Meals with Jesus: The Last Supper – Luke 22:14-20

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From God's word, Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him.

Since Jesus was coming that way, when Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. But all the people saw this and began to mutter, he's gone to be the guest of a sinner. But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, look, Lord, here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor.

And if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount Jesus said to him today. Salvation has come to this house because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God choi pray, father, we know you long to speak to us, so we ask, Lord, you'll use my words and speak in our hearts today.

Amen. So over the last few weeks, we've been looking at meals with Jesus. Times when Jesus was invited, or sometimes invited himself into people's homes. So we've had some of these in the homes of the self righteous people, such as Simon the Pharisee. We thought you knew it all.

There were some who were social outcasts, such as Levi or Matthew, as we know him. And sometimes people were there who society would have found completely distasteful. What's interesting about today's story is that actually there's no meal involved, or at least it's not actually recorded. We don't hear anything about what happened around the dinner table because all of the action takes place either before, after this, or behind closed doors. Jesus simply says, I must stay at your house today, although I am pretty sure some food would be involved.

So let's take a look at this story together. I'm sure most of you have heard about Zacchaeus, but it's easy to overlook some things. So let's get started.

So Jesus. It says that Jesus was passing through, so he obviously wasn't intending to stay in Jericho. He was on his way to Jerusalem. In chapter nine of Luke, he states, he set out resolutely for Jerusalem. And if you can see this map, don't you see it very clearly?

See the blue bit at the top, he started from there, goes down on the left hand side to Samaria, where he meets opposition. So he then crosses the Jordan, comes down the other side, recrosses the Jordan, and is on his way to Bethany in Jerusalem for Passover. As he crosses over the Jordan, just at the top of that bigger blue bit, there's Jericho. Okay? That's where he is now going.

So in the previous chapter, chapter 18, it states that Jesus had taken his twelve aside and said, we are going to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the son of man will be fulfilled. So he is on his way to his death as he approaches Jericho, on the outskirts of Jericho. What? He healed the blind man. Okay?

Now that's no doubt one of the reasons why there were lots of crowds around him, following him and surrounding him. But it's also because there would have been lots of other people going to Jerusalem for passover, and yet something, or in this case, someone, makes him stop. And this is where we meet Zacchaeus. Now, kids, can you remember anything about this man? No.

Can anyone remember this little song?

Now, I'm not sure the younger ones will, but I'm sure a lot of the older ones know it. Even I sang it when I was a little girl. It shows just how old it is. Okay, now, I could embarrass you if I ask you all to sing it, but I won't. Okay.

But it tells us that Chius was a very little man, and he climbed up into a sycamore tree, and then Jesus invited himself to tea, which is what we've read. But he doesn't tell us anything significant, really, does it? The song doesn't tell us anything about the significance of what happened. To start with, he doesn't mention that Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Now, we've already heard in some of our previous stories about Levi and how much tax collectors were hated.

They were really hated. Yeah, nobody liked them. I'm not going to go into that because we've already covered that. But Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector. He was public enemy number one, other than the Romans.

But the son does tell us that he was short or vertically challenged, which is the in phrase today. And he couldn't see Jesus now, someone who has been short all her life. Although my sister at five foot is even shorter. I know just how frustrating it can be when you're in a crowd and you can't see anything. Beth and our younger people must find it even more frustrating when they can't see anybody.

Okay, how many of you younger people have been put on your dad's shoulders just to be able to see? Yeah, I'm sure a lot of you have. Now, Zacchaeus, he wanted to see Jesus, but he had these two problems. He was short and he was hated. Now, normally, if an important official wanted to see somebody, we'd set up a receiving line, etcetera, and he'd go and meet them and what have you.

Zacchaeus wanted to see him, but there were crowds, and Zacchaeus knew that if he tried to push his way to the front, that could be potentially dangerous. Yeah, something nasty might happen. So he runs on ahead as Jesus was moving out of town and climbs into a sycamore fig tree. How many of you are good at climbing trees? Josh's, apparently.

Oh, another one there. Yeah. And somebody over there is really good at climbing trees. Brilliant. I know it's hard to believe, but I used to climb trees when I was about seven or eight.

And Ed probably still does climb trees. Okay, but can you imagine an important man in Sheffield? I don't know, say it's the lord mayor, rather to be our local councillor, not only running to go and see someone, but then climbing into a tree. It's not very dignified, is it? Powerful, rich men don't climb trees to see people, especially not in the Middle east.

It's really not done. So Zacchaeus must have been absolutely desperate. Maybe, just maybe, you might have heard the parable Jesus spoken in the previous chapter about the story of the Pharisee. And the tax collector might have been intrigued to hear a little bit more about this man. But whilst he wanted to see Jesus, he probably didn't want people to see him.

Now, if you look at this picture, this is a sycamore fig tree. Yeah. There's two things to notice about this. First of all, the branches are quite low to the ground. That's how they tend to grow, so make them easy to climb.

And also they have quite a dense canopy. That means there's lots of leaves, so he could hide in it. Now, in the cartoons we're seeing, they've got bright clothes. They wouldn't have worn bright clothes. They'd have melted more into the tree.

Okay. He might have been hoping that would have enough to keep him safe from the crowds to hide him. It wasn't enough to hide him from Jesus. Nothing is enough to hide us from Jesus. Jesus knows he's there.

And Zacchaeus is hurried, is asked to hurry and come down because Jesus wants to stay at his house. So he hurries down and is happy to welcome him into his home. And of course, the crowds grumbled, that's probably a nice word. They probably said a lot more than that. Okay.

After all, Zacchaeus was a sinner. The fact that Jesus had entered Zacchaeus's home would mean that Jesus himself was defiled. And the verb used here, and I do apologise if I don't pronounce it right, is catalo, which means to find lodging. So Jesus stayed the night. No wonder they were angry.

But the next day, we hear that Zacchaeus has promised to put things right. And Jesus himself declares, Zacchaeus is a son of Abraham, part of the jewish family. He's no longer a pariah.

Time and time again, Jesus notices, values, forgives and restores those whom society have deemed unworthy of salvation, and he shows them his grace and truth. But for me, the most important sentence in this ten verse story is the last one. It can almost be called Jesus mission statement. We'll come back to that in a few minutes.

Thanks, Claire.

I said previously that the most important sense in this story was the last one. Now, Jesus said lots of things about why he had come, but I think this probably sums up his main purpose. The son of man came to seek and to save the lost from the very first book of Genesis, when God saw Adam in the Garden of Eden. God has been seeking the lost. Have you ever been lost?

I mean, really, really lost, like Nemo was, or you've lost someone and couldn't find them? Now, whilst preparing this talk, two incidents came to mind. The first was when my second son, James, who was four at the time, decided to go and play hide and seek in the National Trust garden at Trelisic in Cornwall. Yeah, we told him not to, but like Nemo, he didn't take any notice. He ran off and his dad and I spent ages searching for him.

We couldn't find him. We wrote him, members of staff and I ended up standing by the entrance to the gardens to ensure he couldn't slip past. 40 minutes passed before we found this terrified little boy. The second incident was when Peter, my eldest, I promise I'm not. What a good mum.

My eldest was in reception at All Saints. It was a beautiful summer's day, and when I went to collect him from school, Peter, like lots of boys do, had left his sweatshirt on the field. So I said, okay, go and get it. His teacher said, can I just show you something? So I nipped in.

I wasn't gone more than a minute. In that time, Peter had come back. He had thought I had gone and he went off searching for me. We then realised he wasn't on the field. His teacher and I couldn't see him.

So yet again, we roped in all the staff and we're looking for this boy. And eventually another parent brought him back because he'd been trying to cross Baslow Road on his own. He was five. In both cases, the boys were distraught and so was I when they came back. In both cases, I just fell to my knees, gave them my gigantic hug and sobbed with relief that they were both safe and sound and then told him what I thought.

But it made me wonder how God feels about his children who are lost and don't know their way home. That's how I felt as a parent. And how does God feel? He created you. Luke's gospel is, of course, well known for its parables about seeking the lost.

There's a story of the lost coin, where a woman turns her house upside down looking for it. And then we have the famous story of the lost sheep, where the shepherd searches for the one sheep that's gone astray.

Just as an aside, do you ever wake up sometimes doubting your value? I don't know how valuable you feel in your workplace, in your school, in your marriage, in your life, but I can tell you this. Even if you feel you aren't valuable to anyone else, you are incredibly valuable to Christ. If you were that one lost sheep, Jesus would be willing to leave everything to find you. And finally, we have the story of the lost, or the prodigal son, whom the father welcomes with open arms and throws a huge party for in all three of these stories, Jesus shows just how valuable God views people, how he views you and how he views me.

And God continues to seek and save the lost, even if we don't know we're lost. Zacchaeus was lost. He was lost to society and he was lost to God. And whilst he sought Jesus, it's noticeable that Jesus sought him. Salvation came to Zacchaeus and it changed him.

It changed him completely. Bear in mind, he had to continue to live with these very same people who he had robbed and stolen from for years. But he knew things had changed. The parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin end with the phrase rejoice with me, for I found my sheep or coin that was lost. Seeking and saving the lost brings Jesus joy.

But for Christ to seek and save the lost, he had to do much more than to seek and find us. He had to die for us.

Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. That's how much Jesus loves the lost. That's how valuable you are. He was willing to go to the cross to redeem you back from sin and death.

Zacchaeus was a lost little man who was loved by a great big God. He wasn't concerned with Zacchaeus reputation or occupation. He was deeply concerned with his salvation. The Bible says we're all lost. We're all sinners.

We need Jesus. So no matter how old you are, whether you're this high or whether you're older and this high because you're short or whether you're older, in this high cage at all, we're all worthy of God's love.

I'll end with a question, then. Are we willing to let us free him from that power of sin and death? And if we're willing to do that, are we then willing to follow him wherever he wants us to go?

Amen.

Thank you, Claire. Shall I pray? Shall we all pray now?