Salvation Has Come To This House

Sermon on Luke 19:1–10

Text: Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

I’ll have to admit that, when I started working on this text, the children’s song about Zaccheus quickly came to my mind. Perhaps, you’ll recall that song, as well. “Zacchaeus was a wee, little man, and a wee, little man was he.” It took me a bit longer to remember the rest of the song. What we are reminded of in those lyrics is that Zaccheus was a wee little man; he was vertically challenged. However, as wee look at Zaccheus’ encounter with Jesus, there’s something far more important about him than his height. Jesus said to him, “TODAY SALVATION HAS COME TO THIS HOUSE.” It was 1. Not As A Result Of A Man’s Climbing, 2 But As A Result Of Christ’s Seeking.

Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. Soon, he would accomplish the salvation of the world through his suffering, death, and resurrection. On this day, he was passing through the village of Jericho, which was 17 miles from Jerusalem. No doubt, there was a large crowd that he was traveling with, all on their way to celebrate the Passover. The excitement was in the air, as Jesus approached.

There was a man, who heard about Jesus’ arrival, by the name of Zaccheus. We are told that he was a tax collector. Tax collectors, in Jesus’ day, were hated. One reason for this was the fact that they were working for the Romans, those people who had invaded and taken control of the land of Israel. They were enemy collaborators. Another reason for this hatred was the fact that Rome told each tax collector how much they were to collect in their area. The tax collectors’ salary was added to the tax. You can well imagine that greed would have set in and these tax collectors, in general, added an exorbitant fee. There was nothing the Jews could do about this, since the tax collectors had the backing of the Roman army. We note that Zaccheus was a “chief tax collector.” This means that he had tax collectors working for him, each one paying Zaccheus an amount. As a result, we read that Zaccheus was wealthy.

Zaccheus heard that Jesus was coming through Jericho, and he wanted to see Jesus. Did he want to see Jesus out of curiosity? Was it because of the crowd’s excitement? As a tax collector, Zaccheus would have had contact with traveling merchants and traders every day. Did he want to see Jesus to see what all the fuss was about? It’s possible. It may also have been that he heard that one of Jesus’ own disciples, Matthew, was a former tax collector. Jesus was openly associating with him. Jesus didn’t look down on Matthew, as the people of Jericho had done to Zaccheus. Maybe, it was guilt that caused Zaccheus to want to see Jesus. We learn later in this text that he was dishonest. He admits to the fact that he had cheated people. This Jesus was known for being in the company of the undesirables, the sinners.

Whatever the reason, Zaccheus want to see Jesus, but there was that problem that we mentioned earlier. He was unable to see Jesus over the crowd, because he was short. What could he do? “He ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.” (Verse 4) This was going to be his chance to see Jesus. We see that his efforts were rewarded, because Jesus stopped at the place where Zaccheus was perched.

It is true today that many people think that they have do something if they want to see Jesus. They might not try to climb a tree, but they feel that there is something that they must do. They reason to themselves that, if they do all the right things, they will be able to be with Jesus. They try to live good lives. They follow a certain set of rules that they think will make them acceptable to him. It’s easy to start to think that way, even for us. We look at the way that other people are living their lives, and we start to compare ourselves to them. ‘Look at what a wonderful person I am. I must be getting closer to Jesus than them.’

Was the reason that Jesus stopped that day at the base of the tree that Zaccheus was in? Was it because of the effort that Zaccheus had put forth? Listen to what Jesus said to Zaccheus, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” (Verse 5) I’d like to draw your attention to several of the words in this verse. The first word is “today.” Jesus was coming to Zaccheus’ house just as Zaccheus was, not after he cleaned up his act. The second word that we note is the word “must.” Remember that this is the Son of God that is speaking. He is not obligated to anyone or anything. He willingly allowed himself to be controlled by the work he came to do. Finally, we see the word “stay.” Jesus was not keeping Zaccheus at arm’s length because of what Zaccheus had done. Rather, Jesus was willing to eat and drink and be seen with Zaccheus. Jesus, in his amazing love, saw someone who needed salvation. Jesus had come to bring it to him. As we read in verse 10, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” This was the reason Jesus came to the earth to seek and save people like Zaccheus.

What joy fills our hearts when we hear those words, as well! “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Because, though we might like to admit it, we also were lost. We came into this world lost. We came into this world as condemned, sinful people. Despite any effort that we might make, there is no way that we could ever live the perfect life that God demands of all people. We are not to measure our lives against anyone else’s. The only standard that counts is God’s perfect standard. When we take an honest assessment of our lives, we see how often we have fallen short of perfection, whether it is in our words, actions, or thoughts. We would have been lost forever.

Bu, Jesus came to save the lost. He came on a divine rescue mission. Since perfection is required to enter heaven, Jesus lived a perfect life in our place. As you read the account of his life in the Gospels, you can clearly see that every one of his thoughts, words, and actions were in line with his Father’s will. Jesus gives that perfect life to us. Since the penalty for sin had to be paid, Jesus willingly went to the cross. Through his suffering to torments of hell for us, the debt to our God has been paid in full. Jesus showed that all was completed for our salvation by rising from the dead. Jesus came to save the lost.

We, also, see that Jesus didn’t just come to save us. He also came to seek. Just as he sought Zaccheus in the tree, Jesus sought us, as well. He sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts to create the faith, through which we receive all that he has done for us. How our hearts thrill to hear Jesus assure us with these words, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

We see the joy that filled Zaccheus’ heart after Jesus came to him. He said, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” (Verse 8) He was so thrilled with the salvation that was his. He wanted to show it in his life. He was going to give to those who were in need. The law of Moses said that, if you cheated anyone out of anything, you were to restore what was taken, plus one fifth more. (Numbers 5:7) Zaccheus was going to give that person four times what had been taken. The grace that had been shown to Zaccheus moved him to great joy and it showed in his life.

This is a wonderful reminder for us, as well. We have been saved! Eternal life in heaven is ours! How can that news do anything less than fill us with joy? We have the opportunity to show that joy as we live our lives to God. There are so many ways that we can do so. For example, we can learn a lesson from Zaccheus. Are there people in our lives that we have hurt in one form or another? Maybe it was with a thing that we took from them. We can seek to make restitution. If we have hurt another by our actions or words, we can come to them and apologize for what we have done. If someone comes to us and apologizes and asks for forgiveness, we don’t wait until we think they’re sorry enough. We forgive them. There are so many ways that we can let the joy of having been saved and sought show in our daily lives. May God continue to help us realize this joy and may he strengthen us to let that joy out, as he gives us so many opportunities every day.

As we have seen, Zaccheus was more than just a “wee little man.” He was someone so important to Jesus that he had to stop and go to his house. He was one of those that Jesus came to seek and to save. This is also true for us, as well. Jesus loved you so much that he had to come to the earth to be your Savior. He loved you so much that he sought you out and made you his own. May this amazing grace that has been shown to us fill our lives with joy. May the joy be evident to all. Amen.