The Collision between God-Seeking Person and Person-Seeking God

The Gospel reading is the Revised Common Lectionary (Year C) reading for Sunday 31st of October
Luke 19:1 to 10

Today we have before us the story of Zacchaeus and Jesus…. could it be the story of you or me… and Jesus?
Jesus went on into Jericho and was passing through.

It would seem that Jesus has no intention of hanging around, He is passing through. You see, the end of His ministry, and of His life, is in sight; He has set his eyes firmly on Jerusalem, and that is where He is now headed.
In a month or so we head for Johannesburg and once we leave, our eyes will be fixed on Johannesburg, so we will pass through many towns on the way, with no intention of hanging around in any of them.
Jesus eyes were now fixed on Jerusalem.

There was a chief tax collector there named Zacchaeus, who was rich.

This verse tells us so much. Zacchaeus isn't just a tax collector, he is the chief tax collector in an important town, a town with a great deal of priests and levites, religious people, lots of them, they lived in Jericho and served in the Temple in Jerusalem when it was their turn to do duty and then they would journey from Jericho to Jerusalem. Jesus once told a parable about a man who was robbed on this road, and left for dead and a priest and a Levite walk past….. it was a common thing for priests and Levites to journey on that road because they lived in Jericho and went to Jerusalem to work.
So we have a town with more than its fair share of religious people. We know from last week's reading what religious people thought of tax collectors..… do you remember the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector? Tax collectors were Jews who undertook to collect taxes for the Roman rulers and they were the most despised people in the Jewish community. Not only were they serving the oppressors, but they found it easy to abuse the system so as to line their own pockets by exploiting their fellow Jews.

Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector, in other words, to religious people he was the chief of sinners (words that the apostle Paul uses to describe himself on one occasion) and, he was very rich. Why was he very rich? Because he ripped off his fellow Jews.
By this time in His ministry, Jesus has taught that it is very difficult for a rich person to enter into the Kingdom of God, more difficult than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

So we have a rich tax collector…. is there any hope for him at all?

The good news is…….. yes, there is hope for him, but……. let's not run away with ourselves but rather get back to our text.

He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was a little man and could not see Jesus because of the crowd.

What stops Zacchaeus from seeing Jesus? If we read the verse carefully, it is not his shortness, rather, it is…… the crowd. It is sometimes the followers of Jesus, the people closest to Him, who keep people from getting to Him. Do you remember the disciples keeping the children away from Jesus? If we read on a little in Luke's gospel we see the people around Jesus telling a blind man called Bartimaeus to shut up because Jesus hasn't got time for him!

Sometimes it is the people around Jesus, you and I, who prevent others from approaching Jesus. Ask any gay person whether the people around Jesus, you and I in other words, have helped or hindered them from approaching the Lord. Ask the prostitutes, the street people, the child molesters, whether we help or hinder them in their search for the Jesus they might have heard is passing through.

But Zacchaeus won't be stopped….. today we would say, he is on a mission!

So he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus, who was going to pass that way.

He runs ahead, knowing the route that Jesus will take, and he climbs a tree and waits. How does he know Jesus will go that way? Well, he's worked out that this religious man is on his way to Jerusalem like every other religious person who passes through Jericho…… and he knows the route through the town which people take when they're on their way to Jerusalem.

Do you know where to find Jesus in Parow this week, the route that He will take in our suburb? Jesus tells us in the Gospels, and of course He showed us in His life where He is more often to be found…… it is always with the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the sick, the prisoner, the foreigner, the outcast. Go to them and you know….. Jesus will pass by that way.

Jesus predictably passes under the sycamore tree on the main road through Jericho to Jerusalem.


When Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to Zacchaeus, "Hurry down, Zacchaeus, because I must stay in your house today." Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed him with great joy.

Who wouldn't welcome him with great joy?......... but….

All the people who saw it started grumbling, "This man has gone as a guest to the home of a sinner!"

These words of the grumbling people actually sum up the Gospel, don't they?
Jesus will go…… as a guest….. to the home…… of sinners.
That should put a smile on anybody's face, except……. those who don't know that they are sinners.

Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Listen, sir! I will give half my belongings to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay back four times as much."

There is obviously a bit of a jump in the story, because this verse implies that Zacchaeus stands up in his home, at his dinner table and says: “I will put things right”.

According to the Old Testament, in Leviticus, Exodus, Numbers and 1 Samuel, when a person confessed to fraud and made voluntary restitution, the Law required him to return the amount stolen, plus 20%.
An apprehended thief had to pay the victim double.
But a person stealing what was essential and showing no pity was required to pay back four times the amount. Zacchaeus, fully repentant, not only acknowledged the heartlessness and cruelty of his behaviour, but voluntarily imposed upon himself the whole restitution required by the Torah for such acts.
Oh that our corrupt politicians would do the same, but they are not here this morning…… you and I are….. what do you need to do today to put things right with others?

You and I can hear and experience today what Zacchaeus heard and experienced that day:

Jesus said to him, "Salvation has come to this house today, for this man, also, is a descendant of Abraham. The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

What we see in this text is the record of the collision (clap hands here) between the God-seeking person (Zacchaeus) and the person-seeking God (Jesus).
The collision between the Shepherd looking for sheep, and the sheep looking for a Shepherd.
The collision between the person who is empty and the God who offers fullness.
The collision, friends, between you and God.
The collision which doesn't break you, but which rather makes you whole.
A collision which doesn't send you to prison, but rather sets you free.
You wouldn't mind such a collision today, would you?

Have you heard of the Hadron-collider in Europe? It's a huge thing…… kilometres wide….. a huge circle, it's also called a particle accelerator. Scientists have developed it in order to see what the very early universe looked like just after God said: “ Let there be light”. They know that that moment would have been incredibly hot and bright and the idea is to generate that heat, but on a smaller scale, and see what is revealed. So they accelerate to particles of the element Hadron in opposite directions in this big circle, spending them faster and faster until they are travelling at just under the speed of light…. and then they let them collide and in the collision the heat that was present at the beginning, when God said: “ Let there be light”, is generated, but on a very small scale, and they then use specialised machines to see and measure things that haven't been seen since the beginning of the universe.

The collision between the God-seeking person, and the person-seeking God (use hands) reveals things that have not been seen before.
The people of Jericho see things after that collision between Zacchaeus and Jesus that they've never seen before.
They see Zacchaeus as he was meant to be, because Zacchaeus, in that collision, has seen himself as he is meant to be and he decides to become what he is meant to be.

It might seem that Jesus invited himself into Zacchaeus's life, but we know that that is not how Jesus works. God does not invade the privacy of the human soul, but He does know where a welcome awaits Him. He knows that Zacchaeus is searching so He places himself where He can be found by Zacchaeus and He knocks.

From the sycamore tree, Zacchaeus looks into the eyes of Jesus and sees mirrored in Jesus’ eyes the face of Zacchaeus as he is meant to be.
And friends this is what can happen in the collision between the person who is seeking God, and God who is seeking the person, especially when God knows there is a welcoming heart awaiting Him.

So let me close with some of the sycamore trees we can climb which will place us in the path of Jesus, some places where we know Jesus is found: there are of course many, but I leave you with three.

One. Jesus is to be found in the Scriptures.
Encounter the Scriptures and you will encounter Jesus. In fact, as you look into the Scriptures with welcoming eyes and a heart of faith, you will not only see Jesus, but you will see a reflection of yourself as Jesus wants you to be.
Read the Bible.

Secondly, The Place of Prayer.
Talk to God, and…. this is important…. give Him time to talk to you and with you. So, pray with the welcoming ears and heart of faith.

Finally, Go to the Poor.
Remember, in as much as you go to the least among us here in Parow, you go to Jesus.
Go to the poor, with eyes, ears, hands, feet, of faith… and… with welcoming hearts,…. and you will see Jesus.
Chris and I have seen Jesus, sitting on a tin can in a doorway in Voortrekker Road.

In conclusion, go from here and climb some sycamore trees…. read your Bibles, pray, and go to the poor, and in the collision that takes place when you, the God-seeking person with a welcoming heart, meet the God who is seeking you, salvation will come to you in a wonderful new way and you will continue to grow in grace and in holiness, just as Jesus wants you to.