100% Maybe

Ep. 27: Encountering Jesus: To Seek & Save The Lost

• CLC Gulf Breeze • Season 1 • Episode 27

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The story of Zacchaeus is surprisingly short on details in Luke 19.

We don’t know why he was searching.
We don’t know why Jesus chose him.
We don’t even know what was said in their conversation.

But we do know what happened next.

A life was changed.
A heart was transformed.
And Jesus reminds us why He came...to seek and to save the lost.

In this episode, we wrestle with what Scripture doesn’t tell us, and why that might actually be the point.  Because faith isn’t built on having every answer, it’s built on trusting the One who does.

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to the 100% Navy Podcast. I'm your host, Jeff Stewart, the Creative Director here at Community Life Church in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Each episode, we'll get together to talk about the scripture passage that we'll be studying in our Sunday services. While this started as a resource for our church, we found it applies to all of us who are interested in what it looks like to follow Jesus. So wherever you are on your journey of faith, we hope these conversations will connect you to the source of life we have in Jesus and to the greater story that God is still writing today. Here's our episode. What's going on, y'all? Welcome back to 100% maybe. Look who's back with me. Scott with his deer cup. Deer cup. Man, fuck cup. I feel like I have not preached in s a year. Yeah, what have you even been doing? You've been out fishing on the weekends, slaying around. Feeling like you're gonna come back to work any time. Back to work.

SPEAKER_01

I listen, I only work one day a week.

SPEAKER_00

That's it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and you haven't even been doing that the last week. I haven't been doing that. Kat came in with 22 hours of notice. Did a wonderful job. Yep. Absolutely. I wasn't nervous about that at all. No. I'm nervous about whether my key's gonna work in the truck. Like I get nervous about everything. So um she crushed it. So proud of her. Yeah. And Clint was already on the schedule to preach, and I wasn't gonna take it from him. Um but for me to miss two weeks, that so part of my therapy is uh because I I I don't ever I love to Is this part of your therapy? This is part of my therapy. You should get a couch here. Welcome. You lay down on the couch. Did you ask a question or am I just talking? No, you were just talking. Was to try and take at when I take time to try and take at least two weeks off because you really, if you're preaching, you can't get your your mind, your anxiety, all that stuff doesn't come down unless you get those two weeks off. Well, I I didn't plan on taking the first one off. Yeah. And then Clint was already scheduled, and it's but they both did wonderful. Building didn't fall down. Did not. No, in fact, it was I mean, better. Like I love it. The church, the church gets the opportunity to hear communicators, hear from some different perspectives, and it's what we need to be doing.

SPEAKER_00

I know you were sick the first one, but last week you got to be here dull MC in. Yeah. Was it good for you? Do you feel the need and rest to be able to just sit there? Or you you're not able to read.

SPEAKER_01

I can't I am a nuclear bomb, legs are shaking, things are, you know. I but uh Clint and I are like brothers. I mean, we've traveled the world together and and he and I talked through the sermon, and not not that he needed any help from me, but I've I knew where he was going. I was excited about it. And and then even then between the time we talked about it and he preached it, like, and I I don't I don't know when to shut up. So like he he talked about the part of daughter when Jesus recognized uh the woman with the issue of blood as daughter. I'm on the front row, it's like I'm just there. First time I've been to church in forever, and I'm like, man, that's a great get. And everybody was looking at me, I'm going, Oh, I'm gonna shut up now.

SPEAKER_00

But anyways, uh you're that guy on the front row. Yeah, talking back at the preacher, talking to the preacher as if we're the only ones there.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

What's right?

SPEAKER_00

I kind of like that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

It's good. I got people in the crowd that talk to me. Yeah. Some that snore, some that talk. Right. Some talk with their their body language more than their body language, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

It's all good. We need all, we need it all, right? Glad for people to be here, man. That's right. If I if someone can sleep for the 35 minutes that I'm preaching, that's good.

SPEAKER_00

That might be the best sleep they've had all week. Could be, and I'm here for it. Yeah. Yeah. Glad we could help in any way. We'll eventually get you up.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

When the drums crack in, then you'll be like, that's what's happening. That's right.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, cool, man. Well, we're glad to have you back. Excited about that. So this is uh week four, I guess. Encounters. Um What's been a favorite encounter so far? I really wanted to do The Thief on the Cross.

SPEAKER_01

I really, really wanted to do that one. Um, so that that's that was a favorite because it's probably the the clearest the clearest uh decision that's that's presented to us. It clean it cleans up a lot of theology. Today's a this description we're gonna look at today is a little bit messy. Or not. But um that one I really, really enjoyed. Uh the I I still, Simon a Cyrene, although there's still not there's not a lot that's known about him, that one really will always challenge me. What's it like what's it like when you're just moving through life and you think things are unfolding? And this could be that story.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And all of a sudden you're pulled into the greater story. You weren't asking for it. And then, hey, let's let's go do this thing. And my life has changed, children's lives are changed, everybody's lives are changed. Those things you you can't deny them. So an encounter with Jesus, it changes you, it changes your life, your perspective. Sometimes not sometimes good, sometimes bad. Sometimes the results of that aren't what you thought they would be. Right. Sometimes you get resistance from family. Um so they've they've all they've all been good. I I just love studying scripture. You you said it a second ago before we started filming that um one thing that is true about each one of these encounters is that they all are different. So they get one of the guys in the Bible study this morning said Jesus is coloring outside the lines on all of them. And why wouldn't he? Right. He he wasn't what they thought he was. And I bet he's probably not what we think he is. I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_00

You know, if if we don't have it all figured out. We do not have it all figured out. That's a good way to say that for sure. Yeah. So this week we're talking about Zacchaeus. Luke 19. There's only ten verses. That's it. There are more than ten minutes. There are a ton of sermons out there about Zacchaeus. Not a lot of information, which we will dig into together. Very nebulous. Why even the information you have? Why do you think this imp this particular encounter has just been is such a preaching story? It's it's a kid's song. You want to give us a couple?

SPEAKER_01

I will not.

SPEAKER_00

Couple verses.

SPEAKER_01

Every time I do that, it's a problem. Tammy said I'm not, I'll sing.

SPEAKER_00

He's a wee little man. A wee little man was he.

SPEAKER_01

He climbed a sycamore tree.

SPEAKER_00

For the Lord, he wanted to see. I he wanted to see something. I wasn't, I didn't really grow up in the tree. To see what he can see? I don't know. I don't know. I came to that, I I found out about that later on into adulthood, but so but the we make songs out of them. There's a million sermons preached. Why, why do you think, but not a lot of scripture. Why do you think it's such a story that's resonated for so long?

SPEAKER_01

I have no idea. Like really, I don't I don't know. I I approached this one and it's not a there's not a lot of depth to it. Some of it's lost on us because in that time, for those ears, they would have been like, oh, that guy's a horrible, rotten nightmare. For us, we're like, he's a tax collector. He's not a tax collector, he's the chief tax collector. Only place in scripture that's first time that word is ever used in our text, uh-huh, which means he was the bougiest of tax collectors, right? Scripture tells you he's rich and he didn't get it because he inherited it. He got it off the backs of his uh Jewish friends. So um, to them and they, man, we what we don't know, Jeff, this is this is where it's so interesting. He may have been known to them. Like maybe he became a believer and was known in the early church. We don't have scripture that backs that up. But why would it have been why would Luke put this in here? Now I I have a theory on that. But um it it's just a it's just an interesting story. Jesus sees him, says, uh it's the first time Jesus invites himself to someone's home. But he does. We don't know what the conversation is. We just know that people start accusing Jesus of eating with sinners. Uh-huh. Jesus doesn't say anything. Nicodemus, not Nicodemus, wow. Zacchaeus. Yes. Zacchaeus, uh you don't know if Zacchaeus is defending himself or Jesus or both. Uh-huh. Comes out and makes his statement. And then there's two different translations that go in two wildly different directions. Yeah. Um, either one, he's affirming that he's a righteous man and would give half his stuff, or that he has already given half. Or some translations he's offering to give half. What is it? Choose, you know, choose your own adventure. Yeah. Um that's that'll be some where some of the work is that I gotta do this week. I just said a lot. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00

That's okay. Um what Okay, let's just get into it. Let's see where that takes us.

SPEAKER_01

Well, yeah, uh, yeah. So you asked about it. I there's something to be found here, and we're gonna make it up.

unknown

Right?

SPEAKER_01

We'll tell we'll we'll go. Um we'll unpack the scripture and what it says. It just gives you a lot of directions you can look at.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. But I yeah, I think there's some pretty pretty big takeaways. When you have notes, I get really nervous.

SPEAKER_01

I have notes every week. Do you have notes every week? I do. Sometimes they're crayons. You're drawing. He don't believe him. Yeah, I'm just yeah, that's true. Yeah, sometimes just they're just doodle cultures, doodle tic-tac-toe games and stuff. He Jeff purposely has his group meet on Tuesdays so that and I I bet he at he ends his group by saying, What can I ask Scott tomorrow? No?

SPEAKER_00

No comment. No comment. Okay, no comment. All right. Um, you sent in a question last week about Leviticus. I did. You know how that worked out. I should have asked, I should have texted Clint asked to see if he had any questions for you.

SPEAKER_01

About a wee little man? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

He's a giant. Clint's like six three, six four. Yeah, he he he yeah, he can't understand. Can we talk about that for a second?

SPEAKER_01

About this wee little man? Yeah. So it's uh in in that time frame when they go back and they do historical studies of thresholds on houses, right? They believe that the average height of a male during that time would have been around five foot, five foot something, not much. So if he's a wee little man in a time when the average male was five, two, five, one, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

He's a wee little man. He's in the fours, probably. He's in the forest. Oh fours. Oh, yeah. He's four something.

SPEAKER_01

He is he's four foot something. Yeah. Nothing wrong with that.

SPEAKER_00

We know.

SPEAKER_01

But but it it gives it gives perspective to the funny detail. It does. It does. I'd love to And I'm not I'm listening I know there are people out there that that maybe are vertically challenged. Yeah. And uh that doesn't mean anything about about you personally. It's just when you think of this story coming to life, it it uh climbing a tree, uh, him being the chief tax collector, put all that stuff together, it just it's just an interesting detail. What a wee little man. What that's an interesting detail in a story.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. There's a funny thing that preachers do. Oh boy. That when you go into study, what I like to do is get some different perspectives and thoughts. So I'll I'll listen to some sermons. And a lot I found a lot of stuff that I would never have found otherwise, but sp looking up specific scripture verses or stories. But a lot of them will be like, they go into this whole the first 20 minutes is all about Zacchaeus and like his identity and what he would have loved. I'm like I mean, it preaches good, but I'm like, do we really know any of that? You're you're making a lot of jumps about what he was into, what he did, I th with very little detail. So I I guess do you want to talk about what we might know? Yeah, there's something about yeah, let's do that. Okay. So start. So what do you know about Zacchaeus?

SPEAKER_01

Well, we're in Jericho. Okay, right? Very important city.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, tell me about Jericho, the city of Palms.

SPEAKER_01

The city of Palms, very bougie. So during that time, it was the uh place where priests, rabbi or priests, rabbis, um, all of those that would have been in the in the temple order, kind of like a vacation spot for them. So it is at the base of the mountain on which Jerusalem is is located. It's below it's below sea level. So it is it is a little bit north and east. It's below sea level. So during the winter, when it's cold in Jerusalem, you can go summer down in Jericho, it's gorgeous. So this is like the Florida Keys. Yes, it is Jerusalem. It would be. Okay. Yep. And and it's where very affluent um Josephus said of this city during their time, so close proximity, that Jericho was fat. He didn't spell it P-H-A-T, but he said it was fat. And I think the indication is wealthy, uh, indulgent. So there was something about that city. There was an opulence. Now, it's a it's a part of the travel corridor for most uh uh Israelites that would have been traveling from anywhere else, coming from the north, they would have not gone through the Samaritan part of the world. So they would have come down the Jordan River Valley, come up, maybe stayed the night in Jericho, because remember, the stretch from Jericho up to Jerusalem is where the story of the good Samaritan would have taken place. So that stretch is very dangerous. So it would be natural to stop in Jericho, and if it's getting close into the evening, you'd stay the night there because you're not going to travel that place at night. So he's so he he pulls in there. Uh it modern-day Jericho, uh, controlled by Palestinians, is beautiful. Uh, when you're coming down out of the mountain, there it's that whole it's a river basin, kind of a valley. It's date palms from start to finish. That's where a lot of the honey, a lot of the dates, all that comes from. Uh, and man, it's just gorgeous. And just this simple little village. Now it's a now it's kind of run down, and you can see big piles of rebel that are there. And they'll say, Oh, it's a Jericho Wall. Come have a picture with the Jericho Wall.

SPEAKER_00

That's where 100% maybe is born. This was this.

SPEAKER_01

And there's a nice fountain that's there. Jericho Wall. I'm sure they were excited when the wall came down. They're like, hey, let's tourist attraction.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

That's where Tammy wrote a camel. I should, I should put that. I don't know, I'll figure out how to get that posted somewhere if Tammy wrote a camel. Yeah. You have to.

SPEAKER_00

I think you have to.

SPEAKER_01

That's a lot more talking.

SPEAKER_00

But Jericho, that's Jericho. That's Jericho. Levitical city. So there's a there's a presence of of priests. Of priests and temple and understanding of of of the law here.

SPEAKER_01

We're moving, we're moving towards um Passover. Yeah. A lot of people move in that way. Yeah. Last week or two, well, not last week, but last couple weeks of his life.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. This yeah, this strikes me as if you keep reading just a couple other things uh that that we get from Luke and then triumphal entry. Yep. So this is near the end, and they're going to Jerusalem and kind of interesting. This could be one of the last big encounters with a person. Before the movement of the move into the last week, yeah. Yeah. That's right. So Zacchaeus is there. Rich town, rich place, and he's a rich guy. Scripture says he's rich. Chief tax collector. Only place that we see that. So he's also not only making a living for himself, he's probably making a great living off other tax collectors being the guy in charge.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, he has tax collectors. So he was smart enough to go to Rome and negotiate a whole section, a whole area. And then he probably has tax collectors that work those areas. Yeah. So he's just a he's a very shrewd businessman. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

We've talked about it, but give us the brief understanding of the day and to the audience Luke's writing to, and to us, like it it does lose some stuff over over the years because we don't necessarily have individual tax collectors anymore. Right. But what would it have meant for the time? Because this is a Jewish person.

SPEAKER_01

How did this happen? Like what's a tax collector kind of thing?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, like why why is that dynamic so important?

SPEAKER_01

Um, so the the w the way that it worked in that in that time was they would have open 100% maybe. They would have an open forum, the Romans, the Roman government, and say they would say, Okay, uh, Santa Rosa County, who wants to to collect taxes for Santa Rosa County? And you'd say, Okay, you give it to me and I'll bring in X number, and I'll say, Yeah, but you give it to me, I'll bring in X number, and then the they take the highest bidder. Well, they they didn't then say that's all you can collect. So they would, as long as they paid that to the Roman government, they could collect whatever else they wanted on top of it. And I listened to a sermon this week. There were taxes on everything. Taxes on the number of fish you caught, tax on the number of wheels on your wagon, tax. I mean, go down the list of all the things that were taxed over and over and over again. So what happened is if you were a Jewish person, and we know he is, um, and you were a tax collector, they viewed you as being in relationship with Rome and a traitor, and they would ostracize you as no longer a part of or a um, you know, no longer a part of the family. Yeah. So they so and he's a chief tax collector. Yeah. So not just hated, hated, hated. He made his money in in extreme ways. And um, so that's that's how that worked. Yeah, that's significant to understand the story. And and in the in in the bougiest town. Yeah. Right. So if that's part of his r his thing, and it and clearly I I think it would be, yeah, he would have been super wealthy.

SPEAKER_00

There is an element though, going back to what I was saying earlier about these sermons that talk about, oh, Zacchaeus found his identity and and his wealth and all that. But you do get a sense there is a choice that that person is making to say, my people, my faith, my status or my career or this type of life. And they do make that choice in some ways, because you couldn't you couldn't have it both ways.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I I don't think I could preach and say he found his his identity and his wealth. I I don't be because the you can't this is a juxtaposition from the story in chapter 18, The Rich Young Ruler. Yeah. Where the rich young ruler says, What must I do to inherit salvation? And Jesus gives him a long list. He goes, I've done all those since I was a youth. And he goes, Oh, go sell everything you have and give it to the poor. And he then he walks away sad. Then you get this story. Um, Bruce, in in our study this morning, he says, Um, he he brought that up, but Zacchaeus says, I'll give half. And well, that's a translation challenge. It's either I will give half or I I give half. So let's deal with that. Don't let me forget about that. Yeah. Um so either Jesus, if if problem if wealth was his problem, why wouldn't Jesus say to him, No, no, no, not just half. Give it all. Give it all. He didn't do that. So I don't, I it it causes me to believe 100% maybe, and I'm making this up, that maybe his he he just hadn't seen or thought or recognized or even known that there was more there. Maybe he just felt so ostracized that when finally somebody of religious importance saw him, yeah, he's like, Well, there I just maybe thought I was gone. There was no redemption, there was no, you know, I we're all making it up at this point.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I think in five, I don't think you can mistake how you can gloss over it, but when it says he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name Zacchaeus. And I think just that if you parallel it with what we talked about last week in the woman with the issue of blood, you think about the ostracized cutout and somebody showing her love and care for the first time in twelve years. Yeah, meant everything. And I wonder about even Jesus calling his name, you know, how much that would have meant to him. We're speculating, but if you're if you're cut off from your people, if you're there's that tax collector. I mean, nobody's gonna call him. Hey, there's Zacchaeus. You know, I think about the the vitriol that they would have had against him. Could have been maybe forever that somebody called his name and with the love and care that Jesus did.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and yeah, not not just that. I'm coming to your house today. So what that in the and the common belief was that's a sinner. We're not going to that guy's house. There was no recognition of our own sin, but that's a sinner. We're not going to that person's house. Jesus does, and and Zacchaeus then has has his moment. Love to know what was said, what changed. Luke doesn't think it's important. I know. And that and that's that's where the challenge is. Preachers are always looking for that. Yeah. What clicked in his life that made him make that decision. We don't get it.

SPEAKER_00

Don't know. Let's talk about some of his barriers, though. It's funny. Like it he's short, he climbs a tree, but that would have been super undignified for a man of the cult in that culture. He's wearing a robe.

SPEAKER_01

It's not any person that's wealthy that would be recognized as wealthy in a community just climbing a tree to see a parade. Wouldn't there um listen? There might be some wealthy people watching the podcast that would climb a tree to see a guy. I don't I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But it would still be unusual. It would be unusual. So he's going to It would be unusual for me to climb a tree.

SPEAKER_01

Forget wealthy. I take all that back. Just to see a grown man climbing a tree.

SPEAKER_00

I'd be visiting my chiropractor probably the next day. If I had to climb a tree. I was never a big tree climber. You uh never had big trees. Yeah. It's true. Just not a lot of big trees.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, if there would have been a big tree, I'd have probably climbed it once.

SPEAKER_00

Some kids, you know, they're just always up in the street. None of my kids were big tree climbers either. So maybe we're just not a tree climber.

SPEAKER_01

You always live in neighborhoods where they cut everything down and then built the house, and then you have like a tree out there, or you're just hoping it makes it. Little palm tree. Those are tough to climb. Oh yeah. Yeah. In Orlando, they were it's like, man, we need to water that thing.

SPEAKER_00

Sorry. You know what Zacchaeus's uh you know what his name means? No. Uh oh. I gotta write this down. No, no, I don't have a pen. Good. Pure water. One. Okay. That's a good guy. Yeah, funny. Jeff, yeah. Because his life, what he was doing, wouldn't have been totally fine.

SPEAKER_01

Somewhere his mother's like, oh, missed on that one. And if you know, hopefully she gets to see this moment, right? Yeah. Pure one, okay.

SPEAKER_00

Pure one. Um, I think it's it's just the funny ironic. It is ironic. He's kind of making his living off stealing off the backs of his people, and his name's pure one. We get tax collectors out there. They're not stealing, they're just taxing. Taxing. Well, yeah, they are now, but I'm but like you said, then it was it was lying in their own. Trying to share the love. We love we love our tax collectors in the congregation. That's right. But like I said too, they're working for the government. I mean, it's not like you know, Joe's tax collecting service is just out there collecting taxes, but um I I do want to talk about how how deep he goes to see Jesus. And he just there's some barriers here. His height, the crowd, his status probably in that culture. Um, but he really, really wants to see Jesus. Um and it just he tried to get a look at him. Um what what kind of barriers do you think even if we peel a layer deeper, like there's these things that probably would have stopped him from uh even doing this, but he he powered through to to be able to do it and just see Jesus. We see the reward is is great for him in the end, but you know, are there things that we we do to ourselves or just say, I don't bother, it's it's too tough, I'm not gonna do it. I love I love you, man.

SPEAKER_01

I'll tell you what's happen what's so funny is preachers do not know what to grab in this text. So then so they're like you're just you're trying to find a way to be able to So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him because he was going to pass that way. It is and I and the barriers, those are barriers. Small guy climbing a tree. It doesn't tell us why, what's his motivation his motivation is to see him. So I I I I don't want to m miss I want to honor your question. What the barriers It's my job to make this thing happen, you know. Uh yeah, so the sacrifice to see Jesus, the willingness of what he does. Our original intent never it never seems to happen. Our original intent for picking Zacchaeus was you think about somebody who has all the things but is still searching. So all the things meaning in a monetary sense in in the world, right? The thing he's lacking is maybe height, but he doesn't he doesn't care about that. He figured he's figured out a way to survive. Right. May and maybe that's something you could say about Zacchaeus is that he's a he's a guy that's figured it out in a world, climb a tree. Want to climb that tree. He's not he's not embarrassed by it. He wants to see Jesus, he's gonna go do it. Yeah. So uh maybe that's an encouragement to us to see Jesus. You know, don't let the don't don't let life knock you down or stop you, push through, do the things you have to do to be able to try and have that encounter. I imagine he got up there and he was watching him go by, and when he stopped and he said Zacchaeus, he was just like, oh, wrong tree. Right tree.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I wonder what he would have felt. A guy that maybe's trying to go under the radar gets called out.

SPEAKER_01

How about, okay, can I be funny for a second? Sure. Hurry and come down. Is that a short joke? Is it? I mean, it's like, dude, come on down from the tree. He wasn't just gonna hop out of the tree. He's like, hurry and come down with haste. Why? I mean, why not just say, hey, come down? Why is Jesus like, come on, man, let's go. He's got things to do. He's got a schedule. I just I'm saying, like, that's a problem for me. This story is Luke leaves all the details that preachers would love to grab onto in this story out of it.

SPEAKER_00

Well, how about the fact that Zacchaeus is seeking Jesus, but really Jesus is the one seeking him? That's great. It's good. Yeah, you're you're good to do that.

SPEAKER_01

Oh no, that's I mean, you're doing like every other preacher. I'm like, let's try that. Uh the the last the last verse has got to be what you hang your hat on, for the son of man came to seek out and to save the lost. Oh, sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, don't do that. I'm gonna make this as long as possible for you.

SPEAKER_01

For the people that are listening to you. That's right.

SPEAKER_00

That's right. We talked about his name, called his name. I must be a guest in your home today. I gotta go to your house.

SPEAKER_01

First time Jesus has ever invited himself to someone else's house. Okay. You know, you get all the images of I stand at the door, knock. You get all those images, but this one, Jesus is like, coming to your house. I got to. All right, 100% maybe. Why why does he have to do this? I I I have no idea. And there may be I mean, I have no idea.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, does it challenge the idea of maybe he needed a place to stay? And we don't even get the conversation, nothing about what happens there. We don't know how long he stays, we don't know what happens. Um Do you have a do you have a theory? About why he's gotta do it?

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um well, I think he's on a very intentional timeline. I think it needs to be a public display for this because of what we see in the crowd, which is what I want to in verse seven, the people, when they see it, they don't like it. They do not like it. Why would anyone go to the house of a sinner, a notorious sinner like this guy? But what does that tell us about the character of God that he's a lot has to go there?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, he didn't come to hang out with the righteous. Right? And but that's that's kind of what we teach ourselves or we try to say. Um but it does inform who who we should be reaching out to and who we should be loving. So I I think you know, if Jesus says you've you've seen me, you've seen the Father, he sets the stage for us to understand how we're supposed to live our lives. I must stay at your house today.

SPEAKER_00

We don't know if he stays the night, stays in afternoon, stays for a conversation, and then bolts. You don't know. But you do see a you do see a uh a a big response. But what does it challenge the idea that cause Zacchaeus could have gone uh I no no, like you can't come to my house. I mean you see that with people like, oh, I'm not worthy, you know, of this. But there is that thought of like we gotta get ourselves right before we have this encounter. We gotta I gotta g I gotta clean myself up a little bit before I'm ready. Yeah. I think this story kind of flies to the face of that and says, Nope.

SPEAKER_01

So two thoughts. One that came in my Bible study this morning, one was maybe Jesus is poking the bear. So we're going toward, we're coming towards the end. The narrative of uh, oh, this can't be the Messiah, this can't be the rabbi, because look who he's spending time with. So, you know, picking a fight. Can't say that. But um, you know, may so maybe the notion that as the wave of momentum is moving towards the final week of his life, he's eating with the he's eating with Zacchaeus. Yeah. That can't be the guy. Right. So so maybe that's part of it. Maybe it's a matter of fact. Zacchaeus might have had the only house big enough to house the disciples. Um we don't know. I uh that and I I mean I might say that a thousand times on Sunday. Yeah. You you I'm sorry, I'm not gonna jump to the end. We don't know. But he does say I must stay at your house today. Yeah. I I I mean, we could come up with all kinds of theories, and that's what they would be.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Maybe it's a story that the individual as you read it and connect with it, you might connect with Zacchaeus, you might connect with the crowd, and you might see some things in yourself that you're like, wow, maybe I'm, you know, being a little judgmental in these ways about those people, whoever that is, whoever the tax collector is to you. You know, I think there's there's still ways it resonates. We might not have all the detail, but I think there's a there's a huge lesson for us still.

SPEAKER_01

All right, so let's let's do some sermon work. If if you're Zacchaeus, this is where we're gonna make it up a little bit. You're Zacchaeus, and you're the chief ta tax collector, you're hated, you're wealthy, you get to go home to your wealth, but you are ostracized from faith, you're ostracized from the connection, the deep roots, everybody thinks you're a sinner. So you're just like the one with the issue of blood, your connection to uh the greater community would have been pained. So your your community would be different. Um, I I do know in social stand social settings and social standings, the people that you spend time with oftentimes are um, you know, it it starts to narrow or change. Sure. So he's he's probably around people that fall into maybe that same category. So if you're Zacchaeus and you're living life and then all of a sudden Jesus stops and sees you and says, I'm coming over today, there maybe isn't the recognition of, oh, you're doing it awesome, but maybe the this the fact that God sees you could be enough. Maybe that opens up the door for community that he's not had in in his whole life. Um, you know, we view wealth differently these days, but even during this time, forget the tax collector thing for a second. But if you were a wealthy person during this time, people would say, Oh, you're blessed by God. Versus if you're poor, you're not blessed by God. That was a very literal interpretation of the way they were. That's how they would say, blessed, not blessed, blessed, not blessed. Something they did something wrong, they did something right. Now you have a tax collector. He falls into that really weird middle ground and you're out because you've taken all the money from somebody else. So he's been ostracized, but he still has all the blessings. Right. So in his in his mind, you wonder if he's thinking to himself, yeah, but I've just used the intelligence and the ability, or was he a scoundrel? Man, we don't know. Yeah. Does it drive you a little crazy? You don't know. Yes. A big time. But but that's but this is what I love about what we're doing as a church. This podcast, everybody that's listening, and and the sermon track studies, I love this because this is where you start to discover scripture. You get to reveal the heart of God. Um, it's so different than just hearing a sermon. Like being able to listen to this conversation to me. No, and first of all, I'm just an idiot that's trying to figure out life.

SPEAKER_00

I feel like you're not, you weren't liking this conversation in the beginning. I feel like you weren't really liking this conversation.

SPEAKER_01

Well, because I'm really, I don't have anything to grab a hold on to, but I'm not, I'm not an idiot. I just I look at scripture and I'm always trying to find that cool thing to lift out. And um, and but here's what I love is that we've figured out a way in our church to have a lot of people digging into and looking at the scripture, all asking these questions, 90% of which will never be resolved. But the work we've done is to think about the story. And there will be a link. We had somebody say, Hey, let's go back to chapter 13, and they go back to a woman who is Jewish that was ostracized or something, and you start to see how she's treated because of a particular reason. And then you go, oh man, that reminds me of Zacchaeus. When you do the work in scripture like this, it pays massive dividends spiritually because you start to understand the heart of God. Jesus, Jesus loves this guy, a wee little man in a tree who was hated by everybody. And so and today, salvation has come to this house. Today, not salvation has come to this house today. Right. Something happened. Yeah. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about that. Transformation. Transformation. Oh gosh. Yeah. You stop it. Justification, transformation. You like to push my buttons on all that stuff.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, but clearly, clear, clearly, he has a huge response. I would say, maybe you're not, maybe you don't agree with this. I absolutely believe there's been repentance, a change of heart, and transformation for him.

SPEAKER_01

I'm not going to take you to task on that. I'm going to tell you that there is a translation challenge. So in verse 8, Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, Look, which he didn't say. It was an emphasis. My Bible writes look because that's probably the modern vernacular. But he says, But with emphasis, he says, Half of my possessions, Lord, I now stop there for a second. If you read the King James, if you read NIV, he says, I give to the poor. So in other words, if you're reading those translations, he's saying, Half my possessions I give to the poor. And if I've defrauded anyone of anything, I'll pay it back. So depending on that one phrase, mine says, Look, half of my possessions I will give to the poor. Yeah. The translation changes the meaning. Either he is affirming that I already give half of my possessions to the poor, as if to say to the people who are accusing him of being a sinner, I'm not. I'm a person who's trying to live righteously. Um, you just hate me because of my profession. Or there is a repentant heart, and he said, I will give two vastly different sermons to try and determine what happened in his heart. That's the that's a preacher, that's a that's a sermon. Because you can get to the conclusion, salvation has come to this house today. Now, did salvation come to this house today because he recognized Jesus? Did it come because he had a repentant heart? Did he always have a repentant heart? And Jesus is just uh is honoring his I This is where it's unresolved, and if I pick a lane, then I've not been true to text. And and people can get frustrated about that all day long. It it there's enough difference in the way that the Greek is written, and man, call me, text me, that that we were that it they don't know if it's I will give or I give, but you can come out with two completely different sermons. Sure. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_00

It does make sense. Okay. Yeah, I get it. Um I I would hinge on 10. I'll tell you 10 verse 10 was is important. No, now you're jumping to the end. Yeah. Okay. But I think it you just wanted to beat me there. It makes the sense of the rest of the story. Uh 10 for me uh is is a huge key verse in my life. There was a this was in my church in Texas that I got saved at, um, started doing ministry at. This was on a painting in our wall in on the wall in the in the worship center, sanctuary, whatever. Um it was this verse, for the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. And that was kind of a our keystone verse there about that came out of our mission, which was to to can um our mission here is to connect people to Jesus, but our mission there was uh to lead as many people as we can to follow Jesus. So they just different ways. They like more words. Same thing. But uh that this verse is something I always come back to and and is a keystone for me just to know this is such a missional statement of why Jesus came, of what he does, of what he loves to do. So I think it insinuates maybe he's using Zacchaeus as an example of what can happen with a changed life, whether that happened earlier or in this very moment. So because if you because the word lost, you you think that insinuates that he had a change right there? I do. Okay. Because he came to seek and save the lost. And I think the funny part of the story is Zacchaeus is the one that thought he was seeking Jesus, whereas the whole time Jesus is the one seeking him.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but you could also see it as Jesus reconnected him back to community. I mean, there's a lot like I'll ask you a question, Jeff. What does this tell us about Jesus? That one sentence that most people forget. Like, so um for the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost. Tell what is that what is that if you just had that one verse, what does that tell us about Jesus, which tells us about the Father? Just I'm not it's not a it's just make an inference. I don't care. Throw some thy thoughts out there.

SPEAKER_02

Um that he sees you, that he loves you, that he wants to restore us back.

SPEAKER_01

That he's coming after you. Right? I think so many of us we get worried about our children being lost, or he's pursuing them, pursuing us. There is an active God that goes after the loss. Like that is so important for us to know because our theology sometimes jacks us to a place where we're like, you said it earlier, I gotta get cleaned up so this guy can come over to my house, right? I gotta get myself right so that God can do some work in my life. That is not it. Jesus show stops at the bottom of this tree and says, Hey, coming to your house today. Right. And Zacchaeus went, my house? Let my little arms climb down this big tree. Yeah. And uh, and Jesus is like, hurry up, man, I'm hungry. He didn't say that. But I so I think if I don't get anything else cleared up in the scripture, and and I it's man, this it's maddening for me because it's gonna be a not conjecture, a lot of open-ended thoughts in verses one through nine that will anchor in verse 10. Yeah. Because that is a champion call to understand that Jesus is not just waiting for us to come to him. Right? Yeah. We want to get deeper, we want to get this, we want to get that. Aye, aye, aye, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything I can do. And Jesus is like, and I'm coming after you, here I come. Yeah. So maybe that's a great thought to realize that if you've got kids out there, if you got parents out there, you got friends out there, you you can pray that they would come to salvation and you should, but just know that God is pursuing them harder than you could ever. You're gonna think about it every now and then. He's on it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

He's on it. So that same marker, son to father, I would say is Holy Spirit, the advocate, right? That that's the uh is what John tells us is is a great marker.

SPEAKER_03

Um just eat the lost. Not the foundation.

SPEAKER_00

That's beautiful. Yeah, that's why he came. Says it over and over again. See, there's some resolution there. No. You don't think so?

SPEAKER_01

No, just in that statement. Not not in any, but but maybe that is why Luke is intentionally vague. Or culturally, they see this completely different than we do. Sure. Um, they they might be saying, oh man, that guy is a scoundrel. He's a horrible, rotten individual. This does show contrition. There is a little nugget in there about the uh payback four times as much, which which leans more in your direction of what you're saying. That's it would have been above and beyond above and beyond. So the the acts of restitution that are listed in um in the law, if you were gonna pay four times as much, it means that you have really defrauded somebody. So if he's willing to do that, then it shows that he believes he's defrauded somebody.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Which because that verse is still I will do this, right? It's speaking to what he will do in the future. I guess we'd have to really look at the.

SPEAKER_01

Well, tell me. Oh, you got the same thing. You know what? Um I don't I don't want to do that. Sunday.

SPEAKER_00

Tune in Sunday and find out where we land on that.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I just wonder if the I will pay back and I will give. I wonder if it's still I pay back or I but it can't I don't know. Yeah. Or did he switch from I will to anyways. Yeah. I I love it because man, it's there's just a lot you can bang around in the story and not get anywhere.

SPEAKER_00

Well, but they transformation is huge for us. We believe that that leads to, you know, an encounter with Jesus does lead to transformation, changed heart. And then out of those things flow practical ways we live out our faith. So the transformation, you know, what do you s what do you get from this and in that piece? Whether it happened before or it's happening in the moment, this is a changed life. Yeah. Because of this encounter, or because ultimately, because of who Jesus is, you know, again, we don't know what he knew about him prior to this, but clearly Jesus is the driving force behind the transformation.

SPEAKER_01

And once again, we don't we don't know. You know, Luke is writing this 30 years later. Zacchaeus might be the most formidable believer in in Jericho during the time of this writing and in the early church. We don't know that, but but maybe that's why it's so vague. People like, oh, here's his transformation story. So we're sitting here going, man, there's not a lot of detail. Back then they'd be like, I'm about mad. You know, I'm really I know that little guy. Um, so I I don't know. I'm sorry, I'm just saying this is one of those texts that Luke gives us. He could have been a running buddy with these guys. Right. Um, anyways, it's cool to think about. Sure it is. 100% maybe. That's probably 20% maybe. But but but there's but I I this back to Scott's word trying to figure stuff out. When there's intentionally vague there, you have to believe it's there, it's intentionally vague for a reason, or you have to understand that they knew something we didn't know. Right. And it is what it is. Yeah. So you then you have to anchor in the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the loss, which to me is pretty awesome. It's a great place to stay.

SPEAKER_00

Uh, I think, yeah, but what is cool about what hap what will happen this week and Sunday is that there are there are definitely things that are gonna be taken away from people uh when we when we do study it, when we kick it around and think about it. And I'm sure your sermon's gonna be awesome.

SPEAKER_01

So taking my vitamins, I'll be ready. Can I can I put a plug out there for some of the stuff we got coming up? Yeah. Is that good?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

All right, so not this coming week, but the week after that's Holy Week. And there's lots going on. My one of my favorite things is Maundy Thursday. So we are not hosting a Seder meal, but we are going to walk through the elements of a Seder meal. And years ago, we created this little thing. It's it's like a Seder meal in a box, but it's not all the meal. It's All the elements and we pile in and we we have disciples that are come out that are dressed up and they sit at the table. We explain the triclinium, we explain all the things that are going on, and we walk through the elements of it, not for satyr meal-ish, but for understanding of what Jesus did to bring us to a place of communion. It's a beautiful communion service. Yep. So don't forget about that. That's gonna be awesome. And all of those during Holy Week are at six o'clock. So that's six o'clock on the Thursday night, and six o'clock on Friday night's a good Friday service. It's a service of reflection that has to do with uh going through the the moments on the cross, the last words on the cross. Um that's gonna be really cool. Yeah, and and and encourage people to come see that. It'll prepares your heart for what the work that's gonna be done. Um, you know, Saturday and a Sunday, then we got all of our weekend services. Right. Bapt and then the week after that, followed by the baptism service. Yep. If you've not been baptized, right? And different faith systems are a little bit on this. If you fall on the faith system where you're one and done, you know, uh could be a remembering of your baptism. If that's if this is that season, if you've not been baptized, we'd love to be there. If you have questions about baptism, um would encourage you to register.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, a lot of people maybe baptize as a young person, even a baby, and didn't make the choice necessarily and now come into faith later on, want to make that decision and be baptized again. We welcome that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, sure. That's right. Uh we just know that with some of the faith systems they struggle to hear that because they're like baptized again, that doesn't make any sense. Yeah. We could have a whole series on baptism and what it meant to them and then what the early church brought it to mean, and then why we get so dogmatic about it. We don't, we don't. But why some might be, we're we'll honor that. If you don't want to be baptized again, we will we won't get you near the water. Right?

SPEAKER_00

We're we're we're gonna honor that. But come out anyway. It's a you get to uh celebrate with the people that that are experiencing that. Yeah, many for the first time, and that's a really, really cool thing. Yeah. See how excited you are. Because I need a microphone.

SPEAKER_01

But yeah, I'm just I'm I'm this is a this is a great time. One of our values is connection, and holy week really allows us to connect to the faith in a in a way that um is hard to do when you're outside of that season.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Awesome, dude.

SPEAKER_04

Yay.

SPEAKER_00

Well, we're excited to have you back, Sunday. Me too. So um hope to see you guys here encountering Jesus. Zacchaeus, the wee little man. Let's find out what happens. Bring all your short folks out there, man. I'm telling you, it's gonna be awesome. Gonna be awesome.