The Message, November 2, 2025: "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," Luke 19:1-10
Author: Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
November 04, 2025
“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”
A Message by Rev. Scott. W. Cousineau
Luke 19:1-10
You may recall that last Sunday, we
explored the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector that Luke shared in
the previous chapter of his Gospel. And if you recall, we did not hear much
from that tax collector. We do know that in the parable that Jesus told, he
said that the tax collector would have stood off to the side of the Temple
court, and then beat upon his breast, and pray thusly: “O God, have mercy upon
me … a sinner.”
However, the tax collector in
today’s passage might be the most well-known tax collector in history!
Generations of Sunday school children have sung songs about Zacchaeus,
“Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he. He climbed up in a
sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. And as the savior passed that way,
He looked up in the tree. And he said, ‘Zacchaeus, you come down, for I’m going
to your house today.”
We love Zacchaeus! We love that wee
little man … and we actually know a little bit more about him than the tax
collector in the parable.
Let us begin with WHERE this story
took place. Jericho. Jericho was a very wealthy community. It was an important
city because it controlled the road to Jerusalem as well as two of the
crossings of the Jordan River. Jericho had a great palm forest and world-famous
balsam groves. Traders carried those dates and balsam all over the known world.
Because of its wealth, Jericho was one of the greatest taxation centers in
Palestine.
And that is where Zacchaeus enters
our story. Zacchaeus was not any ordinary tax collector; he was a CHIEF tax
collector. The Romans hired eager local entrepreneurs to collect the proscribed
taxes, tolls, tariffs and fees on their behalf. Those entrepreneurs … those
chief tax collectors … were required to pay their contract up front. Then those
chief tax collectors would employ other tax collectors to collect the various taxes,
fees and tariffs. The system was ripe for abuse and corruption. Every tax
collector wanted to be certain that they got a little extra piece of the pie.
We know that tax collectors were not
well-liked. It stands to reason that CHIEF tax collectors enjoyed an extra
measure of hatred. Zacchaeus had reached the pinnacle of his profession. He was
a chief tax collector in one of the wealthiest cities in the region. That made
him exceedingly wealthy and he may very well have been the most hated man in
the district.
We can imagine that he lived in the
largest house in town. We can imagine that every time that his neighbors walked
past it made their blood boil. That wee little man was living in the lap of
luxury while they all struggled to get by. Zacchaeus was living the life … big
house, fancy clothes, good food and plenty of it, lots of servants. What more
could he want?
What more indeed.
What was it that made him want to
see Jesus? What made him want to see who Jesus was? What made him wade into a
crowd of people that despised him? In a crowd like that, he could easily have
been bumped or pushed or elbowed “accidentally” on purpose by all of those
others anxious to see Jesus. What was Zacchaeus doing there?
Was he just curious? Or was
something else going on? Was he wealthy … but experiencing some sort of nagging
emptiness? Was he surrounded by people … but feeling isolated or alone? Was
there something even deeper going in Zacchaeus’ heart and mind?
Had he heard that Jesus welcomed tax
collectors and sinners? Did he wonder if Jesus would welcome him too?
Zacchaeus was reviled and despised
by his neighbors. Was it possible that Jesus could love him? That God could
love him?
Zacchaeus may have needed to find
out. Something compelled him to take that risk. Something compelled him to
climb that tree. Luke says that Zacchaeus “was trying to see who Jesus was.”
But maybe it was more than that. Maybe he needed to see who Jesus was.
Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus,
perhaps needed to see Jesus, but as we heard it was Jesus who saw Zacchaeus.
Jesus looked right at Zacchaeus and called him by name.
What did Jesus see when he saw
Zacchaeus? Did he see someone that was searching for something? Did he see
someone hurting? Someone in need? Did he see someone that was alone, longing
for community, longing for connection? What did Jesus see in the man in the
sycamore tree?
He saw an opportunity for
restoration.
We can only speculate what was going
on, but Jesus knew why Zacchaeus ventured into the crowd that day. Jesus knew
why Zacchaeus took the risk of injury and humiliation. Jesus knew why Zacchaeus
climbed that tree. And that was why Jesus looked at him and said: “Zacchaeus,
come down from that tree. I must stay at your house today.”
Those words from Jesus would have
sent my wife into a tizzy! Maybe some of you too. “Wait … what?!?! MY house??!!
Today??!! Oh no … I need at LEAST three days to clean and dust everything. I
need my husband to vacuum under all of the beds, and then we have to plan the
menu, and then go grocery shopping. There is SO MUCH to do. How about if you
come by next week?”
We have to remember the nature of
the hospitality culture. It was incumbent upon a host to invite a visitor to
spend the night. The invitation had to be extended three times. Failure to do
so brought shame upon them. In a similar manner, someone of Jesus’ stature and
reputation inviting themselves to stay at one’s house brought them great honor.
(Even as horrifying as it may sound to our ears.) Jesus inviting himself to
Zacchaeus’ house bestowed great honor upon him.
That was why the crowd grumbled. It
was not just because Jesus was considering eating with the worst person in the
city, it was because Jesus was HONORING him. Once again, Jesus crossed the
barrier of ritual purity. Once again, Jesus crossed the barrier of the social
outcast. And the crowd grumbled. The crowd complained.
“Oh sure, Jesus … he has a nice
house, and he has good food and lots of servants to wait upon you … but that
tax collector is a low down, no good sinner!”
Jesus offered Zacchaeus dignity.
Jesus offered him grace, the mercy that the tax collector in the parable begged
for, but the crowd only saw his sin. The crowd did not see, but Zacchaeus did.
Zacchaeus rejoiced!
Zacchaeus, perhaps still in
disbelief that Jesus SAW him and called him by name, rejoiced. Jesus knew his
name, that must mean that Jesus knew how he lived or what he had done … and
offered him grace. Jesus saw that longing within Zacchaeus. He saw his need,
and he spoke to it. “Zacchaeus, come down from there. I must stay at your house
tonight.”
Jesus saw him. Jesus knew him. Jesus
restored him.
Jesus said, “For the Son of Man
came to seek out and to save the lost.” In the New Testament, the word
“lost” did not mean “damned” or “doomed” as we may have assumed. Rather, it
meant to “be in the wrong place.” Jesus came to seek out those who find
themselves in the wrong place. Jesus came to seek out those who had wandered
from the path.
Also, in the New Testament, the word
“saved” meant to be “delivered.” It meant “to be made well” or “made whole.”
Jesus came to deliver those who have found themselves in the wrong place. Jesus
came to deliver those have found themselves in the wrong circumstances. Jesus
restores them and makes whole.
Jesus looked up and saw Zacchaeus.
He saw him where he was. He saw him in his need, and he offered him grace. He
offered him dignity. He offered him life.
And now, two thousand years later, Jesus’
eyes have not changed. When Jesus looks at us, he knows us. He knows our names.
He knows our hurts. He knows our needs.
He offers us the grace that the
world may not believe that we deserve.
He offers us the grace that we might
not even offer ourselves.
He invites himself in. He offers us
dignity. He offers us wholeness.
He
offers us love and safety.
Jesus
sees us just as we are. Jesus knows us and he is inviting himself in. Amen.
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