Zacchaeus wants to see! But to see, he needs to be vulnerable enough to be seen. The key is that he’s already found.
And the cost of hiding each other
Proper 26C | Luke 19:1-10
I’m about 6’3. Which means I’m almost a foot taller than Rose. This makes it hard for her to keep up with me when we’re walking. But she can almost always find me in a store. I can reach the high shelves, but people hate when I’m in the front row.
In church, my height never comes to mind except when Luke talks about Zaccheaus. This isn’t a story about me climbing a tree to get a chance to see Jesus. In all honesty, I probably don’t even have to worry. Chances are, I’ll be able to see from anywhere.
Which means, for me, to put myself into this story, I’m not Zaccheaus. I’m someone in the crowd keeping Zaccheaus from being seen. Not on purpose, of course. We all showed up to see Jesus. It’s not my fault I’m relatively tall.
But it also takes nothing to remember that I am. So I don’t stand in the front row for pictures. My fellow talls know what to do! Head straight to the back. Then, of course, we have to sort ourselves out. Or if there are too many of us, some of us get to kneel in front.
We do this dance together because we want to make sure everybody gets seen. Even those who hide their faces, we don’t want you to hide! We love you! And we want to see you!
This is a story about seeing and being seen.
Zaccheaus wants to see Jesus. And because he knows himself and his obvious limitations, he makes it possible to see Jesus.
And the funny thing about climbing a tree to get a better view is that now, anyone can see you. Including the person you’ve come to see.
Jesus notices Zaccheaus. Calls up to him. And invites himself over to Zaccheaus’ pad for Dinner. Like, I hope you’re ready for a guest! Gonna watch The Rings of Power?
The crowds, on the other hand, are not cool with this idea. They don’t like what they’re seeing. Just imagining Jesus going to this traitor’s house to eat with him has them grumbling.
And we know this is not a question of fairness. Like, this isn’t a bunch of people jealous because Jesus isn’t coming over to their place instead. We have Amazon AND Netflix!
It’s actually the visual! Jesus walking into the home of someone who is unclean. The bad guy. The person he shouldn’t even talk to. Jesus wants to be with him and eat with him. And that’s a bad look.
Jesus just talked about this.
Jesus just told a parable of a righteous religious person and a justified tax collector. That’s the story we heard last week. A story in which the characters played against type. And we were invited to see ourselves in the role of the righteous. And those people we’d rather condemn are instead lifted up to be equals with us.
Jesus keeps inviting us to see our world differently.
After the parable last week, there are a few things that happen. Each one is an invitation to see.
- See that children are the heart of the Kin-dom.
- How the young ruler is not justified by his wealth.
- Then how Jesus is to be condemned to death by the authorities.
That’s when they get to Jericho. And a man shouts to Jesus for mercy. Calling him Son of David. The rightful heir to the throne. And the man begs to be treated like the proverbial tax collector the disciples just heard about.
So what do they do? They see him and want to shut him up. But Jesus has the man brought to him.
“What do you want me to do for you?” he asks.
The man wants to see again.
Jesus gives him sight and the man is seen as the very glory of God.
That’s who Zaccheaus wants to see.
The man who can do that.
And Jesus makes Zaccheaus like the formerly blind man. Seen. Redeemed.
There’s a wrinkle to the story.
Perhaps because the whole thing seems so neat and tidy. We might not know how to look for it.
But just like that earlier parable, Jesus forces us to check our expectations. Expectations of good and bad. And what we’re supposed to do.
Here are people flocking to Jesus because of what he offers: a vision of mercy that reveals the love of God is not only open to us all. But upon us in the person of Jesus.
They all want to be worthy. But they also want to believe that others are not.
So even as he told a parable of a Good Samaritan and the redemption of a lost son, they still want to draw the line at tax collectors. Not this guy.
And Zaccheaus opens his mouth to say that he is not like the other tax collectors. He already gives half of his possessions to the poor and repays the defrauded four times the amount. The verb tense is present. He does this.
He is trying to justify himself.
But Jesus turns the tables on us all. Because it is clear that this isn’t just talk. And we’re being called into something bigger than a religious framework. With rules and what-not-to-dos.
Something that reminds us not to trust in money or condemn the righteous. Something else. Grace-filled joy.
The Lost is found.
The crazy reversal in this story is that the rich guy doesn’t come to Jesus to be saved. He doesn’t hear the good news and then repents of his sin. All of that is already done. That’s why he is there. Why he climbed the tree to see Jesus in the first place. He was already redeemed and justified by God’s grace.
He is already there!
And Jesus is making this guy: a real-life traitor to match the one from his parable: a vision of grace. He’s making sure he, too, is seen.
And why he invokes the teaching that most touches our hearts. That this man was lost and now is found.
So guess what comes next?
It’s party time!
We know how to do that!
Some of us bake the cake, others decorate. Some of us grab things off the top shelf.
But this party needs more than that. It needs a DJ, singers, instruments. Refreshments and mingling. It needs party games and a side room for the board games. A photo booth and a dance party. We need the chicken dance because we all know that one!
That’s the response.
When the lost is found, we celebrate. We don’t berate it for being the wrong kind.
Our need to be right can overwhelm our sense of doing right.
In the famous parable, when the younger son returns, the father runs out to embrace him! Rejoicing that the dead has been raised! The lost is found!
But his brother, out in the field, when he gets word, what is his first response?
Why didn’t you tell me? Accusation. Aggression. Certainty. Righteous indignation!
Not
Where is he! My brother is home!
This is the grace Jesus is speaking to. The grace Jesus is cultivating in the world!
- To love the rich man who gives more to the poor than he keeps.
- The blind man shouting across the road “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
- Telling the rich, young ruler to give up everything and follow him.
Because possession, certainty, competitiveness, domination are not the way of the Kin-dom! Love, love, love is. And the way to love is through mercy. Loving your brother; not keeping score. Loving him. Praising God that he is home. The lost is found.
Swallowing our pride and giving thanks and making this party even better than the last one.