One of the
most important topics of our time is our relation with money. Commenting on our
human situation today, Dewi Hughes is spot on in saying that “the
widespread consumerism and materialism
of the culture—expressed above all in our incessant advertising—seduces many
people into making extravagant decisions about major purchases like houses and
cars and smaller things like recreation, eating out, vacations, etc.; and the
result is that most families are financially pressed in spite of enormous
wealth.”[1]
Everywhere in the world, money is increasingly becoming more accessible to many
people and families. The abundance of malls, shopping centers, restaurants and
entertainment places indicates that investors believe that we have money to
spend. The problem is that even though we are earning more money than ever
before, we still feel hard-pressed and may be under huge debts.
In one of
the episodes of the television series The Big Bang Theory, Rajesh
Koothrapali got a new girlfriend who was more in love with his money than with
him. His parents learned about it and gave him a video call. His father,
exasperated by his son’s stupidity, asked him to choose between his girlfriend
and his allowance. Rajesh’s response is this: “You’re going to make me choose
between the woman I love and the money I have very strong feelings for?” Like
Rajesh, we all have strong feelings for money. This is not a problem only for
modern humanity. In the first century, Paul already warned Timothy: “The love
of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered
away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows” (1 Tim 6:10). But
there is hope for us. God is able to transform His people. Our inappropriate
love of or concern about money may be replaced by lavish generosity.
This was
what happened to Zacchaeus, and this can happen to all of us as well. His story
was recorded by the historian Luke:
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A
man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was
wealthy.3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he
was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he
ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-figtree to see him, since Jesus was coming
that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up
and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your
house today.”6 So he came down at once and welcomed him
gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter,
“He has gone to be the guest of a sinner” (Luke 19:1-10, NIV).
There was no profession in the New Testament that was more
disdained than being a tax collector. The attitude of the religious leaders
toward these people was negative, and they were very vocal about it. In fact,
several times in the Gospels, the terms “tax collector” and “sinners” went
together (Matt 9:10-11; 11:19; Mark 2:15-16; Luke 5:30; 7:34; 15:1). In several
other passages, tax collectors are grouped together with other heinous sins.
The Pharisee at the temple prayed: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers,
adulterers—or even like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11). Jesus lumped the sins
of unbelieving pagans or Gentiles together with tax collectors (Matt 18:17).
Elsewhere, Jesus grouped tax collectors with prostitutes in terms of the
difficulty in entering the kingdom of God (Matt 21:31-32).
Why was there such a negativity against tax collectors in
the times of Jesus? First, tax collectors were Jewish people working for the
Romans, the enemies of the Jews. Therefore, they were considered as traitors to
their own people. Instead of fighting against the Romans, they were helping
them and were becoming rich in the process. Secondly, nobody wanted to pay
taxes to the Romans, especially because they were oppressive. Thirdly, it was
common knowledge that tax collectors cheated the people they collected from.
They would collect more than what was required and keep the extra for
themselves. When Jesus gave an advice to a tax collector, he said: “Don’t
collect any more than you are required to” (Luke 3:13), signaling that it was common
knowledge or assumption that they are cheaters. So finally, tax collectors were
resented because they were extremely wealthy and enjoying lavish lifestyles at
a time of oppression. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, so imagine the even
greater amount of animosity the people felt about him. Zacchaeus himself
confessed that he indeed cheated people (19:8).
However, was Zacchaeus always a cheat? I am inclined to say
NO. The nature of his work gave him the opportunity to cheat. Perhaps he was
like many godly men and women who started in their work with no intention to
abuse their positions at all. No one applies to a job with the intention of
cheating. Rather, when we apply for jobs, we earnestly desire to be productive
and helpful. Perhaps Zacchaeus was like a young Filipino who zealously aspired
to become a policeman with the goal to help his fellow citizens. Perhaps he started
as a tax collector with a vision to be a different kind of tax collector.
Perhaps he started with a vision to change the image of tax collectors in the
minds of people by staying godly. I don’t believe that people are naturally
evil from the beginning. People progress from being good to being downright
evil or callous in their ways. I think Zacchaeus started cheating in small
scales because of fear. After all, he was still a God-believing Jew. But the
more wealth he accumulated, the more he wanted more; and the more he wanted
more, the more he became steeped in his greedy deeds.
The nature of humanity is that we want more. John D.
Rockefeller, an American oil industry business magnate and industrialist in the
early 1900s, was once considered the wealthiest person on earth. He was once
asked “How much is enough?” and his response was a very short: “Just a little
bit more.” Discontent seems to be a part of our fallen human DNA. Greedy people
will always think that they lack abundance, no matter how much money they are
receiving in comparison to the past. There is always something better to buy,
something bigger to accumulate, something grander to own. The irony is that the
more money we have, the more things we think we should buy.
Leo Tolstoy
once wrote a story about a successful peasant farmer who was not satisfied with
his lot. He wanted more of everything. One day he received a novel offer. For
1000 rubles, he could buy all the land he could walk around in a day. The only
catch in the deal was that he had to be back at his starting point by sundown.
Early the next morning he started out walking at a fast pace. By midday he was
very tired, but he kept going, covering more and more ground. Well into the
afternoon he realized that his greed had taken him far from the starting point.
He quickened his pace and as the sun began to sink low in the sky, he began to
run, knowing that if he did not make it back by sundown the opportunity to
become an even bigger landholder would be lost. As the sun began to sink below
the horizon he came within sight of the finish line. Gasping for breath, his
heart pounding, he called upon every bit of strength left in his body and
staggered across the line just before the sun disappeared. He immediately
collapsed, blood streaming from his mouth. In a few minutes he was dead.
Afterwards, his servants dug a grave. It was not much over six feet long and
three feet wide. The title of Tolstoy's story was: How Much Land Does a Man
Need?[2]
Greed has two interrelated forms: it takes and it withholds.
In the case of Zacchaeus, it was primarily taking other people’s money.
Christians may not be struggling with stealing. If there are Christian thieves,
their number is certainly small. However, the sin of withholding is probably
something that many of us are still struggling with. In the book of Malachi,
God’s complaints against the Israelites were precisely because they were
withholding from God:
“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to
give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord” (Mal 1:14)
Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are
we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9 You
are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me” (Mal 3:8-9)
We may not be cheating our neighbors, and therefore think
that we are not struggling with greed and the love of money. We may not be
taking people’s money for our own sake or stealing them like tax collectors.
But we are no better than tax collectors who steal from others if we are
withholding from God what belongs to Him in tithes and offerings. My hope is
that we experience a new beginning like the one experienced by Zacchaeus. The
story continues to narrate:
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.” 9 Jesus
said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man,
too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man
came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:8-10).
The transformation that happened in Zacchaeus’ life is
astonishing. Looking closely at the story, Jesus actually did nothing apart
from entering Zacchaeus’ house. Jesus did not preach a sermon. He did not
rebuke the tax collector. He did not quote the Scriptures in order to teach
Zacchaeus. Jesus did nothing. He just entered the house. But lo, and behold,
Zacchaeus spontaneously stood up and made statements that would have shocked
everyone in the house. He became a completely different man, totally
transformed.
(This is the fourth manuscript in the New Beginning sermon series. The first, second, and third are also available in this blog.)
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