Homily- Jesus and Zacchaeus: Akin Bailey

“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.” (Luke 19: 1-10)

I love this story. I resonate a lot with Zacchaeus apparently. As many of you know, I love climbing trees. It’s where I can go to be with God and most readily find peace and solitude. Additionally, I have frequently felt convicted by God to give of whatever material goods I have, just as Zacchaeus gives half of his wealth to the poor. If only the similarities stopped there.

Jesus says that the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Zacchaeus was a tax collector, one of those persons despised in Jewish culture for their harsh treatment of people and their rigid enforcement of the government taxes for the sake of the Roman empire and for themselves, for they would skim off the top, extorting the Jewish peoples for their own gain and to make their living. Not only was he one of these people, but he was apparently very good at it. Zacchaeus is described as a “chief tax collector and a wealthy man,” which means that he was one of the best at charging people more than they owed and keeping the extra for himself.

I don’t know about y’all, but I think spending your life working for the active downfall of those around you is pretty gross, and not something we ought to participate in or condone, especially those of us who are Christians. Unfortunately though, this is the exact sin that we may be the most insidiously tempted into. We need money. The perennial temptation of greed and selfish gain are wrapped up in something that we almost can’t live without in our society. It’s through this need that we justify giving into that temptation. “I’ve got to provide for me and mine, I need a buffer in case of emergency, we have to eat, we gotta pay our bills,” etc, etc. And none of those things are bad excuses. Those are all justifiable reasons to seek after material gain, to seek after more and more money. What is lamentable in that, though, is that if we give ourselves fully to those justifications, then whatever we have will never be enough. We’ll always be a bit more comfortable with just a little bit more, things could always be a little more convenient or easier or efficient if we just had a bit more money to spend on stuff. As we give in more and more to the justification of our own needs, it becomes easier to justify any kind of means. “Yeah maybe I’m extorting people, but the extra cash I need has gotta come from somewhere, and I’m hardly the worst kind of person, I mean there are thieves and murderers out there. At least I’m not doing that, right? And anyway, all I’m really doing is encouraging the people I’m stealing from to work even harder and provide even more for themselves, so they’ll probably be better off. I mean really, these people ought to be thanking me.”

Pray to God that we do not end as a people who can think that way. Let us instead learn to live within our means and do so beautifully. Maybe we can share more meals with each other to reduce the burden of the cost. Maybe we don’t need every TV subscription service to keep ourselves constantly entertained. Maybe we can live life together having all things in common, giving away or selling what we have to provide for those who have not. Better yet, maybe we could just pray together. Asking and trusting that God would provide for not only our own needs, but the needs of all people. Maybe we can pray together trusting that God will save this world and that we can again live as He intended: never fearing or worrying for anything ever again. Maybe we as sinners could learn from Zacchaeus, a sinner, and do everything we can to seek the Lord in our lives, and through prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit, be transformed into the kind of people who rejoice in sacrifice for the sake of God and others, and who selflessly devote themselves to correcting any wrongs we have caused. 

We are all sinners and Jesus came to seek and to save each of us from whatever pit we may find ourselves in. Let us call out to Him for help, imitating Zacchaeus, and do all that is within our power to place ourselves in the presence of God. Amen.

Akin Bailey is a graduate of LA Tech and currently serves as a Missionary Intern at the Wesley. He enjoys wandering around the woods, cooking good food, spending time with his fiancée Camellia, and reading books. He is a joy, a delight, a faithful servant and disciple of Jesus, and an indescribable blessing to our community.