Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

In the previous chapter of Luke Jesus speaks of the impossibility of a rich man entering into heaven.

He said this in response to the rich young ruler who had everything, was self-sufficient and when he had told him to sell all that he had and give to the poor and come follow Him, this man could not accept the terms of having eternal life.

Remember how the disciples were astonished that the rich were not on their way to Heaven and that it would be like a camel going through the eye of a needle to be saved.

But Jesus followed it up by saying that whilst impossible for man this was most certainly possible for God.

Enter Zacchaeus into today’s passage.

Charles Spurgeon started a pastor’s college which still trains pastors today.

He was also known as the prince of preachers and would often preach for an hour at each service.

On Fridays when the weather was good Spurgeon would take students outside to a tree which became known as the ‘question oak’.

He would then expect students to preach from a passage of Scripture that he gave to them at that time.

One time it was the first ten verses of today’s passage on Zacchaeus.

So, Spurgeon chose a student and the student rose to preach and said: “Zacchaeus was of little stature, so am I. Zacchaeus was up a tree, so am I. Zacchaeus came down, so will I.”

And the student sat down as the students, led by Spurgeon, applauded.

1-10

Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector at the head of one of the 3 main districts.

Jericho was very rich which made him very, very rich.

He was at the head of a cartel much like you would find in Mexico or the Mafia in Italy.

But it would seem that this man wanted to see Jesus for he had obviously heard of him.

He probably knew Matthew, maybe even one of his underlings in former days, but certainly tax collectors hung out together because no one else would include them in their social circle.

He had heard, no doubt, about how he had left all to follow Jesus in Luke 5. Jesus had already made Himself a reputation of being a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

And, no doubt, with his experience of the world and its riches there had been a growing dissatisfaction with the things of the world, that so-called God-shaped hole.

He couldn’t get no satisfaction.

Now he has heard that Jesus was on the way and knew that if he got caught in the crowd he’d never see him due to his height.

Then, of course, there would be those in that crowd that may pick on him due to his profession, an elbow there or a stamped foot here.

So he ran to climb a sycamore-fig tree.

Now, these trees would grow to about forty foot but they had low hanging branches that made it easy to climb whilst also sustaining the weight of a man.

So, up the tree he went.

There he would get a private view of Jesus whist remaining completely anonymous.

No one will know he’s there!

Except of course, that Jesus looked up.

He could not be hid from His sight.

And what did he just hear?

He own name.

Zacchaeus.

How on earth did He know that!?

In the same way that Jesus had seen Nathanael under a fig tree when He was not physically present and also knowing his character through and through.

In the same way Zacchaeus could not be hid either.

His character was well-known to the Lord.

What do we make of that?

He knows us by name and also knows us so thoroughly too.

How does that make you feel?

Then Jesus uses that word of which I have spoken a number of times, the word ‘must’.

“It is necessary for Me to stay at your house Zacchaeus”, so He invited Himself to dinner.

Another thing about this word ‘must’ in Luke and Acts is that it is a divine necessity.

It is a divine necessity to get salvation only through Jesus, it is a divine necessity that Jesus has the name above all names, and it is a divine necessity for Him to come into Zacchaeus’ home.

I must stay with you tonight.

Zacchaeus had sought to see Jesus, Jesus had sought to see Zacchaeus.

Jesus’s decision to stay overnight with such a sinful man as Zacchaeus, who had sold out and mistreated his own people, seemed outrageous

Guilt by association.

There’s been a lot on the news about this recently.

We have to be careful not to attribute to others what is seen in their friends and associates otherwise we might find ourselves judging that Jesus was tainted by such.

Over dinner, that night, that morning with conversations going on Zacchaeus found his heart warming to Jesus.

And how obviously true this was for, Jesus said, today, salvation has come to this house.

There was obvious faith and trust on Zacchaeus’ part in Jesus shown by his repentance.

50% of what he had he immediately gave to the poor which was beyond the 20% required by the Levites, and then with the remaining 50% he was to make restitution of four times as much as he had extorted.

It could very well be, that at the end, he would be left with nothing.

How different a response was his to the rich man in the previous chapter.

Zacchaeus walked through the eye of a needle.

He no longer was about the getting but all about the giving.

He no longer was orientated towards his possessions for very clearly you cannot serve two masters.

If you had met Zacchaeus before you would not have thought such a man could ever be saved.

In fact, if anything, we would have been fearful to say anything to him about the gospel for not only was he a man who had made money off the occupation of his own people but he could probably have had you knee capped if you crossed him.

We see such people around and think that those who are presently violent or bullies or extortioners or pimps or in a gang.

These are not the pleasant people of the world.

You would do all you could to avoid an encounter with them.

But Jesus did not come for the righteous.

But sinners.

No one is beyond redemption as has been plainly demonstrated today.

God sought him out because God had already started to prepare his heart.

I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew

he moved my soul to seek him, seeking me;

it was not I that found, O Savior true;

no, I was found, was found of thee.

Salvation came to Zacchaeus that day.

11

Then, in verse 11, Luke says that as they heard these things Jesus told a parable.

Which things had they heard?

No doubt it was verse 10 that the Son of Man had come to seek and save the lost, and Zacchaeus was one who had been sought and saved.

But how did they understand what is salvation?

They thought that it was deliverance or salvation from the Roman Occupation but that was not why He had come.

Still, after all this, the disciples were expecting the kingdom of God to arrive.

I find this incredible that Jesus had to repeatedly make this clear that He had not come to free Israel from Roman domination.

They had seen Jesus do some incredible things, calm storms with a word, heal blindness, rid people of demons and much more besides.

They knew that if they had that power they would wield it.

They knew Jesus could subdue nations and bring in the kingdom and righteousness of God upon the earth.

But they had already been taught that they were not to be rulers lording it over people.

They were only concentrating upon the here and now but this life is over before we realise it.

Instead, Jesus was here to establish His eternal kingdom.

12

He will return to establish it upon the earth but first things first.

The spiritual needs to be dealt with first.

This world is temporal.

Eternal life is forever and ever, and Heaven is a world that exists in a different sphere without time and space, a world more real than this which will pass away according to the second law of thermodynamics which speaks of dystrophy, of decay and corruption.

This world will be destroyed by fire.

The story Jesus told echoed a true life story of a man named Archelaus that everybody had heard of in that time.

After his father King Herod the Great died Archelaus buried his father and based on the last will and testament he was to become king instead but this was only an honour that could be bestowed by Emperor Augustus and so he went to see him.

Whilst away he placed officers in charge of his money and property.

A delegation had indeed been sent to Augustus to seek that he did not become king.

But king he became.

He was a cruel king in that he killed 3000 Jews on the Temple Mount after an uprising.

We read of this man in

Afraid because this man was extremely violent.

This had all happened in the lifetime of Jesus and his hearers so they would have immediately connected the dots.