The Fraudulent Tax-collector and the Parable of the Prodigal Son
Luke 19.1-10
A Reading by Lee Magness
The Parable of the Fraudulent Tax-collector
Once there was a Jewish man who was very rich. His name was Zacchaeus, the “righteous one.” He had been hired by the Roman Empire to exact heavy taxes from his fellow Jews. Even though he lived in Judea, in Jericho, a center of trade and transportation, he was as it were in a far country, allied to the aliens, operating for the oppressors, defrauding his family and friends. He had so much money he could spend it freely, wastefully, prodigally. And he did. But he could not escape a sense of his own spiritual famine. Working for the Romans, the Gentiles, the “pigs,” as the Jews called them, left him feeling empty inside. He still hungered for meaning in his life.
That was about the time that Jesus came to Jericho. In his desperation, his spiritual destitution, Zacchaeus sought out Jesus, running through town, climbing a fig tree, just to catch sight of the person whose teachings were touching a place inside him, a place like home. Jesus saw Zacchaeus in the tree, called him down, and invited himself to the home of this unrighteous little man. And when he did, it was as if Zacchaeus came to himself, remembering who he really was.
So Zacchaeus went home, threw a great banquet, invited all the neighbors, and gave a speech. It was his party after all. What surprised everyone was that it was a speech of repentance. Here’s what he said, to Jesus, son of his heavenly Father: “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”
But that wasn’t the end of the story. Some of the Jews who came to the banquet, some of his “older,” “more mature brothers in the faith” (they thought) were upset by Jesus’ compassionate attention to this unclean man. They grumbled among themselves, saying things like, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” They were offended that Jesus was even associating with Zacchaeus, eating with him, honoring him, seemingly forgiving him all his past offenses in the “far country” of fraudulent tax-gathering. That’s when Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Once there was a Jewish man who was very rich. His name was Zacchaeus, the “righteous one.” He had been hired by the Roman Empire to exact heavy taxes from his fellow Jews. Even though he lived in Judea, in Jericho, a center of trade and transportation, he was as it were in a far country, allied to the aliens, operating for the oppressors, defrauding his family and friends. He had so much money he could spend it freely, wastefully, prodigally. And he did. But he could not escape a sense of his own spiritual famine. Working for the Romans, the Gentiles, the “pigs,” as the Jews called them, left him feeling empty inside. He still hungered for meaning in his life.
That was about the time that Jesus came to Jericho. In his desperation, his spiritual destitution, Zacchaeus sought out Jesus, running through town, climbing a fig tree, just to catch sight of the person whose teachings were touching a place inside him, a place like home. Jesus saw Zacchaeus in the tree, called him down, and invited himself to the home of this unrighteous little man. And when he did, it was as if Zacchaeus came to himself, remembering who he really was.
So Zacchaeus went home, threw a great banquet, invited all the neighbors, and gave a speech. It was his party after all. What surprised everyone was that it was a speech of repentance. Here’s what he said, to Jesus, son of his heavenly Father: “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”
But that wasn’t the end of the story. Some of the Jews who came to the banquet, some of his “older,” “more mature brothers in the faith” (they thought) were upset by Jesus’ compassionate attention to this unclean man. They grumbled among themselves, saying things like, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” They were offended that Jesus was even associating with Zacchaeus, eating with him, honoring him, seemingly forgiving him all his past offenses in the “far country” of fraudulent tax-gathering. That’s when Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
