Diocese of Nottingham Ongoing Formation for the Clergy

Diocese of Nottingham Ongoing Formation for the Clergy Thirty first Sunday in ordinary TIME YEAR C : THE YEAR OF LUKE Luke 19:1 10 Zacchaeus of diminutive stature, was reduced to a state of high rapture. He climbed up a tree, took our Lord home to tea, and gave back more taxes than Thatcher. The limerick belonged to the Reverend Roly Bain, an itinerant priest clown in the Church of England, who preached/performed in churches, prisons,

2 hospitals and schools up and down this green and pleasant land and far beyond these shores. He died in the summer of 2016, aged just 62. May God rest him. His limerick, while mildly amusing, does not quite embrace what actually happened in the meeting between the man who climbed a tree and Jesus who called him by his name. For the Reverend Roly Bain gives Zacchaeus the star billing in the story. But the story is not about Zacchaeus. It is about Jesus, about the Son of Man who comes to seek and to save that which is lost. First, the context To begin with, the context is the whole of Luke s Gospel, and, we might add, the Acts of the Apostles. 1 From the beginning of this Gospel we have been hearing about the wealthy and their riches. Mary s Magnificat sings that the rich are sent away empty by the God who has looked on the lowliness of his slave girl. I have outlined the riches theme in Luke when commenting on the Gospel reading for the 25 th Sunday in Ordinary Time. We need to remind ourselves of just how extensive his condemnation of the wealthy is. Luke s Gospel is primarily directed at rich Christians who are not living by Gospel values, who are not concerned for Lazarus at the gate, and who are in danger of being sent away empty. The immediate context of the Zacchaeus story is more ominous than any warnings to the rich that has gone before. In chapter 18:18 30 there is the account of the ruler who seeks the way to eternal life but, because he was extremely rich, he walks away. Sadly Jesus comments on the man who turns his back on what Jesus could truly give: 1 In Acts there is great concern for the poor, especially widows, and there is condemnation for the grasping rich, notably Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-6

3 How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Luke 18:24 Peter is then constrained to ask in astonishment who can be saved? and to receive the startling answer that not wealth nor advantage of any kind will win eternal life. For that is exclusively God s gift. What is humanly impossible can be accomplished exclusively by God. Those who have followed the way of Jesus, who have left house or wife or brothers and sisters, parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, will be brought by God to eternal life (see Luke 18:28 30). If the destiny of the rich is in God s hands, can God do the impossible? Zacchaeus is a test case. Zacchaeus s encounter with the Son of Man will settle the matter. Can the lost Zacchaeus, the rich man, the tax collector supreme, be saved? Strangely, what Zacchaeus has going for him is that he is an obscenely rich tax collector for in Luke s Gospel tax collectors are frequently portrayed in a positive light. A quick reminder of the relevant texts: 3:12 John the Baptist advises tax collectors to behave: Collect no more than you are authorized to do. 5:27 Levi the tax collector is sought out by Jesus and called in order to reveal why Jesus is among us: I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

4 7:28 30 Tax collectors listened to John and to Jesus: When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they acknowledged the justice of God. 15:1 2 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him. And we are told: This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. 18:9 14 It is a surprise that it is a sinful tax collector who knows how to pray: God, mercy me, a sinner So it seems that God may be able to do the impossible with Zacchaeus. But, of course, it is a task devolved upon God s beloved Son. For on that day God determined that Jesus was passing through Jericho and on that day Zacchaeus climbed a tree to see who Jesus was. Zacchaeus seeks Jesus 1. And coming into, he passed through Jericho Luke again reminds us that Jesus is on a journey. He has arrived at Jericho and is passing through the last town he will meet before coming to Jerusalem, coming to endure all that will happen there. And the story concerns Jesus alone there are no disciples, no followers, no crowds. Only Jesus, a tax collector, and an anonymous all who saw. All who saw Jesus enter the house murmur, as did the murmurers at Massah and Meribah. Note the biblical echoes: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the desert, when your fathers put me to the test. Psalm 95:8 9

5 The Psalmist reminds us of the day that the people of Israel went three days in the Desert of Shur and murmured against Moses because there was nothing but bitter water for the people to drink: And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? καὶ διεγόγγυζεν ὁ λαὸς ἐπὶ Μωυσῆν λέγοντες Τί πιόμεθα; Exodus 15:24 Notice what Luke writes in 19:7: και ι δόντες πάντες διεγο γγυζον λε γοντες and seeing, all murmured, saying He uses the exact same verb as the writer of Exodus. 2 This is deliberate. St Luke is doing what he always does. He wants his readers to remember the Old Testament past and to insist that murmuring, grumbling, complaining against Jesus is complaining against God. What was done in the past is repeated by those who oppose what Jesus is doing. They fail to understand that in the works of Jesus we see the works of God. What is happening in the house of Zacchaeus is the work of God. 2. The Behold! in verse 2 warns that something especially important is about to unfold. 3. The description of Zacchaeus is peculiar for a number of reasons. First, the name. The meaning of his name is somewhat ironic. It is a Jewish (Hebrew) 2 The Septuagint has the singular and Luke uses the third person plural of the same verb.

6 name and I will return to its meaning below. The name is mentioned three times in the story itself a very rare occurrence in our Gospels. You will have noticed that Luke drops Bartimaeus s name in the healing of the blind man in Luke 35 43 even though Luke will have seen it in Mark s Gospel, his source for the story). But he has emphasized the name Zacchaeus by mentioning it so often in a brief story. Zacchaeus, we are told, is an αῤχιτελώνης (architelōnes). There is no such word in the whole of Greek literature, no such word in the Septuagint, no such word in any ancient Greek text. Luke invented it. Why? It is wrong to translate the word chief tax collector, as if Zacchaeus is a superior or line manager of other tax collectors). That is not how the Romans ran their taxation system. It was not a civil service like HMRS. A man bought the right to collect taxes or even one kind of tax revenue in an area and he was his own boss. What Luke means is that Zacchaeus is as nasty a tax collector as you were likely to find. He was a tax collector above all others in a murky business. He is a Jew collecting taxes for hated Romans and wealthy Jewish landowners. So he is a collaborator with Roman tyranny, a traitor to his own people, and, above all, he gives the fruit of God s holy land to imperialist pagans. Zacchaeus s chiefest sin is sacrilege: he isthrowing God s pearls to Roman swine. Can such a sinner enter the kingdom of God? Can God do the impossible? In case we fail to see Luke s point, he ends his sentence with and he was rich. The last word is often the emphatic word in a Greek sentence. Here the last word is πλου σιος (plousios, rich). The man is rich, filthy rich. How hard it is

7 for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Again, can God do the impossible? He was seeking to see who Jesus was. The JB translates: He was anxious to see what kind of man Jesus was. This is horribly wrong. First, He was anxious is wrong. 3 The accurate translation is For he was seeking to see it is an imperfect tense followed by an infinitive: ε ζήτει ι δει ν τὸν Ιἠσου ν τίς ε στιν, he was seeking to see (the) Jesus who he was He wasn t anxious. He was seeking. What Luke is emphasising is that Zacchaeus was persistently seeking to see who Jesus was. It was not a passing curiosity. Wanting to see who Jesus was is the very heart of all Gospel proclamation. Zacchaeus, we must imagine, wanted to know Jesus, to be able to answer the most important of all questions: Who do you say that I am. Unlike Herod, Zacchaeus was not looking to see Jesus do some sign (see 23:6 12). Zacchaeus wished to know who Jesus was. So he climbed a tree in order to see him for Jesus was about to pass along. The story now turns to Jesus. What will he do? Jesus seeks Zacchaeus Jesus comes, looks up, sees, and speaks to Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus seeks Jesus/Jesus seeks Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus wishes to see Jesus/Jesus sees him. Jesus knows him by name. As Mary made haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth, 3 The NJB is much worse: He kept trying to see which Jesus was. Was Jesus the big guy with the beard? Or was he the small guy with a limp? Or the one with red hair? This is truly appalling. Where to catch a glimpse comes from, I don t know. Luke repeats in order to see him.

8 so Zacchaeus is bidden to make haste and to come down. The reason Jesus gives for this command to hasten is theologically rich: Today I must stay in your house. Today: This word is repeated in the story: Today salvation has come to this house. Today is the day of salvation; it is the Day of the Lord: Today scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Luke 4:21 The day of the Lord s proclamation in Nazareth, the day when the gospel is proclaimed to the poor, when liberty to captives is announced, when sight is restored to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed. It is the today when the LORD s favour has come to earth in Christ Jesus. I must: This simple present tense announces God s necessity. God has determined that Jesus must be where Zacchaeus is. Jesus on this day of salvation must be in Zacchaeus s house. The little word δει (dei, must) occurs 18 times in Luke s Gospel and 24 times in the Acts of the Apostles. A few examples : 2:49 Did you not know that I must be in my Father s house? 4:43 I must gospel the kingdom of God to other towns as well. 9:22 The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected. 12:12 The Holy Spirit will teach you in the very hour what you must say.

9 18:1 that they must always pray and not lose heart 22:37 For I tell you that this that is written must be fulfilled in me. 24:7 The Son of Man must be handed over. 4 Stay: I must remain in your house. The visit of Jesus to the house of Zacchaeua is not a brief encounter. Zacchaeus responds Zacchaeus obeys. He makes haste to come down and welcomes Jesus joyfully. Joy is a feature of Luke s Gospel. But, as we have seen, the murmuring starts and what was done at Meribah is done in Jericho. Jesus has gone in to lodge with a sinner and that upsets those who think they know the ways of God. But Zacchaeus stands up for himself. In the presence of Jesus he has changed. He announces to the Lord, beginning with an emphatic Ι δοὺ (idou, Behold!), he addresses Jesus as Lord, a confession of faith for Zacchaeus has seen who Jesus is. Half his goods he gives to the poor. At last, a rich man in Luke s Gospel announces that he has obligations to the poor, that, meeting Jesus, he cannot walk on the other side, he cannot ignore the poor man at his gate. He cannot feast only with his friends. He has learned that those who see who Jesus is must welcome as Jesus welcomes without discrimination (9:11). If he has defrauded anyone and we can be sure a filthy rich αῤχιτελώνης (architelōnes) will have done a fair bit of defrauding he restores fourfold. Jesus explains 4 The occurrences in Luke s Gospel are 2:49; 4:43; 9:22; 11:42; 12:12; 13:14; 13:16; 13:33; 15:32; 17:25; 18:1; 19:5; 21:9; 22:7; 22:27; 24:7; 24:26; 24:44. The 24 occurrences in Acts mostly refer to the same divine necessity as in Luke s Gospel.

10 Today is the day of salvation. Today Jesus, the incarnation of salvation, has stepped into the life of Zacchaeus and healed what needed to be healed. He saves the people from their sins. For Zaccchaeus is a child of Abraham, a man who robbed his people, but is now restored. The lost sheep has been found. The final sentence is spoken to the world: For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which is lost. 5 The journey to Jerusalem is nearly at an end. Since we set out of the way with Jesus (9:51) we have learned much. Here the Lord ends his schooling in a single sentence, a sentence which turns disciples into proclaimers. He has come to save that which is lost. That is all we know and all we need to know. Best wishes, Joseph. PS. According to Joseph Fitzmyer the Greek Zakchaios we find in Luke comes from the Hebrew Zakkai or Zaccai, as found in Nehemiah 7:14 and Ezra 2:9. Also see 2 Maccabees 10:9. The Hebrew zakkay means clean, pure, often used with the meaning of righteous or upright or pure of heart. I am not sure that Luke intends by giving this name to the man from Jericho that we are to conclude that Zacchaeus is righteous by name and will be righteous by nature. But I wouldn t put it past him. 6 5 Lost here is not a past tense as the JB indicates ( what was lost ). It is a perfect participle meaning that which is lost. 6 I wrote a long article on the Zacchaeus story entitled The Story of Zacchaeus and the Lukan Ethic published in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament (Issue 12, 1981).

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