christ did not want to be a part of their lives at all.  I promise you that this was not the case at all.  Christ did want to be a part of their lives as much as Zacchaeus’ life but Zacchaeus made the effort, he cleared room for Christ.  When it seems that God is no longer active in our lives, we must ask ourselves, “What am I doing that God’s message is not shining through me?”  God’s love for you has not changed.  God’s desire to be in your life has not changed.  It is you that has changed and it is you that must get back on track.  But you do not have to do it alone.  It may take some effort on your part but you too can be like Zacchaeus again and have Christ in your heart, in your home.  Do you have a willingness to make the changes that God has called you to make or are you like the crowd who looks down at those who are close to Christ?  I have to admit, for the longest time, I was a part of the crowd and found it much easier to blame God for not being in my life.  But it wasn’t God who wasn’t in my life.  I wasn’t willing to be a part of His.  I wasn’t willing to make the changes necessary to be close to Christ, I was not willing to climb that sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of my savior.  

Griffin is getting much better at the game of hide and seek.  It wasn’t that long ago that when we would play, all I would have to do was ask where he was and he would yell back, “I am here!”  But he has learned now to keep quiet until you find him.  He has learned my trick of finding him and he has changed his strategy.  Before he had better understanding of hide and seek, he would give away where he was hiding and actually come and find you, the one who was looking for him.  Well, we need to be more like how Griffin used to play hide and seek.  When God is looking for us, we need to tell Him, “I am here!” and then go running back to Him.  Our relationship with God is not supposed to be a game of hide and seek.  We are not supposed to find God for a short amount of time only to go back into hiding in the hopes that He comes back to look for us.  God is constantly seeking us and we need to be willing to tell God, “We are here!” and go running back to Him.  It is when we stay in hiding that we become like the crowd, complacent in staying hidden and not sharing the message of mercy and grace with the world.

There is one other aspect of the question, “What did Jesus see in Zacchaeus” that we have not discussed yet.  I am sure the crowd went home asking themselves this very same question.  Their mistake was not in asking this question; instead, their mistake was made by not asking, “What doesn’t God see in me?”  The crowd was upset that Jesus went to the home of Zacchaeus instead of theirs but instead of reflecting on what they could have done better, they were complacent in slandering Zacchaeus.  Don’t be the crowd.  If God is not noticeable in your life, it is not God who is running away.  It is you who needs to make the changes necessary so that God is welcomed into your heart.  Have you ever had unexpected guests to your house and you think that your house is a mess?  Just so you know, this has never happened to Cheyanne and I... But when someone knocks at the door or calls and says they will be there in a few minutes, I have heard that some people quickly pick things up to make the house look presentable to the guests.  My hope is that your relationship with God does not have to be like that.  Do you hurry and pick up the mess of the week before you come to church on Sunday?  If so, you are not really cleaning up the mess, you are just moving it around just so it can pile up in a different place.  Your heart needs to be like a home that is always ready to have God as a guest.  If your heart and mind is so busy, so full of clutter then there is no room for God.  I encourage you to be constantly ready for God’s love, God’s mercy and God’s spirit to be in your lives.  Be willing to climb that tree, to make that extra effort, so that Christ’s love and salvation has the opportunity to shine through you.  Amen.   

God Bless,

Clinton

Fairview Christian Church

The slab has been poured and we should be getting walls soon!

And go CHIEFS!