Well, it’s that time of year again. Signs heralding the arrival of Springtime have been gradually increasing for weeks. The weather is at least trying to get warmer (although there seems to be a little backsliding in that category recently), daylight is hanging around longer, trees are budding out, early flowers are blooming, and migrating songbirds are coming back. Life just seems to feel better this time of year … but it seems as though both the devil and the IRS hate it! They’re always looking for new ways to throw wet blankets on our joy any way they can. Unfortunately, we can’t make the tax collectors go away, but given the time of year, I thought it might be interesting to devote a couple of sessions to explore one of those occasions when Jesus encountered a prominent regional tax collector. 

Anticipation and Expectation ~
We’ll set the navigational dials on our imaginary time machine for the city of Jericho at a time when Jesus’ physical life and ministry on earth are coming to a close. A large crowd is following Him as He makes His way back to Jerusalem for the last time. Earlier in the day, Jesus had restored sight to a couple of blind men, and no doubt, the crowd following Him wondered what He would say or do next. Would other miracles or demonstrations of Divine power be forthcoming? Would Jesus pause to tell more stories about what the mysterious “Kingdom of Heaven” He often talked about? Whatever their individual thoughts might have been, the crowd shared at least one thing in common. Their focus was fixed on the radical Rabbi from Nazareth, and no one wanted to miss anything He did or said. 

In light of that, I think it’s probably safe to say that no one in the crowd that day was thinking about taxes. At this point, even the man who made his living collecting them had his mind on things much more important. But before we continue our story, we should take a moment to let Luke introduce us to a tax collector named Zacchaeus: 

Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” (Luke 19:1–7 NKJV)

The Worst of the Worse ~
To say that tax collectors were despised and hated by the general population hardly begins to describe the depth of their animosity, but Zacchaeus wasn’t just a tax collector, he was the region’s chief tax collector. That meant that he had developed a sub-system known as a “tax farm”.  Zacchaeus had subordinates who collected taxes under his authority, which not only increased his fraudulent income, but magnified the hostility directed toward him, as well. Realizing the intensity of their animosity helps us grasp the significance of a couple of details in our story that seem minor on the surface, but were major to those involved. 

For instance, the fact that Zacchaeus was described as running means little to nothing to us if we view it in the context of our Western culture. Here, people can be seen running at almost any hour of the day, and the practice is viewed as a positive thing. But in Zacchaeus’ world, unless some kind of extreme circumstance or life-threatening situation demanded it, no Jewish man would be seen running. Running exposed their legs and was considered deeply shameful. The second thing Zacchaeus did that no grown Jewish man would consider doing, even in private, was climbing that tree. These wildly counter-cultural behaviors by a universally-despised, socially-rejected, religiously-scorned tax collector were a direct result of the proximity of Jesus, and the implications are profound. That means we have some questions to consider. 

An Emptiness Money Couldn’t Fill ~
The first is, what might have motivated Zacchaeus to engage in such culturally intolerant behavior? Luke tells us that he wanted to see Jesus, but I think he wanted more than just a look. Casual curiosity alone would not have compelled Zacchaeus to do what he did. At that point, Jesus’ fame had spread throughout the land by that time, and Zacchaeus had no doubt heard of Him. Perhaps his quest for riches had left a hole in his heart that money couldn’t fill. The stories of Jesus’ willingness to touch the untouchable and restore broken lives could have left him wondering if even an unclean, repulsive, fraud like him could be redeemed. Whatever the hope was that he had, it was enough to overcome cultural hurdles and disarm significant fears.

We can only imagine what Zacchaeus was thinking as he sat in that tree hoping not to be seen, but when he was discovered, it’s pretty clear what the crowd was thinking. Whoever it was that first saw Zacchaeus in that compromising situation isn’t all that significant, but once he was identified, the abusive epithets and calls for God’s judgment would have filled the air. The crowd’s response may have been how Jesus was made aware of his name. But in any case, Jesus headed over to the tree and proceeded to turn everybody’s expectations upside down–or maybe right side up. The crowd that had been so anxious to see what wonderful thing Jesus might do next wasn’t prepared for the move He was about to make.

Not the Messiah They Wanted ~
The Messiah they had hoped for all their lives would bring harsh judgment on people like Zacchaeus. The Messiah they wanted would demand justice and retribution. Oppressive sinners like him would be stripped of their power and banished forever. But that’s not what Jesus did. Instead, He looked up at this repulsive agent of their enemy and announced that He was going to be his houseguest, and that did not sit well with the crowd. 

The collective sense of incredulity among them must have been off the chart. The verbal abuse directed toward Zacchaeus would have quickly faded into stunned silence. How could Jesus do something so contrary to what they believed Him to be? When Jesus invited Himself to Zacchaeus’ house, the text says that they all complained. The Greek word here indicates that they were murmuring and grumbling among themselves. Their optimistic expectations were replaced by shocked disappointment, and their praises gave way to criticism. 

Following Jesus – Easy ‘til It’s Not ~
Crowds are fickle, aren’t they? We’ve seen again and again how a crowd’s commitment to follow Jesus can seem unwavering until He goes somewhere they think He shouldn’t go, or preaches some truth they don’t want to hear. A group’s determination to stand with Him can evaporate quickly when He takes a position that is politically or culturally unpopular. We’ve seen before how easily lovers of Jesus can become His judges, and the priceless lesson to be learned from this part of our story begins with realizing that we may not be so different from the crowd in Jericho. 

We’re following the same Jesus as the crowd followed in Jericho, and He will continue to do things in our lives here and now that don’t coincide with what we expect Him to do. He won’t always react like we think He ought to, or lead us in directions we’re hoping for, and we should know by now that doing shockingly unexpected things isn’t new to Him. But when His choices fail to suit our expectations, here’s a suggestion. Instead of joining the crowd’s chorus of criticism, pause, trust, and give Him a minute. Eventually, what He does will always affirm who He is, and our goal is to be conformed to His image, not to constrict Him into ours . . .  

I invite you to join us again next week for Part 2, as we continue our story to see what incredible things Jesus can do with hopeless, hell-deserving social rejects when He gets a little time with them. We’ll also see how the grace poured out on Zacchaeus, that same grace the crowd had grumbled about, eventually unleashed personal blessings for many of them that they never even imagined. 

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the pull quotes below.  Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .

• • “Crowds are fickle, aren’t they? We’ve seen again and again how a crowd’s commitment to follow Jesus can seem unwavering until He goes somewhere they think He shouldn’t go, or preaches some truth they don’t want to hear.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 
  • “A group’s determination to stand with Jesus can evaporate quickly when He takes a politically or culturally unpopular position. We’ve seen before how easily lovers of Jesus can become His judges. We may not be so different from the crowd in Jericho.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
  • “We’re following the same Jesus the crowd followed in Jericho. He’ll continue to do things in our lives now that don’t coincide with what we expect Him to do. We should know by now that doing shockingly unexpected things isn’t new to Him.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 
  • “Instead of joining the crowd’s chorus of criticism, pause, trust, and give Jesus a minute. Eventually, what He does will always affirm who He is, and our goal is to be conformed to His image, not to constrict Him into ours.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  

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