Look, Life Quickly Transforms (Luke 19:1-10)
by Rev. Jeremiah Cheung
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Today, let us look at the story of a man whose life experienced transformation, his name is Zacchaeus. Luke 19:7 “All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a `sinner’.” People publicly referred to Zacchaeus as a sinner, thus we can safely conclude that Zacchaeus must have really been a notorious sinner. Verse 9 Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.”
Jesus was referring to Zacchaeus. Jesus said that on that day Zacchaeus was saved, he was no longer a sinner, he has received mercy and salvation, he had been made righteous by faith. From a sinner, Zacchaeus turned into a righteous man, what happened in between? If you look carefully at the passage, you will discover that one word appeared several times, and that is the word ‘look or see’. Verse 3, `Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, but being a short man he could not because of the crowd.’ Verse 4 `He ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see Jesus.’ Verse 5 `When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up’ and at that moment, Zacchaeus was also looking at Jesus. Verse 7 `All the people saw this and began to mutter.’ Zacchaeus’ life was transformed because of one look. Today, let us see how Zacchaeus’ life was changed:
I. What Kind of Man was Zacchaeus before the Transformation?
1. His Name Didn’t Match His Reputation
The name Zacchaeus means just or pure. Of course, this is every parent’s hope for their children – in giving children their names, parents hope that they will live up to the names given them. If you only came to church recently or today, most probably you don’t know that I have three children, and that they are named Yee-Oi, Yee-Shin and Yee-Wang. Yee-Oi was named because I hope she will love the Lord, that she will be loved by God and men; Yee-Shin because my hope for him is that he may have faith as his foundation, and be a man of faith. Yee-Wang, because I desire that she will have hope all her life, that Jesus will be her hope.
Zacchaeus’ parents must have named him so because they had hoped he will be just and pure, but it was a shame because he didn’t live up to his name. Why? The Bible says “A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.” He was a tax collector and he was wealthy – this lets us know that his income and his identity were incompatible. According to his profession, he cannot have been a wealthy man, and the only reason he could have become wealthy was that he had been corrupt. In this scripture passage, we can say for certain that Zacchaeus’ money came from cheating, deceiving, and he himself admitted it. Verse 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.’” Zacchaeus’ name means just yet he was dishonest in his dealings. Zacchaeus means pure yet he cheated. His life and his name did not match up.
2. He was Poor in Spirit
Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit (those who are poor in their heart), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Zacchaeus was poor in spirit. He had an abundance of material goods, but he was very poor in his heart. He knew that graft was wrong, he knew cheating was wrong, he knew the people in the city of Jericho spoke spitefully of him, but he did not have strength in him to change, he suffered immensely inside. Verse 3 “He wanted to see who Jesus was.”
Why did he want to see Jesus? Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus because he was poor in spirit; he must have heard many stories about Jesus, about how Jesus transformed lives. We must remember that Matthew was among Jesus’ twelve disciples. Matthew was a tax collector too. Matthew and Zacchaeus belonged in the same profession. They knew what corruption was all about, what cheating was all about. But Matthew left everything and followed Jesus, he stopped working as a tax collector, and no longer cheated nor involved himself with graft and corruption. He became one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. Matthew’s life had changed and I believe this became Zacchaeus’ encouragement. He wanted to see Jesus, he wanted to see how Jesus was able to change Matthew.
Are you poor in spirit? Do you wish for an abundant life? Do you long for the hope of eternal life? Come to Jesus, he will satisfy the needs in your heart. But you must pay the cost. Zacchaeus paid a cost to meet Jesus: Verse 3 records that because of the crowd, and him being short, Zacchaeus could not see Jesus. If it were you, what would you have done? Would you have gone home instead, you could reason `it is not that I don’t want to see him, but I just can’t see him.’
However, Zacchaeus did not give up; in fact, he did two things just so he could see Jesus:
1. He ran. He ran ahead of the crowd. It is not a strange sight to see children running in the streets but a grown-up running in the streets is a curious sight. Zacchaeus was well-known in the city, yet he ran in the streets because he wanted to see Jesus.
2. He climbed a tree. This is even more un-befitting to his identity. How could he climb a tree? Others will laugh at him, but because he wanted to see Jesus, he did not mind the ridicule; in his heart, he really longed to see Jesus, he hoped Jesus would bring him true satisfaction.
II. What Kind of Man was Zacchaeus after the Transformation
In this passage, Zacchaeus only spoke once – v.8 “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.” This was a great declaration. This statement makes us see that Zacchaues’ life had truly been transformed.
1. He Now had a Compassionate Heart
`I will give half of my possessions to the poor.’ What if some wealthy Filipino-Chinese today like, Mr. Tan, Mr. Sy, or Mr. Ty, would suddenly say I will give half of my possessions to the poor, wouldn’t the whole nation would be shaken? Tomorrow the headlines would be: `Mr. So and So is giving half of his possessions after he came to know the Lord Jesus.’ This would indeed be big news. Zacchaeus said, “I will give half of my possessions to the poor.” The whole Jericho must have been shaken. This was big news for the whole city of Jericho.
Zacchaeus was notoriously corrupt, he didn’t have compassion for his fellowmen, money was the most important thing for him. Now, he has changed. Because his heart had changed, he now felt compassion for the poor. The two characters that make up the term for compassion in Chinese are written with a character for heart on the side, because compassion is something that comes from the heart. According to the Bible, Zacchaeus became like Jesus, he now felt compassion for others.
Believers in the Lord Jesus are moved to tears more easily. It is nothing special to see women cry. Women cry endlessly just watching Korean love stories. But for men, crying is not a usual thing, but after knowing the Lord Jesus, even men easily shed tears. Why? Because there is a change of heart, just like what the Bible says – we used to have hearts of stone, now we have hearts of flesh. Stones do not have feelings, but flesh does. After believing in the Lord, our emotions are restored.
2. Zacchaeus Acknowledged the Sins He had Committed
Not only did Zacchaeus’ first statement startle everyone, his next statement was even more shocking. ‘If I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’ Everyone knew Zacchaeus was a corrupt man, yet now he was publicly acknowledging his sins. Pardon my saying this – we are all sinners, but none of us wants to admit our sins. There is only one way we may admit our sins, and that is if there is enough evidence to prove it. Even so, how do we confess? We confess only what little is known.
In recent years, many world famous people have fallen into sins of immorality, all of them acknowledged their sins in a similar manner:
1. US Ex-President Bill Clinton. He turned the US White House into a place of sexual indecency. But at the beginning, he denied it. He admitted only to it much later and what did he admit to? He admitted only what the media knew.
2. Jacky Chan. Media reported that he had a child by another woman. Initially, he denied it. However, when evidence was brought out he admitted it, but said, `I have committed the sin every man commits.’ With one sentence he dragged all men along with him.
3. Tiger Woods also denied at first the news about his sexual misconducts. But his wife, Mrs. Tiger, became irate and aggressive, so he had to publicly admit his sins.
No one had evidence to sue Zacchaeus for graft and corruption, because the Roman government permitted it. The government permitted him to cheat people as long as he brought taxes to the government. But he, publicly, confessed to his sins. And that was because his life had been transformed. The Bible says: If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
3. Zacchaeus Now Considered the Lord Jesus His Most Treasured Possession
I thought again on why Zacchaeus would publicly confess and say, “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.” It was because Jesus told him, “I must stay at your house today.” He had heard the crowd say that Jesus has gone to be the guest of a sinner. If you were Zacchaeus, how would you have responded? 1. Maybe you wouldn’t respond at all because you reason `If Jesus won’t come, so what; nothing special about it.’ 2. You may become anxious, because you fear Jesus will not come anymore. Zacchaeus responded in two ways. He became afraid Jesus would no longer go to his house, so he publicly confessed. This tells us Zacchaeus was willing to forsake everything for Jesus, including the money which he treasured so much before. Zacchaeus now considered Jesus his greatest treasure.
III. Reasons Why Zacchaeus was Transformed
In this passage, there is a very important verse – verse 5, `When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”’ Because of this verse, Zacchaeus became a totally changed man, why?
1. Zacchaeus Met the Lord
Zacchaeus intended to see the Lord, but he couldn’t because of the crowd. So he went up a tree. When Jesus came by, He looked up. At this moment, Jesus, of course, saw Zacchaeus and Zacchaeus also saw the Lord. The two looked eye to eye and because of this one look, Zacchaeus’ life was changed.
Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was; but when he saw Jesus, he discovered what kind man he himself was. What does this mean? When we look in the mirror, who do we see? We see ourselves – our hair, our eyes, our mouth, our ears, our nose, our physique, we find out how we look like. Jesus said, `I am the Way, the Truth, the Life.’ Jesus also said `I am the Light of the world.’ When we meet the Lord, we meet the Truth, when we meet the Lord Jesus, we meet the Light, and so, we see the darkness in us. Peter had such an experience. When Jesus told him to throw down his net and let his boat into deeper water, he caught such an amount of fish that it filled two boatfuls. Immediately, he looked at the Lord Jesus, knelt down and said, “Lord! Depart from me, for I am a sinner.” When Peter met the Lord, he also met himself.
2. Zacchaeus Heard the Voice of the Lord
`Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ How comforting this was to Zacchaeus. First, the Lord knew Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus because he had heard many stories about Him, but he had never met Jesus. So, Jesus must not have known of Zacchaeus. But unexpectedly, when Jesus saw Zacchaeus, He said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately.” The Lord Jesus knew him! Maybe you do not know the Lord, and you think the Lord Jesus does not know you either. You are wrong! Jesus is the creator of heaven and earth, he knows each man. The Lord knows you, the Lord recognizes you, and the Lord loves you. Second, the Lord wanted to stay at Zacchaeus’ house. Jesus told Zacchaeus, `Today I will stay in your house.’ It was because the Lord was pleased with Zacchaeus. The Lord accepted Zacchaeus completely. The Lord knew what sort of man he was, but the Lord completely accepted him. Zacchaeus met the Lord, heard His voice and his life was completely transformed!