Rich People Might Surprise You

Based on Luke 19:1-10
First delivered Nov. 3, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr 

            Tax collectors get a bad rap in the gospel of Luke. Then again, who likes tax collectors? No one enjoys paying taxes. Sometimes people are annoyed with the IRS. Have you ever received a letter from the IRS? If you are like me, when you flip through the mail and see a letter from the IRS your heart starts to race and you get a knot in your stomach. A letter from the IRS is usually bad news. I guess someone has to do that work. And I am sure most employees of the IRS are fine people. But tax collectors are not the most popular people in the world.

            In the days of Jesus, tax collectors weren’t just unpopular. They were often deeply disliked. And it wasn’t just because they were the ones collecting the taxes. In those days, Israel was under Roman occupation. The tax money being collected was going into the coffers of foreign oppressors. And tax collectors made their living by levying more taxes than what was due. And they had liberty to set their own rates. Everyone knew that when they paid their taxes they were being overcharged and the tax collector was taking that money, not just for their own living, but so that they could have a comfortable life. Who were these tax collectors? Not Romans. They were local people. Do you see why they were despised so much? These were fellow Israelites who were not only serving the oppressor but exploiting their own people to have comfortable lives for themselves. It was sickening.

            So, you may notice that there are a few places in the gospels where people grouse about Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners. You catch that? You have your garden variety sinners. But tax collectors get their own category of scorn. As someone might say, there was a special place in hell for tax collectors. And it wasn’t just because people don’t like to pay taxes. It is who they represent and how they made their living that caused tax collectors to be especially loathed. And, of course, that’s who Jesus would hang out with.

            Zacchaeus, though, was not just any tax collector. We are told that he was a chief tax collector in the city of Jericho. These are important details. First, Jericho was not an ordinary town. It was the winter capitol of Herod. To escape the cold and wet winters of Jerusalem, Herod would spend his winters in Jericho where the weather was a bit drier and more pleasant. That meant Jericho was a major city with a lot of wealth. A lot of well to do people would live in Jericho to be close to King Herod. There would be lots of commerce, lots of activity, and lots of opportunities to tax people. Tax collectors would do well in a busy city like Jericho. As the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus likely had a team of collectors he was in charge of. He didn’t have to be out in the tax booths dealing with people as they grudgingly paid their taxes and argued over how much they were being taxed. Instead, he would oversee the work of the team and in turn receive a percentage of what they collected. I imagine there was some stress related with that job, having to manage those tax collectors. Still, it was a good life. Zacchaeus probably had one of the finest homes in Jericho. He was well known to Herod and his court. He was somebody. And he likely had a reputation greater than his height.

            This leads me to a few questions. First, how did Jesus know Zacchaeus and why did he want to go to his house? Now we get the impression that Zacchaeus knew something about Jesus. When he heard that Jesus and his disciples were travelling through Jericho on their way to Jerusalem he had to catch a glimpse. Jesus had quite a reputation that was spreading all through the land. You could say Jesus was becoming a bit famous.

            Zacchaeus wasn’t tall in stature but perhaps his reputation made up for that. I would not be surprised if Jesus had heard about Zacchaeus. Did Jesus know what Zacchaeus looked like? Or did he only know he was a wealthy tax collector who also was really short? At any rate, when Jesus was walking through town and looked up at the sycamore tree and saw Zacchaeus, he recognized him and told him he needed to stay at his house today.

            Why his house? Well, Jesus probably had a good idea that Zacchaeus’ house would be big enough to accommodate him and his twelve disciples and whoever else was in his traveling party. Not only that, Jesus knew that Zacchaeus was a wealthy man. He had the capacity to feed and care for the needs of Jesus and his crew. So Jesus wasn’t shy about laying the demand of hospitality on Zacchaeus. But, I wonder if there was something else Jesus already knew about Zacchaeus, something about him that prompted in Jesus the desire to go to his house that day.

            There is something curious about how verse 8 is often translated from Greek into English in our Bibles. Usually we see something like Zacchaeus saying, “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 says that salvation has come to this house. The verbs being in future tense, like this is something Zacchaeus has decided to do because Jesus has chosen to come to his house is supposed to make the point that his generosity is a sign that he has been transformed by the presence of Jesus. He is saved and demonstrates his repentance by announcing his intention to be very generous to the poor and to make things right with people he has defrauded with the most stringent restitution possible, four times what is owed.

            But, here’s the problem. Those verbs that are translated into the future tense are actually in the present tense. A literal translation would go like this: “Look, Lord, I am giving half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated someone of something, I make a fourfold restitution.” What Zacchaeus is actually telling Jesus is what he is currently doing. And it isn’t a one time act of generosity. It is his ongoing practice. Giving away half of his income to the poor and making restitution four times the amount which, perhaps, one of the tax collectors working for him defrauded someone out of, is what he does. Zacchaeus is a rich chief collector who is incredibly generous and goes above and beyond to make things right when people are cheated over the taxes they owe. And this might be the real reason Jesus wanted to spend time at Zacchaeus’ house. It could be that Zacchaeus had a reputation that got Jesus’ attention. Zacchaeus was looking for Jesus but I think Jesus was also looking for Zacchaeus. He had to spend time with a rich chief tax collector who had a heart of gold.

            If this is the case, that Zacchaeus was already doing all these things that got Jesus’ attention and prompted Jesus to spend the day with Zacchaeus, when did salvation come to his house? In verse 9 we read: “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today, salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.’” I think what Jesus means by that is to say that because Zacchaeus was so generous, in spite of his wealth and the way he made his money, that he was living a righteous life. He had mastery over his wealth. His wealth did not have mastery over him. If the choice was between serving God and serving mammon, this rich man was serving God. So, in the presence of everyone Jesus announced that salvation has come to this house. Jesus, who is the savior, declared this house to be saved. The way Zacchaeus lived his life was evidence of his right relationship with God. It was his generosity that demonstrated that he was also a child of Abraham.

            There is another group of people that get a bad rap in the gospel of Luke: rich people. You may recall the story of the rich ruler who asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. He had already inherited a lot of wealth. But what about eternal life? Jesus tells him to obey the ten commandments, which he says he already does. So Jesus tells him to sell all he owns and give it all away to the poor and then follow him. And he goes away sad because he was very rich and he doesn’t want to part with his wealth. Then Jesus says it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved. Then everyone asks, “who then can be saved?” That is, can any rich person be saved then? Looks like all the rich are doomed for hell. But Jesus says that with God all things are possible. And, sure enough, here comes Zacchaeus as an example. God was able to work through Zacchaeus. With Zacchaeus, God has done the impossible. God has saved a rich chief tax collector… who everyone had to literally look down on because he was short.

            Notice that Zacchaeus was saved by God even though he didn’t give away all of his possessions. He did not live in voluntary poverty. He still had a big house, big enough to entertain Jesus and his disciples. He still was making lots of money, a daily stream of tax revenue was pouring in. Even though he was generously taking half of his income and giving it to poor people he was still living in a big house and was still a big shot. And he had enough money coming in so that he could pay back people four times the amount they were cheated out of. In spite of his great generosity, Zacchaeus was by no means a poor man. And that was fine with Jesus. He still saw salvation in Zacchaeus’ house even though he was very rich.

            So, it makes me wonder if the rich ruler would have been saved if he had said to Jesus, “I can’t give it all away. I will give what I can. Will you help me get to a place where I can divest myself of everything I own?” I bet Jesus would have accepted that. Jesus would have looked on him and said, “do this, and you will live. Go in peace. Your faith has saved you.” The rich ruler didn’t have to go from zero to one hundred. And, look, Zacchaeus didn’t have to give all his money to the poor and he was saved. Maybe all the rich ruler had to do was give what he could and trust that it would be enough. It is the intention and the effort that Jesus is looking for. Not perfection. If you are on your way in the journey to righteousness, Jesus will meet you where you are and help move you along. For Zacchaeus, Jesus didn’t have to ask him to do anything. He was already doing it. He was already living a life of generosity, providing for the poor and making things right for those who have been cheated. He was already living a right life. The rich ruler didn’t have to walk away sad. All he needed to do was step toward that needle eye and Jesus would have helped him through.

            Sometimes I think rich people get a bad rap these days. People point to statistics that show that wealthy people give less to charity based on percentage of income than middle class or working class people. Although, honestly, no one gives much as a percentage of income. I think the national average of charitable contributions per household is like 3%. In our political discourse, particularly among Democrats, we often hear about how the wealthy don’t pay their fair share of taxes. Maybe true, maybe not, but the impression is that rich people are greedy and out of touch and need to do more so that there is a more shared prosperity. Bernie Sanders in particular is always talking about the 1%. It feeds this class struggle between the wealthy class and the working class. I admit, there are times I get sucked into that. I drive through parts of our city where people are living in these huge houses on large lots and I think about the abandoned and broken down houses not far from where we are and think to myself, “There is just something wrong here. It doesn’t seem fair.” I’ll admit it, I sometimes find myself feeling a little righteous indignation toward rich people who live in their big mansions in their gated communities who go to their private country clubs and cocktail parties, sit on their boards, and host private fundraisers for whichever political candidate they want to influence. I know I’m not the only one who, honestly, are prejudiced against rich people.

            But you know what? Zacchaeus gives us an example that not all rich people are greedy and selfish. Not all rich people are like the rich man who refused to give comfort to Lazarus who died of hunger at the front gate of his mansion. Not all rich people are like the rich ruler who wasn’t even willing to meet Jesus part way with his demands to divest of all his wealth. Not all rich people are like the rich man who decided to build bigger barns and live off the surplus instead of share his bumper crop with others. Zacchaeus is an example of a rich person who maintains a very comfortable lifestyle based on earnings that are ethically questionable who is incredibly generous and more than fair in making things right when people are cheated. Not only did Jesus not have a problem with Zacchaeus, he wanted to hang out at his big house for awhile. Jesus was willing to include rich people in his community.

            Maybe all Jesus was looking for as he journeyed on this earth was to find a community where everyone could belong, a community where everyone is recognized as sons and daughters of Abraham, whether you were a leper, a child, a fisherman, or even a rich chief tax collector. I think that’s part of what Jesus was about: trying to create a space where everyone can eat together at the same table, Pharisees and prostitutes, tax collectors and scribes, disciples and Roman centurions. Maybe that’s part of what salvation is about: it is about the experience of hospitality, where all are welcome at the table, where there is enough for everyone, where all can find their place, where no one is lost or left out. Zacchaeus modeled that level of generosity. God forgive us when we allow our own prejudices to blind us to examples of generosity and hospitality all around us. For surely there are Zacchaeus’ in our midst.