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 ἀνέβη
ἐπὶ συκομορέαν
ἵνα ἴδῃ
αὐτὸν ὅτι ἐκείνης ἤμελλεν διέρχεσθαι. 5καὶ
ὡς
ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον, ἀναβλέψας
ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν·
Ζακχαῖε, σπεύσας
κατάβηθι, σήμερον
γὰρ
ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου δεῖ με μεῖναι. 6καὶ
σπεύσας
κατέβη καὶ ὑπεδέξατο αὐτὸν
χαίρων. 7καὶ
ἰδόντες πάντες διεγόγγυζον
λέγοντες ὅτι παρὰ ἁμαρτωλῷ
ἀνδρὶ εἰσῆλθεν καταλῦσαι. 8σταθεὶς δὲ Ζακχαῖος εἶπεν πρὸς τὸν κύριον·
ἰδοὺ τὰ
ἡμίσιά μου τῶν ὑπαρχόντων, κύριε, τοῖς πτωχοῖς δίδωμι,
καὶ εἴ τινός
τι
ἐσυκοφάντησα
ἀποδίδωμι τετραπλοῦν. 9εἶπεν
δὲ
πρὸς
αὐτὸν
ὁ Ἰησοῦς
ὅτι σήμερον σωτηρία τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ ἐγένετο,
καθότι καὶ αὐτὸς υἱὸς Ἀβραάμ ἐστιν· 10ἦλθεν
γὰρ
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).
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.
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.
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.