Half of All My Goods

Half of All My Goods

Luke 19:1-10

We love the story of Zacchaeus.  It’s one of the great stories of salvation.  A man considered to be the worst of sinners by his fellow townspeople encounters Jesus and has a complete change of heart.  From despicable sinner he is transformed into a model of one who follows Christ.  The story ends with Jesus saying, “Today salvation has come to this house.”

Like many stories of Jesus this is about more than salvation.  If we write it off as merely that, we lose much of the rich meaning embedded in the text.  Understanding the background will help us see deeper into the story.

To grasp the significance of Zacchaeus we must understand the place tax collectors held in first century Judah.  Today, we don’t especially like those who collect our taxes, but few of us are nasty to them.  They are, in many cases, our neighbors.  We not only see them in their official capacity, but in the grocery store and gas station.  We are willing, although reluctant, to pay our taxes as long as we think they are assessed fairly.

Not so with Zacchaeus and that other well-known tax collector in the Bible, Matthew.  These men were hated as few people were.  First, although they were Jews, they were employed by the even more despised Romans.  They were agents of foreign conquerors who did everything they could to suppress and oppress the people they controlled.  The Romans wanted everyone to know who was in charge, and what would happen if someone forgot.

Unlike tax collectors today, Zacchaeus, Matthew and their fellows were not paid a salary.  They had a set amount they had to collect for Rome.  Whatever they could squeeze out of their fellow citizens above that amount they could keep—another reason they were hated. 

As you can imagine, that could amount to a hefty sum.  Tax collectors lived well.  They flaunted their wealth.  If they had no friends, that was the price they paid for the good life.  Money might not be able to buy happiness, but they were going to try to prove the saying was wrong.  This was Matthew’s life before Jesus called him, and Zacchaeus’ life the day Jesus passed through Jericho.

Why did Zacchaeus want so badly to see Jesus?  We might want to imagine it was because he knew his lifestyle was wrong, or because God directed him to that spot.  It’s just as likely that he was curious—curious and too short to see over the crowd.  As my father used to say, people took great pleasure in keeping him on the outside.  Imagine the sharp elbows he received, the kicks to the shins, the pushes and punches—all delivered anonymously, of course, since he was protected by the Romans.  So the vertically challenged but ingenious Zacchaeus took the only recourse open to him.  He escaped the angry crowd by climbing a tree. 

Did he think he would be able to observe Jesus without being seen in return?  If so, he was mistaken.  We know from our experience that when Jesus wants to find us, he does.

And so we have a healing, a changed heart, a contrite spirit.  Once Zacchaeus encountered Jesus he knew he had to change.  He had no choice.  “Half of all my goods,” he said, “I give to the poor.  And I’ll return everything I’ve taken falsely four times over.”

And so we applaud.  We also applaud Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and others who have pledged to give half of their fortunes away.  We look with awe on Andrew Carnegie who did the same, especially when we think of his gifts of libraries and concert halls.

But what about us?  Are we ready to give half of all we own?  A quarter?  An eighth?  Ten percent?