IS JESUS WELCOME AT YOUR HOUSE?

The story of Zachaeus, which is told only by Luke, is more often than not made into a story for children. That may be because Zachaeus was a little fellow who climbed into a tree in order to sec Jesus. This is unfortunate if it means that adults may pay less attention to it. Indeed, as a story it is as mature as anything in the Bible, and since it is a story of Jesus visiting in a private home it is especially relevant when it comes to relating Jesus to our home life. It is a story that leads us to ask if Jesus would be welcome at our house. Or it might prompt us to ask if our home is a place that Jesus would be pleased to visit.

Would our habits change if the Lord were a house guest, such as the way we talk to our children or the time we give to TV? Would we be sure to find time for reading and prayer if Jesus were around, and what would we talk about? What kinds of reading material would be available? If Jesus lived with us what impression would he have of our values? Would we really be comfortable having Jesus around the house?

The neat thing about the story of Zachaeus is that even though he was not a reputable person he was pleased to have Jesus as a guest in his home, and Jesus was pleased to go to his home, even when in going he was accused of associating with a sinner.

Jesus must have seen admirable qualities in the diminutive tax collector, such as his determination to make the most of his opportunity. Zachaeus was too busy a man to bother about seeing just any of the many itinerant teachers that made their way through the streets of his home town of Jericho. Busy as he was as a chief tax collector, which means he had assistants under his supervision, Zachaeus found the time to try to see Jesus of Nazareth, for he had heard much about him and he was curious. And it may have been something more than curiosity, for he may have been a troubled man, living as he had been, and he may have hoped that in Jesus he would see something different about life. Luke tells us that he wanted to see what Jesus was. So, he took advantage of his one opportunity in life. When he heard that Jesus was coming his way, he made a point of trying to see him, and he was ready to go to a lot of trouble to do so. Pressing business matters could wait.

The Lord must have also been impressed that Zachaeus overcame difficulties in his efforts to see him. The record says that he could not see Jesus because of the crowd. This was a common experience for Jesus. Even when he walked through a town crowds moved along with him. Zachaeus was not only small of stature, but he was undesirable company, being a despised publican. There were children in the crowd and other short people who were able to see Jesus, but the people, antagonis­tic toward him, would not accommodate him. Not to be deterred he ran ahead on down the road that he knew Jesus would take, and Luke tells us that he did indeed run. He was willing to sacrifice his dignity in order to fulfill his desire, even to climbing up a tree. Squirrels climb trees, but does the local assessor and collector of taxes?

It must have been some sight, Zachaeus positioned in that sycamore tree! It is something Jesus would have noticed anyway, but we can believe that he had prescience in this case as he did in the case of Nathaniel, whom he saw coming to him before he ever arrived (Jn. 1:48-50). In his mind's eye Jesus saw Nathaniel under a tree and saw Zachaeus up a tree! This is evident, for when Jesus approaches the tree he calls Zachaeus by name, bidding him to hurry down, which indicates that the publican had scaled the tree some distance. Jesus always knew his man, and this time he knew he had met another who was not far from the kingdom of God. He had a penchant for "not far away^" people. He not only urged the tax collector to hurry down out of the tree but he invited himself to dinner at his house!

That must have blown Zachaeus' mind. It was far more than he ever desired or even imagined, but we have the promise in Eph. 3:20 that God often behaves that way, doing "abundantly above all that we can ask or think." Zachaeus forsook his business for the day and ended up entertaining the Son of God in his home! It is another instance of how God's ways are far above our ways, as much higher as the heavens are above the earth, as Isa. 55:9 assures us. Zachaeus had one plan while God had another, and what a difference!

My favorite line in the story is Lk. 19:6 where it says that Zachaeus received Jesus joyfully, which is not always the case when one invites himself to dinner! I don't think this implies anything intimate, such as embracing Jesus with uncon­trolled exuberance. It means that Zachaeus was delighted to have Jesus in his home, and since he was rich we can see him issuing orders on ahead, preparatory to Jesus' coming for dinner.

Again we can ask ourselves if we would go out of our way and overcome difficulties in order to see Jesus should he come our way, and would we he overjoyed to have him in our home? Jesus of course would be comfortable as a guest in our home if we were comfortable.

Our Lord must have also seen an inner goodness in the tax collector even if he was less than an exemplary person. We don't know what all was said during Jesus' visit to the rich man's home, but Zachaeus' resolution in the presence of Jesus is a clue. Or it may not be what Jesus said to him as much as it was the sheer presence of the Christ that led to his change of heart. Zachaeus said to Jesus, ^"Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold" (Lk. 19:8).

This was his commitment once he had a change of heart, for it is evident that he had not been living this way, otherwise he would not have been disreputable in the public eye. Jesus led him to repentance, and the story of Zachaeus tells us more about what repentance is than the best textbook definition. He not only had a change of heart, but he was ready to back it up with works worthy of such a change.

It is noteworthy that Zachaeus said nothing about doing the usual things of pious religion as evidence of his change. He did not say he would read the Torah with more diligence, pray more regularly, or attend synagogue more faithfully, even though Jesus would have approved of these things. Being with Jesus caused him to think more about the way he had treated others. He now thinks in terms of fairness, compassion, and generosity.

The Roman tax collectors would sometimes haul people into court on trumped up charges in order to exact more taxes. Zachaeus remembered that his wealth had come in part by such injustice. He resolved that in such cases he would restore fourfold. He had a lot of wrongs to make right, and he was determined to do so. That is repentance. The Mosaic law sometimes called for fivefold and fourfold restitution, as in Ex. 22:1 in the case of oxen and sheep, as did the Roman law. Zachaeus resolved to do no less. In those instances where he defrauded a person of taxes for his own benefit he would return to the oppressed four times what he had lost. Moreover, he would give a half of his wealth to the poor. Not to the priests or to the temple but to the poor.

Being with Jesus would certainly make one more conscious of the poor. If he were a guest in our home we might be reminded of the plight of the third world countries over against the abundance of our own land, and we might be smitten by the realization that we do so little to help the poor of the world.

The liberation theologians, who insist that the Bible teaches that God is on the side of the poor and against the rich (especially the rich who take advantage of the poor), point out that true repentance should emulate that of Zachaeus' change of heart, who gave up much of his wealth to the poor and amended his maltreatment of the oppressed on a four to one basis. They also remind us that most all of us Christians in the western countries of the world are rich, and we are rich in part because of unfair and insensitive trade policies with the underdeveloped countries. One such liberation theologian, a Catholic bishop in South America, shook his fist in defiance at the pope when he visited his country, challenging him to open the coffers of his rich church and share it with the poor of the world.

Yes, having Jesus around could be embarrassing, even dangerous. He might lead us to do something about all the money we spend in our churches on ourselves. We put multiplied billions into real estate. Even the preachers we support, often by impressive salaries, are not sent out to minister to dispossessed people, but to preach to us who hear the gospel over and over. The late Jimmie Lovell, an untiring supporter of missions among Churches of Christ, often said that no one has the right to hear the gospel twice until all the world has heard it once.

When Zachaeus showed evidence of a change of mind and heart in thinking more of others than himself, Jesus said that salvation had come to his house, for he was a son of Abraham. This means more than that Zachaeus was a Jew, for he was already that. It means that Zachaeus now represents the true faith of which Abraham is the father. Jesus is saying that Zachaeus' sense of justice, generosity, and compassion for the poor is what true religion is all about--more than going to church and doing acts of worship.

If Jesus moved among us as he did the people of Jericho, would we criticize him as they did for going to the home of a sinner? Would we be offended at him for associating with prostitutes, gays, runaways, addicts, and all the street people and the homeless who would need to bathe before we associated with them?

To those that criticized him for the company he kept Jesus had an answer, which may be the greatest part of the story of Zachaeus. "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost," he told them.

Jesus' mission is the church's mission. We are not here to build and maintain an institution for the sake of selfish pride, but to seek and to save the lost. That must be what Zachaeus saw in Jesus from his perch in the sycamore tree. He saw the one who had come to seek him out and to save him.

Is that not what people should see in the church of our time, yea, in us all who profess to follow in the way of Jesus of Nazareth?--the Editor