Notorious
Luke 19:1-10[1]
I’m fascinated by the way we use language. Specifically, the way
the same word can mean something completely different in different times or
different settings. For example, I’m sure some of the women would find it
rather funny if I were to say that back in the day I used to wear thongs. Of
course, those “thongs” were for your feet. We call them “flip-flops” now. And,
back in the day, one’s “cell” number referred to the part of a prison where you
served your jail time. In those days, if you asked someone for their “cell”
number, they might take great offense, as if you were assuming they were a
criminal! Of course, now it is just a common part of life to ask for a “cell”
number.
The word notorious is one of those flexible words. For many people,
“notorious” has meant the worst of the worst law-breakers. These days, it can
mean that someone is famous. This was true even back in the day. Some of the
worst law-breakers were not only notorious because they committed monstrous
crimes. They were also notorious in that they were folk heroes, celebrated and
even idolized by many. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker carried out one of the
most vicious crime sprees of the 1930’s. Yet thousands of people attended their
funerals to mourn them! In their case, the fact that they were “notorious”
meant that they were “worshipped” as heroes.
Our Scripture lesson for today involves some bending of words. This
story, of course, is not about the Zacchaeus of the children’s song, a lovable
“wee little man” who loves Jesus. Rather, it’s about a man who had become
obscenely wealthy by cheating his own people. Zacchaeus was not just a tax
collector; he was a “chief tax collector.” He would have been one of those who
bid for the contract to collect taxes in Jericho. Obviously, he expected to
make a lot of money off of it. And the way he was going to make that money was
by forcing his own people to pay every last cent he could get from them. Zacchaeus
was not lovable; he was a “notorious sinner.”
That’s what the people who witnessed this interaction between
Jesus and Zacchaeus said: they “grumbled” that Jesus had gone to be the guest
of a “notorious sinner” (Lk. 19:7, NLT).
Now, we’ve seen before in Luke’s Gospel that the Jewish leaders grumbled about
Jesus being the friend of tax collectors and sinners. And we’ve seen that Jesus
told parables to make it clear that the proper response to the “lost” who find
their lives restored is to celebrate, not grumble. But here, it’s not just the
Jewish leaders who grumble about Jesus. It’s the crowd! Apparently associating
with one so “notorious” as Zacchaeus was going too far even for the people who
were drawn to Jesus! Even they were beginning to view Jesus as “notorious” for
breaking their sacred taboos!
There are other twists in
this passage as well. We just talked about the parable of the Pharisee and the
tax collector going to the Temple to pray. In that passage, Jesus says, “all
who humble themselves will be exalted” (Lk. 18:14). In our lesson for today, we
have perhaps one of the richest men in Judea climbing up a tree to get a look
at Jesus. That was something a rich man didn’t do! I’m sure a fair number of
the crowd got a laugh out of that. But Zacchaeus was intent on seeing
Jesus—perhaps more so than anyone there. And he was willing to humble himself
to do so! Once again, an outcast shows the religious people how to respond to
Jesus!
The previous chapter of Luke’s Gospel also contains the story of
Jesus’ encounter with the rich ruler who would not give his fortune to the poor. On
that occasion, Jesus said, “how hard it is for those who have wealth to enter
the kingdom of God!” (Lk. 18:24). In fact, he compared it to a camel going
through the eye of a needle—in other words, something impossible. The “ruler”
in that story was very likely a religious leader for the Jewish people. But
here we have the story of a “notorious” tax collector who probably had a
greater fortune eagerly giving half of it away to the poor! While it may be
difficult for those with wealth to find their salvation in God (and not their
riches), Zacchaeus shows that “what is impossible for mortals is possible for
God” (Lk. 18:26).
In a very real sense, this passage summarizes all that Luke wants
to convey to us about Jesus and the way he embraced outcasts.[2]
That was where Luke’s story of Jesus began: with his announcement at the
synagogue in Nazareth that the promise of Isaiah had been fulfilled: “The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to
the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of
sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free” (Lk. 4:18). The poor, the
blind, and the captives were all included in God’s salvation. The despised as
well—Samaritans, tax collectors, and all who were considered “unclean” for any
reason. Jesus as the “Son of Man” came “to seek out and to save” every one of
them (Lk. 19:10).
In order to carry out God’s purpose “to seek out and to save the
lost,” Jesus embraced with God’s love those who had been written off as beyond
help. In the process, Jesus crossed lines and violated traditions that offended
not only the Jewish religious leaders, but also the crowds who followed him! In
the end, they came to view Jesus as “notorious.” I think at least part of the
message for us is that if we follow Jesus in trying to fulfill God’s purpose
“to seek out and to save the lost,” crossing lines and violating traditions, we
too will be viewed as “notorious.”
[1]
©2019 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 11/3/2019 at
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2]
R. Alan Culpepper, “The Gospel of Luke,” New
Interpreters Bible IX:357, 359.
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