Sermon Tone Analysis

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Introduction

In 1994 a famous serial killer was baptized in a metal whirlpool in prison in Wisconsin by a small town pastor named Roy Ratcliff.

Ratcliff’s congregants recoiled at the idea that their pastor baptized a convicted serial killer.

Some congregants would say to Ratcliff that if heaven welcomes serial killers, they want no part in it.

Ratcliff’s congregants express something that perhaps even we struggle with sometimes.

In our fallen world, some people have committed crimes so great, it’s difficult to imagine that God could forgive them.

It can be difficult to accept that grotesque and wicked crimes could be paid for by Christ on the cross (e.g., murderers, rapists, serial killers).

Yet Pastor Ratcliff says this, “Can an evil person turn to God?

I have to believe that.

What part of the blood of Christ can’t save him but can save you?”

The question that Ratcliff raises is an important one.

Is anyone beyond the reach of the grace of God? Are there groups of people or types of people beyond the reach of the cross?

This is the issue in view in Jericho in in the story of Zacchaeus.

The story of Zacchaeus is about a social outcast and public enemy’s encounter with Jesus.

The main point of the story of Zacchaeus is that Jesus is here to seek and save even the most unlikely individuals.

The arm of God is not too short to save.

The blood of Jesus is greater than any sin.

The power of Christ transforms every deranged and demented sinner.

The reach of the hand of God is limitless.

So my aim this morning is for us to see the heart of Jesus Christ for lost, outcast, and unlikely, and that we would possess Jesus’ heart for the lost, outcast, and unlikely in our families, neighbors, workplaces, and schools.

And this so that we could become the means—under God’s sovereign hand—to bring others to embrace the joy, forgiveness, and new life that is found only at the cross.

So our plan this morning is to walk through the story of Zacchaeus in the first half, and then to apply what we see in the second half.

And the story of Zacchaeus can be seen in a progression of three scenes:

· The encounter between Jesus & Zacchaeus (verses 1–6)

· The evaluation of Jesus by the crowds (verse 7)

· An explanation of what has taken place (verses 8–10)

SCENE 1: The Encounter Between Jesus & Zacchaeus (vv.

1–6)

He entered Jericho and was passing through.

And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus.

He was a chief tax collector and was rich.

And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.

So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”

So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

Jesus is seeking to pass through Jericho when Zacchaeus hears about Jesus and seeks to see him.

Luke tells us that Zacchaeus is not just any man, but he is a chief tax collector and is very wealthy.

So Zacchaeus wasn’t just a low-level tax collector, but he’s the administrator for the area of Jericho, which commentators say is a well-known toll place in Palestine for goods that travel between Judea and Perea.

He organized the collection of taxes and took his cut from the labor of those who worked for him.

We can’t understand the story of Zacchaeus if we don’t understand how the Jewish people viewed him.

One commentator writes, “Classed with murderers and robbers, tax collectors were hated in the Jewish world, as are informants in totalitarian societies today.”[1]

So it would be an understatement to say that Zacchaeus was a social outcast.

He was hated, because he could unilaterally demand any amount of money he wanted, and he was feared because he had the Roman government at his disposal.

Zacchaeus is like the payday loan shark, or the mafia or local gang that comes by to collect payment for protection.

So though Zacchaeus is a man who looks down on others, he is literally a short man who can’t see over others.

We’re told he’s small in stature, which is a really nice way to say that he’s really short.

So he runs on ahead and climbs a tree in order to see Jesus.

Children climb trees, and adult men rarely climb trees, so there’s a level of determination to get to Jesus.

Luke tells us that as Jesus reaches Zacchaeus in the tree, he see him, calls him by name—we’re not told how Jesus knows him—and then proceeds to do something very unconventional.

Namely, Jesus invites himself over to Zacchaeus’ home.

This self-invitation, just like in our culture today, isn’t polite or the norm.

It verges on rude.

And yet, for Jesus, there was an urgency (“come down immediately”).

Zacchaeus responds by hurrying down and receiving Jesus joyfully.

SCENE 2: The Evaluation of Jesus by the Crowds (v.

7)

And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

Next we’re told in verse 7 that the whole crowd (“they all”) grumbles when they see that Jesus is going to be the guest at the home of a sinner.

He’s going to socialize with someone who was hated by the community.

This is open disdain: “Why doesn’t Jesus know better; does he know what Zacchaeus has done?”

Zacchaeus is condemned as a sinner and Jesus is criticized for being a guest in his home.

The scorn of the crowd of people has shifted from the tax collector to Jesus himself for socializing with sinners.

This same crowd just earlier rebuked the blind man for crying out to Jesus.

In , the blind man asks who’s coming, and they tell him Jesus.

He proceeds to yell at the top of his lungs, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ().

The crowd responds by rebuking him and “telling him to be silent” ().

That is a very polite Bible way of saying they told him to shut up.

That’s what we have here, but instead of open rebuke, it’s private grumbling and disdain and disbelief at what Jesus is doing.

Which leads us to our third part.

SCENE 3: The Explanation of What Happened (vv.

8–10)

And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.

And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Zacchaeus stands among the crowd and before Jesus and declares that he intends to make restitution for anyone he has defrauded and give away half of his goods to the poor.

Zacchaeus hadn’t been doing any of this, but because of this encounter with Jesus, Zacchaeus is a changed man.

With legal restitution, the Old Testament Law required only the original amount plus one fifth (120%) for defrauding.

says, “he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt.”

(See also .)

But Zacchaeus takes it to the next level and declares that he’ll restore whatever has been defrauded fourfold (400%).

This restitution is what would have been required by OT Law for more serious crimes like stealing or killing an ox or sheep.

says, “If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.”

(See also .)

Zacchaeus’ pronouncement is to indicate the transformation that has taken place in him through his encounter with Jesus.

This would be crystal clear to readers of Luke because there has been an ongoing progression that has been building.

In , Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector, to be his disciple, goes to a feast with a large group of tax collectors, and is criticized by the Pharisees ().

At that feast Jesus made the point: “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” ().

In opens with these verses, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.

And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them’” ().

How does Jesus respond?

He tells the parable of the lost sheep and lost coin.

The point in both is that there will be joy and rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents.

Jesus cares about the lost.

He cares about the outcast.

He cares about the prodigal.

Our passage in is the third occurrence in Luke’s Gospel that illustrates Jesus’ love for sinners and his desire to reach the lost.

This account of Zacchaeus is also starkly contrasted with the rich young ruler in .

In that account, Jesus calls that man to sell all his possessions, to follow him, and to store up treasure in heaven.

But that man could not.

He left saddened because he was very wealthy.

That account ends with how difficult it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.

And now in our passage we see that God does exactly the impossible.