Made Well

Luke 19: 1-10 (Zacchaeus)

He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 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 down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’ Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’

While reading, researching, and praying for preparation for this sermon, I had Leadership Durant which is once a month.  This is a group of leaders from our community that the Durant Area Chamber of Commerce sponsors and we explore leadership on many levels.  This month was economic development so we went to some very large places in the area.  Such as Big Lots! Distribution Center, the new Choctaw Resort, and Cardinal Glass with a furnace that consumes the greatest amount of natural gas in the state of Oklahoma.  There was also the large heart of REI that helps create businesses or help small businesses in rural Oklahoma, through education, loans, and various other resources.  While all of these places I fell will help us to understand this week’s scripture, it was at Eagle Suspension that I heard something that brought the message to life.  At Eagle Suspension they manufacture suspensions for large and small trucks, as well as orders for classic cars.  They moved to this facility just over four years ago, from Canada, with three people who knew how to work the machines, now there are over 300 jobs at this plant and obviously still growing.  I have as a Christian Minister served many people and I hope have also changed some lives (I have been told), but to be able to provide an actual livelihood is exactly what all these people we visited provide.  This is important as the Gospel cannot be heard on an empty stomach and to simply fill it with charity is only part of the solution, people creating jobs are an important ministry for humanity. 

How does this relate to Zacchaeus, preacher, you ask? Well I hope to make that clear and I will start by exploring what is happening at this sycamore tree.  Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector thus a sinner in the eyes of the Jewish people, as the tax collector was an essentially the extension of the Roman oppression.  This is the only time that the term “chief” is used, indicting him as being even more involved in the unjust system. We know Jesus came for everyone, including sinners and thus often ate with sinners, which, just in this instance, was not received well by most.  We realize that Zacchaeus had a personal conversion, either on his way up or down the sycamore tree (or before) that led him to this relationship with Jesus, who knew He was to stay at his house.  Zacchaeus responds to this grace by a wonderful commitment to help the poor and to pay back those he had wronged greater than the Jewish law would require.  Jesus then says, “Today salvation has come to this house…” This is a theme throughout Luke’s writings (Luke & Acts), that salvation would come to a house or household, (Acts 10:2; 11:14; 16:15-31; 18:8).  One of these is the story of Lydia, who we also know as a rich person, like Zacchaeus.  She has a personal conversion along the river hearing Paul witness Jesus.  Thus her whole household is baptized.  In the account of Lydia, we are not privy to her being a sinner, such as a tax collector, (of course all humans fall short), so when we hear of her entire household we read it as an extension of her witness to those that live and work in her house.  I want to emphasize that in the first century a household is not like we think of it today, rather it is more accurately an economic unit.  It is not even limited to one roof and certainly not one family, but rather a unit of workers under a patriarch and on rare occasions, such as Lydia’s, matriarch.  This is essential to understand Jesus’ blessing of Zacchaeus’ house.

Salvation in the Greek (swñ or σωτηρία) is often translated as saved or salvation, but can alternatively be translated as, “healed,” “made well” and/or “made whole.” Recently in a sermon I explored how ten lepers were sent by Jesus to a priest, and on the way all were physically healed.  One, a Samaritan (interesting in itself), turned back to thank and praise Jesus.  Jesus then says according to the English translation, “your faith has made you well.”  (Luke 17:19).  We know that he was physically healed and thus is why he came back to thank Jesus, and thus receives salvation (the same word).  Zacchaeus had certainly repented and understood Jesus as Lord and Savior, and then spreads his salvation to others.  Not in the sense that he gave them a personal relationship with the Lord, but he helped out their physical needs.  He helped his household and the poor with half his wealth.  This is the Good News that our personal conversions are to spread wholeness to others. 

Our right relationship with God depends on our confession that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and we then must actually not simply hold that knowledge, we share and witness it to others.  Yet someone may not be ready for such witness if they are hungry or oppressed.  Thus I remember how Jesus explains the judgment in Matthew 25: 31-46:

‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’ 

Jesus tells us that it is not simply our personal belief or our personal conversion, but this important work.  To help those in need, sharing the love Jesus showed us.  A witness that is very powerful.  To see salvation as both a personal and communal event is exactly what this scripture is demonstrating.  Through Zacchaeus’ conversion, his household received salvation along with the community, or better healed and made whole. 

The corporations and the people that got them to our small community, provide this wholeness to the community even if it is not directly in the name of Christ.  This is as important work as ours to witness our personal salvation, as people need to have a living and purpose in order to be able to hear our witness.  If three people can come with the knowledge of making suspensions and now over 300 people have a living from that knowledge in four years, how much more can us Christians share our knowledge and grow.  This is important knowledge, that Jesus’ is our personal Lord and savior; knowledge that we must go out and help the “least of these,” in our community.  This is a knowledge we must share as salvation for the individual and the community, the healing of the individual and the community, the wholeness of the individual and the community, depends on us sharing this knowledge.