Jesus and the IRS - Luke 19:1-10

Title: Jesus and the IRS
Date: March 11, 2007
Text: Luke 19:1-10

Introduction

- Jesus on his last journey to Jerusalem, on way to be crucified
- earlier this day had met Bartimaeus
- Bartimaeus was blind and only known by his last name
- Jesus healed him and everyone heard about it!
- later this day Jesus is passing through Jericho, and the IRS finds out!
- today we will examine the story of Zacchaeus the tax-collector

1. Who was Zacchaeus? - verse 2-3

- Zacchaeus means "pure"
- when he was born his mother gave him a name that reflected how she viewed her son
- she saw him as being pure, someone she could be proud of
- but Zacchaeus was "little of stature"
- often short people feel inferior and as a result get a complex of wanting to control people around them
- the way Zacchaeus did this was to become a tax collector for the Romans
- tax collectors were not liked - they were seen as traitors, as working for the enemy
- he excelled at his occupation and became the top tax collector in Jericho
- so Zacchaeus was not popular, he was firstly disowned because of his job
- another reason that tax collectors were not liked is that they would collect more taxes than necessary, and then skim off the profits for their own use
- Zacchaeus had done this too, and had become rich at the expense of his friends, so people hated him and shunned him
- we have a picture of a short guy, who was very unpopular, with a lot of skeletons hidden in the closet
- his mom had believed in him, but he had basically betrayed her and his friends, and had become a part of the Roman oppression of the Jews
- Zacchaeus must not have felt very good about all this, he must have walked around with a burden of guilt and shame

2. Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus - verse 3-4

- all his life Zacchaeus had been trapped in the bad choices he had made
- he had not wanted to oppress his friends
- he did not want to be a traitor, rejected by his countrymen
- but how was he to shed his past? - how could he turn the clock back?
- Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was coming so he hurried down to the road to see him
- he had known Bartimaeus and in some way he felt closer to him than to the rest
- their similarity was that both of them were rejected by society, one because of being blind and poor, the other because of being a traitor
- he heard that Bartimaeus had been healed and was now spreading the word about Jesus!
- so Zacchaeus wanted to see this man who had changed Bartimaeus' life
- maybe, just maybe, he would be able to help me
- Zacchaeus tries to get through the crowd to meet Jesus, but people won't let him through
- women are able to get through, people who are sick are able to get to Jesus
- but Zacchaeus is hated and people block his way
- this rich tax collector then runs ahead - this is undignified!
- he wraps his garment around him and runs ahead of the crowd till he sees a sycamore tree
- this rich tax collector then climbs up in this tree to be able to see Jesus when he comes by
- he sits there for a while, till Jesus comes around the corner and they see each other

3. Jesus stays with Zacchaeus - verse 5-7

- Jesus looks at this short, overweight tax collector who is clinging to the branches of this tree, and calls him by name
- he says "Zacchaeus, come down from there, I want to stay at your place tonight"
- he couldn't believe his ears - the only people who wanted to visit him were fellow tax collectors - he was rejected by the rest
- But if Jesus knew his name, he knew that mom had believed in him, and that he had betrayed her
- he was totally unworthy, he had sinned and cheated and betrayed his friends till today he had no friends any more
- knowing all this, Jesus still wanted to spend time with him, and was not ashamed to be seen with him
- so he came down from the tree, brought Jesus home and received him joyfully!
- Zacchaeus asked for forgiveness, made amends for his sins, and was saved!

4. Salvation is available to everyone - verse 9-10

- Zacchaeus was eligible to be saved, despite the way in which he had let down his parents and betrayed and stolen from his friends
- he too had the opprtunity of making a fresh start
- this day, Zacchaeus was able to leave his past behind him, he paid back what he had stolen and he started a new walk of life
- the reason Jesus came was to save the lost!
- where are you at today?
- have you spent your years, doing things that do not really want to see the light of day?
- have you a past of which you are ashamed? do you want to make a fresh start, today?
- Jesus came to save those that are lost
- unless you turn to Jesus, and ask him to forgive your sins, and welcome him into your house, you are lost and will die in your sins
- but you can accept Jesus and God will forgive your sins
- if you want to ask Jesus into your life today, he is ready to give you a fresh start, you can leave the past behind you, it can happen today!