Two Seekers found each other:  Zaccheus and Jesus


The text in the Original


Καὶ εἰσελθὼν διήρχετο τὴν Ἰεριχώ.

2Καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀνὴρ ὀνόματι καλούμενος Ζακχαῖος, καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν ἀρχιτελώνης καὶ αὐτὸς πλούσιος·

3καὶ ἐζήτει ἰδεῖν τὸν Ἰησοῦν τίς ἐστιν καὶ οὐκ ἠδύνατο ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου, ὅτι τῇ ἡλικίᾳ μικρὸς ἦν.

4καὶ προδραμὼν εἰς τὸ ἔμπροσθεν ἀνβη ἐπὶ συκομοραν ἵνα ἴδῃ αὐτὸν ὅτι ἐκείνης ἤμελλεν διρχεσθαι.

5καὶ ὡς ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον, ἀναβλψας ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν· Ζακχαῖε, σπεύσας κατβηθι, σήμερον γρ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου δεῖ με μεῖναι.

6καὶ σπεύσας κατβη καὶ ὑπεδξατο αὐτὸν χαίρων.

7καὶ ἰδόντες πντες διεγόγγυζον λγοντες ὅτι παρ ἁμαρτωλῷ ἀνδρὶ εἰσῆλθεν καταλῦσαι.

8σταθεὶς δ Ζακχαῖος εἶπεν πρὸς τὸν κύριον· ἰδοὺ τ ἡμίσι μου τῶν ὑπαρχόντων, κύριε, τοῖς πτωχος δίδωμι, καὶ εἴ τινός τι ἐσυκοφντησα ἀποδίδωμι τετραπλοῦν.

9εἶπεν δ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι σήμερον σωτηρία τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ ἐγνετο, καθότι καὶ αὐτὸς υἱὸς Ἀβραμ ἐστιν·

10ἦλθεν γρ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ζητῆσαι καὶ σῶσαι τὸ ἀπολωλός.

 

Exegesis of the Text


One of the interesting aspects of Luke’s history of the life of Zaccheus is the seeking action. It is wise for us to read as our Scripture reading Luke 19:10 since that is the core of the Seeking phenomenon. Seeking by the Divine Son of Man is outlined here:

ἦλθεν γὰρ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ζητῆσαι καὶ σῶσαι τὸ ἀπολωλός. = “Because the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost”.

The identity and meaning of Jesus life on earth was what the Trinity has decided among themselves that Jesus in the event of sin will willingly make Himself subordinate to the Father and will actively seek to save the sinners. It is the mission of Christ. Adventists do not believe that Jesus clone Himself to be Jesus after He was the Father-Jesus and now He is the Holy Spirit-Jesus and when He comes at the Second Coming He will be the Jesus-Jesus again in order to please those Jewish worshippers who became Christian that there is only one God. The Trinity concept is biblical and part of Adventists Fundamental Beliefs spelled out since the 1980’s but also explicitly in Ellen White, Desire of Ages and in the Sabbath School lesson books on the Holy Spirit in 1934 with A. T. Robinson; 1952; 1978 and again with Frank Hasel recently in 2017. The Son of Man came to seek.

But not only Jesus was a Seeker. Luke explains that Zaccheus of Jericho was also a seeker and the same word is used by Luke to demonstrate Zaccheus seeking:

καὶ ἐζήτει ἰδεῖν τὸν Ἰησοῦν “and he sought to see Jesus” (Luke 19:2).

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The drama of Luke is that two seeking hearts approached each other in this event. They are going to collide or come into contact and something is going to happen.

There is of course a great difference between these two hearts: Zaccheus is only a human whereas Jesus is a divine-human. After all, Jesus was God in dipers! A mystery for humanity but that is what the Bible says and you need to believe the Bible rather than your own rationalism or rationalizing efforts.

Zaccheus was short and could not see well with so many standing in front of him. He does not want to hear Jesus only but also see him (Luke 19:2). He climbed a tree in Jericho. Jericho is north of the Dead Sea and the Dead Sea is much lower than the Mediterranean Sea and thus the area is very hot. Zaccheus knew the course Jesus was going to take and he was determined to successfully see Jesus.

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With Zaccheus now in the tree the drama is set to happen. And it does. When Jesus came under the tree He stopped. The original said that “He put His eyes on him” καὶ ὡς ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον, ἀναβλέψας = “and as He came upon the place, He looked up/placed His eyes on him”. Christ’s eyes were horizontal but as He came to the tree, He did not miss the man in the tree, His eyes went vertical to see him. Jesus also seeks to see actively. All of us are Zaccheus. All of us are too short. All of us are seeking to see Jesus. Our desire is that when the Savior passes us, He will stop and “put His eyes upon us”.

When their eyes met Jesus said to Zaccheus that he should get down quickly.

Ζακχαῖε, σπεύσας κατάβηθι = Zaccheus get down quickly. Ever climbed a tree quickly or get down quickly? When my brother and I was young on the farm in South Africa we use to built on weekends for our self a “Foofie-Slide”. It was a wire or cable tied in the tree with a small pipe in it and the other end went down to the ground and was bound to a pole at the bottom of the grass. We were to go down quickly. We did. One day the cable broke as my brother left the tree. He came down too quickly. I know what it is to come down quickly from a tree. Zaccheus must have fallen out of the tree in haste.

There is something in Jesus’ words that one should not miss. He said to Zaccheus that He must = δεῖ [blue color supra] stay with him today. When two seekers find each other they must stay for the day. They have to eat together. Jesus had a divine task and He must stay for salvation history is His history and that is what the meaning of all life is. Why do we exist for over 6000 years now? Salvation history. Jesus had and must seek and save. Salvation is a prerogative of existence for Jesus and once we are saved it becomes our prerogative for the remainder of our life.

Zaccheus did what Jesus expected and came down. He received Him gladly = ὑπεδέξατο αὐτὸν χαίρων. Joy. Enormous joy. The seeking heart of Zaccheus is no longer just wishing for fulfillment, it was shining of joy. He was bubbling over. Jesus is the reader of hearts. His seeking heart found someone to save and He did. The seeking heart of Zaccheus found His savior of his past and meaning for his future and Future. Now Zaccheus was standing with Jesus and probably grabbed His hand with excitement of the prospects to his life. Joy.

But when a Christian is joyful and happy about salvation, Satan’s cronies get grumpy. The Bible then mentioned the daily gossip column standing nearby. A faithful believer must experience winds for his/her faith since that is going to make the roots grow well.

They gossiped that Jesus will go to a sinner and be with him. καὶ ἰδόντες πάντες διεγόγγυζον λέγοντες ὅτι παρὰ ἁμαρτωλῷ ἀνδρὶ εἰσῆλθεν καταλῦσαι. These were the people (Luke 19:7) who were looking but not seeking. They were seeing the events but not seeking. The heart was not right. Unless a human being has a seeking heart there will be no salvation at all, no matter how many times a gospel song is sung, a prayer is prayed and sermon is preached. The heart must seek and desire to see Jesus. So they were gossiping and many of us do the same at Church or in churchboard meetings or after a good Sabbath lunch.

Charles D. Brooks preached his famous sermon about Little Willy in the title: God in Bad Company on Youtube. If you have not listened to this sermon, it is a must. The preacher was caught up with gossip in 1957 but the one he was gossiping about became an associate pastor 30 years later! You must hear the sermon. An abbreviated version is to click on “C D Brooks Little Willy.” It will wet your appetite.

The joy shining heart of Zaccheus was a saved heart already. Out of his shining heart he made some commitments publicly to Christ right there and then in front of Savior, friends and enemies.

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Zaccheus promised that he will give 50% of his property to the poor. Moses said that if someone took money under his jurisdiction, he/she should pay back 200% as one can see in Exodus 22:7.

Zaccheus doubled it and said he would pay back 400%. He came forward out of his own honesty and was not compelled by anyone to rectify.

Now Christ’s bonus answer to him:

εἶπεν δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι σήμερον σωτηρία τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ ἐγένετο, = But Jesus answered him that today salvation came to this house (Luke 19:9). Saved. Zaccheus was saved and what a blessing. All of us, Zaccheus through the ages are desiring the same words to be said about us. We do not want to be left out at all. Despite gossiping we want to be saved in His kingdom.

Then Jesus said something very special. Zaccheus was a Jew and thus ethnically a son of Abraham. But Jesus makes the statement that because Zaccheus heart was seeking and became joyful and because salvation came to his house, therefore he is also a son of Abraham. The words are: καθότι καὶ αὐτὸς υἱὸς Ἀβραάμ ἐστιν·= he too is a son of Abraham (Luke 19:9). The words “he too” is very important. Not everyone who is ethnically connected to Abraham is a son of Abraham. Christ is speaking of the faithful believer who becomes a son of Abraham because they become sons and daughters of God.


Dear Lord

Also we are short and sitting in trees to see You passing by. Pass me not o gentle savior. Hear our humble cry. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.