We Are All Zacchaeus
But First, Communion 1/3 | Luke 19:1–10
February 17, 2019
Commonwealth Bridge Worship
How many people have seen this popular print, “But first, coffee”?
This ubiquitous meme represents the absolute priority for those coffee-lovers and caffeine-addicts. Before I start my day and before I do anything, let me first take a moment to grab a cup of coffee.
Similarly, what I’m trying to address with this title “But first, Communion” is our absolute priority in Christian faith, especially for us as a new church community.
As a church planter, I get asked a lot of similar questions involving our ability to interact with people. How are you going to attract people? How are you going to meet new people? How are you going to have people come to your church? How are you going to get people involved? All these questions essentially point towards one question for the church:
How are we going to share the gospel with people?
In order to answer this question, we may want to first define what the gospel is. To put it briefly, the gospel is the good news of salvation. God wants to deliver us and save us from evil. And this good news is both personal and public.
The good news is the reign of God within our hearts; in other words, living with this personal conviction that, through the grace of Christ, I am saved. And therefore, we have this personal relationship with Christ.
But the good news is also the reign of God demonstrated in our midst; which means living out the good news through works of grace. And this is witnessed publicly through acts of mercy, justice, and compassion, as described in the Scripture (Luke 4:18; cf. Isaiah 61):
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,”
Therefore, Christian life must be both personal and public; it cannot be one or the other; or, one over the other. And sharing this gospel means inviting people to live this very life. So again, how are we going to share this gospel with people?
We read the story of Zacchaeus this morning. If you ever attended a children’s church, perhaps you may know him as a wee little man. But that’s only one-fourth of the description laid out in the story. Zacchaeus was also a chief tax collector. Now, a tax collector of Jesus’ time is often compared to an IRS agent of today. In Jesus’ time, Jews were living under Roman rule. And Zacchaeus was a Jew who worked for the Romans by managing a group that collected taxes from his fellow Jews. Simply put, his position as a chief tax collector meant he betrayed his own people and was therefore hated by his own kindred.
Zacchaeus was also rich. He was a person of advanced status, something like a wealthy ruler, who enjoyed relative power and privilege. Again, a certain image is implied here, mainly ‘corruption.’
And lastly, he was a sinner. Here, it is safe to assume that tax collectors of Jesus’ time were simply perceived as sinners no matter what — for their compliance with the oppressor rather than with scripture’s laws; and, for their dishonest handling of the money (e.g. Luke 5:27–32; 18:9–14).
Zacchaeus was trying to see who Jesus was. But because of the crowd and his height, he could not see. So, Zacchaeus decided to climb a tree for a clear view, despite the probable mockery and shame that comes from climbing a tree. The whole crowd could see this short, wealthy, and despised grown-up man on a tree. That probably created a moment of ridicule and humiliation; yet, that’s the price Zacchaeus paid to see who this Jesus was.
Once Jesus saw this figure on a tree, he called him by name, saying “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today” (v. 5). Then Zacchaeus did exactly what Jesus asked for. He was happy to welcome Jesus to his house — most likely to have a meal with him as Jesus had done before with many others.
Jesus once had a meal with a group of tax collectors around the table. And the religious folks of his time complained, saying, “Why [does Jesus] eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”(Luke 5:30). And it happened again with Zacchaeus. Once Jesus took his time to be with him at his house, the crowd grumbled, saying “[Jesus] has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner” (v. 7).
Despite Zacchaeus’s occupation and reputation, Jesus invited himself to be with Zacchaeus at his table. This table fellowship — this image of ‘being with’ — is called ‘communion’: the sharing of our time, our presence, our stories, our thoughts, our food, and ourselves. When sharing things, our preference is to keep our table kosher — meaning we don’t want unclean things to infect our bodies; we don’t want impure things to contaminate our lives; we don’t want unknown things to complicate our worldviews. This is why the crowd could not understand Jesus who would do such a thing with Zacchaeus, a sinner who brought unclean things to the table.
But the impact of this communion on Zacchaeus is clear. At the table, the gospel was shared. I said earlier that the gospel — the good news of salvation — is both personal and public. Zacchaeus said out loud to Jesus, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much” (v. 8). This is much more than Zacchaeus just trying to amend what he did wrong in the past. This is Zacchaeus trying to live out the gospel; participating in Jesus’ ministry of sharing good news to the poor.
Simply put, he is changed; not only has his attitude and behavior in relation to money changed (which, by the way, is something Jesus talked about repeatedly), but the way he addressed Jesus has also changed. Zacchaeus was first curious to see who Jesus was, and now he called him ‘Lord.’
Jesus responded to the change in Zacchaeus, saying, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost” (vv. 9–10). The impact of the change in Zacchaeus’s life is more than personal; Jesus said it impacted his entire household. Jesus said of Zacchaeus, a Jew who was hated by his own people, that “he too is a son of Abraham.” In other words, “he too is one of us, a human being.” Before recognizing anything else, what Jesus recognized in Zacchaeus was that he too was a beloved child created in the image of God.
As we see in verse 10 — “For the Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost” — Jesus’ mission is “to save the lost” (cf. Luke 5:32). This is what we, the church, confess; people are lost in the world where evil rampage, where we helplessly face the power of sin and death, and where our hearts become hardened and unable to bear love, joy, and peace (i.e. Galatians 5:22–23).
And this mission of saving the lost is why we are asking ourselves the question, “How are we going to share the gospel with people?” We are here today because we believe that the gospel has the power to bring positive changes to peoples’ lives, both personal and communal; and to bring positive changes for the common good of our household and our community.
And to be faithful to Jesus’ mission, I believe it is best for us to follow his model of communion first. If you read the stories of Jesus’ ministry, you continue to see Jesus engaging with people, especially at the table. Jesus’ model of communion first is based on what the table represents. The table represents hospitality, inclusivity, generosity, and grace. The table represents solidarity that we are with one another and that we are in this together. And all these attributes are based on God’s amazing love towards us. God loves us and God wants to be with us.
This is why I want all of us to think deeply about partaking in our small group ministry called “Common Meal.” A space where strangers become friends. A space where each of our stories creates this big beautiful tapestry. A space where we encourage and support one another to be the agents of grace. A space where we invite our guests and neighbors — like those who are hidden in the crowd without a clear view, those who are ineluctably condemned in our society, and those who are alone searching for directions. I firmly believe that this ministry could bring positive changes both in our lives and in the lives of others.
And this is why I’m also led to having Holy Communion as often as we can. Before we invite others to our table, we first receive the invitation to the Lord’s Table. Before we bring the gospel to our neighbors, we first receive the gospel that is both personal and public. Before we serve as partakers of Jesus’ mission, we first recognize ourselves as Zacchaeus.
We are all Zacchaeus. I know the implication of being part of a church plant like this. It’s like climbing a tree. Climbing takes work, effort, energy. People may look at us funny. And being on a tree is not comfortable and not secure. But we are here because we want to see who Jesus is, because we want to know who Jesus is, and because we want to have a clear view of Jesus’ mission being lived out in our lives and in our community.
We are all Zacchaeus. And Jesus is calling us by our own names, telling us to come down and share this table with him. This is why our church practices Open Communion, which means, regardless of who you are, where you come from, or where you stand in terms of faith or religion, and even if this is your first time coming to a church like this — you are invited to the Lord’s Table because of grace, because there is something beautiful and something divine in you; because you too are the beloved children created in the image of God. Amen.
