Everyone knows that one of the major food groups is chocolate. What everyone does not realize is how vital chocolate is to sustaining life. Follow this case in point:
A good piece of chocolate has about 200 calories. Steve enjoys two servings per night, and a few more on weekends. He consumes about 3,500 calories of chocolate in a week, which equals one pound of weight per week. In the last 3-1/2 years, Steve has had a caloric intake of about 180 pounds of chocolate, and he only weighs 165 pounds. So... without chocolate, Steve would have wasted away to nothing about three months ago!
Ergo, chocolate is vital to sustaining life.
Chocolate was an Aztec food that originated in Mesoamerica about 1900 BC. It did not reach the Middle East until long after Jesus' day, so it was not part of that cuisine. It is amazing Israel survived without it. NB: Israel has some very good chocolate now, so the people are no longer deprived of this life-sustaining staple.
Jesus is traveling from Galilee, and he is passing through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. This is a familiar trip, one he has taken annually since he was very young: "Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover" (Luke 2:41). Now a respected teacher with his own disciples, his reputation is such that he attracts a crowd wherever he goes, and this journey is no exception. Jesus pauses along the way when someone catches his attention and ends in his "Dining with Zacchaeus."
I. Zacchaeus attends a public assembly (Luke 19:1-6).
A. He watches Jesus from a tree.
Luke 19:1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
As a high-ranking ("chief' v. 2) government contractor, Zacchaeus makes a lot of money, in part because he sets the tax rates, which does not endear him to the local populace. Consequently, most people have a very low opinion of him and of tax collectors in general.
When Zacchaeus hears about Jesus' visit to the area, he looks for a vantage point to view the procession that will inevitably accompany the famous rabbi. He will probably not find a good place along the road, not given his short stature. Besides, who will want to stand next to a tax collector? The place he chooses, while it allows him easily to see Jesus, also allows Jesus easily to see him, and the tax collector draws some unexpected attention that culminates when....
B. He welcomes Jesus to his home.
Perhaps Jesus recognizes Zacchaeus from a previous visit to the city. In any case, he addresses Zacchaeus by name and invites himself to dinner. It is an unexpected honor for a tax collector to host a famous rabbi. Zacchaeus may be wealthy, but he is a very unpopular figure socially. His occupation rates with sinners, prostitutes, and other lowlifes, the dregs of society, not the kind of company a famous rabbi would keep. Why such a popular religious figure would deign to grace his home is a mystery. But no mater, Jesus is coming to dinner, and there is much to get ready. "So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly" (v.6).
Application: A good reputation is a valuable commodity. It takes much time to build up but little time to tear down. A good reputation is a fragile thing, easily subject to tarnishing or shattering, often by associating with the wrong people. As Paul writes, "Bad company corrupts good character" (1 Cor 15:33). A good reputation needs to be constantly maintained by consistently good behavior. How is your reputation? You are not necessarily the most qualified person to make that determination. As Solomon says "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips" (Prov 27:2). A good recitation is not something someone else can take from you forcibly, but it is something you yourself can give up willingly. Guard yours closely.
II. Zacchaeus attains a private audience (Luke 19:7-10).
A. He renounces a sinful past.
Luke 19:7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.'" 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
Many people think it is inappropriate for a respected religious figure like Jesus to consort with a social pariah like Zacchaeus. This causes quite a stir among other religious leaders who ask his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" (Matt 9:11) Jesus should be setting a good example, which he certainly is not. In addition to the appalling reputation that Zacchaeus has, his frequent contact in his line of work with gentiles, notorious for ceremonial impurity, surely renders him unclean as well, and that defilement would transfer to Jesus.
Evidently the presence of Jesus moved the conscience of Zacchaeus to make this generous commitment ("half of my possessions" v. 8). While Mosaic law prohibits theft ("You shall not steal" Exod 20:15), it only assigns a penalty for crimes against the sanctuary: "He must make restitution for what he has failed to do in regard to the holy things, add a fifth of the value to that and give it all to the priest" (Lev 5:16). That is far less than the 200% increase Zacchaeus agrees to pay, and Jesus commends his generosity.
B. He receives a bright future.
Luke 19:9 Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
There is no indication in the passage that Zacchaeus is a devout Jew, but Jesus takes his commitment to repay the debts as an indication of his faith. The final statement by Jesus attests not only one reason he came but also the specific advantage Jesus' advent has for Zacchaeus: "to save what was lost" (v. 10). As a tax collector and probably quite secular, Zacchaeus would not have much contact with the religious community. Most members would shun him. Yet here, Zacchaeus has an encounter with Jesus, and it changes his life and the lives of others.
Application: While your influence on others will not be as profound as Jesus', it can still be positive, especially when you bring the good news to those who are lost, buttressed by your own example of righteous living. As Paul writes to the Corinthian believers:
You yourselves are our letter...known and read by everybody....written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Cor 3:2-3)
Your testimony can have a significant effect on others even those whose lifestyle is radically different from yours, as the rabbi's lifestyle is different from the tax collector's lifestyle.
Jesus' "Dining with Zacchaeus" is both unexpected and unprecedented. It is one of several contacts that gives this rabbi the reputation of being "a friend of tax collectors and sinners" (Matt 11:19), but it is such contacts that also make him "Savior of the world" (John 4:42).
For the Bibliography and Endnotes see the pdf here.
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Jim Skaggs