He entered and was passing through Jericho. There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short. He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully. When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”
Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.”
Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 7, 8, 9 Christ preventeth them with his grace especially which seemed…
Christ preventeth them with his grace especially which seemed to be furthest from it.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–10 37 And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth…
37 And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.
38 And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
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39 And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
40 And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him,
41 Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.
42 And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.
43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.
1 And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
Ver. 1. And passed through Jericho] "An accursed city," Joh 6:26; 1Ki 16:34; and yet Christ hath here a plentiful harvest, poor blind men, rich Zacchaeus; to show the truth of what he had affirmed in the former chapter, that a rich man also might possibly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Jericho was a very rich city, in the tribe…
Jericho was a very rich city, in the tribe of Benjamin, less than twenty miles distance from Jerusalem, (whither our Saviour was going), and less than eight miles distance from Jordan: See Poole on "Num 22:1". It was the first place which Joshua sent persons to spy out, before he had conducted the Israelites over Jordan, Jos 2:1-24; he took it, Jos 6:1-27, and cursed the man that should rebuild it, for he burned it, Jos 6:24. He prophesied, that he who should go about to rebuild it, should lay the foundation of it in his first born, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son; which accordingly fell out in Ahab’s time, to one Hiel, a Bethelite, 1Ki 16:34. Through this town, or city, which now had been rebuilt many years, our Saviour passeth in his way to Jerusalem.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 The history which relates the calling and conversion of…
The history which relates the calling and conversion of Zaccheus the publican, is ushered in with a note of wonder: Behold, there was a man named Zaccheus. It is both great and good news to hear of a soul converted unto God: especially such a remarkable sinner as Zaccheus was: for,
1. He was by profession a publican; a calling that carried extortion in its face, and bade defiance to his conversion; yet, behold, from the toll-booth is Zaccheus called to be a disciple, and Matthew an apostle: such is the freeness of divine grace, that it often calls the greatest sinners, and triumph in their powerful conversion.
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2. He was a chief publican, and probably one of the chief of sinners, yet behold him among the chief of saints. Lord! What penitent need despair of thy mercy, when he sees a publican, no, the chief of publicans, home to heaven!
3. It is added. as a farther circumstance, that he was rich: his trade was not a greater obstacle to his conversion than his wealth: not that there is any malignity in riches, considered in themselves, but they become a snare through the corruption of our natures. Zaccheus had not been so famous a convert, if he had not been rich; if more difficulty, yet there was more glory on the conversion of rich Zaccheus. To all these might be added a fourth circumstance, namely, that Zaccheus was converted in his old age, after a long habit of sin contracted. Such instances, though few, has God left upon record in Scripture; Abraham and Manasses on the Old Testament, Zaccheus and Paul in the New.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Many, no doubt, were converted to the faith of…
Many, no doubt, were converted to the faith of Christ of whom no account is kept in the gospels; but the conversion of some, whose case had something in it extraordinary, is recorded, as this of Zaccheus. Christ passed through Jericho, Luk 19:1. This city was build under a curse, yet Christ honoured it with his presence, for the gospel takes away the curse. Though it ought not to have been built, yet it was not therefore a sin to live in it when it was built. Christ was now going from the other side Jordan to Bethany near Jerusalem, to raise Lazarus to life; when he was going to do one good work he contrived to do many by the way. He did good both to the souls and to the bodies of people; we have here an instance of the former. Observe,
I. Who, and what, this Zaccheus was. His name bespeaks him a Jew. Zaccai was a common name among the Jews; they had a famous rabbi, much about this time, of that name. Observe, 1. His calling, and the post he was in: He was the chief among the publicans, receiver-general; other publicans were officers under him; he was, as some think, farmer of the customs. We often read of publicans coming to Christ; but here was one that was chief of the publicans, was in authority, that enquired after him. God has his remnant among all sorts. Christ came to save even the chief of publicans. 2. His circumstances in the world were very considerable: He was rich. The inferior publicans were commonly men of broken fortunes, and low in the world; but he that was chief of the publicans had raised a good estate. Christ had lately shown how hard it is for rich people to enter into the kingdom of God, yet presently produces an instance on one rich man that had been lost, and was found, and that not as the prodigal by being reduced to want.
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II. How he came in Christ's way, and what was the occasion of his acquaintance with him. 1. He had a great curiosity to see Jesus, what kind of a man he was, having heard great talk of him, Luk 19:3. It is natural to us to come in sight, if we can, of those whose fame has filled our ears, as being apt to imagine there is something extraordinary in their countenances; at least, we shall be able to say hereafter that we have seen such and such great men. But the eye is not satisfied with seeing. We should now seek to see Jesus with an eye of faith, to see who he is; we should address ourselves in holy ordinances with this in our eye, We would see Jesus. 2. He could not get his curiosity gratified in this matter because he was little, and the crowd was great. Christ did not study to show himself, was not carried on men's shoulders (as the pope is in procession), that all men might see him; neither he nor his kingdom came with observation. He did not ride in an open chariot, as princes do, but, as one of us, he was lost in a crowd; for that was the day of his humiliation. Zaccheus was low of stature, and over-topped by all about him, so that he could not get a sight of Jesus. Many that are little of stature have large souls, and are lively in spirit. Who would not rather be a Zaccheus than a Saul, though he was higher by head and shoulders than all about him? Let not those that are little of stature take thought of adding cubits to it. 3. Because he would not disappoint his curiosity he forgot his gravity, as chief of the publicans, and ran before, like a boy, and climbed up into a sycamore-tree, to see him. Note, Those that sincerely desire a sight of Christ will use the proper means for gaining a sight of him, and will break through a deal of difficulty and opposition, and be willing to take pains to see him. Those that find themselves little must take all the advantages they can get to raise themselves to a sight of Christ, and not be ashamed to own that they need them, and all little enough. Let not dwarfs despair, with good help, by aiming high to reach high.
III. The notice Christ took of him, the call he gave him to a further acquaintance (Luk 19:5), and the efficacy of that call, Luk 19:6. 1. Christ invited himself to Zaccheus's house, not doubting of his hearty welcome there; nay, wherever Christ comes, as he brings his own entertainment along with him, so he brings his own welcome; he opens the heart, and inclines it to receive him. Christ looked up into the tree, and saw Zaccheus. He came to look upon Christ, and resolved to take particular notice of him, but little thought of being taken notice of by Christ. That was an honour too great, and too far above his merit, for him to have any thought of. See how Christ prevented him with the blessings of his goodness, and outdid his expectations; and see how he encouraged very weak beginnings, and helped them forward. He that had a mind to know Christ shall be known of him; he that only courted to see him shall be admitted to converse with him. Note, Those that are faithful in a little shall be entrusted with more. And sometimes those that come to hear the word of Christ, as Zaccheus did, only for curiosity, beyond what they thought of, have their consciences awakened, and their hearts changed. Christ called him by name, Zaccheus, for he knows his chosen by name; are they not in his book? He might ask, as Nathanael did (Joh 1:48), Whence knowest thou me? But before he climbed the sycamore-tree Christ saw him, and knew him. He bade him make haste, and come down. Those that Christ calls must come down, must humble themselves, and not think to climb to heaven by any righteousness of their own; and they must make haste and come down, for delays are dangerous. Zaccheus must not hesitate, but hasten; he knows it is not a matter that needs consideration whether he should welcome such a guest to his house. He must come down, for Christ intends this day to bait at his house, and stay an hour or two with him. Behold, he stands at the door and knocks. 2. Zaccheus was overjoyed to have such an honour put upon his house (Luk 19:6): He made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully; and his receiving him into his house was an indication and token of his receiving him into his heart. Note, When Christ calls to us we must make haste to answer his calls; and when he comes to us we must receive him joyfully. Lift up your heads, O ye gates. We may well receive him joyfully who brings all good along with him, and, when he takes possession of the soul, opens springs of joy there which shall flow to eternity. How often has Christ said to us, Open to me, when we have, with the spouse, made excuses! Sol 5:2, Sol 5:3. Zaccheus's forwardness to receive Christ will shame us. We have not now Christ to entertain in our houses, but we have his disciples, and what is done to them he takes as done to himself.
IV. The offence which the people took at this kind greeting between Christ and Zaccheus. Those narrow-souled censorious Jews murmured, saying that he was gone to be a guest with a man that is a sinner, para hamartōlō andri - with a sinful man; and were not they themselves sinful men? Was it not Christ's errand into the world to seek and save men that are sinners? But Zaccheus they think to be a sinner above all men that dwelt in Jericho, such a sinner as was not fit to be conversed with. Now this was very unjust to blame Christ for going to his house; for, 1. Though he was a publican, and many of the publicans were bad men, it did not therefore follow that they were all so. We must take heed of condemning men in the lump, or by common fame, for at God's bar every man will be judged as he is. 2. Though he had been a sinner, it did not therefore follow that he was now as bad as he had been; though they knew his past life to be bad, Christ might know his present frame to be good. God allows room for repentance, and so must we. 3. Though he was now a sinner, they ought not to blame Christ for going to him, because he was in no danger of getting hurt by a sinner, but in great hopes of doing good to a sinner; whither should the physician go but to the sick? Yet see how that which is well done may be ill construed.
V. The proofs which Zaccheus gave publicly that, though he had been a sinner, he was now a penitent, and a true convert, Luk 19:8. He does not expect to be justified by his works as the Pharisee who boasted of what he had done, but by his good works he will, through the grace of God, evidence the sincerity of his faith and repentance; and here he declares what his determination was. He made this declaration standing, that he might be seen and heard by those who murmured at Christ for coming to his house; with the mouth confession is made of repentance as well as faith. He stood, which denotes his saying it deliberately and with solemnity, in the nature of a vow to God. He addressed himself to Christ in it, not to the people (they were not to be his judges), but to the Lord, and he stood as it were at his bar. What we do that is good we must do as unto him; we must appeal to him, and approve ourselves to him, in our integrity, in all our good purposes and resolutions. He makes it appear that there is a change in his heart (and that is repentance), for there is a change in his way. His resolutions are of second-table duties; for Christ, upon all occasions, laid great stress on them: and they are such as are suited to his condition and character; for in them will best appear the truth of our repentance.
1. Zaccheus had a good estate, and, whereas he had been in it hitherto laying up treasure for himself, and doing hurt to himself, now he resolves that for the future he will be all towards God, and do good to others with it: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. Not, "I will give it by my will when I die," but, "I do give it now." Probably he had heard of the command of trial which Christ gave to another rich man to sell what he had, and give to the poor (Mat 19:21), and how he broke with Christ upon it. "But so will not I," saith Zaccheus; "I agree to it at the first word; though hitherto I have been uncharitable to the poor, now I will relieve them, and give so much the more for having neglected the duty so long, even the half of my goods." This is a very large proportion to be set apart for works of piety and charity. The Jews used to say that a fifth part of a man's income yearly was very fair to be given to pious uses, and about that share the law directed; but Zaccheus would go much further, and give one moiety to the poor, which would oblige him to retrench all his extravagant expenses, as his retrenching these would enable him to relieve many with his superfluities. If we were but more temperate and self-denying, we should be more charitable; and, were we content with less ourselves, we should have the more to give to them that need. This he mentions here as a fruit of his repentance. Note, It well becomes converts to God to be charitable to the poor.
2. Zaccheus was conscious to himself that he had not gotten all he had honestly and fairly, but some by indirect and unlawful means, and of what he had gotten by such means he promises to make restitution: "If I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, or if I have wronged any man in the way of my business as a publican, exacting more than was appointed, I promise to restore him four-fold." This was the restitution that a thief was to make, Exo 22:1. (1.) He seems plainly to own that he had done wrong; his office, as a publican, gave him opportunity to do wrong, imposing upon the merchants to curry favour with the government. True penitents will own themselves not only in general guilty before God, but will particularly reflect upon that which has been their own iniquity, and which, by reason of their business and employment in the world, has most easily beset them. (2.) That he had done wrong by false accusation; this was the temptation of the publicans, which John Baptist had warned them of particularly, Luk 3:14. They had the ear of the government, and every thing would be stretched in favour of the revenue, which gave them an opportunity of gratifying their revenge if they bore a man an ill will. (3.) He promises to restore four-fold, as far as he could recollect or find by his books that he had wronged any man. He does not say, "If I be sued, and compelled to it, I will make restitution" (some are honest when they cannot help it); but he will do it voluntarily: It shall be my own act and deed. Note, Those who are convinced of having done wrong cannot evidence the sincerity of their repentance but by making restitution. Observe, He does not think that his giving half his estate to the poor will atone for the wrong he has done. God hates robbery for burnt-offerings, and we must first do justly and then love mercy. It is no charity, but hypocrisy, to give that which is none of our own; and we are not to reckon that our own which we have not come honestly by, nor that our own which is not so when all our debts are paid, and restitution made for wrong done.
VI. Christ's approbation and acceptance of Zaccheus's conversion, by which also he cleared himself from any imputation in going to be a guest with him, Luk 19:9, Luk 19:10.
1. Zaccheus is declared to be now a happy man. Now he is turned from sin to God; now he has bidden Christ welcome to his house, and is become an honest, charitable, good man: This day is salvation come to this house. Now that he is converted he is in effect saved, saved from his sins, from the guilt of them, from the power of them; all the benefits of salvation are his. Christ is come to his house, and, where Christ comes, he brings salvation along with him. He is, and will be, the Author of eternal salvation to all that own him as Zaccheus did. Yet this is not all. Salvation this day comes to his house. (1.) When Zaccheus becomes a convert, he will be, more than he had been, a blessing to his house. He will bring the means of grace and salvation to his house, for he is a son of Abraham indeed now, and therefore, like Abraham, will teach his household to keep the way of the Lord. He that is greedy of gain troubles his own house, and brings a curse upon it (Hab 2:9), but he that is charitable to the poor does a kindness to his own house, and brings a blessing upon it and salvation to it, temporal at least, Psa 112:3. (2.) When Zaccheus is brought to Christ himself his family also become related to Christ, and his children are admitted members of his church, and so salvation comes to his house, for that he is a son of Abraham, and therefore interested in God's covenant with Abraham, that blessing of Abraham which comes upon the publicans, upon the Gentiles, through faith, that God will be a God to them and to their children; and therefore, when he believes, salvation comes to his house, as the gaoler's to whom it was said, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house, Act 16:31. Zaccheus is by birth a son of Abraham, but, being a publican, he was deemed a heathen; they are put upon a level, Mat 18:17. And as such the Jews were shy of conversing with him, and expected Christ should be so; but he shows that, being a true penitent, he is become rectus in curia - upright in court, as good a son of Abraham as if he had never been an publican, which therefore ought not to be mentioned against him.
2. What Christ had done to make him, in particular, a happy man, was consonant to the great design and intention of his coming into the world, Luk 19:10. With the same argument he had before justified his conversing with publicans, Mat 9:13. There he pleaded that he came to call sinners to repentance; now that he came to seek and save that which was lost, to apolōlos - the lost thing. Observe, (1.) The deplorable case of the sons of men: they were lost; and here the whole race of mankind is spoken of as one body. Note, The whole world of mankind, by the fall, is become a lost world: lost as a city is lost when it has revolted to the rebels, as a traveller is lost when he has missed his way in a wilderness, as a sick man is lost when his disease is incurable, or as a prisoner is lost when sentence is passed upon him. (2.) The gracious design of the Son of God: he came to seek and save, to seek in order to saving. He came from heaven to earth (a long journey), to seek that which was lost (which had wandered and gone astray), and to bring it back (Mat 18:11, Mat 18:12), and to save that which was lost, which was perishing, and in a manner destroyed and cut off. Christ undertook the cause when it was given up for lost: undertook to bring those to themselves that were lost to God and all goodness. Observe, Christ came into this lost world to seek and save it. His design was to save, when there was not salvation in any other. In prosecution of that design, he sought, took all probable means to effect that salvation. He seeks those that were not worth seeking to; he seeks those that sought him not, and asked not for him, as Zaccheus here.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–10 And he sought to see Jesus who he was,....…
And he sought to see Jesus who he was,.... What sort of a person he was for complexion, stature, and age: having heard much of him, he was very desirous of indulging his curiosity with a sight of him; having, as yet, nothing else that induced him to desire to see him: his desire to see Jesus was not of the same kind with the kings and prophets, Mat 13:16 but rather like that of Herod, Luk 23:8
and could not for the press; the multitude of people that were flocking to meet Jesus, or who came before him, or were about him; for one part of the multitude went before him, and the other followed after him; so that he was in the crowd, and therefore could not easily be seen;
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because he was little of stature. The Syriac and Persic versions read, "because Zacchaeus was little of stature", lest it should be thought that this is said of Jesus; for the reason why Zacchaeus could not see him for the crowd, was not because Christ was little of stature, and was hid among them, but because Zacchaeus was little of stature, and could not see over their heads.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 He passed through Jericho - So that Zacchaeus must…
He passed through Jericho - So that Zacchaeus must have lived near the end of the town: the tree was in the town itself. And he was rich - These words seem to refer to the discourse in the last chapter, ver. 24, particularly to ver. 27. Zacchiaeus is a proof, that it is possible by the power of God for even a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–9 The conversion of Zaccheus, 1-10.
CHAPTER XIX.
The conversion of Zaccheus, 1-10.
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The parable of the nobleman, his ten servants, and the ten
pounds, 11-27.
Christ sends his disciples for a colt on which he rides into
Jerusalem, 28-40.
He weeps over the city, and foretells its destruction, 41-44.
Goes into the temple, and casts out the buyers and sellers,
45, 46.
The chief priests and the scribes seek to destroy him, but are
afraid of the people, who hear him attentively. 47, 48.
NOTES ON CHAP. XIX.
Verse 1. Entered and passed through] Was passing through. Our Lord had not as yet passed through Jericho - he was only passing through it; for the house of Zaccheus, in which he was to lodge, Lu 19:5, was in it.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5, 9 Luk 19:1-2. Jesus entered and passed through Jericho —…
Luk 19:1-2. Jesus entered and passed through Jericho — Namely, after performing the miracle recorded at the close of the preceding chapter. He was now on his way from the other side Jordan to Bethany, near Jerusalem, to which place he hastened, with a view to be there eight or ten days before the passover, intending to preach and work miracles in the most public manner, under the eye of all the people, and of the grandees, of whose resentment he was no longer afraid, because his ministry had continued the appointed time, and he was determined to die at this passover. There was a certain man named Zaccheus, chief among the publicans — One of the principal tax-gatherers, or head-collector, or perhaps what we would term the commissioner of the customs. And he was rich — Having heaped up abundance of wealth by his gainful employment.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 And Jesus entered ... - See the notes at…
And Jesus entered ... - See the notes at Mat 20:29. This means, perhaps, “he was passing” through Jericho when Zacchaeus saw him. His house was “in” Jericho.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 9 What sinner can despair when he sees the Saviour…
What sinner can despair when he sees the Saviour of mankind seeking to save him; when he beholds even a publican and a rich man, at the same time, who, as our Saviour informs us in another place, are so seldom truly converted, brought to the light of faith, and the grace of a true conversion! (St. Ambrose) --- Zacheus (who as a farmer of the customs, not a collector, as some falsely imagine) immediately hearkened to the interior voice of the Almighty, calling him to repentance; he made no delay, and therefore deserved immediately not only to see, but to eat, drink, and converse with Jesus. (St. Cyril) --- Behold here the three steps of his conversion: 1. an ardent desire of seeing Jesus; 2. the honourable reception he gave him in his house; 3. the complete restitution of all ill-acquired property.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 Luke Chapter 19
Luke Chapter 19
The history of His last approach to Jerusalem and intercourse with it now commences (Luk 19:35). Here then He presents Himself anew as the Son of David, and for the last time; laying on the conscience of the nation His pretensions to that title, while displaying the consequences of His rejection. Near Jericho, [39] the place of malediction, He gives sight to a blind man who believes in His title of Son of David. So indeed those who possessed that faith did receive their sight to follow Him, and they saw yet greater things than these. In Jericho (chap. 19) He sets forth grace, in spite of the pharisaic spirit. Nevertheless it is as a son of Abraham that He points out Zacchaeus, who-in a false position indeed as such-had a tender conscience and a generous heart [40] by grace. His position did not, in the eyes of Jesus, take from him the character of son of Abraham (if it had that effect, who could have been blessed?) and did not bar the way to that salvation which was come to save the lost. It entered with Jesus into the house of this son of Abraham. He brought salvation, whoever might be heir to it.
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Nevertheless He does not conceal from them His departure, and the character which the kingdom would assume, owing to His absence. As for them, Jerusalem, and the expectation of the coming kingdom, filled their minds. The Lord therefore explains to them what would take place. He goes away to receive a kingdom and to return. Meanwhile He commits some of His goods (the gifts of the Spirit) to His servants to trade with during His absence. The difference between this parable and that in the Gospel by Matthew is this: Matthewpresents the sovereignty and the wisdom of the giver, who varies His gifts according to the aptitude of His servants; in Luke it is more particularly the responsibility of the servants, who each receive the same sum, and the one gains by it, in his master’s interest, more than the other. Accordingly it is not said, as in Matthew, “Enter into the joy of your Lord,” the same thing to all, and the more excellent thing; but to the one it is authority over ten cities that is given; to the other, over five (that is to say, a share in the kingdom according to their labour). The servant does not lose that which he has gained, although it was for his master. He enjoys it. Not so with the servant who made no use of his talent; that which had been committed to him is given to the one who had gained ten.
That which we gain spiritually here, in spiritual intelligence and in the knowledge of God in power, is not lost in the other world. On the contrary we receive more, and the glory of the inheritance is given us in proportion to our work. All is grace.
But there was yet another element in the history of the kingdom. The citizens (the Jews) not only reject the king, but, when he is gone away to receive the kingdom, send a messenger after him to say that they will not have him to reign over them. Thus the Jews, when Peter sets their sin before them, and declares to them that if they repent, Jesus would return, and with Him the times of refreshing, reject the testimony, and, so to say, send Stephen after Jesus to testify that they would have nothing to do with Him. When He returns in glory, the perverse nation is judged before His eyes. The avowed enemies of Christ, they receive the reward of their rebellion.
He had declared that which the kingdom was-that which it should be. He now comes to present it for the last time in His own Person to the inhabitants of Jerusalem according to the prophecy of Zechariah. This remarkable scene has been considered in its general aspect when studying Matthew and Mark; but some particular circumstances require notice here. All is gathered round His entrance. The disciples and the Pharisees are in contrast. Jerusalem is in the day of her visitation, and she knows it not.
Some remarkable expressions are uttered by His disciples, moved by the Spirit of God, on this occasion. Had they been silent, the stones would have broken out in proclamation of the glory of the rejected One. The kingdom, in their triumphant acclamations, is not simply the kingdom in its earthly aspect. In Matthew it was, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” and “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” That was indeed true; but here we have something more. The Son of David disappears. He is indeed the King, who comes in the name of the Lord; but it is no longer the remnant of Israel who seek salvation in the name of the Son of David, acknowledging His title. It is “peace in heaven and glory in the highest.” The kingdom depends on peace being established in the heavenly places. The Son of man, exalted on high, and victorious over Satan, has reconciled the heavens. The glory of grace in His Person is established for the everlasting and supreme glory of the God of love. The kingdom on earth is but a consequence of this glory which grace has established. The power that cast out Satan has established peace in heaven. At the beginning, in Luk 2:14, we have, in the manifested grace, Glory to God in the highest; peace on earth; the good pleasure [of God] in men. To establish the kingdom, peace is made in heaven; the glory of God is fully established in the highest.
Footnotes for Luke Chapter 19
39: In Luke the coming to Jericho is stated as a general fact, in contrast with His general journey which is in view from chapter 9: 51. In point of fact it was on going out of Jericho He saw the blind man. The general fact is all we have here, to give the whole history, Zacchaeus and all, Its moral place.
40: I doubt not that Zacchaeus sets before Jesus that which he did habitually, before the Lord came to him. Nevertheless salvation came that day to his house.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 4. Jesus and Zaccheus (Luk_19:1-10)
4. Jesus and Zaccheus (Luk_19:1-10)
1, 2And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And, behold, there was a man named Zaccheus, which was the chief among the publicans [and he was a chief tax-gatherer], 3and he [this man] was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was; andcould not for the press, because he was little of stature. 4And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him; for he was to pass that way. 5And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zaccheus, make haste, and come down; for to-day I must abide at thy house. 6And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. 7And when they saw it, they all 8murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zaccheus stood [or, came forward], and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. 9And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvationcome to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
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EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Luk_19:2. Zaccheus.—Hebrew זַכָּו, “Pure,” Ezr_2:9; Neh_7:14. This Hebrew name with Greek ending of itself denotes him as a man of Jewish origin; comp. Luk_19:9. According to the Clementines, he afterwards became a disciple of Peter, and Bishop of Cæsarea. See Homil. 3:63, and Recogn. 3:65. Later Jewish traditions in reference to his descent are found in Sepp, L. J. iii. p. 166. He is ἀρχιτελώνης, an administrator of the taxes, to whom the over-sight over the common publicans was committed; perhaps plenipotentiary of one of the Roman knights, who often sustained the dignity of Publicani. At Jericho, where in this time a large amount of balsam was produced and exported, the office of tax-gatherer was doubtless an important post. That Zaccheus was rich, appears not only from the place which he had farmed, but also from the liberal way in which he sought to make good previously committed injustice. But that this wealth did not yet satisfy his heart, is made evident by his eager longing after Jesus.
Luk_19:3. He sought to see Jesus.—Without doubt, the fame of Jesus had come to his ears, but he did not yet know Him by sight. Herod also had displayed the same longing, Luk_9:7-9; but is there any need of intimating that the curiosity of Zaccheus sprang from a nobler source? In him we are entitled to presuppose a state of mind like that of the Greeks, Joh_12:21. After he has heard the wonderful and in part contradictory reports that were in circulation respecting Jesus, an obscure longing for higher treasures has been awakened in his heart,—a longing of which, however, he cannot as yet give any precise account to himself. A very favorable testimony for him is even the fact that he leaves his dwelling, and places himself on the way where the caravan going to the feast must pass by; yet in vain does he strive to discover a spot that will secure him a comfortable standing-place and an unobstructed view; great as is his interest, his stature is proportionably diminutive, so that at last he climbs a tree, on which he finds both rest and an unobstructed view along the road; and he also feels himself now, in the hope of at last obtaining his wish, so happy that he takes no account of the mockeries to which he, the smallest, and yet in a certain sense a great, man, was doubtless exposed in the midst of the jubilant throng, on account of his singular proceeding.
Luk_19:4. A sycamore tree, συκομορέα.—See Lachmann and Tischendorf: the Ficus Ægyptia of Pliny. Arbor moro similis folio, magnitudine, adspectu. See Winer, in voce. The fruit is, according to the accounts of travellers, pleasant and sweet-tasting. But here the sycamore bears a fruit of the noblest and rarest kind, which is to ripen for the refreshment of Jesus.
Luk_19:5. Jesus … saw him.—It is not necessary to explain the acquaintance of Jesus with Zaccheus as supernatural (Olshausen); nor have we any more need of taking refuge in the assumption of a relation unknown to us between the two (Meyer), or conjecturing that some one had designedly mentioned him to our Lord (Paulus). The difficulty disappears if we only transfer ourselves fairly to the scene of the event. By the very exceptionalness of his position, Zaccheus strikes the eye of all. His name goes from mouth to mouth. One shows him to another. Here and there dislike manifests itself against the doubtless not universally beloved chief publican, comp. Luk_19:7, and, therefore, in an entirely natural way the Saviour’s look is directed upon Zaccheus. But what is truly Divine consists in this: that our Lord at once fathoms the heart of the man with the same look which once followed Nathanael into solitude, Joh_1:48, and that He fulfils his longing for a better good in a way which causes Zaccheus to find more than he had at the moment sought “Nomine se appellari, Zacchœus non potuit non et admirari et lœtari.” Bengel.
To-day I must abide at thy house.—Stop a while to rest. Comp. Luk_19:7, and Mat_10:11. “Δεῖ is uttered from the consciousness of the Divine disposition of events, Luk_19:10.” Meyer. If this utterance, on the one hand, indicates the haste which well knows that it has no time to lose and will never come again to Jericho, it also beyond doubt expresses, on the other hand, the joy of the Redeemer, who finds the sinner, as the sinner had sought his Redeemer. For the Saviour there exists here an inward necessity to turn in at no other dwelling than that of the publican; His heart commands it, the constraint of compassion tells Him so. “As now in Zaccheus the longing to see Jesus came from the prevenient grace of God, and was the beginning of faith, so was this spark of faith by Christ’s address mightily strengthened.”
Luk_19:7. When they saw it they all murmured.—It is, of course, understood that we have not to understand this of the disciples (Calvin), but of the Jews, who had been witnesses of the joy with which Zaccheus received the Lord at the entrance of his dwelling. With greater haste than he had ever used for the taking in of the most considerable gain, Zaccheus has opened his house for the Exalted Traveller, to whom his heart already feels itself drawn. Yet what prepares for him the most delightful surprise is to others a scandal, and soon the smothered murmur of censure gains distinctness: “He is gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.” Παρά must in the construction not be connected with εἰσῆλθεν but with καταλίῦσαι, since the latter has no other significance than ξενίζεσθαι. We do not, however, from these words alone need to draw the conclusion that Zaccheus was a sinner above many others—for publican and sinner were, in the mouths of many, words of one and the same meaning—and quite as little that Jesus really spent the whole night in the dwelling of Zaccheus, and did not continue His journey till the following day. καταλῦσαι, it is true, is commonly taken in this sense, e. g., by Meyer and De Wette, as also by Schleiermacher, l. c. p. 174. But the example Joh_1:39 does not prove this, and our Lord’s concluding declaration: “To-day is salvation come to this house,” would be deprived of its natural relation to the other: “To-day must I abide at thy house,” if both sayings had not been uttered in one day. Apparently, therefore, we have to assume that our Lord, who was manifestly hastening to Jerusalem, spent only some hours, the remnant of the day, with Zaccheus, and this of itself was sufficient to make Him with many an object of offence. While every publican, even as such, was odious to the people, who wished to be tributary to Jehovah alone, they had undoubtedly learned of the numerous priests who dwelt at Jericho to look down upon an ἀρχιτελώνης with double contempt. It also bears witness to the unfavorable feeling against our Lord which had so greatly increased in Judæa, that He could scarcely advance a step without drawing on Himself new censure. But if any think that we must assume that the Saviour really spent the night also with Zaccheus, we must at all events conceive that which is related Luk_19:8-9, as not taking place on the following morning, but soon after the arrival of our Lord, under the first fresh impression of His personal appearance.
Luk_19:8. And Zaccheus came forward and said.—Not as though the admonitions of his Guest had now for the first time exercised such an influence upon this publican (Kuinoel), and still less because he was persuaded that no one would be able to charge upon him the least deceit, because he was honesty itself (F. R. Schneider, Gesch. J. Chr. ii. p. 84), but because he in this way wished to give an unequivocal proof of his thankfulness for the undeserved honor that had fallen to his lot. Strikingly does the liberality of the chief publican contrast with the mean-spiritedness of the multitude, Luk_19:7. And if ever the saying proved true, that it is indeed difficult yet not impossible for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God, this now came to pass in the words of Zaccheus. He will requite the honor, bestowed on his house by some special act; and already does he know his Guest so intimately as this, that he is well persuaded as to what kind of offering will be to Him even far more acceptable than the most splendid feast. Deeply did he feel his accumulated ill-desert over against the immaculately Holy One; but this compassion shown him encouraged him to rise out of the depth into which he had sunk. With entire spontaneousness he begins to speak of the moral obliquity which had earlier misled him, consciously or unconsciously, to defraud any one of anything, and more than the letter of the law makes his duty will he restore. The hypothetical form of his vow, εἴ·τι, is not merely a milder expression of confession (Meyer); it is, on the other hand, entirely natural in the mouth of a man who has so long and so often offended through the common dishonesty of his calling, that he at the moment does not even call to mind when in particular he had gained anything by chicanery. Enough, the restitution which Moses had required only in a special case of theft (Exo_22:1), he will make in the case of everything that he has gained in a dishonest way, and while, according to the later Jewish writers, even he was distinguished as an eminent Israelite, who destined the fifth part of his property to benevolence, Zaccheus gives not less than the half of his goods to the poor. In truth: “hœc est sapiens illa stultitia, quam de sycomoro, tanquam fructum vitœ, legerat, rapta reddere, propria relinquere, visibilia contemnere.” Beza. Zaccheus evidently shows that the principle is not strange to him which is expressed in the old maxim: “Peccatum non remittitur, nisi ablatum restituatur.” Whether even previously the requirement addressed by John the Baptist to the publicans had come to his ears: “Exact no more than is appointed,” we know not; at all events, he had hitherto not acted agreeably to it. But now it is as if not only a new light had risen to his eyes, but also a new life to his heart. The day when Jesus entered his house is the birth-day of his new better man, and while he of his own free choice becomes poorer in earthly goods, his wealth in heavenly treasures augments, so that To-day in his consciousness draws a sharp dividing line between Yesterday and To-morrow. This consciousness he expresses in a surprising manner: the ingenua confessio and the voluntaria restitutio complement one another admirably.
Luk_19:9. This day is salvation come to this house.—Our Lord addresses these words directly to Zaccheus (πρός), not merely in relation to him (De Wette, and others); that He does it in the third person arises from the fact, that this declaration is meant to comprise at the same time a vindication of His own coming to this house, and a well-deserved eulogy for Zaccheus himself. He says that salvation has come to the house of the publican, not because that house had received one of His visits, but because its inhabitant really showed himself another man from what he appeared to be in the eyes of the multitude. While they had even just before named him an ἀνὴρ ἁμαρτωλός, the Saviour now names him a υἱὸς Ἀβραάμ, not because he had before been a heathen, but now showed the character of a true Israelite (Maldonatus and others), nor yet merely because he by his conversion had become a true Israelite (ἐστί in the sense of ἐγένετο, Kuinoel), but because it was manifest that he, how much soever the people reviled him, yet belonged to the people of God’s choice. The unloving censurers had overlooked the fact that he, as a son of Abraham, was nevertheless still related to them according to the flesh; Jesus bestowed upon him the eulogy that he also belonged, according to the Spirit, to the posterity of the friend of God; comp. Luk_13:16.
Luk_19:10. For the Son of Man.—Statement of the ground of the previous declaration. Where a son of Abraham, according to the flesh, is a lost one, just there is My appearance necessary; where a lost one is renewed unto a spiritual son of Abraham, there is the purpose of My appearance attained.—Ἠλθε signifies not entirely the same as the έ̓ρχεσθαι εἰς τὸν κόσμον of John, where the secondary idea of preëxistence is not to be mistaken; absolutely used, it appears to designate the public manifestation and coming forth of the Son of Man.—To seek, like the Shepherd, Luk_15:4. Comp. Mat_9:13; Mat_18:11.—To save, not in the sense of to make blessed, but in the sense of to rescue. The σωτηρία of the New Testament is the preservation of that which would otherwise have become the certain prey of an irrevocable destruction, as Zaccheus would have become if this hour had not dawned for him.—What afterwards became of him we know not. In all probability he remained in his office of tax-gatherer; at least the Saviour, who sees the end of His own career approaching, does not call him away from it, as he formerly called Matthew and others. He knows that such a man will afterwards be an ornament to the calling of the publican, and prove himself continually a son of Abraham. Yet enough, at all events, when Jesus now soon afterwards left Jericho, He knew that in this city at least one house was found in which He had already bestowed that which He, dying, was soon to procure for a whole lost world—σωτηρία!
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. In the days of Joshua there was a terrible curse uttered upon Jericho, Jos_6:26, and in the time of Ahab this curse was fulfilled in a not less terrible manner, 1Ki_16:34. With the entry of the Saviour into Jericho there dawns at least for one house in Jericho a day of inestimable blessing, and more yet would have become partakers of this blessing along with Zaccheus, had they only known the time of their visitation.
2. The coming of our Saviour to the City of Palms in the midst of the tumult of an innumerable throng; the silent inquiry of a longing soul after Him, and the sweet answer of prevenient grace; the entrance of Jesus into the favored house with all His peace, and the sacrifice rendered by the thanksgiving of the surprised inhabitant thereof;—all this has a beautiful symbolical sense, which makes this gospel above any other fitted for the dedication of a church, especially when it is brought into connection with the inexhaustibly rich epistle, Rev_21:1-5.
3. “Little soul, thinkest thou then that for thee no tree has grown on which thou mightest climb, that thy eyes might behold Him that bringeth salvation to thy heart?” Gossner.
4. The very great diversity of the ways in which God leads sinners to conversion becomes manifest when we compare the history of Zaccheus with so many others; for instance, with that of the Penitent Thief, of Saul, Cornelius, of the Jailer, &c. The history of this chief of the publicans reminds us of the parable of the Treasure in the Field, and still more of that of the Pearl of Great Price. At the same time the reception which Jesus makes ready for the publican is an admirable commentary on His own word, Rev_3:20.
5. The connection of πίστις with μετάνοια is vividly presented in the history of Zaccheus. On the one hand, no receptivity for faith on the Saviour, unless already in his soul an incipient, secret but powerful change had taken place; on the other hand, no true faith that did not of itself lead to a thorough alteration of the life and the method of business. It is foolish to suppose that Zaccheus, by the restoration of extorted gain, could have compensated his guilt before God, but just as little would his repentance have been a sincere one if he had felt no necessity of setting right his trespasses in this way. The consolatory consciousness that the guilt of sin is blotted out cannot possibly refresh us, if it is not at the same time our highest wish to be relieved from the ruinous dominion of the same.
6. The Pauline doctrine of Justification by Faith is by this narrative both explained and confirmed. Zaccheus is the precursor of the many heathens who have not sought for righteousness and yet have obtained righteousness, Rom_9:30-33. The Jews, on the other hand, who in their holiness of works murmured against the bestowal of free grace, remained then and remain yet—shut out.
7. In conclusion, the circumstance deserves well to be brought into use in behalf of future Apologetics, that the whole history of Zaccheus bears a character of freshness, truth, and absence of invention, on which every doubt is broken, as even Strauss, L. J. i. p. 613, has conceded. But with this its historical truth is united its ideal and eternal truth, according to which this journey of the Saviour may be called the symbol of His continuous journey through the world’s history, in which He now, as ever, reveals Himself to the individual in His saving power, while the greater part, even yet, continually misunderstand Him or mock Him.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The hour of blessing for the once accursed City of Palms.—Where Jesus passes by He cannot remain hidden.—The rich Zaccheus in all his poverty; the subsequently impoverished Zaccheus in all his wealth.—The longing to see Jesus: 1. How it arises; 2. wherein it reveals itself; 3. in what way it is satisfied.—How the tumult of the world often hinders us still from seeing and hearing our Lord at hand.—In order to see Jesus well, one must climb; in order to receive Him rightly, one must come down.—He hath filled the hungry with good things, but the rich He hath sent empty away.—The courage of the poor sinner.—The looking of Jesus up to Zaccheus no less proof of grace than His looking down towards many others.—Where the concern is to save a sinner, there to the Saviour a stopping on His way to death is no loss of time.—It is not by the beauty of nature, but by a work of grace, that our Lord allows Himself to be detained at Jericho.—“Make haste and come down, for to-day I must abide at thy house,” text for a communion address. This assurance: 1. For whom does it hold true? 2. what does it prove? 3. what does it promise? 4. what does it require?—Jesus a Saviour who: 1. Must come into our house; 2. and can come even to-day; 3. and comes for our salvation.—Jesus invites Himself, if one should not venture to invite Him.—The Good Shepherd calls His sheep by name, Joh_10:3.—Even to-day does the world take offence when the Saviour turns in at the house of the sinner.—Parallel between this event and Luk_7:36-50. Here also the displeasure of Simon on the one hand, the penitence of the sinning woman on the other hand.—Zaccheus, the longer for salvation, is: 1. Courageously bold; 2. inwardly rejoiced; 3. by many contemned; 4. highly honored.—The little Zaccheus a great hero of faith: 1. How longingly he waits; 2. how frankly he comes: 3. how bountifully he thanks.—The making good of former trespasses: 1. A necessity naturally felt; 2. a sure token; 3. a blessed fruit, of upright faith.—“To-day is salvation come unto this house,” a text for baptismal and marriage addresses.—The day of true conversion the most memorable day of life, 2Co_5:17.—Where Jesus gains disciples, there has Abraham also acquired genuine sons.—Jesus is come to seek, etc.: 1. A most humiliating; 2. an indescribably comforting; 3. a powerfully sanctifying, saying.
Starke:—J. Hall:—From a great sinner there may come a great saint.—Osiander:—God has chosen some souls of the rich as well as of the poor to eternal life.—Many a man does something that in his calling appears to him to be unimpeachable, but faith judges very differently; 2Sa_6:16.—Christ willingly directs His eyes upon penitent sinners; Luk_22:61.—Quesnel:—God gives the longing to know Him, and if that is not despised He then gives more.—The Lord Jesus wishes to come spiritually to us; Joh_14:23.—Majus:—We may well be conversant with sinners if we only do not mean to practise sin with them.—Compassion towards the poor avails not for salvation, yet must it be practised for those that will be saved; Deu_24:17.—Langii Op.:—How many are like Zaccheus in riches and unrighteousness, but how few in true conversion and restitution.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—Happy the house where Jesus becomes a Guest!—With true conversion there come to pass great alterations in houses, cities, and countries.—The farther from the world, the nearer to God.—Heubner:—Jesus is accessible to all classes.—Even yet He finds necessity to abide with those that desire Him.—What an honor to entertain Jesus!—The days of salvation in our fife when Jesus comes especially near to us.—Through faith we come into communion with all the saints of the early time.—The visible church leads into the invisible.—Our churches as dwelling-places of Jesus; they are: 1. Reminders of Him, Luk_19:1-4; Luke 2. sources of His gracious visitation, Luk_19:5-7; Luke 3. summonses on the part of Jesus to conscientious fulfilment of duty, Luk_19:8; Luke 4. awakenings to the care of our own and others’ souls, Luk_19:9-10.—Palmer:—The gracious hour of the Lord: 1. How it comes (unexpected, but not unprepared for); 2. what it brings (Christ, and in Him salvation); 3. what traces it leaves behind (a heart disposed to repentance and love).—Arndt:—Jesus the Friend of man: 1. Towards whom He reveals His love; 2. what moves Him thereto; 3. how He proceeds; 4. what effects he produces; 5. by what means he accomplishes and crowns His work.—J. Diedrich:—How men’s souls, truly for their salvation, meet with Christ.—W. Hofacker:—The beautiful process of development which the noble plant of faith, under the influence of Divine grace, passes through: 1. The tender germs; 2. the beautiful flower; 3. the wholesome fruits of the plant.—Gerok:—The concurrence of human will and Divine grace.—Knapp:—Concerning the ever-abounding blessing of a true personal acquaintance with Christ.—Harless:—Jesus receives sinners [Jesus nimmt die Sünder an].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3–10 who he was--what sort of person. Curiosity then was…
who he was--what sort of person. Curiosity then was his only motive, though his determination not to be baulked was overruled for more than he sought.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–10 § 109. JESUS’S VISIT TO ZACCHEUS, Luk_19:1-28.
§ 109. JESUS’S VISIT TO ZACCHEUS, Luk_19:1-28.
1. And—Luke, after having detailed many contests in this region of our Lord against the Pharisees in behalf of the publicans, brings the strife to a triumphant close in the case of Zaccheus. See notes on Luk_15:1; Luk_16:14; Luk_17:10; Luk_18:9.
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Passed through Jericho—This celebrated city was about fifteen miles from Jerusalem. See notes on Mat_20:29.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–10 Luk_19:1-10. Zacchaeus the Tax-gatherer.
Luk_19:1-10. Zacchaeus the Tax-gatherer.
1. entered and passed through] Literally, “having entered Jericho was passing through it.”
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Jericho] Jericho (the City of Palm trees, Deu_34:3; Jdg_1:16) is about 6 miles from the Jordan, and 15 from Jerusalem. It was from a point opposite to it that Moses had viewed Canaan, Deu_34:1. When taken by Joshua the site had been cursed (Jos_6:26): but, in the reign of Ahab, Hiel of Bethel defied and underwent the curse (1Ki_16:34). In later times Jericho became a great and wealthy town, being fertilised by its abundant spring (2Ki_2:21) and enriched by its palms and balsams, Jos. Antt. iv. 6; B. J. IV. 8; Sir_24:14, “I was exalted like a palm tree in Engaddi and like a rose plant in Jericho.” The plant however usually called the rose of Jericho is the Anastatica Hierochuntia of Linnaeus. A mediaeval Itinerary says that the site—on which now stands the miserable and degraded village of Riha—was ‘most rich in flowers and odoriferous shrubs.’
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–10 (1) And passed through Jericho.—Better, and was passing through.…
XIX.
(1) And passed through Jericho.—Better, and was passing through. The narrative that follows is peculiar to this Gospel.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 Vers. 1-10. Jesus lodges in the house of Zacchaeus,…
Vers. 1-10. Jesus lodges in the house of Zacchaeus, the chief among the publicans at Jericho. This episode, which took place at Jericho just before the Lord"s entry into Jerusalem the last time, is peculiar to this Gospel. That the source was Hebrew (Aramaic) is clear from the wording of the narration. Some brief Hebrew (Aramaic) memoir was given to St. Luke, whence he derived his information of this most interesting and instructive incident of the last journey of the Master.
Vers. 1, 2. And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. Jericho, under the Herods, had become again an important centre of trade. It lay on the road from Person to Judaea and Egypt, and had, of course, an important custom-house. The Balm which came especially from the Gilead district was sent through there into all parts of the world. Zacchaeus was at the head of this customs department at Jericho. The exact position of such an official in those days is not known. He probably farmed the customs revenue under some great Roman capitalist of the equestrian order. In such an appointment it was easy to commit even involuntary injustices. The temptations to such an official to enrich himself at the expense of others, besides, were sadly numerous. Named Zacchaeus. Zakkai signifies "pure". (see Ezr_2:9 Neh_7:14) It is curious that we find in the Talmud a man named Zakkai, the father of the famous rabbi Jochauan, living at Jericho.
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Vers. 1-10. Zacchaeus.
Very pleasant was the city of Jericho when our Lord passed through it; and very pleasant is the Scripture which records the visit of Jesus to it. It has a fragrance like that of the roses and palms in which the gardens of Jericho were luxurious; its verses remind us of the cells of the many honeycombs for which it was famous. Each verse is full of sweet and holy thought. A child can understand it; an angel will desire to look into it. One of the two incidents which have made Jericho memorable in connection with the life of the Saviour of men has been already considered. That which is told in the verses before us points to a different series of circumstances, a different and perhaps fuller illustration of the more Catholic aspect of Christ"s mission. Consider three points.
I The incident illustrates a PURPOSE TRIUMPHANT OVER HINDRANCES. These hindrances connect with social position, with wealth, with personal disqualifications.
1. He was a tax-gatherer. His place was usually filled by Roman knights, who farmed the taxes that they might replenish their empty coffers. It was a calling which aroused the hostility of the Jews. And to be a social Ishmael is hurtful to all that is generous and noble in the breast. He was "chief among the publicans "a great man to whom many deferred; with the temptation, therefore, to imagine that the crowd was a vulgarity to be shunned, and so to isolate himself from the enthusiasms of the townsfolk.
2. He was rich. Almost insensibly a kind of pride grows in the person who is wealthy. He is conscious of his means. And the comfort with which they surround him tends to dull the edge of more spiritual feeling, to withdraw the interest from truths which imply the sense of need and poverty. He might have said to himself, "This Jesus of Nazareth, what is he to me? I have all that heart can desire: why should I make an ado about this travelling Prophet?
3. He was short of stature. A little man: what hope was there that he would obtain a glimpse of the passing Nazarene? Why should he expose himself to the risk of being laughed at, especially when the chances were against his obtaining even a glimpse of the Stranger? Against all such hindrances the purpose to see Jesus is supreme. He must; the necessity of his soul makes him quick in invention. He forces his way through the crowd, climbs the small sycamore tree, and there he waits. He knows, confusedly enough, but by a kind of intuition, that the Poorest of all who on foot treads the street is his Lord; that with him is the wealth wanting which a man has no real inheritance. When the fountains of the inner deep are broken up, when any one is in earnest about the kingdom of God and his righteousness, the mere accidents of position and circumstance are forgotten. The Princess Alice of England, on her dying-bed, acknowledged her debt to a Scotsman in humble life for the help he had given in bringing her soul back to its rest in Christ. Zacchaeus, chief among the publicans, heeds not appearances, thinks not of dignity, runs before the multitude, perches himself on the branch of the fig tree that he might see him whom his soul loved.
II The incident illustrates THE MEETING BETWEEN A SUPREME PURPOSE IN MAN AND THE PURPOSE OF THE LOVE OF GOD. It may be said that the publican"s motive was mere curiosity. Supposing that it was, it brought about the sight of the Lord. Curiosity impelled Augustine to the church of Ambrose in Milan, and there Christ found him. It is a gain to get people, even from an inferior desire, within the reach of the gospel of grace: who knows whether the one who came to scoff may not remain to pray? But was there not a cause deeper than mere curiosity at work in Zacchaeus? He may not have had the same kind of plea as blind Bartimaeus, but he had his own plea; and what Christ asks from each of us is that, as we are, in the specialties of our need and condition, we come to him. Faith carries an "I must" in its bosom. It always presses: "To-day I must see thee who thou art." That day the two "I musts," the one in the sinner, the other in the Saviour"s heart, meet and touch. "Zacchaeus, today I must abide at thy house" (ver. 5). What a journey that "I must" of Jericho represents! Has it not come from the heaven of heavens, out from the bosom of the great God himself? The fig leaves and branches cannot hide from Christ. The eyes of the two are seeking each other. He looks up; the one for whom he is in search receives the gaze. That one knows that he is looked into; he is understood; he is named. And the fellowship is formed from which neither things present nor things to come can separate.
III The incident illustrates THE PURPOSE OF A MIND RENEWED IN ITS SPIRIT. What is the response to he Lord"s "make haste "?" He made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully" (ver. 6). The whole heart opens to this new Master. There is no further asking who he is. That has been answered by the heart itself; and the welcome to his home, to all, immediately follows. If Christ will take one such as he, "Love so amazing, so Divine, Demands the soul, the life, the all.
There is more than this. We need not discuss whether the noble speech recorded in ver. 8 is the vindication of the publican as against the calumnies of those around him, indicating that he had not been the unjust extortioner whom they took him to be; that he had been in the habit of giving half of his goods to the poor. The latter part of the verse at least is the expression of a solemn purpose formed in Christ"s presence. It indicates a change of character. "Is his pocket converted?" was a question put, when the conversion of one who had been greedy and selfish was announced. Hitherto this Zacchaeus had lived to make money; now he will live to use it. Hitherto he had lived for himself; now he will live for God. Henceforth he will aim, not only at being just, but at making others the better and happier for him. When Christ is received joyfully, the narrow becomes the broad, the hard becomes the generous; the levels of the life are altered: "Old things pass away, and all things become new.
IV Reflecting on the incident, two points are to be noted its revelation of Christ, and its enforcement of the solemn word "opportunity.
1. Christ the Brother and Saviour.
(1) It is interesting to observe that, on the same day, poor and rich were visibly embraced within the love of God. That love stretches from pole to pole in human experience and condition. Christ"s sympathies are not with class as against class; for he is the Son of man. When the beggar comes he is so polite: "What wilt thou?" As to Zacchaeus, he turns to the Jews (ver. 9). Everywhere he recognizes a something of God a jewel to be snatched from among the ruins. "He is not afraid of consorting with the rich lest people should say he cares too much for money, any more than he is of consorting with the poor lest they should say he cares too little for respectability. He will dine with the Pharisee, if invited; and he will dine with a publican, even when uninvited, if the man"s heart be indeed a guest-chamber." The most brotherly of hearts is the heart of God.
(2) The Brother and the Saviour. See the sentence in which the conjunction is realized (ver. 10). It was spoken with immediate reference to Zacchaeus. He was lost, for he had lived alone; and whoso lives alone, away from the light of God, out of sympathy with Iris brethren, an outside person, is really one lost. And is not Christ among us to bring the outsiders in, to awaken up dead worldly souls, and restore them to communion with the Father in heaven and the Father"s children on earth? Christ is the Saviour because he is the Brother, and he is the Brother because he is the Son. Look at the Saviour in his work of love. The royalty of his grace shines marvellously forth. Note the self-invitation: -I love him because he first loved me." Note also the joy of salvation not a passing glimpse must abide. " There is a new rule, a new companionship, a new mirth.
2. The word opportunity" is enforced. That word contains the lesson most obviously taught in every part of the story. Jesus is passing; to-day and today only. There is no time to trifle. "Make haste, and come down.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1-9. Zacchaeus; the triumph of earnestness.
The incident here recorded provides a very good opportunity for the imagination. We can picture the scene before us quite vividly; it is a subject for the sacred artist. But let us look at the triumph of earnestness as illustrated in the story of Zacchaeus.
I It triumphed over THE PERIL WHICH ATTENDS WEALTH. This man was rich (ver. 2). Riches are unfavourable to religious earnestness; we have Christ"s own word for it. (Luk_18:24; see homily) They present a very strong inducement to their owner to forsake the fountain of living waters, and to quench his thirst in the lower streams. Far too often they lead to luxury, to indulgence, to spiritual indifference. But Zacchaeus did not suffer this calamity to befall him, this fatal injury to be wrought upon him. His spiritual solicitudes won the victory over his temporal circumstances.
II It triumphed over THE DEMORALIZING CALLING IN WHICH HE WAS ENGAGED. Our daily vocation must necessarily have a very great influence over us for good or evil; and if it be one that tends to lower and degrade a man, he is placed in the greatest possible peril. Much wisdom of mind, much resoluteness of soul, and much devoutness of spirit must be required to withstand the adverse powers. But though Zacchaeus was engaged in a pursuit that invited avarice and oppression, still he did not lose his religious earnestness.
III It triumphed over AN EVIL REPUTATION. Few things are more degrading than a bad name. Men quickly become what they are supposed to be and what they are called. Let all his neighbours consider and call a man a rogue, and it will be strange indeed if he maintains his integrity. Yet, although Zacchaeus was denominated and dismissed as "a publican," spoken of by a term which was full of the strongest reproach, he did not descend to that level.
IV It triumphed over THE OBSTACLES WHICH STOOD BETWEEN HIM AND CHRIST. He could not venture to solicit an interview with this holy Prophet; that he knew was completely barred by his vocation. He found it difficult to secure even a view of him as he passed along; his smallness of stature was against him. But such was his determination that he disregarded all considerations of dignity and decorum, and ran any risk of popular derision and affront, and climbed up, as if he had been a boy, into a tree to command a view of Jesus of Nazareth. So he prevailed.
V IT WON WHOLLY UNEXPECTED GOOD.
1. The honour of entertaining this great Prophet at his own house; thus securing a standing to which he had long been a stranger.
2. The advantage of a protracted interview, an extended privilege, in which he could not only secure a few sentences from the great Teacher, but could unburden his heart to him and learn his holy will.
VI IT LED TO NEWNESS OF LIFE. (Vers. 8, 9) Zacchaeus from that day forth was a new man. His character was thenceforth determined: whatever selfishness or wrongness there had been, it should be renounced, and, where possible, reparation should be made. Character and life were to be cleansed and renewed; and Christ took him up into his favour and friendship. He was to be perfectly restored to the position he had lost. By his pursuit and practice he had become an alien, disinherited, no longer admitted to the services of the sanctuary. But now he was to be, in the fullest and deepest sense of the word, "a son of Abraham," a far truer son of his than many who prided themselves on their descent from the "father of the faithful.
Thus earnestness of spirit completely prevailed.
1. Only earnestness will prevail. Indifference will go down to the death from which it is already not far removed. Half-heartedness will go only a very little way towards the goal; it will have to take some trouble and to suffer some pains, but it will not win the prize. Even impulsiveness, which bears a considerable resemblance to earnestness, but is not the same thing, will fail before the way is trodden and the end secured. Only earnestness wins.
2. It always must. Whatever comes in the way; whatever inward or outward obstacles present themselves; whatever personal or social hindrances intervene; however victory be delayed; notwithstanding that the case may again and again seem hopeless; still in the end earnestness will succeed. Jesus Christ will manifest himself; he will be found in the home; his presence and his grace will fill the soul with joy; he will declare sonship and heirship to his devoted and determined follower. C.
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR Vers. 1-10. A son of Abraham found in Zacchaeus the publican.
The healing of blind Bartimaeus was not the only saving act done by Jesus at Jericho. A notable publican, called Zacchaeus, becomes the object of our Lord"s compassion and the subject of his grace. He was at the head of the custom-house, as we should now call it, and in his important post he had become rich. Having heard of Jesus and seen the advancing crowd, his curiosity prompted him to have a look at him if possible; but, being little of stature, he could not from the ground obtain the view he wished. Accordingly he ran before, climbed up into a sycamore tree, one of whose branches it has been supposed may have extended across the road, and, perched upon this, he awaited the advent of Jesus. How astonished he must have been to find Jesus pausing below his perch, looking up, naming him, and telling him, "Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to-day I must abide at thy house"! Thus invited, he came down with all haste, and received Christ joyfully. Doubtless the Pharisees will murmur at Christ becoming the publican"s guest; but what does it matter when Zacchaeus is gathered into the kingdom of God, makes his declaration about future conduct, and receives the Lord"s assurance of being Abraham"s son? Let us notice the points of interest as they present themselves in this case.
I ZACCHAEUS NEEDED A SAVIOUR. For success is not sufficient for any man. He needs besides, salvation from sin, that is, from selfishness, and often from success itself. It is well when even curiosity leads a man to the Saviour, and to a sense of his great need. Zacchaeus"s case is instructive for us all. His need of a Saviour ought to emphasize our need.
II HIS HINDRANCES. IN SEEKING THE SAVIOUR. And of these we shall only mention three.
1. His riches. These are often a great hindrance to souls. They compete with Christ as a ground of trust. Men are tempted to trust in uncertain riches instead of in the living God. Zacchaeus had, however, got over this hindrance, and, rich man though he was, he was not ashamed to climb the sycamore to get a sight of Jesus.
2. His business. For the tax-farming had been denounced and excommunicated by the Jewish authorities, so that Zacchaeus, because of his business, did not enjoy the means of grace in the measure and amount he might otherwise have done. Jesus had, however, overcome this hindrance by his own manly and merciful policy, and insisted on associating with publicans and sinners to save them. Every one should ask himself the question, however, if his business is a hindrance or a help to his salvation. Can we ask Christ to meet us in it and save us in it? or can we only expect him to save us from it?
3. His physical state. His stature hindered him for a time from seeing Jesus, as the physical state of others often hinders them. But when one is thoroughly in earnest, he can overcome all hindrances as Zacchaeus did by climbing the sycamore. Hindrances may be changed by energetic action into helps and spiritual gains.
III SALVATION MEANS HEARTFELT SYMPATHY WITH A PERSONAL SAVIOUR. For salvation comes to us clothed in loving personality, and the advent of Jesus to our souls, as in the case of Zacchaeus, is the advent of salvation. What we are asked in the gospel to do is to trust a Person, and to accept of safety in his blessed society. There is no abstract and confusing process to be passed through, but a concrete and real fellowship to be entered on and enjoyed.
IV THE SAVED SOUL PROVES HIS SALVATION BY LIBERALITY AND RESTITUTION. As soon as Zacchaeus enters into sympathy with Christ, he makes a public profession. Here is his resolve deliberately made to Christ, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wrongfully exacted aught of any man, I restore fourfold" (Revised Version). His riches are now to be made a means of grace, enabling him, in the first place, liberally to make restitution to all wronged ones; and secondly, to dedicate largely to the poor. Contact with Christ has opened his heart and made him open-handed. Murmuring Pharisees might restrict their ostentatious almsgiving to a tenth, but converted Zacchaeus will dedicate a half to the wants of the poor! A rich man may thus make his wealth the basis of princely generosity, and reap a reward in the gratitude of God"s poor people.
V JESUS GIVES ZACCHAEUS A BLESSED ASSURANCE OF SONSHIP. For Zacchaeus, if originally a Jew, had forfeited through his tax-gathering his position in the Jewish Church. No longer would the son of Abraham or Jewish authorities regard him as an heir of the promises. But Jesus interposes and reinstates him in his position of privilege. He declares before the guests that Zacchaeus has been saved by his visit to his house, and that this salvation-visit is because the publican is also a son of Abraham. In this beautiful way the selecting love of God in Christ is set before the people and the assurance of Abrahamic sonship conveyed to the new convert. It is thus the Lord comforts those who trust in him.
VI CHRIST THUS DEMONSTRATES HIS MISSION TO SEEK AND SAVE THE LOST. Not by the parables of the fifteenth chapter merely does he demonstrate the merciful character of his mission, but also by such a missionary act as the salvation of Zacchaeus. As "the Son of man" he is interested in the welfare of his race, and finds in the lost the sphere of his gracious operation. It is thus he comforts the lost ones, by enabling them to see that they are the proper objects of his compassion. R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v1 A man named Zaccheus.
Luk_19:1-10
A man named Zaccheus.
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Zaccheus the publican
I. THE GRACIOUS ENTRY.
II. A COMMENDABLE CURIOSITY.
1. This curiosity unusual.
(1) A rich man anxious to see Jesus.
(2) A rich man overcoming hindrance that he might gratify such curiosity.
(3) Are there any here anxious to see Jesus?
(4) Are you willing to seek Him now?
III. A WONDERFUL SURPRISE.
1. In the unexpected detection.
2. In the unexpected summons by name.
3. In the unexpected declaration of Jesus.
IV. AN UNUSUAL RESPONSE.
1. In its alacrity.
2. In its obedience.
3. In its sincerity.
(1) What an example to follow!
(2) What blessedness such obedience ever brings!
V. AN UNCALLED-FOR COMPLAINT.
1. In its spirit.
2. In its argument.
VI. A GENUINE PENITENT.
1. Shown in his implied confession.
2. In his sincere reformation.
3. In the fact of his salvation.
VII. THE MISSION AND PURPOSE OF CHRIST. Practical questions:
1. Have you ever desired to see Jesus?
2. Have you ever truly sought to find Jesus?
3. Have you ever believed on Jesus?
4. If not, will you now? (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The Christian not of the crowd
Shall we have no interest in Him? Shall we not desire to see of Him all that we can? We cannot, indeed, with all our endeavours and reaching upward, see His countenance and person, as Zaccheus did, by mounting into a tree; but we may see much more than he did, who saw Him but in the flesh, not yet glorified. We may see Him in spirit, we may behold Him through faith, and in such glory as Zaccheus had not power to conceive. We may have in our hearts the tokens of His presence, and we may receive from Him the earnest of that glory with which He will clothe His people, that they may be like unto Him. But then, again, after they have begun to entertain something like a wish and desire, do not many desist, from the fear of being thought singular, from the dread of appearing unlike other people! They dare not make themselves so conspicuous. And yet what rules of modesty will not people break, what public notice will they not brave, when some attractive spectacle of this worlds pomp and splendour is to be seen I Then the man of gravity, then the female of delicacy, are seen to make no scruples of mounting up above the heads of the crowd into the most preposterous and ludicrous positions. (R. WEvans, B. D.)
The conversion of Zaccheus
I. HOW DID ZACCHEUS HAPPEN TO BE CONVERTED? He wanted to see Jesus, what sort of a man (τίς ἐστιν) He was--a low motive, but it was the salvation of Zaccheus. It is surprising that he should never have seen or heard Jesus, when Jericho was so near Jerusalem, and Jesus was so famous a prophet. The ignorance of intelligent men concerning religion is astonishing. We should encourage people to go to see who Jesus is, pray that they may go, from curiosity if from no higher motive. Taking Zaccheuss standpoint, the awakening of his curiosity probably explains how he happened to be converted. From Christs standpoint we get a different view. He had Zaccheus in mind, so it appeared. When He came to the tree and called his name and bade him come down, He said, To-day I must abide at thy house. I must. This was among the events in the fixed, predetermined order of those last solemn days. To-day the seeking sinner and the seeking Saviour were to meet. We see from the story, says Dr. Brown, that we may look for unexpected con versions.
II. WHAT CONVERTED ZACCHEUS? Suppose he had been asked the question that evening. He would have given different answers. He would have spoken of the influence of Bartimeus, or of Matthew. Again, he would speak of the call of Jesus, the brief, thrilling words, beginning with his own name. Or, in another mood, he would say, It was because I heeded, first the voice within, and then that voice Divine. I converted myself. I listened. I came down. I received Him. How fortunate that I took that resolution! At another time he would emphasize the work of the Holy Spirit. I never should have taken the first step, the thought of it would never have lodged in my mind, without some power from without moving me. It was not like me. It was contrary to the whole course of my life. It must have been the work of the Holy Ghost. So it is in the case of every convert. Each answer would contain a phase of the truth.
III. WHEN WAS ZACCHEUS CONVERTED? Somewhere between the limb and the ground--Moody. The prodigal was converted when he said, I will arise, Zaccheus when he said, I will go down. There is no interval between surrender and conversion. If Zaccheus had died as he moved to descend, he would have been saved. God does not delay us. He gives when we take.
IV. WHAT WERE THE EVIDENCES OF THE CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS?
1. He received Christ. Notice that it was Zaccheus who received Christ. We must receive Him before He can receive us (Joh_1:12).
2. Joyfulness. He received Him joyfully.
3. Zaccheus stood. He made, that is, an open confession. It was harder to do this than to climb the tree. This, every true convert will do Rom_10:6-10).
4. Confession and reformation. (G. R. Leavitt.)
The seeker sought
I. THE CHARACTER OF ZACCHEUS. A Hebrew name with a Greek termination, signifying pure. A man may have a noble ancestry and an ignoble calling--a good name and a bad reputation. There is an important difference between a mans reputation and a mans character. Reputation is what men say about us, character is what a man is.
1. We may learn from this verse something about Zaccheuss social standing. He was the chief among the publicans. Some men are exposed to special temptations from the positions they hold. A dishonest calling blunts our finest sensibilities, hardens our heart, and degrades our whole nature.
2. We may learn from this verse something about Zaccheuss secular position. And he was rich.
II. THE CURIOSITY OF ZACCHEUS. Curiosity, which is commonly regarded as a dangerous disposition, is natural to man, and may be serviceable in the most sacred pursuits. It excites inquiry, it stimulates research, and it leads to the solution of many of the dark problems of life.
1. In this case curiosity awakened an earnest desire to see Jesus.
2. In this case curiosity overcame the difficulties that were in the way of seeing Jesus.
III. THE CALLING OF ZACCHEUS.
1. This was a personal call. Christ not only knew his name, but his nature. He knew the place he occupied, and the thoughts he cherished.
2. This was an urgent call. Zaccheus, make haste, and come down. The coming of Christ is unexpected, and His stay brief. He is passing to-day, and may have passed to-morrow. What we have to do must be done quickly.
3. This was an effectual call. And he made haste, and came down. What a mighty energy there is in the word of Christ! At His word the blind received their sight, and the dead started to life again.
IV. THE CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. This day is salvation come to thy house. Personal contact with Christ ensures special blessing from Christ.
When Christ is present with us, there will be light in the eye, music in the voice, and gladness in the heart.
1. This was a present salvation.
(1) What a marvellous change was wrought in his character! The dishonest man became honest, the selfish man became generous, and the sinful man became righteous.
(2) What a glorious change was wrought in his service! Instead of living for self, he began to live for the Saviour; instead of seeking the things of time, he began to seek the things of eternity.
2. This was a practical salvation. And Zaccheus stood, and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. This is a splendid liberality. He does not give a tenth, not a fifth, but the half. He does not say I will leave at my decease, but I give during my lifetime. When Christ comes to abide in a rich mans house, he will open his heart to give to the poor. (J. T. Woodhouse, M. A.)
The character of Zaccheus
I. THE MAN.
1. His nationality. A Jew.
2. His official position. Chief among the publicans.
3. His financial condition. Rich. As is too often the case, Zaccheus, perhaps, owed his official position more to his purse than his purity--more to what he had than to what he was. From the view I get of Zaccheus, I am not surprised that he was rich. Those who compass chieftancy and riches are the men who know how to step out of the beaten track, and without regard to sneers or criticism, can run and climb, in order to accomplish their object.
He possessed certain traits of character which are the secret of success in every department of human endeavour.
1. He was self-reliant. He did not passively rely upon others for his inspiration and resolves. He was a man of originality of thought and purpose--a sort of genius in method and movement.
2. He was prompt and persevering. Zaccheus knew how to handle an opportunity. An old Latin maxim says: Opportunity has hair in front, but behind she is bald; if you seize her by the forelock, you may hold her but if suffered to escape, not Jupiter himself can catch her. By the style of the man, and the fact that his ancestry is not mentioned, I am inclined to think that Zaccheus began life a poor boy. The majority of those who have risen to riches and honour, have come up through the rough regions of toil and poverty, and were not ashamed afterwards to work with their own hands, though possessed of thousands of this worlds goods.
3. His purpose. To see Jesus, who He was. Why so anxious to see? why not be content with hearing? There were thousands who had seen Him and formed their opinions as to who He was, and were not backward in telling them. The Pharisee would have told him: He is a devil; the scribe, a fanatic; the priest, a blasphemer; the Rabbi, a heretic; the poor, a prophet; the many, an impostor; the few, a God. Zaccheus could not afford, therefore, to trust to hearsay; and so, like a wise man, he made up his mind to see for himself. He was a good judge of human nature, and could form a pretty correct opinion of a man, by getting a good square look at him. The noblest purpose that can actuate the human heart is expressed in these three little words: To see Jesus.
4. His failure. Could not for the press, because he was little. Here is a man earnestly trying to see Jesus, who is opposed and defeated by obstacles he had no hand in producing, and over which he had no control.
(1) The press, and
(2) Little of stature. He had no hand in producing either of these, and yet they defeated him. But, was that fair? Has Zaccheus had a fair chance? Whether fair or not, he has had all the chance he will have, unless he makes another.
5. His determination. He ran before and climbed into a sycamore. Here we get an idea of the force and fibre of the man. He did not waste his precious time in upbraiding himself for being little, or finding fault with his surroundings. He simply started off in search of a better vantage ground. No time is more unprofitably spent than that which is used in finding fault with our instruments and surroundings. Zaccheus never would have been chief among the publicans, and rich, if he had not learned to make a virtue out of necessity, and turn even failure into a pedestal from which to reach a grander success. When a mans conscious littleness compels him to run and climb, he will master his obstacles and get a better knowledge of things than the men who think they can see all there is to be seen without climbing. In a world like this, where we are all little in so many places, no man will reach the highest success unless he feels his littleness and knows how to climb. Learn from this narrative that all barriers give way before the man who has made up his mind to see Jesus Christ. (T. Kelly.)
The conversion of Zaccheus
Zaccheus was undoubtedly, up to this time, a worldly, grasping, wicked man; who, though a Hebrew by birth and education, had so far forgotten God, and allowed the love of money to master him, that in his business relations he did not always observe the laws of equity or the principles of righteousness. The impression I get of him from the narrative is, that he was a sharp, shrewd, business man; a man whose judgment in business matters was unusually good, and who, if he did any business at all, would be sure to make money. The love of money, and the conscious power to make it, cannot exist in the same person without great possibilities of evil. Ambition. Rivalry. But though Zaccheus was a grasping, selfish man, yet I am profoundly impressed with his independent spirit and individuality of character. He is a striking illustration of the fact that neither riches nor worldly position can satisfy the cravings of the human soul; and that a ready response is accorded to gospel overtures, sometimes where we least expect it. A mere surface reading of the narrative can give us no adequate idea of the force of character it required to face the tremendous discouragements which Zaccheus had to meet in becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. I notice just two of these:--
1. He had no character to begin with. His whole environment tended to keep him as he was. The very social atmosphere in which he lived tended to blight every aspiration and hope of becoming a better man. However badly he might act, he had nothing to lose, for he was already an outcast from society. Another serious and humiliating fact which Zaccheus had to face was--
2. His dishonest business transactions. If I have taken anything of any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. That kind of restitution would soon seriously impoverish the bank accounts of some people. It would compel many of our mushroom aristocracy and sky-rocket millionaires to go to the almshouse, or turn their hands to honest labour, and earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. Zaccheus does not use the words, If I have taken anything, as though he were in doubt, and wished to leave a similar doubt on the mind of others. His guilt is clearly implied in his own words. And no person who did not carry the making of a noble Christian character would have made such a declaration would have deliberately entered upon a course of life which, at the very outset, involved the unearthing of a life of fraud and dishonesty, which no doubt no person could have proven, and perhaps of which nobody had the slightest suspicion. Now let us turn to the incident of this memorable day. Notice here--
I. HOW PUSH AND PERSEVERANCE TURN DEFEAT INTO VICTORY. A few moments ago he was completely defeated--could not see Jesus for the press. Now he has a better view of Him than any man in the crowd. So the earnest seeker will always find that the very press of isms and sects and critics that surround the Saviour, and which compel him to run and climb, to think and act for himself, will be the means of securing for him a clearer and more satisfactory view of Jesus Christ than he could have possibly obtained on the ordinary highway of common effort.
1. Observe the movements of Jesus.
(1) He came to the place,--He always does. No man ever yet started out with the full purpose to see Jesus Christ and frilled.
(2) His method. He looked.
2. Notice the order and significance of the descriptive words in this verse: When Jesus came to the place, He looked … and saw … and said. That is the order of description needed, but, alas, sadly lacking in our churches. We have too many who can look without seeing; they possess so little of the Masters spirit that they can pass along the highways of life, and through orchards of sycamores, and never set eyes on a sinner anxious to see Jesus.
II. THAT PROMPT, UNQUESTIONING OBEDIENCE ALWAYS SECURES THE DIVINE APPROVAL AND BLESSING.
1. The Saviours command. Zaccheus, come down. This command was both startling and unexpected. Zaccheus had no thought of being addressed personally by the Saviour, or of being called upon to come down in the presence of the crowd. In coming in vital contact with Jesus Christ, the seeker always finds new, unexpected things happening; and, like Naaman, is soon made to see that Gods way is not mans.
2. The Saviours perfect knowledge of the seeker. Zaccheus, come down. There is something unutterably precious in the fact that God is intimately acquainted with all our names. No person can assume any attitude of service, or self-sacrifice, or supplication before God, without having his very name associated with the act. Zaccheus, come down. Implying that his character and wants were as well known as his name.
3. The prompt obedience of Zaccheus. The conversion of Zaccheus reached not only his head and his pocket, but it also reached his conscience. No conversion, however loudly proclaimed, will be of any lasting value unless it includes and practically displays a New Testament conscience. (T. Kelly.)
Zaccheus a type of the Christ-seeker
I. HOW TO SEEK CHRIST, AS ILLUSTRATED BY ZACCHEUS.
1. We must go in the way along which He appoints us to go.
(1) Christs way is that of the sanctuary.
(2) Christs way is that of the Holy Scriptures.
(3) Christs way is that of the closet.
2. We must go with earnest resolution. Be not deterred by station, connections, business occupation, or fear of abuse or ridicule.
3. We must go in time. There comes a last opportunity to each. It may be to-day.
II. WHAT COMES OF SUCH SEEKING OF CHRIST?
1. Christ stops in His course to take note of the seeker.
2. He comes to such homes and blesses them. Where Jesus enters, salvation goes.
3. He makes the seekers heart just and tender.
4. He defends us against persecution.
Conclusion--
1. Have you ever thus sought Christ?
2. What effect has your Christian profession had on your life? (P. C.Croll.)
Lessons from this passage
From an attentive consideration of the distinct parts of this passage of St. Lukes Gospel, we may derive many useful truths and salutary reflections.
1. First, let us, like Zaccheus, have a view to the improvement of our minds in piety and virtue, even in the gratification of curiosity. Instead of flocking, with childish folly, to such trifling amusements as are unworthy of a rational being, we should endeavour to combine pleasure with instruction, and the employment of time with advantage. While thousands would have crowded with joy to see a pageant, a triumph, or the barbarous spectacle of Roman games, Zaccheus ran and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see our Lord pass by; and when He honoured him so far as to take up His abode with him for that day, he not only received Him joyfully, but, without doubt, listened to His conversation with reverence, and heard the glorious truths which His lips revealed with adoration and praise. This day is salvation come to this house.
2. The hospitality of Zaccheus, and his great satisfaction on this occasion, may direct us also in the choice and entertainment of our friends. The common intercourses of the world are too often nothing but associations of pleasure or confederacies of vice.
3. We may further learn from our blessed Lords conduct towards Zaccheus, to banish from our minds those uncharitable prejudices which so strongly marked the character of the Jews. (J. Hewlett, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Let the desire of all of you, in coming up to the house of God, be, like that of Zaccheus, to see Jesus. You may see Him, and should earnestly desire to see Him, by knowledge and faith, in the glories of His person, character, and redemption. If you obtain a sight of Him, and come to know who He is, in this way, you will be like Abraham, who rejoiced, or greatly desired, to see His day, and saw it, and was glad; and the words will then be applicable to you, in their best sense, Blessed are your eyes, for they see.
2. See that those of you who profess to be Christians give the same evidences of conversion as Zaccheus. Remember that repentance is to be judged of, not so much by its terror at the time, as by its permanent effects on the heart and life. You must, like Zaccheus, bring forth fruits meet for repentance. (James Foote, M. A.)
He sought to see Jesus
Obstacles
The experience of Zaccheus, in his efforts to see Jesus, is a striking illustration of a universal fact in human history. Men are constantly opposed and thwarted, in their efforts to do right, by obstacles and enemies which they never produced. Satan, for instance, is the persistent opposer of all who seek to see Jesus Christ. But man had no hand in producing Satan; he was here before man came, and, for aught I know, here because he saw man coming. You may start out to see Huxley, or Tyndall, or any of the great philosophers or scientists, and Satan will pay no attention to you; but if you start out to see Jesus Christ he will instantly summon his resources, and form a press against you. How persistently he follows the young Christian with the fascinations of the world on the one hand, and the press of discouragements on the other. Then the laws of heredity come in and raise up obstacles, the full power of which our limited knowledge does not enable us to compute. We all take on hereditary damage, of one kind or another, from our ancestry. This, of course, is soon rendered vastly more serious by our own moral behaviour, and the result is a dwarfed, squattish spiritual stature. So that the ordinary press of the worlds cares and attractions is quite sufficient to shut us out from God and a saving view of Jesus Christ. So Zaccheus found himself defeated. Could not. Mark the descriptive words here: Chief, Rich, Could not. Then chieftancy and riches cannot do everything for a man. Official position and wealth go only a little way in removing the distressing and annoying phases of life. Human power, however commanding and extensive, soon reaches the solid masonry of the impossible, upon which the only thing it can scribble is the little words, Could not. Let us add another descriptive word, and we shall see how it was that Zaccheus failed. He was little. The words little and could not are closely related in human affairs. Every man is little somewhere--little in spots. No man is fully hemisphered on both sides of his nature. (T. Kelly.)
Making an effort to see Jesus
The ants are a little people, but they are exceeding wise. People that want size must make up for it by sagacity. A short man up in a tree is really taller than the tallest man who only stands on the ground. Happily for little men, the giants have seldom any great wit. Bigness is not greatness; and yet smallness is in itself no blessing, though it may be the occasion of a mans winning one. It is not pleasant to see every one about you a bigger person than yourself. And this is a sight many do see who are not dwarfs in stature. But Zaccheus was a dwarf in stature; and, notwithstanding, had become a man of consideration. But they called him Zacchy, or even little Zacchy sometimes no doubt; and, rich as he was, and firm hold as he had on many people, he was far from happy. Though small, he was strong; but then, though strong, he was sour. He despised the religious people, and yet did not like to be despised by them. Many men knew he was cleverer than they, but they never forgot he was shorter! This man could not come at Jesus for the press. Though not a blind man, he had his difficulties in seeing. But he would very much like to see Jesus, what kind of man He was. People pointed him out, and said, Thats Zaccheus; isnt he a little fellow? The short man felt a curiosity as to the personal appearance of the famous Prophet. We may be sure Zaccheus had heard good things of Jesus Christ. And he was soon to hear good words from Him, words more healing, more fragrant, than the Jericho balsams. Zaccheus had gone on before. You must get at your tree before you can climb it! He makes haste, runs, climbs, for he is very eager in this business; and he not only sees Jesus, but, what is much better, is seen by Him. If a man looks for God, God knows that he is looking. He that seeks is sought. Take trouble to win a blessing harder for you to get than for others, and you shall have one bestowed on you better than you sought for. (T. T. Lynch.)
Difficulties overcome
We have all read and heard of the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, and of the remarkable way in which these have often been overcome. The shepherd, with no apparatus save his thread and beads, has lain on his back on the starry night, mapped the heavens, and unconsciously become a distinguished astronomer. The peasant boy, with no tools save his rude knife, and a visit now and then to a neighbouring town, has begun his scientific education by producing a watch that could mark the time. The blind man, trampling upon impossibilities, has explored the economy of the beehive, and, more wondrous still, lectured on the laws of light. The timid stammerer, with pebbles in his mouth, and the roar of the sea-surge in his ear, has attained the correctest elocution, and swayed as one man the changeful tides of the mighty masses of the Athenian democracy. All these were expedients to master difficulties. And now notice the expedient which Zaccheus adopts to overcome his difficulties. Yonder, in the way where Jesus is to pass, is a sycamore-tree. It stands by the wayside. Its roots are thick and numerous, its girth is ample, its wide-spread arms may be called gigantic, its leaf resembles the mulberry, its fruit is like that of the fig--indeed it is a member of the fig family. An itinerant preacher in the backwoods once puzzled himself and his hearers with an elaborate criticism about this tree. He and his audience were familiar only with the sycamore of their fiat river bottoms, which are tall as a steeple, and smooth as hypocrisy. Why, said the orator, a squirrel cant climb them, and the conclusion reached was that the sycamore must have been a mulberry tree. But Dr. Thomson, who retails this anecdote, assures us that the sycamore is every way adapted to the purposes for which Zaccheus used it, for he saw one in which were a score of boys and girls, who could easily look down aport any crowd passing beneath. Zaccheus fixes his eye upon the sycamore in the distance. If he were upon one of its branches his object would be gained; but then he is not a boy. Besides, he is a rich man, and the chief amongst the publicans, and what will the people say if he climbs it to see Jesus of Nazareth? Yea, what will the boys say and do, who are perhaps on the tree already? There is a struggle going on within his bosom, but there is not a single moment to lose, for Jesus is coming. Regardless of what others may say, he beeches like a boy again; he runs to the tree and climbs it. (Dr. McAuslane.)
Zaccheus, make haste and come down
Our Saviours visit to Zaccheus
Our Saviour for the first time invited Himself to a mans house. Thus He proved the freeness and authority of His grace. I am found of them that sought Me not (Isa_65:1.) We ought rather to invite Him to our houses. We should at least cheerfully accept His offer to come to us. Perhaps at this hour He presses Himself upon us. Yet we may feel ourselves quite as unlikely to entertain our Lord as Zaccheus seemed to be. He was a man--
1. In a despised calling--a publican, or tax-collector.
2. In bad odour with respectable folk.
3. Rich, with the suspicion of getting his wealth wrongly.
4. Eccentric, for else he had hardly climbed a tree.
5. Excommunicated because of his becoming a Roman tax- gatherer.
6. Not at all the choice of society in any respect.
To such a man Jesus came; and He may come to us even if we are similarly tabooed by our neighbours, and are therefore disposed to fear that He will pass us by.
I. LET US CONSIDER THE NECESSITY WHICH PRESSED UPON THE SAVIOUR TO ABIDE IN THE HOUSE OF ZACCHEUS. He felt an urgent need of--
1. A sinner who needed and would accept His mercy.
2. A person who would illustrate the sovereignty of His choice.
3. A character whose renewal would magnify His grace.
4. A host who would entertain Him with hearty hospitality.
5. A case which would advertise His gospel (Luk_19:9; Luk_10:1-42).
II. LET US INQUIRE WHETHER SUCH A NECESSITY EXISTS IN REFERENCE TO OURSELVES. We can ascertain this by answering the following questions, which are suggested by the behaviour of Zaccheus to our Lord:--
1. Will we receive Him this day? He made haste.
2. Will we receive Him heartily? Received Him joyfully.
3. Will we receive Him whatever others say? They all murmured.
4. Will we receive Him as Lord? He said, Behold, Lord.
5. Will we receive Him so as to place our substance under the control of His laws? (Verse 8.) If these things be so, Jesus must abide with us. He cannot fail to come where He will have such a welcome.
III. LET US FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT NECESSITY INVOLVES. If the Lord Jesus comes to abide in our house--
1. We must be ready to face objections at home.
2. We must get rid of all in our house which would be objectionable to Him. Perhaps there is much there which He would never tolerate.
3. We must admit none who would grieve our heavenly Guest. His friendship must end our friendship with the world.
4. We must let Him rule the house and ourselves, without rival or reserve, henceforth and for ever.
5. We must let Him use us and ours as instruments for the further spread of His kingdom. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
God calls men dawn
I. NOTICE SOME OF THE HEIGHTS FROM WHICH GODS PEOPLE ARE FETCHED DOWN BY THAT GOSPEL.
1. High thoughts of self-importance (2Co_10:4-5).
2. Natural efforts, or legal endeavours (Rom_10:3).
3. From the basis of false hopes (Job_8:13).
4. From carnal confidence (Jer_2:37).
5. From vain apologies for sin.
II. THEIR SENSATIONS IN COMING DOWN.
1. In spiritual consideration (Psa_119:59).
2. In deep anxiety for salvation (.Act_16:30).
3. In despair of salvation but by God (Jer_3:23).
4. In gracious resolutions (Luk_15:18).
5. To self-denying practices (Mat_16:24).
6. To Gods righteousness (Rom_3:21).
III. SOME REMARKS ON THE DAY OF CONVERSION.
1. It is our new birth-day (Isa_43:1).
2. A day of despatch--Come down (Heb_3:15).
3. Of love and kindness (Eze_16:6).
4. Of union between Christ and the soul (Hos_2:20).
IV. REASONS WHY THE LORD CALLS US DOWN.
1. Because it is Gods design in the Gospel (Isa_2:11-17).
2. Because ascending too high is very dangerous.
3. That free grace may be exalted.
4. That we may meet with Christ (Isa_57:16).
INFERENCES:--
1. How high and lofty man is in his natural state.
2. Hence God humbles him for his eternal good.
3. The nature of true faith is coming down.
4. Admire the riches of Gods grace towards us. (T. B. Baker.)
Christs words to Zaccheus
I shall give you a division which you will not be able to forget, or if you do forget it, you will have nothing to do but simply to turn to the Bible, and look at the text, and the punctuation will give you the heads.
I. Look, then, at the first word, ZACCHEUS. Christ addresses this man by name; He saw him before he went up into the sycamore, and he had not been long there when He called out to him, Make haste and come down. Oh! but some people say that ministers have no business to be so personal. Well, my friends, they are very unlike their Master, the great model Preacher, if they are not personal.
II. Take the next two words for our second head--MAKE HASTE. We are told in the sequel that Zaccheus did not halt between two opinions, but came down quickly and received Christ joyfully. If you, my unconverted hearer, will listen to me, what I wish to say to you is this--make haste and come to Jesus, for you will never find a more favourable opportunity than the present. Wait ten thousands, years, and your sins will not be fewer; Gods mercy will not be greater. The fool who, wishing to cross a river, lay down on its bank till the water would run past, is only a faint emblem of you, if you delay. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. That clock says now; this pulse says now; this heart says now. The glorified in heaven and the lost in hell, the one by their songs, the other by their wails, together cry, Make haste. But, once more, make haste, for your salvation may soon become extremely difficult. Sin is like a fire, it may soon be quenched if the cold water engines are brought to play upon it in time; but let it burn on a few hours, and perhaps a city is laid in ashes. Sin is like a river, the further from the fountain-head the greater the volume, the more rapid and irresistible the current. Sin is like a tree: look at your sapling, your infants arm may bend it: let a few years pass away, a few summers shine upon it, and a few winters blow upon it, and that tree will hurl defiance at the loudest storm. So with the sinner: he gets accustomed to all the appeals, and becomes gospel proof. Again, make hasten your salvation may become extremely difficult, if not altogether impossible. Man is a bundle of habit, and habit becomes second nature. You ask, How long may a man live on in sin, and yet be saved? I reply, Do not try the experiment--it is a very dangerous one. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Make haste, and learn that He has suffered for you what you deserved as a sinner, and obeyed for you what you owed as a creature. This may be your last opportunity.
III. Look, now, at the last three words, and you will find our third head: AND COME DOWN. Zaccheus was upon one of the many branches of the sycamore; and you, my unsaved friend, are upon one of the many branches of the great, mighty-spreading, world-embracing tree of human corruption, and I call upon you in the name of my Master to come down. Now, I wish to be charitable, but I do solemnly declare that I cannot find the branch of atheism, even on the tree of human corruption. At all events, if there be such a branch, I hesitate not to say it is the rottenest one on the whole tree. Come down from it! Then there are other branches: scepticism, drunkenness, pride, etc. (W. Anderson.)
Effectual calling
1. Now, first, effectual calling is A VERY GRACIOUS TRUTH. You may guess this from the fact that Zaccheus was a character whom we should suppose the last to be saved. He belonged to a bad city--Jericho--a city which had been cursed, and no one would suspect that any one would come out of Jericho to be saved. Ah! my brethren, it matters not where you come from: you may come from one of the dirtiest streets, one of the worst back slums in London, but if effectual grace call you, it is an effectual call, which knoweth no distinction of place. But, my brethren, grace knows no distinction; it is no respecter of persons, but God calleth whom He wills, and He called this worst of publicans, in the worst of cities, from the worst of trades. Ah! many of you have climbed up the tree of your own good works, and perched yourselves in the branches of your holy actions, and are trusting in the free will of the poor creature, or resting in some worldly maxim; nevertheless, Christ looks up even to proud sinners, and calls them down.
2. Next it was a personal call.
3. It is a hastening call--Zaccheus, make haste. Gods grace always comes with despatch; and if thou art drawn by God, thou wilt run after God, and not be talking about delays.
4. Next, it is a humbling call. Zaccheus, make haste and come down. God always humbles a sinner. Oh, thou that dwellest with the eagle on the craggy rock, thou shalt come down from thy elevation; thou shalt fall by grace, or thou shalt fall with a vengeance, one day. He hath cast down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek.
5. Next, it is an affectionate call. To-day I must abide in thy house.
6. Again, it was not only an affectionate call, but it was an abiding call. To-day I must abide at thy house. When Christ speaks, He does not say, Make haste, Zaccheus, and come down, for I am just coming to look in; but I must abide in thy house; I am coming to sit down to eat and drink with thee; I am coming to have a meal with thee.
7. It was also a necessary call. I must abide. It is necessary that the child of God should be saved. I dont suppose it; I know it for a certainty. If God says I must, there is no standing against it. Let Him say must, and it must be.
8. And, now, lastly, this call was an effectual one, for we see the fruits it brought forth. Open was Zaccheuss door; spread was his table; generous was his heart; washed were his hands; unburdened was his conscience; joyful was his soul. Sinner, we shall know whether God calls you by this: if He calls, it will be an effectual call--not a call which you hear, and then forget, but one which produces good works. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
He was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner
The sinners Saviour
The old contempt of the sinners Saviour lingers in the world still. In one way or other the charge is repeated, that Christianity is too lenient to the sinner, that it tends to discourage the naturally amiable and virtuous, and looks too favourably upon the vicious and disreputable, etc. How easily could we turn the tables upon these slanderers, for usually those who talk thus have but a scanty supply of morals and virtues themselves.
I. WE ADMIT THE TRUTH OF THE CHARGE. Jesus did go to be guest to a man that was a sinner, and did so not only once, but as often as He saw need. He went after the sheep which had gone astray, and He had a wonderful attraction for the disreputable classes.
1. The object of Christ, and the design of the gospel, is the saving of sinners.
2. Our Lord does actually call sinners into the fellowship of the gospel.
3. The man Christ Jesus does very readily come to be guest with a man who is a sinner, for He stands on no ceremony with sinners, but makes Himself at home with them at once.
4. Our Lord goes further, for He not only stands on no ceremony with sinners, but within a very little time He is using those very sinners who had been so unfit for any holy service--using them in His most hallowed work. Note how He makes Zaccheus to be His host.
5. Ay, and the Lord favoured Zaccheus, the sinner, by granting him that day full assurance of salvation.
II. WE DENY THE INSINUATION WHICH IS COVERTLY INTENDED BY THE CHARGE brought against our Lord. Jesus is the friend of sinners, but not the friend of sin.
1. Christ was guest with a man that was a sinner, but He never flattered a sinner yet.
2. Neither does the Lord Jesus screen sinners from that proper and wholesome rebuke which virtue must always give to vice.
3. Again, it is not true, as I have heard some say, that the gospel makes pardon seem such a very easy thing, and therefore sin is thought to be a small matter.
4. Nor, though Christ be the friend of sinners, is it true that He makes men think lightly of personal character.
5. It has been said that if we tell men that good works cannot save them, but that Jesus saves the guilty who believe in Him, we take away all motives for morality and holiness. We meet that again by a direct denial: it is not so, we supply the grandest motive possible, and only remove a vicious and feeble motive.
III. WE REJOICE IN THE VERY FACT WHICH HAS BEEN OBJECTED TO, that Jesus Christ comes to be guest with men who are sinners.
1. We rejoice in it, because it affords hope to ourselves.
2. We rejoice that it is true, because this affords us hope for all our fellowmen.
3. We rejoice that this is the fact, because when we are waiting for the Lord it cheers us up with the hope of fine recruits. I remember a sailor, who before conversion used to swear, and I warrant you he would rattle it out, volley after volley. He became converted, and when he prayed it was much in the same fashion. How he woke everybody up the first time he opened his mouth at the prayer-meeting! The conversion of a great sinner is the best medicine for a sick Church. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The half of my goods I give to the poor
Gifts to the poor
He gives half his goods to the poor. Was he under any obligation to do so? are we? Certainly not: nor to give half our time, or half our thought. But there have been men who have given the chief part of their time and thought to the poor: and as there are so many who give the poor none of their time, or thought, or money, is it not well that there should be a few otherwise minded? Is money more precious than time and thought that a man should not give that, if so inclined? Zaccheus was so inclined. And were a man in our day to spend half his fortune in promoting the comfort, education, health, virtue, and piety of the poor, would not his name be fragrant both in earth and heaven? But there are very many people who cannot give half their goods to the poor, for they have not as yet secured half enough for the wants of their own household. Let these, then, give time and thought. (T. T. Lynch.)
Doing good promptly
Zaccheus saith not, I have given, as an upbraider of God; or, I will give, as a delayer that means to give away his goods after his death, when he can keep them no longer; but he saith, I give, to signify that his will is his deed, and that he meaneth Dot to take any days of payment for the matter; for as before he ran apace to see Christ, and came down hastily to entertain Christ in his own person, so doth he here give quickly to relieve Christ in his needy members. This is Zaccheuss last will and testament that he maketh before his death, and seeth the same proved and performed before his eyes. If, therefore, we desire to do any good to any of our poor brethren, let us learn of Zaccheus to do it quickly while we are alive, for time will prevent us, and death will prevent us. (H. Smith.)
I restore him fourfold
The duty of restitution
I. THE FOUNDATION OF THIS DUTY.
1. The nature of justice, which consists in rendering to every one what belongs to him.
2. Holy Scripture (Exo_22:1-31.; Lev_6:1-30.; Num_5:1-31.).
3. Restitution is a duty so indispensable, that without it there is no salvation. Tell me, can we be in a slate of salvation, when we have no love to God, and no love to our neighbour? But the man who refuses to make restitution loves not God, for he despises His laws and tramples upon His authority; nor does he love his neighbour, for he voluntarily persists in wronging him, and withholding from him his rights.
II. WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF THIS DUTY?
1. We must examine with care whether we have ever wronged our neighbour, and in how many modes we have done it. Allege not for your excuse, example, custom, the necessity of acting like others. All this is of no avail now in the sight of the Omniscient--will be of no avail hereafter at the bar of God.
2. Restitution should be prompt. I will, at some future time, make restitution. But when? You as yet know not the time, and perhaps it may never arrive.
3. Restitution must be full and entire. Fearful lest he should not fully recompense them, his generous heart makes the resolution, and his piety is ready instantly to execute it.
In view of this subject I remark--
1. How small is the number of those who are saved! We know that thousands of frauds are daily committed, and yet how few acts of restitution do we witness!
2. What great discoveries shall be made at the day of judgment.
3. This subject teaches us the nature of true religion. It consists in benevolence to man as well as love to God, and assures us that without the former we can never exercise the latter.
4. This subject should lead us to avoid the very beginning of sin, and to pay the most scrupulous attention to the duties of truth and justice. Thus we shall be prevented from defrauding our fellow-men; thus, if necessity ever requires it, we shall be able easily to make full restitution.
5. Show by your conduct, ye who have in any degree defrauded your fellow-men, that you feel the force of conscience and the truth of God; imitate Zaccheus, and make restitution. (S. K. Kolloch, M. A.)
Restitution
The duty which the Christian world needs to learn over again, just now, is the duty of malting restitution for wrong-doings. Shame is not enough; remorse is not enough; confession is not enough; there must also be restitution. It is a melancholy and mortifying fact, that we often meet with men of the world, making no claim to being religious, whose honour and integrity put to shame the hollow pretensions of nominal Christians. When the chief councillor of Sultan Selymus advised him to bestow the marvellous wealth which he had taken from the Persian merchants upon some charitable hospital, the dying Turk answered that God would never be pleased with such an offering, and commanded that the spoils should be restored to the owners.
I. Restitution should be PROMPT. Dr. Finney, in his interesting autobiography, tells of a young woman, the only child of a widow, who once came to him in great distress. She had stolen, whenever she could, various trinkets, etc., from her schoolmates, and desired his advice as to what she ought to do. He told her that she must make restitution, and also confess her sin to those whom she had wronged. This, of course, was a great trial, but her repentance was so sincere, that she began at once to follow his advice. As she went on with the mortifying task, she remembered more and more; some persons to whom she made restitution saying, She must be crazy, or a fool, while others were deeply touched. They all readily forgave her. The unhappy girl had stolen a shawl from Bishop Hobarts daughter, and when her spiritual adviser insisted on its being returned, she folded it in a paper, rung the bell at the bishops door, and handed the parcel to the servant, without a word of explanation. Conscience whispered that she had not done her whole duty, and that somebody might be wrongfully suspected. She immediately went back to the house, and asked for the bishop. She was shown into his study, and told him all the truth. The good bishop, with all his impulsiveness and warmth of heart, wept aloud, and laying his hand on her head, prayed God to forgive her, as he did. Restitution was now made, and her peace was full and complete. The young woman became a devout Christian, adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour by a blameless, useful life, and, at a ripe old age, entered upon her everlasting inheritance.
II. Restitution should not only be prompt, BUT FULL AND ENTIRE. Halfway measures will serve no good purpose. It would be as well to keep back the whole of ill-gotten gains, as a part. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)
The nature of restitution
I. For the ACT. Restitution is nothing else but the making reparation or satisfaction to another for the injuries we have done him. It is to restore a man to the good condition from which, contrary to right and to our duty, we have removed him.
II. For the latitude and extent of the object, as I may call it, or THE MATTER ABOUT WHICH IT IS CONVERSANT. It extends to all kind of injuries, which may be reduced to these two heads; either we injure a person with or without his consent.
1. Some injuries are done to persons with their consent. Such are most of those injuries which are done to the souls of men, when we command, or counsel, or encourage them to sin, or draw them in by our example.
2. Injuries are done to persons without their consent. And these, though they are not always the greatest mischiefs, yet they are the greatest injuries. And these injuries are done either by fraud and cunning, or by violence and oppression: either by overreaching another man in wit, or overbearing him by power.
III. As to the manner HOW RESTITUTION IS TO BE MADE.
1. Thou art bound to do it voluntarily, and of thy own accord, though the person injured do not know who it was that did him the injury, though he do not seek reparation by law.
2. Thou must do it in kind, if the thing be capable of it, and the injured party demand it. Thou must restore the very thing which thou hadst deprived thy neighbour of, if it be such a thing as can be restored, and be still in thy power, unless he voluntarily accept of some other thing in exchange.
3. If thou canst not restore it in kind, thou art bound to restore it in value, in something that is as good. As for spiritual injuries done to the souls of men, we are bound to make such reparation and compensation as we can. Those whom we have drawn into sin, and engaged in wicked courses, by our influence and example, we are to endeavour by our instruction and counsel to reclaim them from those sins we led them into, and to recover them out of the snare of the devil.
IV. AS TO THE MEASURE AND PROPORTION OF THE RESTITUTION WE ARE TO MAKE. Zaccheus here offers fourfold, which was much beyond what any law required in like cases.
1. Where restitution can be made in kind, or the injury can be certainly valued, we are to restore the thing or the value.
2. We are bound to restore the thing with the natural increase of it; that is, to satisfy for the loss sustained in the meantime, and the gain hindered.
3. Where the thing cannot be restored, and the value of it is not certain, we are to give reasonable satisfaction, that is, according to a middle estimation; not the highest nor the lowest of things of the kind.
4. We are at least to give by way of restitution what the law would give, for that is generally equal, and in most cases rather favourable than rigorous.
5. A man is not only bound to restitution for the injury which he did, but for all that directly follows upon his injurious act, though it were beyond his intention. (Archbishop Tillotson.)
On restitution
I shall speak to you at large concerning the necessity of restitution, and the obligations to it; because when this point is established, the performance of it speedily and completely will appear to be unquestionable parts of this duty. I say that we are obliged to restitution--first, as we are men, by the law of nature. It is an original law, graven on the hearts of all men, that every man ought to possess, and have the undisturbed use of his own proper goods. Now, can any acquisition, which was unjust in the moment wherein it was made, become just, and a mans rightful property, in succeeding moments? Can it be lawful to keep what it was unlawful to take? Therefore restitution is the only method by which these disorders can be repaired; and it is indispensably necessary on natural principles. But his natural honesty was further instructed on this point by the revealed law. Considered as a Jew, he was under an additional obligation by the law of Moses. For the Levitical law regulated exactly the proportions in which restitution was to be made in different cases; as, five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. To this argument may be added that which arises from the example of holy men under the Old Covenant, whose conscience would not suffer them to retain goods obtained unjustly, and who considered the law of restitution as sacred and inviolable. Among which examples, that of Samuel is remarkable, in the eleventh chapter of his first book: And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I am old and grey-headed. Zaccheus thought himself bound to restitution on a third principle--as a penitent, by the conditions of repentance. There is, in one respect, a remarkable difference betwixt robbery and most other sins. The crime of the latter may pass away, and be cancelled, upon our sincere repentance, and prayers for the Divine forgiveness; but the crime of the former continues as long as we retain the fruits of it in our hands. Does any man think of presenting his robberies to God and to His Church? Many persons, I fear (in former times particularly), have sought to make this impious exchange, pretending to give unto God what they had stolen from their neighbour. Besides this general engagement to make restitution, as a penitent, by the conditions of repentance, Zaccheus found himself under a fourth--and that a particular obligation, derived from the nature of his occupation, as a publican; that is, a collector of the tribute which the Jews paid to the Romans. Thus it is, that a reformed Christian, or one converted to Christianity, must begin the exercise of his religion. And it is in this fifth view that I consider Zaccheus making restitution; namely, as a proselyte, or convert to Jesus Christ. The Divine grace had now touched his heart, and inspired him with a resolution to break those bonds of iniquity in which he had been holden, and to qualify himself for that forgiveness which Christ offers to sinners only on this condition. Enough has been said, I trust, to show the necessity of restitution. A few words will be sufficient to show that it ought to be performed speedily and completely. I am willing (says one) to restore even at present; but I must be allowed to compound the matter: I cannot resign the whole, but I am ready to give up a part. This is the last mistake and fault which the example of Zaccheus condemns and corrects, when he declares, I restore fourfold. Now, this surplus, is it justice, or liberality? It partakes of both. For it is just to restore beyond the exact amount; because, besides the lawful interest of his money which our neighbour has been deprived of, every robbery occasions some inconvenience and detriment that cannot be completely repaired by a mere restitution of the things taken. It is better, therefore, to exceed than fall short. (S. Partridge, M. A.)
Restitution must be made
Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been sent to Washington during the past few years as conscience money. I suppose that money was sent by men who wanted to be Christians, but found they could not until they made restitution. There is no need of our trying to come to Christ as long as we keep fraudulently a dollar or a farthing in our possession that belongs to another. Suppose you have not money enough to pay your debts, and, for the sake of defrauding your creditors, you put your property in your wifes name. You might cry until the day of judgment for pardon, but you would not get it without first making restitution. In times of prosperity it is right, against a rainy day, to assign property to your wife; but if, in time of perplexity, and for the sake of defrauding your creditors, you make such assignment, you become a culprit before God, and may as well stop praying until you have made restitution. Or suppose one man loans another money on bonds and mortgage, with the understanding that the mortgage can lie quiet for several years, but as soon as the mortgage is given, commences foreclosure--the sheriff mounts the auction-block, and the property is struck down athalf-price, and the mortgagee buys it in. The mortgagee started to get the property at half-price: and is a thief and a robber. Until he makes restitution, there is no mercy for him. Suppose you sell goods by a sample, and then afterward send to your customer an inferior quality of goods. You have committed a fraud, and there is no mercy for you until you have made restitution. Suppose you sell a man a handkerchief for silk, telling him it is all silk, and it is part cotton. No mercy for you until you have made restitution. Suppose you sell a man a horse, saying he is sound, and he afterward turns out to be spavined and balky. No mercy for you until you have made restitution. (De W. Talmage, D. D.)
Restitution
The Rev. B. Sawday was about eighteen years since in the wellknown establishment of Messrs. Hitchcock, St. Pauls Churchyard. A silver watch was stolen from his bedroom, and no trace could be discovered of the missing property. Ten years passed away. About four years since he preached a startling discourse upon repentance and restitution. His words evidently made a deep impression upon the hearers. During the ensuing week a young man came up to Mr. Sawday requesting an interview. In a few words the young man said, It was I who stole your watch, some years since, at Messrs. Hitchcocks. I am very sorry, and I am deeply, anxious to settle the matter. Here, Ill give you £10 to squash it. I was passing your chapel last Sunday, and saw your name; I thought I would go in and hear you, and your sermon broke me all to pieces; I have been wretched and miserable ever since. Thank God! said Mr. Sawday. No, he added, I cannot take £10; the watch was only worth £4: Ill take that; but Im far more anxious that you should confess your sin to God, and obtain His pardon and grace. That, quietly added the man, I have sought, and I believe obtained. One of Mr. Sawdays deacons was greatly troubled about the very plain speech of the pastor in regard to this very address, and expressed his fear that such preaching would drive people away from the chapel. The good man, however, was silenced by the sequel. (Henry Varley.)
Restitution necessary to peace
Some years ago, in the north of England, a woman came to one of the meetings, and appeared to be very anxious about her soul. For some time she did not seem to be able to get peace. The truth was, she was covering up one thing she was not willing to confess. At last the burden was too great; and she said to a worker, I never go down on my knees to pray, but a few bottles of wine keep coming up before my mind. It appeared that, years before, when she was house keeper, she had taken some bottles of wine belonging to her employer. The worker said: Why do you not make restitution? The woman replied that the man was dead; and besides, she did not know how much it was worth.
Are there any heirs living to whom you can make restitution? She said there was a son living at some distance; but she thought it would be a very humiliating thing, so she kept back for some time. At last she felt as if she must have a clear conscience at any cost; so she took the train, and went to the place where the son of her employer resided. She took five pounds with her; she did not know exactly what the wine was worth, but that would cover it, at any rate. The man said he did not want the money; but she replied, I do not want it; it has burnt my pocket long enough. (D. L. Moody.)
Evidences of true conversion
I. When the gospel is cordially received and fully embraced, it subdues a mans ruling sin.
II. Evidence of Christian character is to be sought, not so much in what a man says, as in what he does.
III. On the disposal of property, there is a wide difference between the opinions of men and the instructions of Jesus Christ. (Chas. Walker.)
Triumph over hindrances
I. THE HINDRANCES OF ZACCHEUS were twofold: partly circumstantial-partly personal. Partly circumstantial, arising from his riches and his profession of a publican. Now the publicans profession exposed him to temptations in these three ways. First of all in the way of opportunity. A publican was a gatherer of the Roman public imposts. Not, however, as now, when all is fixed, and the government pays the gatherer of the taxes. The Roman publican paid so much to the government for the privilege of collecting them; and then indemnified himself, and appropriated what overplus he could, from the taxes which he gathered. There was, therefore, evidently a temptation to overcharge, and a temptation to oppress. To overcharge, because the only redress the payer of the taxes had was an appeal to law, in which his chance was small before a tribunal where the judge was a Roman, and the accuser an official of the Roman government. A temptation to oppress, because the threat of law was nearly certain to extort a bribe. Besides this, most of us must have remarked that a certain harshness of manner is contracted by those who have the rule over the poor. They come in contact with human souls only in the way of business. They have to do with their ignorance, their stupidity, their attempts to deceive; and hence the tenderest-hearted men become impatient and apparently unfeeling. Another temptation was presented: to live satisfied with a low morality. The standard of right and wrong is eternal in the heavens--unchangeably one and the same. But here on earth it is perpetually variable--it is one in one age or nation, another in another. Every profession has its conventional morality, current nowhere else. Among publicans the standard would certainly be very low. Again, Zaccheus was tempted to that hardness in evil which comes from having no character to support. The personal hindrance to a religious life lay in the recollection of past guilt. Zaccheus had done wrong, and no fourfold restitution will undo that, where only remorse exists.
II. Pass we on to THE TRIUMPH OVER DIFFICULTIES. In this there is mans part, and Gods part. Mans part in Zaccheus case was exhibited in the discovery of expedients. The Redeemer came to Jericho, and Zaccheus desired to see that blessed Countenance, whose very looks, he was told, shed peace upon restless spirits and fevered hearts. But Zaccheus was small of stature, and a crowd surrounded Him. Therefore he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore-tree. You must not look on this as a mere act of curiosity. They who thronged the steps of Jesus were a crowd formed of different materials from the crowd which would have been found in the amphitheatre. He was there as a religious Teacher or Prophet; and they who took pains to see Him, at least were the men who looked for salvation in Israel. This, therefore, was a religious act. Then note further, the expedients adopted by Zaccheus after he had seen and heard Jesus. The tendency to the hardness and selfishness of riches he checked by a rule of giving half away. The tendency to extortion he met by fastening on himself the recollection, that when the hot moment of temptation had passed away, he would be severely dealt with before the tribunal of his own conscience, and unrelentingly sentenced to restore fourfold. Gods part in this triumph over difficulties is exhibited in the address of Jesus: Zaccheus, make haste and come down; for to-day I must abide at thy house. Two things we note here: invitation and sympathy. Invitation--come down. Say what we will of Zaccheus seeking Jesus, the truth is Jesus was seeking Zaccheus. For what other reason but the will of God had Jesus come to Jericho, but to seek Zaccheus and such as he? We do not seek God--God seeks us. There is a Spirit pervading time and space who seek the souls of men. At last the seeking becomes reciprocal--the Divine Presence is felt afar, and the soul begins to turn towards it. Then when we begin to seek God, we become conscious that God is seeking us. It is at that period that we distinguish the voice of personal invitation--Zaccheus! Lastly, the Divine part was done in sympathy. By sympathy we commonly mean little more than condolence. If the tear start readily at the voice of grief, and the purse-strings open at the accents of distress, we talk of a mans having great sympathy. To weep with those who weep--common sympathy does not mean much more. The sympathy of Christ was something different from this. Sympathy to this extent, no doubt, Zaccheus could already command. If Zaccheus were sick, even a Pharisee would have given him medicine. If Zaccheus had been in need, a Jew would not have scrupled to bestow an alms. If Zaccheus had been bereaved, many even of that crowd that murmured when they saw him treated by Christ like a son of Abraham, would have given to his sorrow the tribute of a sigh. The sympathy of Jesus was fellow feeling for all that is human. He did not condole with Zaccheus upon his trials--He did not talk to him about his soul, He did not preach to him about his sins, He did not force His way into his house to lecture him--He simply said, I will abide at thy house: thereby identifying himself with a publican, thereby acknowledging a publican for a brother. Zaccheus a publican? Zaccheus a sinner? Yes; but Zaccheus is a man. His heart throbs at cutting words. He has a sense of human honour. He feels the burning shame of the worlds disgrace. Lost? Yes, but the Son of Man, with the blood of the human race in His veins, is a Brother to the lost. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Conscience money
A remarkable case of conscience money, which has just come to light, is just now puzzling an excellent secular contemporary. It appears that fifteen years ago, the London General Omnibus Company had in their employ a conductor who, during his twelve months service, received f10 more than he paid in. He now writes to the company stating this, and that his conscience now prompted him to make restitution, together with interest for the whole intervening period--amounting in all to £13 15s. Towards this he sends £5 on account. The point that troubles our contemporary is the fact that conscience should slumber fifteen years and then wake up again; but we have no doubt that many of our readers will find a solution in the Scriptures. No doubt the Spirit of God had been at work. A similar case was that of Zaccheus, and how many years back he went when he made restitution, who can tell?
Restitution
A little Kaffir girl in South Africa came one day to the missionary and brought four sixpences, saying, This money is yours. No, said the missionary, it is not mine. Yes, persisted the little black girl, you must take it. At the examination of the school you gave me a sixpence as a prize for good writing; but the writing was not mine, I got some one else to do it for me. So here are four sixpences. She had read the story of Zaccheus in Luk_19:1-48., and went and did likewise. How much better was this than hiding her sin would have been! After a searching address by Mr. Moody, he next day received a check for £100, being fourfold the amount of which the sender had wronged an individual.
Restitution a fruit of faith
A young man was converted at a meeting in an opera-house in America. He thereupon confessed that he had been a professional gambler, and that he was then a fugitive from justice for a forgery. When he found Christ, some, who saw that he was a man of more than ordinary ability, advised him to take part publicly in Christian work; but he replied that he felt work of a different kind was first required from him. He meant restitution of the monies that he had fraudulently obtained. Finding a situation with a Christian employer, he told him all, and willingly undertook hard manual labour, to which he was quite unaccustomed, until his fidelity and quickness obtained for him a more suitable place. Spending as little as possible upon himself, he put by every dollar that he earned, until, after long perseverance, he had paid back the large sum which he had wrongfully taken, with the legal interest. Years afterwards he was described as actively engaged in the service of Christ with a love that never tires and a zeal that never flags.
Restitution as proof of repentance
An extensive hardware merchant in one of the Fulton Street prayer-meetings in New York appealed to his brother merchants to have the same religion for down-town as they had for up-town; for the week-day as for the Sabbath; for the counting-house as for the communion-table. After the meeting a manufacturer with whom he had dealt largely accosted him. You did not know, said he, that I was at the meeting and heard your remarks. I have for the last five years been in the habit of charging you more for goods than other purchasers. I want you to take your books, and charge back to me so much per cent on every bill of goods you have had of me for the past five years. A few days later the same hardware merchant had occasion to acknowledge the payment of a debt of several hundred dollars which had been due for twenty-eight years from a man who could as easily have paid it twenty-four years before. (Family Treasury.)
This day is salvation come to this house
Zaccheus saved
I. We here notice, first of all, THE SECRET PURPOSE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST TOWARDS THE PUBLICAN, ZACCHEUS. That Christ entertained towards him a secret purpose of mercy, compassion, and love, there can be no doubt whatever; the salutation, as well as the event, proved it. Electing grace had reached forth the golden sceptre towards the publican, long before Jesus entered and passed through the streets of Jericho.
II. The narrative suggests to us another important particular, and it is this: THAT WITH THE SECRET PURPOSES OF DIVINE GRACE TOWARDS ZACCHEUS, THERE WAS CONNECTED AN OVERRULING OF CIRCUMSTANCES, FAVOURING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THOSE GRACIOUS PURPOSES. When Jesus arrived at Jericho, Zaccheus might have been elsewhere--might have been far distant, and out of the reach of that voice which spake so tenderly, and away from the glance of that eye which gazed so kindly on him. Moreover, even if present with the multitudes, he might have been so indifferent, and so absorbed by other objects of pursuit, as to entertain no desire towards the stranger, who had conceived so gracious a purpose towards him. But as Jesus passed through Jericho, Zaccheus was on the spot, anxious to see Him, and ready to heed His words. How was this? No such thing as accident. God was working out His own purpose toward him by His own secret agency.
III. There remains another particular in the narrative, which must not be lost sight of. No sooner had the Lord Jesus said to him, Zaccheus, make baste and come down, for to-day I must abide at thy house; than HE MADE HASTE, AND CAME DOWN, AND RECEIVED HIM JOYFULLY. Does not all this indicate preparedness of mind? Is not the fact a living commentary on the doctrine--Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power? The currents of Divine mercy, grace, and love were then opening fully, and flowing abundantly towards him; and He, in whose hands are the hearts of all living men, prepared him to receive with gladness, as an honoured guest, that mighty One, whose own arm brought salvation, and who came in all His energy, power, and love, to seek and to save the lost, even the lost Zaccheus. (G. Fisk, LL. B.)
The conversion of Zaccheus
I. We think that it must be obvious THAT IMPEDIMENTS LIE IN THE WAY OF EVERY MANS CONVERSION--impediments in the way of his conversion, and yet impediments that are perfectly distinct from each other: as distinct as mens circumstances are from each other. You shall find that the impediment to one mans conversion is his education; you shall find that the impediment in another mans way is the peculiar circumstances in which he is placed; you shall find that the impediment to a third mans conversion is simply a natural impediment; you shall find that the impediment that lies in the way of another mans conversion is simply the example to which he is perpetually subject. All these things, so to speak, put the different individuals in a false position. They in all probability wish to be Gods servants, nevertheless things there are which prevent them from being Gods servants, and it is by the steady overcoming of these difficulties that God for ever shows the omnipotence of His grace. Now when we come to look to the immediate history before us, we shall find that these impediments were of a twofold description. The first of these impediments arose out of the mans circumstances, and the second of these impediments arose out of the mans occupation.
II. Consider now some of THE ANTECEDENTS TO HIS CONVERSION. We may have oftentimes observed, at least if we have proceeded far in the consideration of human character, that with most men there are soft spots in their character. You will find it, indeed, impossible to meet with any character that is not accessible through some avenue and approachable by some peculiar circumstance in that character. It is not the fact that every man is wrapped up in induracy and in obduracy. You shall find that now and again there will come back out of the deep darkness that which tells you there is a spot there if you only knew how to reach it. It is like standing in the midst of some of those volcanic regions. All about you looks to be nothing but the hardness and the ruggedness of rock itself, but there are jets of flame and puffs of smoke that come up which tell you that there is volcanic action underneath. You shall find in most mens character there is something of this kind--things that tell you this, that possibly, if only means were used, they are not irreclaimably hopeless; and it is these things we venture to call the antecedents of a mans state of conversion. Now let us bring this explanation to bear upon the case before us, and ask ourselves what antecedents there were in the case of Zaccheus the publican. I turn your attention, in the first place, to the marvellous charity of the man. The half of my goods I give to the poor. I conceive it to be a mistake to suppose that this is expressed as being the fruit of the mans conversion. We hold it to be the revelation of his very publican life. It is a sort of exculpation of himself against those who said, He is a publican. He was one of those men that could not see his brother have need without sharing his means with him, ay, up to the very moiety of his fortune--The half of my goods I give to the poor. We turn to another feature in this mans antecedents. We are not now looking to his temper of charity, but we are looking to his temper of equity. The half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. The law of Moses simply required this amount of restitution--the restitution of the principal, with one-fifth added by way of interest; but this man transcended this rule. If I have taken anything from any man,… I restore him fourfold. Why: Not because the law compelled it; net because custom compelled it; not, in all probability, because ostentation dictated it; but simply because there was a high, strong sense of equity in this mans soul, that compelled him to this restoring or restituting that which he had unjustly taken. Now, we hold it is marvellous to find all this in a character, and in the midst of circumstances such as the publicans were in those days--marvellous to find charity in them--still more marvellous to find equity. It is a something, because it is a something telling us this--that there is a soft part still in this mans soul--a point on which you might rest your apparatus for effecting this mans conversion. There was a deep sense of charity, in the first place, and there was the ample recognition of the duty of equity in the second place. What are we to know and what are we to understand in this? Why, we ask you to look round to the world in our better and our more enlightened days. Can we find much that looks like a parody to it? You shall find and know something, perhaps, of the tricks of commerce, and of the ungodliness of trade; but you seldom hear anything of the fourfold restitution. You shall hear, in all probability, of hard bargains being driven--of the simplicity of unwary customers being taken advantage of--of the adroitness of men of wealth practising upon the ignorance of men of poverty; and you shall find, perhaps, that these successful tacticians wrap themselves in the congratulation of their successful doings; but you shall never hear of the fourfold restitution. No, even in our better days the privileged Christian is beaten by the despised publican.
III. We have but one thought more to throw before you. We have looked at the mans impediments, and we have looked at the mans antecedents; in the last place, we have to look to THE MANNER OF THE CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS THE PUBLICAN. Now there is nothing more certain, as we have said before, than that none of these antecedents could have been the parent of Zaccheuss conversion. There may be, as we have said before, differences of experience upon the road, but that it does not lead to the same termination is, if Scripture be true, an utter impossibility. The Scripture has said, No man cometh to the Father but by Me. The Scripture has said it, If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, He is none of His. The Bible has said it, We must be found in Him, not having our own righteousness which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of God by faith. And none of these up to this moment had Zaccheus the publican. A man of moral propriety, and a man of promising indications he may have been, but as yet outside of the field of conversion. We may, then, ask ourselves the question, how it is that this missing element was to be supplied. We answer, that his conversion went upon these two principles: that Christ sought him, and that Christ spake to him; and that those two things must be fulfilled in every man who is to be truly a believing child of Abraham--the Saviour must come, and the Saviour must speak to him. (A. Boyd.)
A household blessing
I. THE BLESSING OF SALVATION.
1. Zaccheus now had heavenly riches.
2. Zaccheus had now the highest distinction. A Christian.
3. The home of Zaccheus was now sanctified.
II. THE AUTHOR OF SALVATION.
1. Salvation is Christs alone to give.
2. The guiltiest are sometimes the first to be saved.
(1) This is for our warning. Beware of pride, self-righteousness, assumed morality, ostentation, carnal wisdom, and deep-rooted prejudice. These are the offensive things that make him pass by your door. Remove them quickly, lest you perish a Christless soul!
(2) This visit to the guiltiest is also for our encouragement. Satan has two grand devices, presumption and despair. Avoid the former, and do not be crushed by the latter. This man had been so radically bad, but was saved. Let this sustain and strengthen the deep-stained sinner who cries for mercy.
III. THE MEANS OF SALVATION.
1. Zaccheus used the likeliest means to know more of Christ.
2. He strove through difficulties to obtain the object of his desire.
IV. THE SIGNS OF SALVATION.
1. Joy.
2. Rectitude.
3. Benevolence. (The Congregational Pulpit.)
Salvation in the house
I want you to learn some lessons from this story of Zaccheus.
1. That Jesus will come home with you and bring salvation to your house if you are anxious, as Zaccheus was, to see Him. Zaccheus was a small man among many great men, and so he could not see the Lord till he climbed; let this teach you not to be discouraged because you are small in the worlds eyes, poor, humble, or ignorant. You, like the publican, must climb if you would see Jesus, you must climb by prayer, by the study of your Bible, by Holy Communion, by conquest of yourselves--these are all branches of the Tree of Life; if you climb by these you will see Jesus. Learn also that Jesus will come to you and bring salvation to your house, however poor it may be. He who lay in the manger at Bethlehem does not look for soft raiment and luxurious bedding.
2. When Jesus comes to your house He will bring gifts with Him: He will work miracles for you. It has been said that the age of miracles is gone, it has in one sense only. Jesus will work miracles of mercy in your house. He will give you, too, a new name when He comes to your house. You know that old families are proud of the name which their ancestors have borne for generations, but after all, the best of names is that which your Saviour will give you, the name of a son of God, a child of Christ. And He will give you more than a name, He will give you landed property, even ii you are so poor that a back-yard is all you have to look out upon. He will give you, who perhaps never heard of an estate in fee-simple, or knew what it was to have a house of your own, an inheritance, a place of many mansions, a house eternal in heaven. And He will give you clothing, the very best of clothing. To every one of you who have Jesus in the house, and who have often had to patch and cut and contrive to clothe yourself and your family, He will give a white robe of righteousness. (H. J. Wilmot Buxton, M. A.)
Salvation for Zaccheus
Salvation! How? where? What does Christ mean when He says, Salvation has come to this house? Did He preach the way of salvation? If so, we should like to hear what He said. Well, He said this:--That the Son of Man had found the Son of Abraham, acknowledged him as such, and would make it well with him. And was it not salvation from anger, and sorrow, and hardness of heart, to be thus acknowledged? Men of Jericho, this is a son of Abraham; your blessing is his. Society may reject him; but the God of Abraham accepts him. The sons of Abraham may ban one another; but the Son of Man will bless them all. Son of Man is a wider and deeper title than son of Abraham. The Son of Mans love includes all Jews, because it extends beyond them all. Christ acknowledged Zaccheus in a way very comforting to his Jewish and his human heart. But this was the salvation--the creation of a living bond of affection between Zaccheus and that Holy Love in whose presence he stood. In this Presence Zaccheus felt at once that he grew purer, happier, stronger for good, forgiving to those who had despised him, and humble and thankful in that sense of forgiving confidence which Christs whole manner towards him breathed. When Christ spoke of salvation, then, He was Himself the salvation of which He spoke. (T. T. Lynch.)
To seek and to save that which was lost
The seeking Saviour
Good news from a far country. By meditation on this statement we are led to consider--
I. THE MISSION OF CHRIST. The Son of Man is come. Predicted in the oracles of God by Balaam, Isaiah, Zechariah, dec.
II. THE PURPOSE OF HIS MISSION. To seek and to save.
1. It was not an experimental gratification.
2. Not to gain a fair reputation.
3. Not to obtain honour.
III. THE OBJECT OF HIS LOVE. That which was lost. The whole world. Every Son of Adam. APPLICATION: The text displays--
1. The spirit of self-denial.
2. The spirit of love. (F. G. Davis.)
Redemption
We are redeemed--
1. From the power of the grave.
2. From the power of sin.
3. From the curse of the law. (E. Hicks, M. A.)
Christs estimate of sin
There are two ways of looking at sin:--One is the severe view: it makes no allowance for frailty--it will not hear of temptation, nor distinguish between circumstances. Men who judge in this way shut their eyes to all but two objects--a plain law, and a transgression of that law. There is no more to be said: let the law take its course. Now if this be the right view of sin, there is abundance of room left for admiring what is good and honourable and upright: there is positively no room provided for restoration. Happy if you have done well; but if ill, then nothing is before you but judgment and fiery indignation. The other view is one of laxity and false liberalism. When such men speak, prepare yourself to hear liberal judgments and lenient ones: a great deal about human weakness, error in judgment, mistakes, an unfortunate constitution, on which the chief blame of sin is to rest--a good heart. All well if we wanted, in this mysterious struggle of a life, only consolation. But we want far beyond comfort--goodness; and to be merely made easy when we have done wrong will not help us to that! Distinct from both of these was Christs view of guilt. His standard of right was high--higher than ever man had placed it before. Not moral excellence, but heavenly, He demanded. Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Read the Sermon on the Mount. It tells of a purity as of snow resting on an Alpine pinnacle, white in the blue holiness of heaven; and yet also, He the All-pure had tenderness for what was not pure. He who stood in Divine uprightness that never faltered, felt compassion for the ruined, and infinite gentleness for human fall. Broken, disappointed, doubting hearts, in dismay and bewilderment, never looked in vain to Him. Purity attracting evil: that was the wonder. I see here three peculiarities, distinguishing Christ from ordinary men.
I. A PECULIARITY IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE REDEEMERS MORAL NATURE. Manifested in that peculiar title which He assumed--the Son of Man. Let us see what that implies.
1. It implies fairly His Divine origin; for it is an emphatic expression, and as we may so say, an unnatural one. None could without presumption remind men that He was their Brother and a Son of Man, except One who was also something higher, even the Son of God.
2. It implies the catholicity of His brotherhood. He is emphatically the Son of Man. Out of this arose two powers of His sacred humanity--the universality of His sympathies, and their intense particular personality.
What was His mode of sympathy with men? He did not sit down to philosophize about the progress of the species, or dream about a millennium. He gathered round Him twelve men. He formed one friendship, special, concentrated, deep. He did not give Himself out as the leader of the publicans cause, or the champion of the rights of the dangerous classes; but He associated with Himself Matthew, a publican called from the detested receipt of custom. He went into the house of Zaccheus, and treated him like a fellow-creature--a brother, and a son of Abraham. His catholicity or philanthropy was not an abstraction, but an aggregate of personal attachments.
II. PECULIARITY IN THE OBJECTS OF CHRISTS SOLICITUDE. He had come to seek and to save the lost. The world is lost, and Christ came to save the world. But by the lost in this place He does not mean the world; He means a special class, lost in a more than common sense, as sheep are lost which have strayed from the flock, and wandered far beyond all their fellows scattered in the wilderness. Blot half a century ago a great man was seen stooping and working in a charnel-house of bones. Uncouth, nameless fragments lay around him, which the workmen had dug up and thrown aside as rubbish. They belonged to some far-back age, and no man knew what they were or whence. Few men cared. The world was merry at the sight of a philosopher groping among mouldy bones. But when that creative mind, reverently discerning the fontal types of living being in diverse shapes, brought together those strange fragments, bone to bone, and rib to claw, and tooth to its own corresponding vertebrae, recombining the wondrous forms of past ages, and presenting each to the astonished world as it moved and lived a hundred thousand ages back, then men began to perceive that a new science had begun on earth. And such was the work of Christ. They saw Him at work among the fragments and mouldering wreck of our humanity and sneered. But He took the dry bones such as Ezekiel saw in vision, which no man thought could live, and He breathed into them the breath of life.
III. A PECULIARITY IN HIS MODE OF TREATMENT. How were these lost ones to be restored? The human plans are reducible to three--chastisement, banishment, and indiscriminate lenity. In Christs treatment of guilt we find three peculiarities--sympathy, holiness, firmness.
1. By human sympathy. In the treatment of Zaccheus this was almost all. We read of almost nothing else as the instrument of that wonderful reclamation, One thing only, Christ went to his house self-invited. But that one was everything.
2. By the exhibition of Divine holiness. The holiness of Christ differed from all earthly, common, vulgar holiness. Wherever it was, it elicited a sense of sinfulness and imperfection. Just as the purest cut crystal of the rock looks dim beside the diamond, so the best men felt a sense of guilt growing distinct upon their souls (Luk_5:8). But at the same time the holiness of Christ did not awe men away from Him, nor repel them. It inspired them with hope.
3. By firmness. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Christ seeking and saving the lost
I. LET ME BRING BEFORE YOU THE INTERESTING STATEMENT OF OUR TEXT.
1. The lost, then, are the objects of His care and love. There are two ideas comprehended in the expression. When Christ would illustrate the condition of those who were lost, on one occasion, He selected three objects: a sheep--money--and a prodigal (Luk_15:1-32.). One of these could only be test in the sense of its owner being deprived of its use. Having no consciousness, the evil of its being mislaid fell upon the woman. But the other two being lost, suffered or were exposed to evil of their own, as well as occasioned evil to those to whom they belonged or were related. The loss of the sheep included danger and trouble to itself, as well as anxiety and deprivation to its possessor; the loss of the prodigal entailed distrust and shame upon himself, as well as affliction on his fathers house. And these are the most fitting and forcible symbols of the sinners case. Lost to God and lost to himself.
2. Man, thus lost, thus spiritually lost--lost to God, and to himself, is the object of Christs care. He loves us in our weakness, and worldliness, in our crimes and our carnality. He proposes our salvation: to bring us back to God, to bestow His knowledge, love, and image. Let it be remembered, however, that Christs chief aim is to secure inward and individual salvation. Whatever may be done for a man is very little while he is lost, in reference to the highest things; you cannot save him, unless you convert him.
3. Christ seeks to save. He goes in quest of men. He had His eye on Zaccheus when he visited the sycamore tree--His delights were at the work ere His charity had utterance there. He knew where the objects of
His pity were to be found, and directed His course and shaped His plans that He might meet with them.
4. Once more. Christ not only proposes the good of the lost, even their salvation, and seeks them for this purpose, but He is come to do it. What He did on earth--His life and labours and sufferings and death; what He does in heaven, by the agency of men, the ministry of Providence, the operations of the Holy Spirit, are all to be considered in relation to His coming hither--the fact, the manner, and the meaning of His advent.
II. CONSIDER SOME IMPORTANT BEARINGS OF THE STATEMENT NOW ILLUSTRATED.
1. You have in our subject an evidence of our religion--the religion of the Son of man. Think of His object, principle, and method, and say whether, in the circumstances of the case, they do not necessarily indicate one come from God? There were no materials in that half-barbarous nation in wholly barbarous times out of which could have been formed the living Son of man, and no materials out of which His image could have been formed. He must have been, or none could have conceived of Him; and if He were, He must have been from heaven.
2. You have in our subject a beautiful model of Christian life and labour. What Christ was, we should be.
3. You have in our subject matter for the serious consideration of unconverted men. Christ came to seek and to save men--came to seek and to save you. Are you conscious of your lost condition and bitterly bewailing it? It will be always true that salvation was possible, was presented, was pressed! And this increases your doom. (A. J. Morris.)
Persistent search
Our sympathies are already aroused when we see anything that is lost. Even a dog that has wandered away from its master, we feel sorry for; or a bird that has escaped from its owner, we say: Poor thing! Going down the street near nightfall, in the teeth of the sharp northwest wind, you feel very pitiful for one who has to be out to-night. As you go along, you hear the affrighted cry of a child. You stop. You say: What is the matter? You go up and find that a little one has lost its way from home. In its excitement it cannot even tell its name or its residence. The group of people gathered around are all touched, all sympathetic, all helpful. A plain body comes up, and with her plaid she wraps the child, and says: Ill take care of the poor bairn! While in the same street, but a little way off, the crier goes through the city, ringing a bell and uttering in a voice that sounds dolefully through all the alleys and by-ways of the city: A lost child I three years of age, blue eyes, light hair. Lost child! Did you ever hear any such pathos as that ringing through the darkness? You are going down the street and you see a man that you know very well. You once associated with him. You are astonished as you see him. Why, you say, he is all covered with the marks of sin. He must be in the very last stages of wickedness. And then you think of his lost home, and say: God, pity his wife and child! God, pity him. A lost man! Under the gaslight you see a painted thing floating down the street--once the joy of a village home--her laughter ringing horror through the souls of the pure, and rousing up the merriment of those already lost like herself. She has forgotten the home of her youth and the covenant of her God. A lost woman! But, my friend, we are all lost.
1. In the first place, I remark that we are lost to holiness. Are you not all willing to take the Bible announcement that our nature is utterly ruined? Sin has broken in at every part of the castle. One would think that we got enough of it from our parents whether they were pious or not; but we have taken the capital of sin with which our fathers and mothers started us, and we have by accumulation, as by infernal compound-interest, made it enough to swamp us for ever. The ivory palace of the soul polluted with the filthy feet of all uncleanness. The Lord Jesus Christ comes to bring us back to holiness. He comes not to destroy us, but to take the consequences of our guilt.
2. We are lost to happiness, and Christ comes to find us. A caliph said: I have been fifty years a caliph, and I have had all honours and all wealth, and yet in the fifty years I can count up only fourteen days of happiness. How many there are in this audience who cannot count fourteen days in all their life in which they had no vexations or annoyances. We all feel a capacity for happiness that has never been tested. There are interludes of bliss, but whose entire life has been a continuous satisfaction? Why is it that most of the fine poems of the world are somehow descriptive of grief? It is because men know more about sorrow than they do about joy. Oh, ye who are struck through with unrest, Christ comes to-day to give you rest. If Christ comes to you, you will be independent of all worldly considerations. It was so with the Christian man who suffered for his faith, and was thrust down into the coal-hole of the Bishop of London. He said: We have had fine times here, singing gladsome songs the night long. O God, forgive me for being so unworthy of this glory. More joyful in the hour of suffering and martyrdom was Rose Allen. When the persecutor put a candle under her wrist, and held it there until the sinews snapped, she said: If you see fit you can burn my feet next, and then also my head. Christ once having taken you into His custody and guardianship, you can laugh at pain, and persecution, and trial. Great peace for all those whom Christ has found and who have found Christ. Jesus comes into their sick room. The nurse may have fallen asleep in the latter watches of the night; but Jesus watches with slumberless eyes, and He puts His gentle hand over the hot brow of the patient, and says: You will not always be sick. I will not leave you. There is a land where the inhabitant never saith, I am sick. Hush, troubled soul! Peace!
3. Again, I remark that we are lost to heaven, and Christ comes to take us there. Christ comes to take the discord out of your soul and string it with a heavenly attuning. He comes to take out that from us which makes us unlike heaven, and substitute that which assimilates us. In conclusion: You may hide away from Him; but there are some things which will find you, whether Christ by His grace finds you or not. Trouble will find you; temptation will find you; sickness will find you; death will find you; the judgment will find you; eternity will find you. (De W. Talmage, D. D.)
Christs mission
I. These precious words of the blessed Saviour DESCRIBE AN ADVENT, A COMING, AS ACCOMPLISHED. He has come. It is the statement of a past event, an event which has changed the whole current of human history. Its force lay in the great purpose for which it was undertaken. He did not drop into the world. He was not born as animals are. He came. He chose to come. He planned a coming, which He executed. All that philosophy can perceive, or poetry conceive, of grandeur of emprise, of Divine philanthropy, and of glorious endeavour, are in the enterprise of Jesus. Consider what He left in order to endure the incarnation necessary for the accomplishment of His most transcendent undertaking. He came from other heavens that were glorious places, whose population was not lost, where the kingdom of God was established, and where His will was done. No moral darkness and confusion were there. Think of the world to which He came. It is a planet of wonderful adaptabilities, and inhabited by a race of still more wonderful capabilities. As king of the kingdom of God, to Jesus order is of the highest consequence. He is the author of harmony. How disorderly was the world to which He camel Every man and woman and child frantically or persistently struggling to break themselves from the moral law, which is a cord of love, having lost much of what would seem to be a natural sense of the beauty of holiness, gone so far as to give the Dame of virtue to that kind of brute bravery which meets a wild beast in an amphitheatre very much on the beasts own level; a world full of sin, and full of the anguish and degradation of sin, where He could not turn His eyes without beholding a wrong or a sufferer? Above all, He knew that He was coming to His own, and that His own would not receive Him. It was a plunge out of supernal light into the heart of darkness.
II. We are never to forget, as a most charming characteristic of the coming of Jesus, that IT WAS WHOLLY VOLUNTARY. He CAME. He was not brought. He was not compelled to come. No law of justice could have broken His consciousness of holiness and greatness if He had not come.
III. WHY SHOULD HE HAVE COME AT ALL? There was something to save, something precious in His eyes, whatever it may seem in ours. Cold criticism would ask why it was necessary, whether some other expedient might not have been devised; but love is swifter than reason. How could He come to save us? is the question of reason in moments when it is unloving. How could He not come to save us? is the question of rational love.
IV. HIS INCARNATION DID MANY THINGS FOR US WHICH WE DO NOT SEE COULD BE OTHERWISE DONE.
1. It was a manifestation of God: God was manifest in the flesh. The visible world had so engrossed us that our race was going down into lowermost materialism, so that the Roman type of thought was earthly, the Grecian sensual, and the barbarian devilish. And on one of these types all human thought would have formed itself for ever. But the Son of man came, and, by His words and deeds and spirit, gave such evidence of the existence of a Personal God and a spiritual world that our intellects were saved. We have since had certain centre and blessed attraction. If the Son of man had not come long before the age in which we live, the intellect of the race would have been utterly lost in the deep abyss of atheism, toward which it was rushing.
2. The heart and head have close fellowship. The corruption of the former does much to increase the errors of the latter, and the mistakes of the head aggravate the sorrows of the heart. The Son of God has come to save our hearts, as well as our intellects, by making the interests of God and man identical.
3. Under the atheistic errors of the intellect and the desperation of the heart, how manhood was sinking away! No human being can now estimate how low humanity would have sunk before our times if the Son of man had not come. All sublime and beautiful living is of the inspiration of His history.
4. He died for us that He might save our souls. The saving of our souls is the great object of the coming of the Son of man. (C. F. Deems, L. L. D.)
The lost are found
1. The Son of man.
(1) His humanity. What the fulness of time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman (Gal_4:4). As the flowers are said to have solem in caelo patrem, solum in terra matrem; so Christ hath a Father in heaven without a mother, a mother on earth without a father. Here is then the wonder of His humanity. The Everlasting Father (Isa_9:6) is become a little child. The Son of God calls Himself the Son of man.
(2) His humility. If your understandings can reach the depth of this bottom, take it at one view. The Son of God calls Himself the Son of man. The omnipotent Creator becomes an impotent creature.
So greater humility never was than this, that God should be made man. It is the voice of pride in man, I will be like God (Isa_14:14); but the action of humility in God, I will be man.
(1) Esteem we not the worse but the better of Christ, that He made Himself the Son of man. Let Him not lose any part of His honour because He abased Himself for us. He that took our flesh is also over all, God blessed for ever, Amen (Rom_9:5).
(2) The other use is St. Pauls: Let the same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus (Php_2:5). What mind is that: Humility.
2. Is come. We understand the person, let us come to His coming. And herein, ecce veritatem--behold His truth. Did God promise a son of a virgin; Emmanuel, a Saviour? He is as good as His word; venit, He is come. Did the sacrificed blood of so many bulls, goats, and lambs, prefigure the expiatory blood of the Lamb of God to be shed? Ecce Agnus Dei--Behold that Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.
3. To seek. He is come; to what purpose? Ecce compassionem--to seek. All the days of His flesh upon earth He went about seeking souls. When the sun shines, every bird comes forth; only the owl will not be found. These birds of darkness cannot abide the light, because their deeds are evil (Joh_3:19). Thus they play at all-hid with God, but how foolishly! Like that beast that having thrust his head in a bush, and seeing nobody, thinks nobody sees him. But they shall find at last that not holes of mountains or caves of rocks can conceal them (Rev_6:16). Secondly, others play at fast and loose with God; as a man behind a tree, one while seen, another while hid. In the day of prosperity they are hidden; only in affliction they come out of their holes. Thirdly, others being lost, and hearing the seekers voice, go further from Him. The nearer salvation comes to them, the further they run from it.
4. To save. Ecce pietatem, behold His goodness. Herod sought Christ ad interitum, to kill Him; Christ seeks us ad salutem, to save us. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (1Ti_1:15).
5. The lost. There ecce potestatem, behold His power. He is that strongest man that unbound us from the fetters of sin and Satan. Lost! But where was man lost? There are diverse losing-places. (T. Adams, D. D.)
Christ seeking and saving the lost
I. IN WHAT SENSE WE ARE SAID TO BE LOST.
1. Really and indeed; so we are lost to God and lost to ourselves. As to God, He hath no glory, love, and service from us, and so is deprived and robbed of the honour of His creation.
2. Some are lost and undone in their own sense and feeling. All by reason of sin are in a lost state, but some are apprehensive of it. Now such a sense is necessary to prepare us for a more brokenhearted and thankful acceptance of the grace of the gospel.
II. IN WHAT SENSE CHRIST IS SAID TO SEEK AND SAVE SUCH, Here is a double work--seeking and saving.
1. What is His seeking? It implieth--
(1) His pity to us in our lost estate, and providing means for us, in that He doth not leave us to our wanderings, or our own hearts counsels, but taketh care that we be brought back again to God (Joh_10:16).
(2) His seeking implieth His diligence and pains to reduce them (Luk_15:4). It requireth time and pains to find them, and gain their consent. A lost soul is not so easily recovered and reduced from his straying; there is many a warning slighted, many a conviction smothered, and tenders of grace made in vain. I evidence this two ways--
(1) Christ is said to seek after us by His word and Spirit.
(a) By His word, He cometh as a teacher from heaven, to recall sinners from their wanderings.
(b) By His Spirit striving against and overcoming the obstinacy and contradiction of our souls. By His call in the word He inviteth us to holiness, but by His powerful grace He inclineth us.
(2) This seeking is absolutely necessary: if He did not seek them, they would never seek Him.
2. To save them. Two ways is Christ a Saviour--merito et efficacia, by merit and by power. We are sometimes said to be saved by His death, and sometimes to be saved by His life (Rom_5:10). Here I shall do two things--
(1) I shall show why it is so;
(2) I shall prove that this was Christs great end and business.
First, Why it is so.
1. With respect to the parties concerned. In saving lost creatures, Christ hath to do with three parties--God, man, and Satan.
2. With respect to the parts of salvation. There is redemption and conversion, the one by way of impetration, to other by way of application. It is not enough that we are redeemed, that is done Without us upon the cross; but we must also be converted, that is real redemption applied to us.
3. With respect to eternal salvation, which is the result of all, that is to say, it is the effect of Christs merit and of our regeneration; for in regeneration that life is begun in us which is perfected in heaven.
Secondly, I am to prove that this was Christs great end and business.
1. It is certain that Christ was sent to man in a lapsed and fallen estate, not to preserve us as innocent, but to recover us as fallen.
2. Out of this misery man is unable to deliver and recover himself.
3. We being utterly unable, God, in pity to us, that the creation of man for His glory might not be frustrated, hath sent us Christ.
Arguments to press you to accept of this grace.
1. Consider the misery of a lost condition.
2. Think of the excellency and reality of salvation by Christ (1Ti_1:15).
3. You have the means; you have the offer made to you (Isa_27:13). (T. Manton, D. D.)
The lost and sought-for soul
I. THE ORIGIN OF THE SOUL. It is from above. The ancient legends of a distant state of ancestral bliss, from which we have come, and which we have only in part forgotten, are woven out of the universal heart-experience. Dimly we remember Paradise; amidst the darkness we are groping our way back to the Tree of Life.
II. THE PRESENT STATE OF THE SOUL. An exile and a wanderer. I also am from God a wandering exile, said the Greek philosopher, Empedocles--a thought that was taken up and made the foundation of systems among some of the early Christian sects. They said that the parables in the Gospel of the lost piece of money, the lost sheep, the wandering and prodigal son, were all variations of this theme of the soul. There has come down to us a Gnostic hymn from very early times, in which the same spiritual theme is clothed in geographical details. A Parthian kings son comes from the bright realm of the East, and wanders through Babylonia to Egypt to seek a precious pearl which is there guarded by a serpent. Parthia stands, in reality, for the bright kingdom of light above, from which the soul has fallen. Egypt means the lower or material world, and Babylonia appears to denote some intermediate state. There is a father and a mother by whom ate meant an ideal first pair of parents of the living; and a brother who appears to signify the second Adam or Son of Man. The great serpent surrounding the sea is the soul of the present evil, or material world, ever an enemy to the human race. Somehow, the hymn says, they in Egypt found out that I was not their countryman; and they cunningly gave me their food to eat. I forgot that I was a prince, and I served their kings, and I forgot the pearl for which my parents had sent me, and I fell into a deep sleep. But my parents saw me afar off, and they devised a plan for my good. They wrote me a letter, which ran: From thy father, the king of kings, and thy mother, the lady of the East, and thy brother, our second one, to thee our son in Egypt, greeting! Rouse up, and rise from thy sleep, listen to the words of our letter. Consider that thou art a son of kings. See into whose slavery thou hast fallen. Remember the pearl, for the sake of which thou wast sent to Egypt. Think of the garment, remember the splendid toga, which thou shalt wear--for thy name is written in the list of the brave--and that thou, with thy brother, our vicegerent, shalt come into our kingdom. The letter, sealed by the right hand of the king, was brought to me by the king of birds. I awoke, and broke the seal, and read, and the words agreed with those that were stamped upon my heart. I recollected that I was a son of royal parents, and my excellent birth maintained its nature. And so he proceeds to the quest of the pearl, which seems to be an allegory of the spark of celestial light and truth, which is still to be found, even amidst the debasement o! earth, by every earnest seeking soul. And the letter stands for a higher revelation, and the splendid garment for the glorious spiritual body which the returned kings son is to wear in the presence of the King of kings. Such is a brief account of this Pilgrims Progress of the olden time. This world is a goodly place, this body is a pleasant house to dwell in. And it may be that we are often tempted to say, If it be a prison, it is more splendid than a palace, and we are well content to be prisoners and exiles under such conditions. But there are moments of revelation, flashes of memory and insight which tell us otherwise. Away! this is not your rest! A despatch has come from our heavenly Father; its contents speak of what our heart had already spoken. And so we arise and still go on our quest of the pearl of great price, heedless of those smiling Egyptians, who would feed us on lotus, and bid us plunge into oblivion of our native home. No I we are sojourners only, nor can we rest until we have found what we were sent to find, and, holding it fast, come back to Him who sent us, and who is watching for our return.
III. THE RECOVERY OF THE SOUL. One is seeking us; One wills that we should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. His kindly light has not yet, and will not, we trust, ever desert us. (E. Johnson, M. A.)
Christ seeking and saving those who were lost
I. What is implied in our being lost?
II. How does Christ seek and save those that are lost?
1. Christ seeks those that are lost.
(1) By His word.
(2) By His providence.
(3) By His Spirit.
2. Christ saves those that are lost--
(1) By purchase.
(2) By power.
Conclusion:
1. From this subject, in the first place, we learn the wonderful generosity and kindness of Christ.
2. Let us also admire the power, as well as adore the grace, of the Saviour. (S. Lavington.)
Good news for the lost
The promises of God are like stars; there is not one of them but has in its turn guided tempest-tossed souls to their desired haven. But, as among the-stars which stud the midnight sky, there are constellations which above all others attract the mariners gaze, and are helpful to the steersman, so there are certain passages in Scripture which have not only directed a few wise men to Jesus, but have been guiding stars to myriads of simple minds who have through their help found the port of peace. The text is one of these notable stars, or rather, its words form a wonderful constellation of Divine love, a very Pleiades of mercy. But as stars are of small service when the sky is beclouded, or the air dense with fog, so it may be even with such a bright gospel light as our text will not yield comfort to souls surrounded with the clinging mists of doubts and fears. At such times mariners cry for fair weather, and ask that they may be able to see the stars again: so let us pray the Holy Spirit to sweep away with His Divine wind the clouds of our unbelief, and enable each earnest eye in the light of God to see the light of peace.
I. HOW THE OBJECTS OF MERCY ARE HERE DESCRIBED. That which was lost. A term large enough to embrace even the very worst.
1. We are all lost by nature.
2. Apart from Divine grace, we are lost by our own actions.
3. We are lost because our actual sin and our natural depravity have co-worked to produce in us an inability to restore ourselves from our fallen condition. Not only wanderers, but having no will to come home.
4. We are lost by the condemnation which our sin has brought upon us.
5. Some of us are lost to society, to respect, and perhaps to decency. That was the case with Zaccheus. Now, the Son of Man is come to seek and to save those whom the world puts outside its camp. The sweep of Divine compassion is not limited by the customs of mankind: the boundaries of Jesus love are not to be fixed by Pharisaical self-righteousness.
II. HOW THE SAVIOUR IS HERE DESCRIBED. The Son of man.
1. Note here His Deity. No prophet or apostle needed to call himself by way of distinction the son of man. This would be an affectation of condescension supremely absurd. Therefore, when we hear our Lord particularly and especially calling Himself by this name, we are compelled to think of it as contrasted with His higher nature, and we see a deep condescension in His choosing to be called the Son of man, when He might have been called the Son of God.
2. In speaking of Himself as the Son of man, our Lord shows us that He has come to us in a condescending character.
3. He has, moreover, come in His mediatorial character.
4. And He has come in His representative character.
III. HOW OUR LORDS PAST ACTION IS DESCRIBED. Not shall come, but is come. His coming is a fact accomplished. That part of the salvation of a sinner which is yet to be done is not at all so hard to be believed as that which the Lord has already accomplished. The state of the case since Jesus has come may be illustrated thus--Certain of our fellow-countrymen were the prisoners of the Emperor Theodore in Abyssinia, and I will suppose myself among them. As a captive, I hear that the British Parliament is stirring in the direction of an expedition for my deliverance, and I feel some kind of comfort, but I am very anxious, for I know that amidst party strifes in the House of Commons many good measures are shipwrecked. Days and months pass wearily on, but at last I hear that Sir Robert Napier has landed with a delivering army. Now my heart leaps for joy. I am shut up within the walls of Magdala, but in my dungeon I hear the sound of the British bugle, and I know that the deliverer is come. Now I am full of confidence, and am sure of liberty. If the general is already come, my rescue is certain. Mark well, then, O ye prisoners of hope, that Jesus is come.
IV. There is much of deepest comfort in THE DESCRIPTION WHICH IS HERE GIVEN OF OUR LORDS WORK. To seek and to save. The enterprise is one, but has two branches.
1. Jesus is come to seek the lost.
(1) Personally.
(2) In His providence.
(3) By His Word.
2. Whom Jesus seeks, He saves.
(1) By pardoning.
(2) By bestowing another nature.
Conclusion: Let us who are saved seek the lost ones. Jesus did it: O follower of Jesus, do likewise. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The mission of the Son of Man
I. I lay it down as a self-evident truth, that WHATEVER WAS THE INTENTION OF CHRIST IN HIS COMING INTO THE WORLD, THAT INTENTION MOST CERTAINLY SHALL NEVER BE FRUSTRATED. In the first place, it seems to be inconsistent with the very idea of God that He should ever intend anything which should not be accomplished. But again, we have before us the fact, that hitherto all the works of God have accomplished their purpose. I might use a hundred other arguments. I might show that every attribute of Christ declares that His purpose must be accomplished. He certainly has love enough to accomplish His design of saving the lost; for He has a love that is bottomless and fathomless, even as the abyss itself. And certainly the Lord cannot fail for want of power, for where we have omnipotence there can be no deficiency of strength. Nor, again, can the design be unaccomplished because it was unwise, for Gods designs cannot be unwise.
II. I have thus started the first thought that the intention of Christs death cannot be frustrated. And now methinks every one will anxiously listen, and every ear will be attentive, and the question will arise from every heart, WHAT THEN WAS THE INTENTION OF THE SAVIOURS DEATH? AND IS IT POSSIBLE THAT I CAN HAVE A PORTION IN IT? For whom, then, did the Saviour die--and is there the slightest probability that I have some lot or portion in that great atonement which He has offered? I must now endeavour to pick out the objects of the Saviours atonement. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. We know that all men are lost in Adam. Again, we are all lost by practice. No sooner does the child become capable of knowing right and wrong, than you discover that he chooses the evil and abhors the good. Early passions soon break out, like weeds immediately after the shower of rain; speedily the hidden depravity of the heart makes itself manifest, and we grow up to sin, and so we become lost by practice. Then there be some who go further still. The deadly tree of sin grows taller and taller; some become lost to the Church. Now I will tell you the people whom Christ will save--they are those who are lost to themselves.
III. NOTICE THE OBJECTS OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST--He came to seek and to save that which was lost. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Saving the lost
John Wesley says in his Journal: On the 20th of December, 1778, I buried what was mortal of honest Silas Todd. For many years he attended the malefactors in Newgate without fee or reward, and I suppose no man for this hundred years has been so successful in that melancholy office. God had given him peculiar talents for it, and he had amazing success therein. The greatest part of those whom he attended died in peace, and many of them in the triumph of faith.
Tholucks personal effort for individual souls
The German, Tholuck, a household name in the worlds Christian homes, standing on the borders of the grave and looking back on the fifty fruitful years of preaching, teaching, and writing, exclaimed: I value it all less than the love that seeks and follows, by which he had been inspired from the year of his conversion. Personal effort for individual souls! This is a work of which the world knows little, but of which the Lord knows much. Not only seeking, but following! Here is a single illustration. A student at Halle was brought near to his heart by a godly mother. He fell into sin and vice. He was ofttimes visited by his loving teacher, late at night or in the early morning, after a nights debauch--sometimes in prison. Good promises were repeatedly made, and as repeatedly broken. Another sacred promise; the following day, late at night, came a card from him: Tholuck sighs; Tholuck prays; but we will have our drink out. Relying upon the co-working Spirit, still the saintly Tholuck followed. And the giddy youth became pastor of a well-known church in Berlin.
Seeking the lost
I was returning home towards the evening of a miserably wet day. As I passed along I met a lady whom I knew. Though the rain fell thick and fast, she had no umbrella nor shawl, cloak, nor upper covering of any kind. My first thought was that reason had fled. But no--she had lost her child. A fine little boy had gone out with the servant, and while standing in a shop she had suddenly missed him. Of course I joined in the anxious search. As I went along beside that mother, I was struck with the contrast between her eager look, intense emotion, and restless energy, and the dull, listless apathy of the other by-passers in the busy streets. She had lost a son; that was the secret of it all. She could take no rest but in seeking. I could sympathize with her, hut no more. I had not lost a son. I could not seek as she. (Family Magazine.)
Jesus finds the sinner
A Chinaman applied to a minister to be allowed to join his Church. The minister asked him some questions to find out whether he understood what it is to be a Christian, and how we are to be saved. Among other thing he asked him--How did you find Jesus? In his broken English the poor man replied. Me no find Jesus at all. Jesus Him find me.
Christ seeks all
Between the hours of ten and twelve, for many nights, a poor woman might have been seen making her way through the streets of London. A year had passed since her only daughter left home, and entered service in the metropolis. There she became acquainted with gay companions, and she was now living a life of open sin. The mother learned that her daughter might be seen every night in a certain part of the town. After many nights of watching, she was about to despair, when she saw a figure closely resembling that of her daughter. She eagerly approached, and was about to stretch out her arms to embrace it, when the light of the lamp showed that it was not her child. In an agony of grief she exclaimed, Ah! it is not she. I was looking for my daughter; but, no, you are not my child. The poor girl burst into tears, saying, I have no mother--I wish I had; I wish some one would look for me. I wish some one would look for me. Alas! there are multitudes who in the bitterness of their souls cry out, I wish some one would look for me! Fatherless, motherless, homeless, they tread their darkened course, and in the anguish of their stricken spirits cry out, No man careth for my soul! Thanks be to God, there is One who is higher than all, whose tender mercies fail not, and who looks with pitying eye on those upon whom others look with hate and scorn. And let us follow the example of Him whose mission here was to seek the ruined, and to save those that are lost. (Christian Herald.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 1. He entered and was passing through Jericho. He…
1. He entered and was passing through Jericho. He had crossed the Jordan at the ford beyond Jericho, and the road from thence to Jerusalem led through Jericho, “the city of palm trees,” the chief city of all eastern Judea. It stood at the mouth of the gap in the mountain rampart, through which the road ascended to Jerusalem, more than 3,000 feet above the plain of Jericho.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Luk_19:1. Jericho.—“The city of palm-trees (Deu_34:3; Jdg_1:16) is about…
CRITICAL NOTES
Luk_19:1. Jericho.—“The city of palm-trees (Deu_34:3; Jdg_1:16) is about six miles from the Jordan and fifteen from Jerusalem. When taken by Joshua the site had been cursed (Jos_6:26), but in the reign of Ahab, Hiel of Bethel defied and underwent the curse (1Ki_16:34). In later times Jericho became a great and wealthy town, being fertilised by its abundant springs (2Ki_2:21) and enriched by its palms and balsams” (Farrar). The trade in balsam was extensive, and Zacchæus was evidently superintendent of the tax-collectors who had the oversight of the revenue derived from that article.
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Luk_19:2. Zacchæus.—I.e., Hebrew “Zaccai” (“pure”) (Ezr_2:9; Neh_7:14). Chief among the publicans.—Or “a chief publican” (R.V.). The word so translated occurs here only.
Luk_19:3. The press.—“The crowd” (R.V.).
Luk_19:4. Sycomore.—See Luk_17:6 : a tree with short trunk and wide lateral branches.
Luk_19:5. A previous knowledge of the man is not precluded. His name, occupation, and reputation, may have been known to Jesus, but the Saviour showed supernatural knowledge of his mind and heart. I must.—A Divine plan, fixing every event in our Lord’s ministry. Cf. Luk_4:43, Luk_13:33. Abide.—Probably remain over the night.
Luk_19:7. They all murmured—An indication of the strong national prejudice against the occupation of such men as Zacchæus. To be guest.—Or, “to lodge” (R.V.).
Luk_19:8. Stood.—Took up his stand. The word expresses a formal and resolute undertaking to be guided by the promptings of conscience, which had now been awakened by Christ’s visit to him. I give.—I.e., not “I am in the habit of giving,” but “I now propose to give.” If I have taken.—I.e., “whatever I have taken.” He does not deny the guilt of his past life. Restore fourfold.—The restitution commanded by the Law in cases of theft (Exo_22:1).
Luk_19:9. This day.—Evidently the day Christ entered his house, and not the following morning. Is salvation come,—“Meaning by ‘salvation’ both Himself, and the conversion of Zacchæus, which His words had wrought” (Speaker’s Commentary). Is a son of Abraham.—I.e., is a Jew—one of “the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” not “has become a son of Abraham by repentance.”
Luk_19:10. For the Son of Man, etc.—The greater his guilt, the more need he has of a Saviour.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_19:1-10
Melted by Kindness.—This visit to Jericho was the last. It was but a few days before Calvary, and the near approach of the end, as well as the tension of concentrated purpose which marked our Lord in these last days, make the delay and effort to win Zacchæus the more striking. He was the last convert, so far as we know, before the cross. The penitent thief was the next.
I. The character and motives of Zacchæus.—A Jew who had taken service with Rome could have little patriotism and less religion. His office showed that he cared more for gain than for honour or duty. A Jew publican was classed with thieves, and regarded as an agent of the enemy and hated accordingly—and knew that he was so hated. The harsh judgment was no doubt generally deserved, and as a rule would produce the very vices which it attributed. Brand a class with an evil fame and its members will become what the world says they are. Bitterness breeds bitterness, and Zacchæus would repay contempt with interest. All this is unpromising enough; but buried below greed, and unscrupulousness, and bitter animosity, was a little seed, the nature of which the man himself did not apparently recognise. He said to himself that it was curiosity that drew him. Probably he was doing himself injustice. There was something better vaguely stirring in him, which he was afraid to acknowledge to himself. The fame of Jesus as the friend of publicans had probably reached Zacchæus and touched him. His determination may set us an example. He makes up his mind that see Jesus he will. In all walks of life difficulties are sown thick, and perhaps thickest on the road to Christ. But they can be overcome, and nothing need keep the sight of Jesus from a heart that is in earnest in wishing it. Zacchæus had been long accustomed to ridicule, and did not mind a jeer or two as he climbed the sycomore. We have often to drop dignity if we want to get high enough above the mob to see the Lord; and a man afraid of being laughed at will stand a poor chance.
II. Christ’s over-answer to Zacchæus’ desire.—Our Lord is not accustomed to name people without having some deep significance in doing so. There is always an emphasis of love, or warning, or authority, in His use of men’s names. Here He would probably let Zacchæus feel that he was completely known, and certainly asserts mastership and demands a disciple’s allegiance. There is no other instance of Christ’s volunteering His company; and His thus inviting Himself to Zacchæus’ house shows that He knew that He would be welcome, and that the wish to ask Him was only held back by the sense of unworthiness. Christ never goes where He is not wanted, any more than He stays away where He is wanted; but He often comes in more abundant self-communication and larger gifts than we dare ask, however we may long for them. Sometimes, too, it is His answer which first interprets to us our wishes. Observe, too, that “must.” Jesus often speaks of a great “must” ruling His life, and here it determines a comparatively small thing; for the small thing is a means of accomplishing the great end of seeking and saving (Luk_19:10), and only he who is faithful to the law of the Father’s will in small things will keep it in great. The offer of visiting Zacchæus expresses Christ’s kindly feelings and declares that He has no share in the common aversion. That voluntary association with the outcast is a symbol of Christ’s whole work. The same desire to save, and willingness to be identified with the impure, which led His feet into the shunned house of Zacchæus, led Him from glory to earth and caused Him to “dwell among us.” Zacchæus comes down as fast as he can, and is glad; for he has found a Saviour. Christ is glad, for He has found a sinner whom He will make a saint. Both have found what they sought.
III. The transforming effect of Christ’s love.—The experience of Christ’s love convinces of sin far more thoroughly than threats. The frowns of society only make the wrong-doer more hard and merciless; but the touch of love melts him as a warm hand laid on snow. The sight of Jesus reveals our unlikeness and makes us long after some faint resemblance to Him. So Zacchæus did not need Christ to bid him to make restitution, nor show him the blackness of his life; but he sees all the past in a new light, and is aware that there is something sweeter than ill-gotten gains. If we love Jesus Christ as He deserves, we shall not need to be told to give Him our all. The true spring of self-sacrifice is the reception of Christ’s love. Note the calm dignity and self-assertion of Jesus, identifying His coming into the house with the coming of salvation. Who else would have dared to say that without being laughed or hissed down as unsufferably arrogant? Observe the reason for His coming—namely, that Zacchæus also is a “son of Abraham,” publican as he is. That cannot mean merely a born Jew, but must refer to true spiritual descent and affinity.—Maclaren.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_19:1-10
Luk_19:1-10. “On the borders of the kingdom.”
I. We cannot tell all Zacchæus’ motives.—Curiosity would seem to have had a leading share. But this curiosity may have had something substantial at its root. He may have heard Jesus spoken of as the friend of publicans and sinners. His conscience may have testified loudly that he stood greatly in need of such a friend.
II. Christ was worthy of His title.—“Friend of Sinners.” The very summons must have thrilled Zacchæus’ soul. He to be selected among all the men of Jericho as the host of Jesus! For him to come into such close contact with the Lord of the kingdom of heaven? What grace there was in selecting Zacchæus!
III. A great reformation in heart and life.—How much need of it! The curiosity is changed into a far higher feeling; his climbing becomes the symbol of a far greater elevation. The change shows itself in the new life he purposes to lead. The very sight of the poor, simple, beneficent and self-denying Christ makes his own old life look black and hideous, and makes him most sincere and cordial in the new ways and habits he resolves to follow.—Blaikie.
I. The meeting of Jesus and Zacchæus (Luk_19:1-5).
II. Jesus entertained in the house of Zacchæus (Luk_19:6-8).
III. The declaration of Jesus concerning Zacchæus (Luk_19:9-10).
I. The rich publican.
II. The inquirer.
III. The called.
IV. The saved.—Palmer.
Conversion of Zacchœus.
I. Difficulties attending it.—
1. The stigma attaching to the office he held.
2. The temptation to retain a lucrative employment.
3. His wealth.
II. His triumph over the difficulties.
III. Proofs of the genuineness of his conversion.—
1. Active gratitude.
2. Charity.
3. Restitution.
Note here—
I. The simple, natural way in which a soul is brought within the range of Christ’s supernatural, Divine power.—The commonplace motive of curiosity fully explains the action of Zacchæus.
II. The instantaneous nature of conversion.
III. The evidence of conversion in the correction of evil habits and besetting sins.
IV. Religion sanctifies the life of those who come under its influence.—It cleanses the heart and passes from it to the house. Those most in contact with the true servant of Christ are most convinced of the beneficial change that has been wrought in the character.
Luk_19:2. “And he was rich.”—Yet, as the sequel shows, rich as he was, he had not incurred the woe of those rich who are full, and who have so received their consolation here that all longings for a higher consolation are extinct in them (Luk_6:24).
Luk_19:3. “Sought to see Jesus.”—His desire to see Jesus is not to be classed with the curiosity of Herod, but is rather akin to that longing after salvation which animated those Greeks who sought to see Jesus at the feast (Joh_12:21).
Spiritual Dwarfs.—Zacchæus is a typical character, the type of many who are wanting to see Christ, but who are spiritually too short to see Him; who are looking out for sycomores to help them to see. What produces spiritual smallness?
I. Cold.—In the vegetable world, cold is one of the secrets of dwarfed stature. Sunshine means height. Read Stuart Mill’s autobiography. His home was an ice-house.
II. Pride.—A man ever looking at himself, or his work, or his intellect—never looking higher than self. He thus fails to see One who is higher.
III. Speciality of training.—This may be a hindrance to spiritual growth. Ours is an age of specialists. Men give themselves up to one pursuit, and to see one order of facts. So, looking for nothing else, they see nothing else. A giant in materialism is often a spiritual dwarf.—Lovell.
Luk_19:4. “Ran.”—God always rewards us if He sees us eager for good.—Theophylact.
“Climbed up.”—He overcomes that false pride, through which so many precious opportunities, and oftentimes in the highest things of all, are lost.
Luk_19:5. “Saw him and said.”—He knows how to discover His own in places the most unlikely. He finds a Matthew at the receipt of custom, a Nathanael under the fig-tree; and so, with sure and unerring glance, He detects Zacchæus in the sycomore, and at once lays bare his hiding-place.
“Zacchæus.”—“He calleth His own sheep by name and leadeth them out” (Joh_10:3). Christ
(1) singles him out by a glance; then
(2) addresses him by name; and
(3) calls him to minister to Him.
“Must abide at thy house.”—Words of an extraordinary grace, for while the Lord accepted many invitations into the houses of men, yet we do not read that He honoured any but the publican by thus offering Himself to his hospitality. Adopting the royal style, which was familiar to Him, and which commends the loyalty of a vassal in the most delicate manner, by freely exacting his services, He informed Zacchæus of His intention to visit him, and signified His pleasure that a banquet should be instantly prepared.—Ecce Homo.
Christ’s “Musts.”—We have Christ applying the greatest principle to the smallest duty. Why must He abide in Zacchæus’ house? Because Zacchæus was to be saved, and was worth saving. What was the “must”? To stop for an hour or two on His road to the cross. So He teaches us that in a life penetrated by the Divine will, which we gladly obey, there are no things too great, and none too trivial to be brought under the dominion of that law, and to be regulated by that Divine necessity. Obedience is obedience, whether in large things or in small. There is no scale of magnitude applicable to the distinction between God’s will and that which is not God’s will. Gravitation rules the motes that dance in the sunshine as well as the mass of Jupiter. God’s truth is not too great to rule the smallest duties. Bring your doing, then, under that all-embracing law of duty.—Maclaren.
Luk_19:6-8. Evidences of Conversion.—
1. Readiness in obeying the call of Christ.
2. Joyfulness in receiving Him.
3. Deeds of charity.
4. Endeavours to remedy past faults.
Luk_19:6. “He made haste.”—Zacchæus in the sycomore tree was as ripe fruit, which dropped into the Saviour’s lap at His first and lightest touch.—Trench.
Luk_19:7. “That is a sinner.”—Here the fault-finders were in the wrong; he had been a sinner, but now he is a new creature.
Luk_19:8.
I. A public confession.
II. A public vow of restitution and dedication to God.
“The half of my goods.”—A man might bestow “all his goods to feed the poor” (1Co_13:3), and yet his generosity might be of no value in the sight of God; yet St. Luke here implies that the action was an indication of inward repentance.
Luk_19:9. “This day is salvation.”—Jesus says that salvation has come to the house of the publican, not because that house had received one of His visits, but because its inhabitant really showed himself another man from what he appeared to be in the eyes of the multitude. While they had even just before named him as “a man that is a sinner,” the Saviour now names him “a son of Abraham”—one who not only was descended from Abraham, but also was animated by the faith for which Abraham was famous.
“This day is salvation.”—Memorable saying! Salvation has already come, but it is not a day nor an hour old. The word “to this house” was probably designed to meet the taunt, “He is gone to lodge at a sinner’s house.” The house, says Jesus, is no longer a sinner’s house, polluted and polluting: “’Tis now a saved house, all meet for the reception of Him who came to save.” What a precious idea is salvation to a house, expressing the new air that would henceforth breathe in it, and the new impulses from its head which would reach its members.—Brown.
Luk_19:10. “For the Son of Man,” etc.
I. What we have lost takes a special dearness and value in our thoughts; so is it with God.—He is with us now and is now seeking that He may save us.
II. A man may be lost in more senses than one.—Lost in sin, lost in the crowd of men, lost in doubt and fear, lost to his proper use and joy in the world: and, in whatever sense we may be lost, His purpose is to find and save us.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Luk 19:1-10. “Having come in, He passed through Jericho.…
CHAPTER 17
CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS
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Luk 19:1-10. “Having come in, He passed through Jericho. And, behold, a man by name called Zaccheus, and he was chief of the publicans, and he was rich.” The publican was the sheriff of the Roman Government in Judea. Hence, you see, Zaccheus was high sheriff, having under him a number of deputies. Perhaps he was in good financial circumstances before he received the office; but doubtless his riches accumulated largely if not exclusively from the emoluments of his office, as the publicans were notorious and odious for rascality and oppression. The people hated them, not only for the above reasons, but because they loathed and despised the yoke of Roman despotism, which had been on their necks thirty-three years; i.e., a whole generation. Such was the popular odium of the office that it was frequently difficult to prevail on a Jew to serve, as he knew his brethren would pour contempt on him by wholesale. In this case, the Romans had been enabled to command the service of Zaccheus, a full- blooded Jew.
“And He was seeking to see Jesus, who He is, and was not able on account of the crowd, because he was small in stature. And having run out in front, he went up into a sycamore-tree, that he may see Him, because He was about to pass that way.” The sycamore is the Egyptian fig-tree, much larger than the Palestinian fig-tree. The largest tree I saw in the Old World was of this species. The fruit is splendid, and very abundant. Hence it is said that Habakkuk was a “gatherer of sycamore fruit.” We see a wonderful manifestation of God’s prevenient grace in the conversion of Zaccheus.
God put the sycamore-tree there for him to climb, that he might see Jesus; and also, the more important, that Jesus might see him. God sent His Spirit there to convict him, and get him ready to climb the tree, or do anything else in order to see Jesus. Depend upon it, it was not a little embarrassing to climb that tree in the presence of the great multitude. For some poor man to climb it, it had been a small matter; but here is the high sheriff of Jericho, a man of wealth and honor, — for him to render himself so indecorous and so undignified in the sight of all his rich friends, both Jews and Romans, as to climb that tree, was no small humiliation. Zaccheus had a true conviction. He had counted the cost, and was ready to pay the price, and meet every condition in order to be saved.
“And when he came to the place, Jesus, looking up, said to him, Zaccheus, come down quickly; for it behooves Me to abide in your house this day.” That was the Jewish Sabbath, our Saturday, and the last Sabbath Jesus ever lived on the earth, as He was crucified the following Friday. As He has spent a number of days over in Perea, during which He delivered those thrilling parables recorded by Luke alone, it is highly probable that He crossed the Jordan the preceding day, just one week before His crucifixion, and had occupied the preceding morning traveling across the plain of the Jordan, ten miles, passing Gilgal on the road, and was now passing through Jericho. Hence, I believe, it is in the afternoon, and He proposes to spend the ensuing night in the house of Zaccheus, which was there convenient.
“And he came down speedily, and received Him rejoicing.” How long he had been under a genuine conviction of the Holy Spirit the record is silent. However, we are assured that when he ran on before the crowd and climbed up into the sycamore-tree, he was actuated by the real and genuine conviction of the Spirit, stirring him up to do anything and everything in his power to see Jesus and seek His pardoning mercy. Now you see him hasten down the tree and receive Jesus joyfully. Do you not know he is now converted? Sorrow fills the heart of a penitent sinner. Joy now floods the soul of Zaccheus. Rest assured, he is genuinely converted.
“All seeing Him, began to murmur, saying, He has come in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.” Of course, Zaccheus escorted Him to his house at once, which was there convenient, and, as the day was declining, all knew that He was going to spend the night with him.
“And Zaccheus, standing, said to the Lord, Behold, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if 1 have taken anything from any one fraudulently, I restore fourfold.” The scene now continues in front of Zaccheus’s house, and in the presence of the listening multitude. This testimony gloriously climaxes and abundantly confirms the genuine conversion of Zaccheus. Now look at the case, and see how many of you can compare testimony with him. Remember, he was rich. So this is a notable case for the encouragement of all the rich people, as here they have a genuine conversion. O that all would parallel it! Now hear his protestation in the presence of Jesus, “The half of all my goods I give to the poor.” How we need such men now to help out starving India! Now, you must remember, he was a Jew, a son of Abraham, living under the dispensation of the law of Moses, which specified in case of theft or robbery — and all cheating and fraud are stealing and robbing — if a man stole a sheep, he was to pay back two; if an ox, three; and if a horse, four. Hence, you see, Zaccheus climaxed the law. Whereas the statement, “If I have defrauded anything from any one,” in English, implies doubt, whether he had or not, it is not so in Greek, in which the case is clear that he had defrauded. So here you see an open proclamation to everybody whom he had cheated to come right along and get four times the amount. Not that they demand it, as they are glad to get the principal back; but he is determined to sweep all defalcation from the field, and leave the devil no handle to get hold of. Zaccheus was a whole-souled fellow. While money was his god, he went for it with all his might, and got it. Now that salvation is the enterprise of life and soul, he proposes to leave no stone unturned, but take the kingdom of heaven by storm. Of course, by the time he gives half of all his estate to the poor, and then restores all his ill-gotten gains fourfold, he has just about nothing left. But he is in a gloriously good fix, blessedly saved, and ready for the oncoming Pentecost, which is all he needs to send him, a flaming evangelist, to the ends of the earth, as he has the true and genuine foundation for a Pentecostal sanctification; i.e., a conversion almost Pauline.
“And Jesus said to him, This day has salvation come to this house, because he is also the son of Abraham.” As Zaccheus was a Jew, a regular, royal descendant of Father Abraham, he hails with joy the blessed Christ of the Abrahamic Covenant, and passes normally out of the dispensation of the law and the prophets, into the kingdom of God. “For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Jesus is seeking every sinner in all the world. It takes two to make a bargain. The reason why hell is filling up with such fearful rapidity is because the sinners do not seek Him. If you are hunting a man in a great city and he is not hunting you, it is doubtful whether you find him. But if he gets to hunting you, there will soon be a happy meeting. As Jesus is already seeking every sinner, when the sinner gets to seeking Him, they will soon meet in joyful embrace.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Luk 19:1-10
Luk 19:1-10
I. A whole paragraph is devoted to the delineation of one man’s life, while so many great subjects are hardly touched upon in the Christian Scriptures. Yet let us not complain of what looks to us like capriciousness and incompleteness of Divine revelation, for in these portrayals of individuals we have not only the most practical aspects of the Christian faith, but we get nearer to God than would otherwise have been possible.
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II. Zacchæus sought to see Jesus through natural curiosity, yet such curiosity may be turned to the highest uses; Zacchæus only sought to see the Man, but in the end he saw the Saviour; he desired to see a wonder, in the end he was made into a wonder himself.
III. Zacchæus would never have been chief among the publicans, and been rich, if he had succumbed to difficulties. His character was brought out by opposition. I contend that, what ever a man’s disadvantages may be, he can see Jesus Christ if he so determine in his heart.
IV. Jesus Christ looked, saw, and said. When Christians look and see and say, there will go forth into the world such an evangelising commission as never yet sought the recovery of men.
V. "He made haste, and came down, and received Him joyfully." This is a striking harmony with all that we have seen of Zacchæus. The man who could run and climb was just the man to make haste in coming down, and to give a joyful answer to such an appeal. Zacchæus would never have known himself if he had not first known Jesus Christ. It is ever noteworthy that by contact with the Saviour men become greater, and to their fuller strength is added all the charm of generosity. In this case there is a noticeable combination of liberality and justice; the poor and the wronged alike feel the blessed influence of this man’s renewal. All with whom he had to do were the better for his having received Jesus Christ into his heart.
Parker, City Temple, 1870, p. 74.
References: Luk 19:1.—T. T. Lynch, Sermons for My Curates, p. 71. Luk 19:1-10.—H. Scott Holland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 373. R. Rainy, Ibid., vol. xiii., p. 296; Homilist, vol. vii., p. 332, Ibid., new series, vol. i., p. 130. Luk 19:3.—Sermons for Boys and Girls, p. 194; Parker, Cavendish Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 302. Luk 19:5.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts, p. 104; Ibid., Sermons, vol. ii., No. 73. Luk 19:7.—Ibid., vol. xxii., No. 1,319.
Luk 19:9
I. Zacchæus was, humanly speaking, in as unfavourable a situation for turning to God, as anyone could be at that time. He was one of a set of men who might emphatically be called "that which is lost." And, therefore, when we find our Lord saying of this man, "This day is salvation come to this house," for that "he also is a son of Abraham," it is impossible not to perceive the freeness and fulness of the grace of the Gospel, which—at once, with no long probation of penitence or trial required—at once, forgiving all the past and trusting for the future; declares to the lost sinner that He was was one of Abraham’s children, and partaker therefore of Abraham’s blessing.
II. This is so true that to deny it were to deny the very foundation of the Gospel. But in giving this statement, I have not yet given the whole picture contained in the account of Zacchæus, and what remains is no less essential. The forgiveness was entire and immediate, because the repentance had been no less unhesitating and no less entire. Zacchæus "sought to see Jesus"—we know not with how much of mere curiosity, nor with what an imperfect knowledge; but he sought and took pains to see Him; and He who is found by all that seek Him, said immediately, "Zacchæus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house." But when Christ was come to him, when his first imperfect desires for good had been so largely blessed, then the love of Christ constrained him, and with no reserves, with no hesitation, he gave up all his heart to Him. He cares not for the sacrifice; he does not ask whether strict justice required so large a measure of restitution—much less whether the law was ever likely to enforce it; but he wishes to free himself wholly from the accursed thing, unlawful gain; he wishes to judge himself, that he be not judged of the Lord; he cannot bear that any portion of sin or sinful profit should remain in that heart and house which Christ and Christ’s Spirit had deigned to visit. So, then, no less complete and unreserved than the gift of the Gospel forgiveness is the feeling and the act of Christian repentance. Here, then, we find the Gospel in all its entireness; we see what is meant by forgiveness and also what is meant by repentance. Let our repentance be as full, as reserved, as immediate, as that of Zacchæus; and this day, yea this hour, is salvation come into our house, and it is proved that we also are sons of Abraham.
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. vi., p. 117.
References: Luk 19:9.—H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Waterside Mission Sermons, 2nd series, No. viii.; S. A. Tipple, Echoes of Spoken Words, p. 71.
Luk 19:10
The Redeemer’s Errand to this World.
I. We find in our text Christ’s estimate of the condition of humanity. It is something that is lost. Man is a lost thing. You may look at him in many lights. He is a toiling, hardworking creature. He is an anxious, careworn creature. But for the Redeemer’s purpose, the characteristic that surmounted and included and leavened and ran through all the rest, was, that he is a lost creature. All error from the right way; all distance from our heavenly Father’s house; all destitution and danger and impossibility of return, and imminence of final ruin, are conveyed in that one word, lost. Trace that word’s meaning out into its various shades and ramifications, and you will find that it implies, as no other can, all that we are; all that makes our need of the Saviour—His sacrifice, His Spirit, His intercession.
II. The text reminds us of what the blessed Redeemer did for us in our lost estate. He came to seek and save us. The world, so to speak, pushed itself into notice when it fell. Ah! the little planet might have circled round the sun, happy and holy; and never been singled out from the bright millions of which it is the least. But as it is, perhaps this fallen world’s name may be on the lips of angels, and in the thoughts of races that never sinned. We, when lost, as it might seem, in hopeless loss, were singled out thereby for the grandest, most precious, most glorious blessing that, so far as we know, was ever given by the Almighty. The Son of God left the glories of heaven to die for us. The Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost. It is, indeed, a mysterious thing, a thing not to be wholly explained by human wit, that the Son of God stood by till man had lost himself, and then came, at cost of painful quests, to seek and save him; when we might think He could so easily have kept man from wandering at all. May we not think that, apart from those grand, inscrutable reasons which the Almighty has for permitting the entrance of evil into His universe—those reasons which no man knows—the fact of the peculiar interest and pleasure which are felt in an evil remedied, a spoiled thing mended, a lost thing found, a wrong thing righted, may cast some light upon the nature of the Divine feeling toward the world and our race? When all evil that can be remedied is done away with, may not this world seem better to its Almighty Maker’s eye, than even when He beheld it, all very good, upon the evening of the sixth day?
A. K. H. B., Counsel and Comfort from a City Pulpit, p. 180.
The conventional religionists of our Lord’s time were very much shocked and scandalised at His manner of life. It was sufficiently surprising that He should be found so frequently in the society of peasants, and of women, and of children, instead of courting the patronage of the wealthy and the great; but it was perfectly outrageous that He should have become the friend of thieves and harlots;—and these respectable persons very frequently expressed their astonishment and their indignation at His strange conduct. And Jesus said to them, "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." They had never grasped the fact that Christ was a great Physician, and that His business was not to go to those who were in perfect health, but to go to those who were ill; and, first of all, to those whose case was most desperate.
I. Now in this Christ has left you and me an example that we should walk in His steps; and if we have the mind of Christ we shall follow the wandering sheep into the wilderness, and shall never rest until we find it. Our business is to go to the prodigal sons of God, and to persuade them to come home again; and, however far off they are, we must follow them to the distant country, and we must refuse to come back without them.
II. It is a remarkable thing in this parable that Christ makes no provision for defeat. He does not say what we are to do if they refuse to come in. He takes it for granted that we must overcome if we are in earnest. Christ everywhere assumes that we shall not fail. It was said by a great Latin historian of Alexander the Great that the secret of his marvellous victories, by which the world was brought to his feet, was this: he wisely dared to think nothing of imaginary dangers. All sorts of reports reached him with regard to the difficulties of invading Asia, and so forth, but he put them all on one side. The devil is always ready to exhibit a few ghosts of difficulties to terrify weak saints. Let us despise the ghosts; there is nothing in them. We cannot fail if our heart is full of love to God, and of sympathy with our fellow-Christians. The only real hindrance to the progress of the Gospel is unbelief in the form of downright selfishness.
H. P. Hughes, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvi., p. 184.
References: Luk 19:10.—F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 190; Parker, Cavendish Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 268; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 204; vol. xix., No. 1100. Luk 19:11.—T. T. Lynch, Sermons for My Curates, p. 103. Luk 19:11-27.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiv., p. 105; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., pp. 387, 385; vol. viii., p. 233; R. C. Trench, Notes on the Parables, p. 511. Luk 19:12-27.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 490; H. Calderwood, The Parables, p. 427; A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 273.
Luk 19:13
We have four things here, which, keeping to the metaphor of the text, I may designate as the Capital, the Business, the Profits, and the Audit.
I. The Capital. A pound was a very little thing for a prince who was going to get a kingdom to leave with his servants to trade upon. The smallness of the gift is, I think, an essential part of the representation. May it not be intended to point out to us this lesson—how small after all, even the high gift that we all receive alike here is, in comparison with what we are destined to receive when the kingdom comes? Even the salvation that is in Jesus Christ, as it is at present experienced on earth, is but like the one poor pound that was given to the servants, as compared with the unspeakable wealth that shall be theirs—the ten cities, the five cities, and all the glories of supremacy and sovereignty, when He comes.
II. Now a word about the Trading. You Christian men and women ought to make your Christian life and your Christian service a matter of business. Put the same virtues into it that some of you put into your trade. Your best business in this world, as the Shorter Catechism has it, is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever. And the salvation that you have got you have to trade upon, to make a business of, to work it out, in order that, by working it out, by living upon it, and living by it, applying its principles to daily life, and seeking to spread it among other people, it may increase and fructify in your hands.
III. The Profits. The immediate results are in direct correspondence and proportion to the immediate activity and diligence. The truths that you live by, you will believe more because you live by them. The faculties that you employ in Christ’s service will grow and increase by reason of your employment of them.
IV. The Audit. "Till I come; "or, "Whilst I am coming." As if all through the ages the king was coming, coming nearer. We have to work as remembering that everyone of us shall give an account of himself and his trading unto the Proprietor when He comes back.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, Sept. 2nd, 1886.
References: Luk 19:13.—J. Vaughan, Sermons, 9th series, p. 5; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 142; Ibid., vol. viii., p. 264; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vi., p. 225; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 271. Luk 19:14.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 154.
Luk 19:17
There is a principle in this award which regulates God’s dealings with us in either world. And it is this—the ground and secret of all increase is faithfulness. And we may all rejoice that this is the rule of God’s moral gifts, for had anything else except faithfulness been made the condition, many would have been unable—or, at least, would have thought themselves unable—to advance at all. But faithfulness is in everybody’s power; it is a simple, practical, everyday thing.
I. But what is faithfulness? A serious sense of responsibility leading to exactness in the discharge of duty; or the recognition of our accountability to our own conscience; or a feeling of having been entrusted with anything by God producing a desire to use it as He intended, that He may be glorified. (1) Faithfulness to convictions. So long as a man has not silenced them by sin, the heart is full of still, small voices, speaking to him everywhere. So long as a man has not by rough treatment severed them, the heart is full of little secret cords which are always drawing him. Those are convictions. Be faithful to them; for if you are unfaithful, they will get weaker and weaker, fewer and fewer, till they go out. (2) Faithfulness in little things to men. (a) It is of the utmost importance that you be scrupulously accurate and just in all your most trivial transactions of honour and business with your fellow-creatures. Do not imagine there is no religion in these things; no man’s soul will prosper who is not a rigidly honest man—honest in the minutiæ; (b) The acquisition and use of influence are great matters of faithfulness.
II. Faithfulness determines increase. To employ well the present is to command the future. The growth of your soul hangs upon its own fidelity; and more love, more joy, more peace, more presence, more Christ—are given to those who, day by day, are true to the love, the joy, the peace, the presence, the Christ, which they already have. And that for two reasons: (1) The natural law, which pervades all nature, that growth is the offspring of exercise; (2) the sovereign will of a just God to increase the gifts of those who use them.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 1868, p. 149.
References: Luk 19:17.—A. P. Peabody, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 127; D. G. Watt, Ibid., vol. xxviii., p. 77; J. Vaughan, Sermons, 8th series, p. 228
Luk 19:20-26
"To him that hath shall be given.".
I. The excuse of the slothful servant is the excuse of all lazy people. They cry themselves down lest they should be called upon to work; they avoid the duties of life till the world forgets to ask them to fulfil their duties, though God does not forget. They glide through a useless existence to a forgotten death, having buried themselves before they are buried by man, and they think that their sloth shall be continued beyond the grave—that they shall sleep there an eternal sleep; for what hope or faith in endless life can these dead men possess? But they are rudely awakened in the world to come. They find themselves standing before the tribunal of the Lord of utility, the Master of work. He asks for His own with usury. We have here in the parable a particular instance of this class of person, especially applicable to the Pharisee of the period. What was the reason this one-talented man had drifted into idleness and uselessness? One might call it a religious reason; he had gone on arguing about the nature of God, losing himself in speculations as to the character and work of God, instead of making use of what God had given him, till he finally arrived at doing nothing. These are the men and women who make the secularist objection of some weight—that thinking of insoluble questions, as they are called, unfits a man for life and work. The objection is fairly made against persons of this kind. For to such the questions will ever remain insoluble. Action, not speculation, finds out God. It is love and justice wrought out in life, not intellectual discussion and argument, which bring heaven near.
II, Let us pass on to the judgment. "Give it to him that hath ten talents." At first sight it seems strange that he that has most should have more; and it was thus it struck the standers-by. "Lord, he hath ten talents." On the contrary, it was strict justice; the sentence was, first, in full accordance with the wisdom we derive from our observations of men; and, secondly, with the laws of the working of the universe. It was a mere sentimental objection. Take, first, that side of it which had to do with the slothful servant. Why take from him his one talent with which he had done no harm? Give it back to him, and let him have another chance. The man who has ten talents has enough already. Yes, he will have another chance when his character has changed, but it will have to be changed by punishment, not by weak tenderness. He must be made to feel his uselessness, forced to alter his view of God and of himself, or else all the giving in the world is only doing men harm. To him that hath it is given. Grace is born from grace; to him who has love more love is given; he who is true can assimilate more truth; he who is pure deepens in purity; and by the working of this law the world is blessed, for the best is given to those who can use it best.
S. A. Brooke, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 125.
References: Luk 19:20.—H. W. Beecher, Sermons, vol. xxxi., p. 149; J. N. Norton, The King’s Ferry-boat, p. 102.
Luk 19:21
The Religion of Fear.
Such was the account, the only account, which a person could give why he had loved a useless, and because a useless a wrecked, life. There was indeed in his wickedness a strange inconsistency and contradiction. For he who could say, and truly say, as the secret of his whole life, "I feared Thee," was nevertheless the man to stand up with a most shameless effrontery, and say to the God whom he dreaded, words too insolent to be used to a fellow-man. So exceedingly remote may fear be from reverence; so easily may dread make common cause with daring.
I. You will observe that this man in the parable did not fear God because God was great and lofty and holy. Had his fear rested on that ground, probably he would not have been much blamed; or more probably still, his mind would not have been allowed to remain in that state. He did not, in fact, fear God for anything which God really is, he feared God for what God is not. And here was at once the nature of his fear and its guilt—it arose from false views of God, for which the man was responsible. There are three results which appear to me almost inevitable from a hard, cold religion of fear. It is sure to make religion a separate thing from life. The religion of that man will be a parenthesis;—religion the act, the world the feeling; religion a necessity, the world a delight; religion shadowy, the world real; religion an accident, the world the man. It is all summed up in the history of the ancient Samaritans: "They feared the Lord, and served their own gods."
II. The service of fear is sure to produce cunning. I see it again in the owner of the buried talent. He had not love or principle enough to do what he was told—"Occupy till I come." But there must be something for him to show, and something for him to say when his Master comes back. Therefore he just does what costs him nothing, and makes up by stratagem for what he leaves undone.
III. Fear paralyses energy. It was a true chain which the man drew. "I did nothing because I was afraid." There is an awful negativeness about fear, a solitude, a desolation. The fact is, we all work up towards a final idea—but if there is no final idea, what shall we work up to? Take away that final idea, and life in its immortality ceases to be.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 7th series, p. 240.
References: Luk 19:22-32.—W. Hubbard, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 378. Luk 19:26.—T. Hammond, Ibid., vol. xv., p. 113. Luk 19:28.—Homilist, vol. v., p. 502. Luk 19:29.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 136. Luk 19:29-44.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 263. Luk 19:29-48.—A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 328. Luk 19:30-40.—Parker, Cavendish Pulpit, vol. i., p. 121 Luk 19:37.—J. Keble, Sermons from Advent to Christmas Eve, p. 1. Luk 19:37-40.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii., No. 678; Homilist, vol. vi., p. 272. Luk 19:40.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 83; E. Maclean, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiv., p. 5.
Luk 19:41
I. It is interesting and instructive to notice in this passage how the Lord regards men—both in their corporate and their individual capacities. He made us, and He knows what is in man. He knows that each immortal stands on His own feet, and must meet with God alone, as far as regards all the rest of humanity. But He knows and recognises also, that we are made with social instincts and faculties, that we cannot exercise the functions of our nature without society; and that we are all affected deeply by our intercourse with others, both as regards our time and our eternity. In one aspect, each man stands or falls for himself alone; in another aspect, we grasp each other, and, like the victims of a shipwreck, either help to sink or help to save one another. It is in the latter aspect that our Lord regarded the inhabitants of Jerusalem as He looked on them across the glen from the neighbouring mountain’s brow. They were brethren in iniquity. Hand was joining in hand in preparation for the highest crime ever done in the universe. They were leagued in a dark covenant to crucify the Son of God. Looking down on Jerusalem, and making great lamentation over it, the ground of His grief was, not that they had sinned and so brought on themselves condemnation—in that there was nothing peculiar to Jerusalem;—what makes Him weep is, that they will not accept redemption at His hands.
II. "In this thy day"—Jerusalem had a day. Every community and every person has a day—a day of mercy. If in that day the lost shall turn they shall get life in the Lord. But if they allow their day to pass, there remaineth only darkness—"a fearful looking for of judgment." "The things which belong unto thy peace." The things which God had fixed in the eternal covenant, and revealed in the fulness of time, were things that Jerusalem did not know. Like the wayside, hard, trodden ground, they did not open their hearts to take in the seed of the Word. The lesson that we learn from the text is this: that Jesus, the Author and Possessor and Giver of eternal redemption to the lost, rejoices when they accept His gift, and weeps over them when they neglect it.
W. Arnot, The Anchor of the Soul, p. 326.
References: Luk 19:41.—J. Greenhough, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 291; Parker, Christian Commonwealth, vol. vii., p. 611; Church of England Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 369; C. Kingsley, Discipline and other Sermons, p. 290; Homilist, vol. vi., p. 104; Ibid., 3rd series, vol. i., p. 156; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvi., No. 1570; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 92; J. Armstrong, Parochial Sermons, p. 28; J. Keble. Sermons for Sundays after Trinity, part i., p. 353; H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Waterside Mission Sermons, No. xx.; Ibid., The Life of Duty, vol. ii., p. 85; W. G. Horder, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 152; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 21.
Luk 19:41-42
I. In the case before us spiritual indifference was the sign of concealed ruin.
II. While spiritual indifference conceals the downward course of the soul’s life, it at the same time hides the Christ who alone can save.
III. In spiritual indifference Christ saw: (1) A self-wrought ruin; (2) ruin rapidly becoming hopeless.
E. L. Hull, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 181.
References: Luk 19:41, Luk 19:42.—J. Vaughan, Sermons, 7th series, p. 143; G. Calthrop, Pulpit Recollections, p. 86; C. Kingsley, Town and Country Sermons, p. 237; Church of England Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 238; Homilist, new series, vol. i., p. 522. Luk 19:41-44.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 233; Ibid., Forty-eight Sermons, vol. i., p. 359. Luk 19:43, Luk 19:44.—W. C. E. Newbolt, Counsels of Faith and Practice, p. 229.
Luk 19:44
To the account which St. Matthew gives of our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem, St. Luke adds the passage of which these words are part. Let us take them home to ourselves in the trial which is ever going on of our own lives. The day of visitation, we may be sure, comes in one shape or another to us all. Not to know the time of our visitation means not to recognise the significance and the bearing of those trials for which we live, which search our hearts and test their soundness. It is not to know when God gives us some fresh opportunity of good, not to be alive to the openings and the secret leadings which come to us all in due season for a decisive step in the higher choice of a higher life; not to recognise when the time comes, as it comes to all, which is meant especially to suit our necessities, to offer us a door of escape, to encourage and assist us in doing some good thing for God.
I. There is one kind of visitation which many of us are going through now, as real as if we had to make up our minds, or take our side in some difficult question of right or wrong, in some critical decision as to whether we will walk in the ways of evil or of good. How many of us are leading a quiet and peaceful life, an uninterrupted life, without anything greatly to disturb or trouble us—no great sorrow, no great pain, no great fear, no great disadvantage to struggle with, no great care to weigh us down? There are the common temptations and burdens which belong to the lot of all men; but these surely are little to speak of when we think what other men have had—have now—to go through; what might have come upon us, and has not. And in this kind of life we go on undisturbed, it may be, from year to year. But there are two things to be remembered. One is, that without superstitiously vexing ourselves with the misgiving that God does bring evil upon us in proportion to good, it yet is obviously true that all this quiet cannot go on as it is for ever, that we must expect some time or other, some of the severer trials of life; that it is not likely that we should always escape pain, or vexation, or sickness so entirely, at least, as we are doing now. We are still men, and under the covenant of sickness and death. This is one thing; and the other, and even more important, is this—this time of quiet is a time of visitation. In this time of peace and regular work, and quiet days and nights of sweet sleep, He is trying us, He is training us, and He is giving us time to fit ourselves, insensibly it may be, to meet the harsher ways of His Providence. Surely it is but too easy in the midst of peace and mercy to forget the great seriousness of life, where we are going, whom we have to deal with, what He has given us to do, whom we shall meet when we are dead, how we shall give an account of what we have had and enjoyed. And if we let all this slip out of mind we are missing our day, we are hearing the call of God without heeding, we are failing under our appointed trial, the trial of God’s loving tenderness, just as if the trial were one of severity and sorrow, and suffering, and we were murmuring. The time of our visitation is upon us and we are not knowing it.
II. One word more. Without frightening ourselves with fears and fancies, which in the shape in which we dwell upon them, will probably never be realised, it is likely that we shall all of us have to be troubled in one way or another. If it is now with us a time of peace and quiet, now is the time to fit ourselves to meet trouble if it should come—not by foolishly vexing ourselves about it, but by arming ourselves with that faith and trust in God, those steady regular habits of relying upon Him, and committing ourselves to His hand, which will alone help us, alone keep us up when the weather changes and the storm begins to rise. Now you have no pain to take off your thoughts, to weaken your bodies, to cloud your faculties, now you have no bitterness of sorrow to fill your heart; you have time to think, to learn, to consider, to give calm attention to what most concerns your peace. If this be your lot, if this is the manner of your visitation, see that you recognise it, and see that you do not waste it and trifle it away.
R. W. Church, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 353.
References: Luk 19:44.—H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xx., p. 113; J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays after Trinity, part i., p. 333.
Luk 19:45-46
The Cleansing of the Temple.
In this passage we notice:—
I. Our Lord’s zeal—that zeal of which the Psalmist said, speaking prophetically: "The zeal of Thine house hath even eaten me." Let Christ our Lord be in this as in other things a pattern to us; let the honour of God be with us a governing principle; if the command of God be clear one way, then, even though everybody be on the other side, let us have the courage to take our stand on His command. And perhaps a little more courage on our part would be rewarded with the same kind of victory which our Lord obtained; men’s consciences were convinced and they yielded to His word, and so I think it will frequently happen in our time.
II. Again, the conduct of our Lord shows us the reverence that is due to God’s house. The Jewish Temple was emphatically a house of prayer; it was a place where God had promised His special presence to those who came to worship; and whatever honour was due to the Temple, as the house of God and the place of prayer, is due to the Christian Church. The tables of money-changers must not be here; this is no place for thoughts of gain, it is a profanation of God’s Temple to bring them here. Christ would not allow any money-dealings in the Temple of old, and He will not allow them here; wherefore we should remember that all thoughts of worldly profit are to be left outside the Church porch. This is no place for them—this is a house of prayer, the house of God.
III. We are reminded by our Lord’s cleansing of the Temple in the days of His flesh of that awful cleansing of His Temple which will one day take place, when all that is vile and offensive shall be cast out of His Temple, and everything that maketh a lie cast into the lake of brimstone. Let each one of us ask himself: "Will Christ, when He comes to judgment say of me, ’Take this man hence’?"
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 1st series, p. 292.
References: Luk 19:45, Luk 19:46.—H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 27. Luk 19:45-48.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 181; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 141. Luk 19:46.—G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines of Sermons, p. 255. Luk 19:48.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 36. Luk 20:4.—Ibid., vol. v., p. 31; Homiletic Magazine, vol. x., p. 99. Luk 20:9-17.—Ibid., vol. vii. p. 40. Luk 20:9-18.—H. Calderwood, The Parables, p. 317; A. B. Bruce, The Parabolic Teaching of Christ, p. 447. Luk 20:18.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 362. Luk 20:20.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 97. Luk 20:24.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 3rd series, p. 54.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v5
Luke
MELTED BY KINDNESS
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Luk 19:5.
It is characteristic of Luke that only he tells the story of Zacchaeus. He always dwells with special interest on incidents bringing out the character of Christ as the Friend of outcasts. His is eminently the Gospel of forgiveness. For example, we owe to Him the three supreme parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son, as well as those of the Pharisee and the publican praying in the Temple; and of the good Samaritan. It is he that tells us that all the publicans and sinners came near to Jesus to hear Him; and he loses no opportunity of enforcing the lesson with which this incident closes, ‘The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.’ It is because of the light that it throws upon that great thought that he tells this fascinating story of Zacchaeus. I need not repeat it. We all remember it, and the quaintness and grotesqueness of part of it fix it in people’s memories. We know how the rich tax gatherer, pocketing his dignity, and unable to see over the heads of the crowd, scrambled up into the branches of the sycamore tree that overhung the road; and there was found by the eye of love, and surprised by the words of kindness, which melted him down, and made a new man of him on the spot. The story seems to me to be full of teaching, to which I desire to turn your attention at this time.
I. First, note the outcast, drawn by imperfect motives to Jesus Christ.
It has been supposed that this man was a Gentile, but his Jewish name establishes his origin. And, if so, the fact that he was a publican and a Jew says a good deal about his character. There are some trades which condemn, to a certain extent, the men who engage in them. You would not expect to find a man of sensitive honour acting as a professional spy; or one of earnest religious character keeping a public-house. You would not expect to find a very good Jew condescending to be the tool of the Roman Government. Zacchaeus was at the head of the revenue office in Jericho, a position of considerable importance, inasmuch as there was a large volume of trade through that city from its situation near the fords of the Jordan, and from the fertility of the plain in which it stood. He had made some money, and probably made it by very questionable means. He was the object, not undeservedly, of the execration and suspicion of his countrymen. Italians did not love Italians who took service under Austria. Irishmen did not love Irishmen who in the bad old days used to collect church cess. And so Jews had no very kind feeling towards Jews who became Caesar’s servants. That a man should be in such a position indicated that he cared more for money than for patriotism, religion, or popular approval. His motto was the motto of that Roman Emperor who said, ‘Money has no smell,’ out of whatever cesspool it may have been fished up. But the consciousness of being encompassed by universal hatred would induce the object of it to put on an extra turn of the screw, and avenge upon individuals the general hostility. So we may take it for granted that Zacchaeus, the head of the Jericho custom-house, and rich to boot, was by no means a desirable character.
What made him want to see Jesus Christ? He said to himself, curiosity; but probably he was doing himself injustice, and there was something else working below than merely the wish to see what sort of man was this Rabbi Joshua from Galilee that everybody was talking about. Had he heard that Jesus had a soft place in His heart for his class? Or was he, perhaps, beginning to get tired of being the butt of universal hatred, and finding that money scarcely compensated for that? Or was there some reaching out towards some undefined good, and a dissatisfaction with a very defined present, though unnamed, evil? Probably so. Like some of us, he put the trivial motive uppermost because he was half ashamed of the half-conscious better one.
I wonder if there are any here now who said to themselves that they would come out of curiosity to hear the preacher, or from some such ordinary motive, and who all the while have, lying deep below that, another reason altogether, a dim feeling that it is not all right between them and God, and that here may be the place to have it put right? At all events, from whatsoever imperfect motives little Zacchaeus was perched up in the sycamore there, he went to see Christ, and he got more than he went for. Unconsciously we may be drawn, and imperfect motives may lead us to a perfect Saviour.
He sets us an example in another way. Do not be too punctilious about dignity in pursuing aims that you know to be good. It would be a sight to bring jeers and grins on the faces of the crowd to see the rich man of the custom-house sitting up amongst the leaves. But he did not mind about that if he got a good look at the Rabbi when He passed. People care nothing for ridicule if their hearts are set upon a thing. I wish there were more of us who did not mind being laughed at if only what we did helped us to see Jesus Christ. Do not be afraid of ridicule. It is not a test of truth; in nine cases out of ten it is the grimace of fools.
II. Then, further, notice the self-invited Guest.
When the little procession stopped under the sycamore tree, Zacchaeus would begin to feel uncomfortable. He may have had experience in past times of the way in which the great doctors of orthodoxy were in the habit of treating a publican, and may have begun to be afraid that this new one was going to be like all the rest, and elicit some kind of mob demonstration against him. The crowd would be waiting with intense curiosity to see what would pass between the Rabbi and the revenue collector. They would all be very much astonished. ‘Zacchaeus! make haste and come down. To-day I must abide at thy house.’ Perhaps it was the first time since he had been a child at his mother’s knee that he had heard his name pronounced in tones of kindness. There was not a ragged beggar in Jericho who would not have thought himself degraded by putting his foot across the threshold that Jesus now says He will cross.
It is the only time in which we read that Jesus volunteered to go into any house. He never offers to go where He is not wanted, any more than He ever stays away where He is. And so the very fact of His saying ‘I will abide at thy house,’ is to me an indication that, deep down below Zacchaeus’ superficial and vulgar curiosity, there was something far more noble which our Lord fosters into life and consciousness by this offer.
Many large truths are suggested by it on which we may touch. We have in Christ’s words an illustration of His individualising knowledge. ‘Zacchaeus, come down.’ There is no sign that anybody had told Christ the name, or that He knew anything about Zacchaeus before by human knowledge. But the same eye that saw Nathanael under the fig-tree saw Zacchaeus in the sycamore; and, seeing in secret, knew without being told the names of both. Christ does not name men in vain. He generally, when He uses an individual’s name in addressing him, means either to assert His knowledge of his character, or His authority over him, or in some way or other to bespeak personal adhesion and to promise personal affection. So He named some of His disciples, weaving a bond that united each single soul to Himself by the act. This individualising knowledge and drawing love and authority are all expressed, as I think, in that one word ‘Zacchaeus.’ And these are as true about us as about him. The promises of the New Testament, the words of Jesus Christ, the great, broad, universal ‘whosoevers’ of His assurance and of His commandments are as directly meant for each of us as if they were in an envelope with our names upon them and put into our hands. We, too, are spoken to by Him by our names, and for us, too, there may be a personal bond of answering love that knits us individually to the Master, as there certainly is a bond of personal regard, compassion, affection, and purpose of salvation in His heart in regard of each single soul of all the masses of humanity. I should have done something if I should have been able to gather into a point, that blessedly pierced some heart to let the life in, the broad truths of the Gospel. ‘Whosoever will, let him come.’ Say to yourself, ‘That is me.’ ‘Whosoever cometh I will in no wise cast out.’ Say to yourself, ‘That is me.’ And in like manner with all the general declarations, and especially with that chiefest of them all, ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.’ Read it as you may-and you will never read it right until you do-’God so loved me’-John, Mary, or whatever be your name-’Jesus so loved me that if I believe upon Him I shall not perish, but have everlasting life.’
Then, note, further, how here we get the revelation, in a concrete form, of Christ’s perfect willingness and desire to make common cause, and dwell with the most degraded and outcast. I have said that this is the only instance in which He volunteered to be a guest. Pharisees asked Him, and He did not refuse. The publican’s dwelling, which was tabooed, He opened the door of by His own hand. And that is what He always does.
This little incident may be taken to be, not merely a symbol of His whole dealings, but an illustration, in small, of the same principle which has its largest embodiment and illustration in the fact of His Incarnation and Manhood. Why did Jesus Christ take flesh and dwell among us? Because He desired to seek and to save that which is lost. Why did He go into the publican’s house, and brave the sneers of the crowd, and associate Himself with the polluted? For the same reason. Microscopic crystals and gigantic ones are due to the same forces working in the same fashion. This incident is more than a symbol; it is a little instance of the operation of the law which finds its supreme and transcendent instance in the fact that the Eternal Son of God bowed the heavens and came down ‘and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.’
His example is our pattern. A Christian church which does not imitate its Master in its frank and continual willingness to associate itself with the degraded and the outcast has lost one of the truest signs of its being vitalised with the life of Christ. There is much in this day in the condition of Christian communities to make men dissatisfied and fearful. But there is one thing which, though in all its developments one cannot sympathise with it, is in its essence wholly good, and that is the new and quickened consciousness that a church which does not address itself to the outcasts has no business to live; and that Christian people who are too proud of their righteousness to go amongst the unclean and the degraded are a great deal more of Pharisees than Christians, and have need to learn which be the first principles of the religion which they profess. Self-righteousness gathers up its skirts in holy horror; perfect righteousness goes cheerily and without fear amongst the outcasts, for where should the physician go but to the sick, and where should Christ be found but in the house of the publican?
Further, the saying of our Lord suggests His recognition of the great law that ruled His life. Chronology here is of much importance. We do not generally remember that the scene with Zacchaeus was within about a week of the Crucifixion. Our Lord was on that last journey to Jerusalem to die, during the whole of which there was over His demeanour a tension of holy impatience, altogether unlike His usual manner, which astonished and amazed the disciples as they followed Him. He set His face like a flint to go to Jerusalem; and strode before them on the way as if He were eager to reach the culmination of His sufferings and of His work. Thus borne on the wings of the strong desire to be perfected on the Cross, He is arrested on His path. Nothing else was able to stop Him, but ‘To-day I must abide in thy house.’ There was a soul to be saved; and the world’s sacrifice had to wait till the single soul was secured. Christ hurrying, if I may use the word, at all events steadfastly and without wavering, pressing towards the Cross, let His course be stopped by this need. The highest ‘must’ was obedience to the Father’s will, and parallel with that need there was the other, of rescuing the Father’s prodigal sons. So this elder Brother owned the obligation, and paused on the road to Calvary, to lodge in the house of Zacchaeus. Let us learn the sweet lesson, and take the large consolations that lie in such a thought.
Again, the utterance of this self-invited Guest suggests His over-abundant fulfilment of timid, half-conscious desires. I said at the beginning of my remarks that only curiosity was on the surface; but that the very fact that our Lord addressed Himself to the man seemed to imply that He descried in him something more than mere vulgar curiosity. And the glad leap with which Zacchaeus came down from his tree might have revealed to Zacchaeus himself, as no doubt it did to some of the bystanders, what it was that he had been dimly wishing. So with us all there are needs, longings, half-emerging wishes, that have scarcely come into the field of consciousness, but yet have power enough to modify our actions. Jesus Christ understands all about us, and reads us better than we do ourselves; and is ready to meet, and by meeting to bring into full relief, these vague feelings after an undefined good. Brethren, He is to us, if we will let Him be, all that we want; and He is to us all that we need, although we only half know that we need it, and never say to ourselves that we wish it.
There is a last thought deducible from these words of our Lord’s; and that is, His leaving a man to decide whether he will have Him or no. ‘Make haste and come down, for to-day I must abide at thy house. Yes! but if Zacchaeus had stuck in his tree, Christ’s ‘must’ would not have been fulfilled. He would have gone on to Jerusalem if the publican had not scrambled down in haste. He forces Himself on no man; He withholds Himself from no man. He respects that awful prerogative of being the architects of our own evil and our own good, by our own free and unconstrained choice.
Did you ever think that it was now or never with this publican; that Jesus Christ was never to go through the streets of Jericho any more; that it was Zacchaeus’ last chance; and that, if he had not made haste, he would have lost Christ for ever? And so it is yet. There may be some in this place at this moment to whom Jesus Christ is now making His last appeal. I know not; no man knows. A Rabbi said, when they asked him when a man should repent, ‘Repent on the last day of your lives.’ And they said, ‘But we do not know when that will be.’ And he said, ‘Then repent now.’ So I say, because some of you may never hear Christ’s Gospel again, and because none of us know whether we shall or not; make sure work of it now, and do not let Jesus Christ go out of the city and up the road between the hills yonder; for if once the folds of the ravine shut Him from sight He will never be back in Jericho, or seen by Zacchaeus any more for ever.
III. And so, lastly, notice the outcast melted by kindness.
We do not know at what stage in our Lord’s intercourse with the publican he ‘stood and said, Half of my goods I give to the poor,’ and so on. But whensoever it was, it was the sign of the entire revolution that had been wrought upon him by the touch of that loving hand, and by the new fountain of sympathy and love that he had found in Jesus Christ.
Some people have supposed, indeed, that his words do not mark a vow for the future, but express his practice in the past. But it seems to me to be altogether incongruous that Zacchaeus should advertise his past good in order to make himself out to be not quite so bad as people thought him, and, therefore, not so unworthy of being Christ’s host. Christ’s love kindles sense of our sin, not complacent recounting of our goodness. So Zacchaeus said, ‘Lord! Thou hast loved me, and I wonder. I yield, and fling away my black past; and, so far as I can, make restitution for it.’
The one transforming agency is the love of Christ received into the heart. I do not suppose that Zacchaeus knew as much about Jesus Christ even after the conversation as we do; nor did he see His love in that supreme death on the Cross as we do. But the love of the Lord made a deep dint in his heart, and revolutionised his whole nature. The thing that will alter the whole current and set of a man’s affections, that will upset his estimate of the relative value of material and spiritual, and that will turn him inside out and upside down, and make a new man of him, is the revelation of the supreme love that in Jesus Christ has come into the world, with an individualising regard to each of us, and has died on the Cross for the salvation of us all. Nothing else will do it. People had frowned on Zacchaeus, and it made him bitter. They had execrated and persecuted him; and his only response was setting his teeth more firmly and turning the screw a little tighter when he had the chance. You can drive a man into devilry by contempt. If you want to melt him into goodness, try love. The Ethiopian cannot change his skin, but Jesus Christ can change his heart, and that will change his skin by degrees. The one transforming power is faith in the love of Jesus Christ.
Further, the one test of a true reception of Him is the abandonment of past evil and restitution for it as far as possible. People say that our Gospel is unreal and sentimental, and a number of other ugly adjectives. Well! If it ever is so, it is the fault of the speakers, and not of the Gospel. For its demands from every man that accepts it are intensely practical, and nothing short of a complete turning of his back upon his old self, shown in the conclusive forsaking of former evil, however profitable or pleasant, and reparation for harm done to men, satisfies them.
It is useless to talk about loving Jesus Christ and trusting Him, and having the sweet assurance of forgiveness, and a glorious hope of heaven, unless these have made you break off your bad habits of whatsoever sort they may be, and cast them behind your backs. Strong emotion, sweet deep feeling, assured confidence in the sense of forgiveness and the hope of heaven, are all very well. Let us see your faith by your works; and of these works the chief is-Behold the evil that I did, I do it no more: ‘Behold! Lord! the half of my goods I give to the poor.’ There was a young ruler, a chapter before this, who could not make up his mind to part with wealth in order to follow Christ. This man has so completely made up his mind to follow Christ that he does not need to be bidden to give up his worldly goods. The half given to the poor, and fourfold restoration to those whom he had wronged, would not leave much. How astonished Zacchaeus would have been if anybody had said to him that morning, ‘Zacchaeus! before this night falls you will be next door to a pauper, and you will be a happier man than you are now!’ So, dear friends, like him, all of us may, if we will, and if we need, make a sudden right-about-face that shall alter the complexion of our whole future. People tell us that sudden conversions are suspicious. So they may be in certain cases. But the moment when a man makes up his mind to change the direction in which his face is set will always be a moment, however long may be the hesitation, and the meditation, and the preparation that led up to it.
Jesus Christ is standing before each of us as truly as He did before that publican, and is saying to us as truly as He said to him, ‘Let Me in.’ ‘Behold! I stand at the door and knock. If any man open . . . I will enter.’ If He comes in He will teach you what needs to be turned out if He is to stop; and will make the sacrifice blessed and not painful; and you will be a happier and a richer man with Christ and nothing than with all beside and no Christ.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Zacceleus. The Pounds. Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. He…
Zacceleus. The Pounds. Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. He Cleanses the Temple
1-10. Zacchaeus (peculiar to Lk). The narrative shows that our Lord's familiar intercourse with publicans and sinners was justified by its results. Zacchaeus became a convert, surrendered half of his great wealth to the poor, and made restitution for his past misdeeds
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2. The chief] RV 'a chief publican.' 'There must have been at Jericho one of the principal custom-houses, both on account of the exportation of the balm which grew in that oasis, and which was sold in all countries of the world, and on account of the considerable traffic which took place on this road, by which lay the route from Persea to Judaea and Egypt. Zacchaeus was at the head of this office' (Godet). It is unlikely that Zacchaeus belonged to the highest class of publicani, who collected the taxes of whole provinces or kingdoms, though occasionally Jews filled such an office. Zacchaeus has a Hebrew name, and is clearly a Jew: see on Mat_5:46; Mat_9:9-13.
3. To see, etc.] RV 'to see who Jesus was,' i.e. to distinguish Him in the dense crowd which surrounded Him.
4. A sycomore] not the English sycamore, but a tree which receives its name from the fact that its fruit is like a fig, and its leaves like those of the mulberry: cp. Luk_17:6 and Amo_7:14. Sycamores are not now very common in Palestine.
5. At thy house] Jericho was a priestly city, and according to the Talmud contained as many priests as Jerusalem. Specially significant, therefore, was Christ's resolution to lodge with a publican.
8. And Zacchaeus stood] Probably after the feast, or on the next day. The effect of our Lord's conversation was the complete conversion of Zacchaeus, which immediately showed itself in act. I give] viz. at this moment. Up to the time of his conversion Zacchaeus had given little in charity. He now atones for his past neglect by surrendering one-half of his capital. If I have taken, etc.] RV 'wrongfully exacted ought.' He proposes to examine into his past transactions, and if he has wronged any one, to make restitution out of the half of his capital which he still retains. Fourfold] The Law only required this from a detected thief (Exo_22:1).
9. To this house] Because with Zacchaeus his family and household servants were converted.
A son of Abraham] both in descent and character. This the Pharisees would have denied, for they ranked publicans with the heathen: see on Mat_5:46.
10. Cp. Mat_18:11
11-27. Parable of the Pounds (peculiar to Lk, but similar to the Parable of the Talents, Mat_25:14, q.v.). It differs from that parable, (1) in the introduction of the rebellious citizens, Luk_19:14, Luk_19:27; (2) in its graduation of the rewards and punishments of the next world; (3) in representing future bliss as a state of social activity in a perfect community.
The nobleman (Luk_19:12) is Christ Himself, who goes into a far country (heaven), to receive for Himself a kingdom (almighty power over the universe), and to return (at the Second Advent). He calls His ten servants (all the members of His Church), and entrusts them with a pound each (i.e. all their bodily, mental, and spiritual capacities). The citizens who hate Him are all the enemies of Christ. They are called His citizens, because even the wicked are by right His subjects, seeing that He has created and redeemed them. On His return (to judge the world), He summons the ten servants (such Christians -as appear to have been faithful to their trust), and enquires what use they have made of the capacities and opportunities entrusted to them. Some have made great use, others little, others none at all; and are accordingly recompensed, some by being placed over ten cities (a great reward), others over five cities (a less reward), others by being entirely excluded from all the rewards of the future kingdom. The taking of the pound from the man who did not use it, signifies that faculties, which are not used, are finally lost; and the giving of the pound to him who had ten already, signifies that those faculties which are rightly used are capable of indefinite increase. The ten cities and the five cities indicate the different kinds of employment assigned in heaven to persons of different spiritual capacity. They also, perhaps, indicate different states of blessedness assigned to the saved in accordance with their behaviour in the previous state of probation on earth. In the corresponding parable in Mt the teaching is different. There all the faithful servants show the same diligence, and receive the same reward. The slaying of the rebellious citizens (Luk_19:27) represents the judgment of the wicked at the Last Day. This parable, like so many others, assigns to Jesus the position of King and Judge of the human race. It may, therefore, be fairly used to prove His Divinity.
11. Because they thought] The multitudes thought that Jesus was going to Jerusalem to set up the Messianic kingdom at once. Jesus therefore explained by a parable that the kingdom would not be established till His Second Coming, and that even then not all the children of Abraham, but only the spiritually fit, would be admitted into it. This was the chief lesson to the multitudes, who expected that all Israelites would share in the future glory. To the disciples the lesson was that even among the saved there would be differences, and that, therefore, those who wished a great reward in the future kingdom of heaven must labour with all diligence in their various vocations on earth.
13. Servants] lit. 'slaves.' Pounds] lit. mince. The mina was the sixtieth part of a talent, i.e. 100 denarii, or £4.
14. We will not, etc.] This v. may have a special reference to Christ's rejection by the Jews after His Resurrection and Ascension. For the historical fact which perhaps suggested this incident in the parable, see art. 'Dynasty of the Herods' (Archelaus).
24, 25. This complete misapprehension of Christ's character shows that he had never really 'known' Christ with saving knowledge.
27. Although this v. describes the final punishment of those who reject Christ, it may also have reference to the temporal destruction of those Jews who rejected Christ at the fall of Jerusalem.
28-40. The triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mat_21:1; Mar_11:1; Joh_12:12). See on Mt and Jn.
37. The descent] There was a magnificent view of Jerusalem and the Temple from this point, and at the sight of the capital of the new kingdom the multitudes broke into a shout of triumph.
38. Peace in heaven] i.e. There is peace for man (i.e. favour with God) in heaven. By sending the Messiah, God shows that He regards His people with favour. The expression is peculiar to Lk: cp. Luk_2:14.
41-44. Christ weeps over Jerusalem (peculiar to Lk). 'The path mounts again; it climbs a rugged ascent; it reaches a ledge of smooth rock, and in an instant the whole city bursts into view. As now the dome of the Mosque El-Aksa rises like a ghost from the earth before the traveller stands on the ledge, so then must have risen the Temple-tower; as now the vast enclosure of the Mussulman sanctuary, so then must have spread the Temple-courts; as now the grey town on its broken hills, so then the magnificent city, with its background—long since vanished away—of gardens and suburbs on the W. plateau behind. Immediately below was the valley of the Kedron, here seen in its greatest depth as it joins the Valley of Hinnom, and thus giving full effect to the great peculiarity of Jerusalem seen from its E. side—its situation as of a city rising out of a deep abyss. It is hardly possible to doubt that this rise and turn of the road, this rocky ledge, was the exact point where the multitude paused again, and He, when He beheld the city, wept over it” (Stanley). Cp. Mat_23:37.
42. If thou hadst known] i.e. O that thou hadst known! This implies previous visits of Christ to Jerusalem. This thy day] i.e. the time of Christ's earthly ministry.
43. Enemies] i.e. the Romans. A trench] lit. 'a palisade.' The Romans actually raised a palisade round Jerusalem. The Jews burnt it, and the Romans replaced it by a wall.
44. Thy children] i.e. thy inhabitants.
The time of thy visitation] i.e. the time of Christ's ministry.
45. 46. Second cleansing' of the Temple (Mat_21:12; Mar_11:15). See on Mt.
47, 48. Jesus teaches daily. Cp. Mar_11:18.
48. Were very attentive] RV 'hung upon him, listening.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On v1 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CIII. Journey to…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CIII. Journey to Jerusalem].
CIII. ZACCHÆUS. PARABLE OF THE POUNDS. JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM. (Jericho.) cLUKE XIX. 1-28.
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c1 And he entered and was passing through Jericho. [This was about one week before the crucifixion. Jericho is about seven miles from the Jordan and about seventeen and a half from Jerusalem.] 2 And behold, a man called by name Zacchaeus; and he was a chief publican, and he was rich. [See Exo_22:1-4, Num_5:7. The proposition of Zacchæus to restore fourfold suggests that the bulk of his wealth had not been gained in dishonest ways, for if so he would not have been able to make such a restitution.] 9 And Jesus said unto him, To-day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. [The visit of Jesus had converted Zacchæus and brought salvation to his house. Though as yet Jesus was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ( Mat_15:24), and was not proclaiming [563] salvation to the Gentiles, yet he could consistently receive Zacchæus, for, though an outcast publican, he had not so forfeited his sonship in Abraham as to bar him from this right. He was one of the "lost sheep," the very class to which Jesus was sent.] 11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and i because they supposed that the kingdom of God was immediately to appear. [The opening words show that the parable which follows was spoken in the house of Zacchæus. So far as the record shows, this was the first time in his ministry that Jesus ever approached Jerusalem with a crowd. By thus approaching Jerusalem with a multitude it seemed to the people that Jesus was consenting to be crowned. And they were filled with those dreams and expectations which a few days later resulted in the triumphal entry. All things pointed to a crisis, and the people were eagerly looking for honors and rewards under the new ruler. Jesus corrected these false views by a parable which showed that there must be patient waiting and faithful work before there could be any season of reward.] 12 A certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. [Those present were looking for the crowning of Jesus at Jerusalem, but he was to ascend into that far country called heaven and was there to receive the kingdom of the earth ( Act_2:32, Act_2:33, Mat_28:18), and his return in earthly majesty is yet to take place-- 1Co_11:26. 13 And he called ten servants of his, and gave them ten pounds, and said unto them, Trade ye i herewith till I come. [To each of the servants he gave a crown, which was equal to about seventeen dollars of our money. It was a paltry sum for a nobleman and suggests a state of poverty and humiliation such as would give small incentive to any to remain faithful to his service.] 14 But his citizens hated him, and sent an ambassage after him, saying, We will not that this man reign over us. [In addition to the servants, this nobleman had citizens, or subjects who owed him respect and reverence pending the confirmation of his kingdom, and [564] homage and obedience after that confirmation. But their hatred of him led them to oppose his confirmation, saying, "We will not," etc. These citizens represented the Jews, and Theophylact well observes how near the Jews came to repeating these very words of rejection when they said to Pilate, "We have no king but Cæsar... Write not, The King of the Jews."] 15 And it came to pass, when he was come back again, having received the kingdom, that he commanded these servants, unto whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by trading. 16 And the first came before him, saying, Lord, thy pound hath made ten pounds more. [Thus Jesus shall call us to account for our stewardship ( 2Co_5:10), and some, despite the long absence of their Lord, and the rebellion of the citizens, will be found to have been faithful. As to this servant's answer Grotius says (comparing it with 1Co_15:10), "He modestly attributes this to his lord's money, and not to his own work."] 17 And he said unto him, Well done, thou good servant: because thou wast found faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. [Thus by small faithfulness we are proved worthy of great trust ( 2Co_4:17). We should note that while the bounty is royal, yet it is proportionate. It suggests the difference in estate between the nobleman who departed and the king who returned.] 18 And the second came, saying, Thy pound, Lord, hath gained five pounds. 19 And he said unto him also, Be thou also over five cities. [The faithful servants are promoted to be rulers ( 2Ti_2:1, 2Ti_2:2). The nobleman, having been of low estate himself, could sympathize with his servants and delight in promoting them-- Phi_2:7.] 20 And another came, saying, Lord, behold, i here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin [Having no banks in which to store money, such as we have, the men of Palestine usually concealed it. At the present time the people of that land are accustomed to bury their money in the ground within their houses]: 21 for I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that which [565] thou layedst not down, and reapest that which thou didst not sow. [He impudently criticizes his lord, saying that he was one hard to please and one who expected others to do all the work and let him reap all the gain. The injustice of his criticism had just been exposed beforehand by the king's treatment of the two preceding servants. This servant represents those who make the labors and difficulties of the Christian life an excuse for doing nothing.] 22 He saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I am an austere man, taking up that which I laid not down, and reaping that which I did not sow; 23 then wherefore gavest thou not my money into the bank, and I at my coming should have required it with interest? [The king patiently grants for argument's sake all that is urged, but shows that even so, the conduct of this servant could not be justified. Thus no argument can justify the sinner who contends against God. The word here translated "bank" means the table of the money-changer and is so translated at Mat_21:12, Mar_11:15, Joh_2:15. It would appear from this passage that the money-changers were willing to borrow and pay some rate of interest. The bank, therefore, was not a thing incorporated and watched by the government, but merely an individual with whom money might be secure or not, according to his personal honesty. Our present banking system has been the slow growth of many centuries. The lesson taught is that we should work with others if we have not self-confidence enough to work alone.] 24 And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it unto him that hath ten pounds. 25 And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds. 26 I say unto you, that unto every one which hath shall be given; but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him. [See p. 331. The meaning here is that every one who makes use of what he has shall increase his powers, a rule which applies to all the affairs of life.] 27 But these mine enemies, that would not that I should reign over them [566] bring hither, and slay them before me. [A reference in the first instance to the Jews who were citizens of Christ's kingdom and who were justly destroyed for rejecting him when he ascended his throne. A reference in the second instance to all the inhabitants of the globe who are all in his kingdom and who shall be destroyed at his coming if they have rejected him. It is a fearful thing to contemplate the destruction of sinners, but it is more fearful to think of sin, rebellion and uncleanness being tolerated forever.] 28 And when he had thus spoken, he went on before, going up to Jerusalem. [The crowd had paused, waiting for Jesus, and he now leads on toward Jerusalem.] [567]
[FFG 562-567]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv9–10 (See Scofield "Rom 1:16").
salvation
(See Scofield "Rom 1:16").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The Salvation of Zacchaeus. (Luk 19:1-10)
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 19:1-27
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1. The Salvation of Zacchaeus. (Luk 19:1-10)
2. The Parable of the Ten Pounds. (Luk 19:11-27.)
Luk 19:1-10
When He drew near to Jericho the Lord healed the blind beggar. The reader will find hints on the meaning of this miracle in the annotations of the Gospel of Mark. (Mar 10:46-52.) The story of Zacchaeus is not found in the other Synoptics. The Lord is now in Jericho. Zacchaeus (meaning: clean) was the chief tax-gatherer and a rich man. “He sought to see Jesus”; his desire and faith overcame all hindrances which were in his way. The rich man climbing into a sycamore tree must have brought him ridicule. Little did he know that He, whom he sought, was seeking him. The Lord knew him and called him by name. And so Zacchaeus received Him joyfully into his house, while others murmured because He was to be a guest of a sinner. But Zacchaeus, though the chief publican, was an honest man. His confession shows that. He did not say what he intended to do, but what he had done already in his past life. It was not the result of having received the Lord in his house, but Zacchaeus answered by it the accusation of those who had murmured. He was a son of Abraham, yet destitute of salvation, which he knew not with all his honesty. But the Lord had brought now Salvation to his house. Zacchaeus was lost but the Son of Man had found him.
Luk 19:11-27
The parable of the ten pounds was occasioned because they that heard Him thought the Kingdom of God should immediately appear. He speaks of Himself in the parable as going to a far country to receive a Kingdom and to return. In the interval His servants are to be faithful with the entrusted pounds. “Occupy till I come.” The ten servants represent Christendom in the same way as the ten virgins. The one who had hidden the pound in the sweat cloth (soudarion) is called a wicked servant and represents a mere professing believer, an unsaved person. The citizens mentioned in the parable, who hated the nobleman are the Jews. (Luk 19:14.) The parable teaches definitely that when the Lord returns He will reward His faithful servants for their faithfulness. May it be an incentive for us to occupy till He comes.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 8 Zacchaeus the Publican.
Zacchaeus the Publican.
Jesus at Jericho:
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v. 1. And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
v. 2. And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
v. 3. And he sought to see Jesus who He was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
v. 4. And he ran before, and climbed into a sycamore tree to see him; for he was to pass that way.
Having healed the blind man at the city gate, Jesus continued his way into the city with the intention of passing through, for he was on His way to Jerusalem. But there came an interruption. A man called by name Zacchaeus (pure), who held the position of head man or overseer over the local collectors of taxes, and who had become rich through the extortions connected with his work, was the cause of the delay. The business of publican, or tax collector, in Jericho must have been especially lucrative, for the city was known for its balsam trade, and Jericho was on the main road of traffic between Joppa, Jerusalem, and the country east of the Jordan. So it had been a comparatively easy matter for Zacchaeus, by the use of a little graft, to amass a fortune. Now he had heard much of Jesus and was filled with great curiosity concerning this Prophet of Galilee, what He might look like, what His appearance was. It was an eager and persistent curiosity which took hold of the man; he tried again and again, but for some time without success, for his small size hindered him from seeing over the shoulders of the many people that were crowding around the Lord. And who knows but what the message concerning Jesus had awakened and created the first longings for the mercy of the Savior? "He desired impetuously and diligently, with a devout, humble heart, only to see Christ. That was his sanctuary, that was his snow-white ornament before God’s eyes, which ornament the Lord especially commended to His disciples when He said: Be harmless as doves. " Finally Zacchaeus hit upon a plan by which he hoped to realize his desire. He took notice of the direction in which Jesus was heading, probably along the main street of the city, and then ran ahead, in front of the crowd, and climbed on a sycamore fig tree, such as are common in the valley of the Jordan. In that way he could easily look over the heads of the people and see the Lord when He would reach that point
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 8 General Information:
General Information:
Verses 1-2 begin to give background information for the events that follow. (See: Background Information)
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Behold, there was a man there
The word "behold" alerts us to a new person in the story. Your language may have a way of doing this. AT: "There was a man who was" (See: Introduction of New and Old Participants)
He was a chief tax collector and was rich
This is background information about Zacchaeus. (See: Background Information)
translationWords
Jesus
Jericho
Zacchaeus
chief
tax
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 19:1-10 The story of Zacchaeus is a fitting climax…
19:1-10 The story of Zacchaeus is a fitting climax to Jesus’ ministry to the outcasts of Israel on his journey to Jerusalem (9:51–19:44). The final verse of the episode (19:10) is often viewed as the theme verse of Luke’s Gospel.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.