PROPER 26, YEAR C

October 30, 2022

Christ Church, Woodbury, N. J.

 

Luke 19:1-10

 

While it seems straightforward enough on a first reading, today’s Gospel story of the encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus presents two fascinating problems of interpretation.

 

First, Saint Luke tells us that as the Lord and his disciples were passing through Jericho on their way up to Jerusalem, Zacchaeus “sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature.” But the wording is ambiguous. Who was it that was small of stature, Zacchaeus or Jesus? Grammatically, the “he” could refer to either, and the sentence would make sense either way. 

 

If it was Jesus who was small of stature, then this is the only text in the Gospels that makes any mention whatever of the Lord’s physical appearance. But the most common reading, from the early Church Fathers to the present day, is that Zacchaeus was the short one. As the beloved Sunday School song has it: “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he. He climbed up in a sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see.”

A more substantive problem of interpretation involves the basic question: Was Zacchaeus a bad person or a good person?

 

The crowd’s reaction when Jesus goes into the house of Zacchaeus is “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” Already, Luke has told us that Zacchaeus was “a chief tax collector, and rich.”

 

Here, a bit of background may be helpful. Jericho was the site of a customs station at the intersection of two major trade routes. The Roman authorities typically sold the rights to collect taxes for a period of several years to the highest bidder. The tax agents, effectively independent contractors, would then collect the duties on goods being transported through places such as Jericho. To recoup their outlay, such tax collectors had an enormous incentive to engage in such dishonest practices as overcharging and taking bribes. In the Jewish world, they were viewed as sinners on a par with prostitutes. The crowd’s assumption is that Zacchaeus has grown rich at the expense of honest travelers, traders, and merchants by means of fraud and extortion.

 

Some scholars advance the interpretation, however, that Zacchaeus isn’t really a bad person, but rather a good person misunderstood and unfairly judged by the crowd. (After all, that’s often how we like to think of ourselves: as basically good people who are misunderstood and under-appreciated.)

 

But was it possible to be a good tax collector? We get a clue earlier in Saint Luke’s Gospel, when tax collectors are among those coming to be baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. They ask John what they should do to repent of their sins. Surprisingly, he doesn’t tell them to give up their profession, but only “Collect no more than is appointed you.” So it was possible, at least theoretically, to be an honest tax collector.

 

According to this interpretation, when the crowd begins to murmur that Jesus has gone into the house of a sinner, Zacchaeus stands up and defends himself: “You may think I’m a sinner, but look, I give half my goods to the poor, and if I discover that I’ve inadvertently cheated anyone, I make fourfold restitution.” On this reading, Jesus has singled Zacchaeus out recognizing what a good and decent person he really is: a true son of Abraham.

 

The problem with that interpretation is that it fails to account for the ending. Why does Jesus conclude that “today salvation has come to this house” unless this house has truly been in need of salvation? Why does he say that “the Son of man came to seek and save the lost” unless Zacchaeus has been among the lost?

 

For this reason, I’m inclined to go with the opposite interpretation: namely, that Zacchaeus is a dishonest tax collector whose encounter with Jesus changes him radically. His conversion entails not merely an inner change of heart, but the transformation of his entire way of life, including his business practices.

 

Either way, two episodes have just taken place that illuminate the significance of this encounter. On the way into Jericho, Jesus has healed the blind beggar Bartimaeus. This contrast between the beggar and the tax collector shows that the Lord has come to save rich and poor alike.

 

And a little before that, Jesus encountered the young ruler who was unwilling to part with his riches, prompting our Lord’s declaration that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved.” Following on the heels of that hard saying, Zacchaeus represents the rich man who is saved, precisely by giving to the poor and making restitution to anyone he’s wronged.

 

Thus interpreted, the story exemplifies the great theme of reversal running throughout Saint Luke’s Gospel. The humble are exalted and the exalted are humbled. Those on the outside are brought in; and those who think themselves securely on the inside run the risk of finding themselves left outside. 

 

With that point in mind, let’s revisit the sycamore tree. When Zacchaeus couldn’t see Jesus over the crowds, “he ran on ahead and climbed into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.” Some New Testament scholars argue that in the biblical world, if you were concerned to preserve your dignity and status, the one thing you never, ever did was run. The more important you were, the more slowly you walked. You took your time. 

 

By running on ahead, Zacchaeus is sacrificing what little dignity he has. And to my knowledge, this is the only place in Scripture where anyone ever climbs a tree! My guess is that by doing so, Zacchaeus is positively making a fool of himself in the community’s eyes. But therein lies the secret of his conversion: Zacchaeus is willing to become a fool for Christ.

 

Often, those in the world around us seem to want to make us appear and feel foolish on account of our Christian faith. Reflecting on this story, Saint Augustine says: “You call our minds foolish. Say what you like, but for our part, let us climb the sycamore tree and see Jesus. The reason you cannot see Jesus is that you are ashamed to climb the sycamore tree.”

 

Augustine goes on to liken climbing the sycamore tree to taking up the cross. Just as Zacchaeus was not ashamed of the sycamore tree, so Christians must not be ashamed of the cross—which Saint Paul describes as: “a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”  Thus Zacchaeus the tax collector, short of stature, shows us the way to salvation by embracing God’s foolishness and God's weakness in Christ crucified.