Luke 19.1-10

20th Century American novelist, Jack Kerouac once said, 

“In America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it… And nobody, nobody knows what’s going to happen.”

Kerouac’s description of this scene reminds me of the grace of God—God’s grace is enormous, endlessness, and has boundary-defying possibility. 

With the grace of God in your life and in the world, you just don’t know what is going to happen. Although you do know that it will be a kind of good that, in the end, blows you away.

As the Apostle Paul says, “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6-7, BSB).

In this morning’s text, we are once again, thankfully!, surrounded by the grace of God in it’s enormity, endlessness, and boundary-defying possibility.

We see God defy human boundaries when He, in Jesus, makes friends with one that the self-righteous crowd turns their noses up at.  The crowd calls this man that Jesus befriends “a sinner” and in turn are attempting to cancel and implicate Jesus as being “a sinner” as well. 

However, in Kerouac’s words, when Jesus calls Zacchaeus, “nobody, nobody knows what’s going to happen.”

Let’s enter into our Biblical text this morning—a text that drips with grace, love, and hope for each of us.

Luke 19:1–10 tells us this:

[1] He entered Jericho and was passing through. [2] And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. [3] And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. [4] So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. [5] And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” [6] So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. [7] And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” [8] And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” [9] And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. [10] For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (ESV)

You may be shocked to hear this, but this passage has everything to do with Halloween.

Zacchaeus was an out-in-the-open sinner (tax collector), while those who grumbled were sinners hiding behind the masks

of self-righteousness.

Halloween used to be known as All Hallows’ Eve. To “hal-low” someone is to honor them as holy. That’s the etymology of the day that we dress up and demand some candy. A big part of the appeal of Halloween for young and old is the dressing up part. It is a relief to not be you, at least for a day. Especially when you are trying to be better (more holy) than you actually are. 

Pretending to be somebody else in that way gets tiring, and fast.

We often try in vain to dress ourselves up to be holier than we actually are. But Jesus reminds us that holiness does not come from within, but is imputed (given) to us by Christ Himself. We are clothed in Christ’s righteousness. And it’s not a mask or costume; it’s the real you.

In this text, Jesus wants to come trick-or-treating at Zacchaeus’ house.  But there are no tricks with the grace of God. Only the treat of being loved despite ourselves.

Salvation didn’t come to Zacchaeus’ house because He decided to donate his possessions to those in need or right his wrongs 4 times over.

No!  Salvation came to Zacchaeus because the Son of God, Jesus Christ, came to seek and save those that are lost in Sin.

Zacchaeus wasn’t forgiven and restored into a right relationship with God because he was correctly focused on Jesus and doing things that Jesus would approve of.

No! Zacchaeus was forgiven and restored into a right relationship with God because Jesus was completely focused on Zacchaeus’ current situation and Jesus was completely focused on rescuing Zacchaeus from his unGodly life of lying, cheating, and stealing.

In theological words, we call this justification.

To be justified is to be made right.

1 Corinthians 6.9–11 speaks of justification when it speaks of being made right with God the Father in Heaven.

1 Corinthians 6.9-11 says:

[9] …do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, [10] nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. [11] And such were some of you [like Zacchaeus]. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (ESV)

And, Romans 5:1–2 tells us that:

[1] …since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. [2] Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (ESV)

Through Jesus’ death on the cross, our Sin is completely forgiven and washed away. This act, made possible only through God’s enormous, endless, and boundary-defying grace, makes us right, or, perfect in every way before God’s heavenly throne. 

Martin Luther talks about the position that faith in Jesus puts us in when he says,

“Not only does faith bestow so much that the soul becomes equal to the divine Word – full of grace, free, and holy – but also it unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom. From this marriage comes, as St. Paul says [Eph. 5:30], that Christ and the soul become one body, so that they share both fortune and misfortune and all things in common. Accordingly, whatever Christ has is the property of the believing soul, and whatever the soul has becomes the property of Christ. Christ has all goodness and blessings that are the soul’s property. The soul has in it all vices and sin; they become Christ’s property. Here now arises the joyous exchange and struggle.

For Christ is God and Human Being, who has never sinned. More-over, his righteousness is unassailable, eternal, and almighty. Thus, when he through the wedding band, which is faith, then makes the sins of the believing soul his own and behaves in no other way than as if he had committed them, then sin must be devoured and drowned. For his unassailable righteousness is too strong for all sins.

Thus, the soul, simply by virtue of its engagement ring (that is, because of faith), becomes unencumbered, free and endowed with the eternal righteousness of its bridegroom, Christ. Is this not a joyous marriage feast where the rich, pure, upright Bridegroom, Christ, takes in marriage the poor, despised, evil maid and releases her from all evil while adoring her with all good things.”

This week, in my Bible reading, I was once again back to the book of Proverbs in The Old Testament.

As I had this morning’s preaching text resting in my mind, I came to Proverbs 10 which profoundly speaks to Zacchaeus’ situation from beginning to end.

Here are a few verses from Proverbs 10 that would have received a loud, “Amen!,” from Zacchaeus after Jesus found him, forgave him, restored him, and reconciled him to God.

Proverbs 10.2 says:

“Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteous delivers from death.”

Proverbs 10.18 says:

“The wage of the righteous leads to life,

the gain of the wicked to sin.”

And, Proverbs 10:25, 27, 28-30 say:

[25] When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more,

but the righteous is established forever.

[27] The fear of the LORD prolongs life,

but the years of the wicked will be short.

[28] The hope of the righteous brings joy,

but the expectation of the wicked will perish.

[29] The way of the LORD is a stronghold to the blameless,

but destruction to evildoers.

[30] The righteous will never be removed,

but the wicked will not dwell in the land. (ESV)

Zacchaeus made a name for himself by gaining financial and material wealth through lying, cheating, and stealing during the regular course of his tax collecting business.

However, once he was found by Jesus, Zacchaeus repented of his sin.  How do we know that Zacchaeus recognized, confessed, and received forgiveness for his life of wickedness?  

Well, we see the fruit of God’s Spirit, the Sprit that is only given to those who find themselves believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, immediately take over and propel Zacchaeus life.  Zacchaeus thoughts, words, and actions all become influenced and empowered by God’s Spirit living inside of him.

So, Zacchaeus didn’t give half of his possessions to the poor to earn Jesus’ love.

No.  Zacchaeus became generous and righted his wrongs because Jesus was first generous with him and Jesus first righted Zacchaeus’ wrongs.  

In Jesus’ calling and welcoming of him, Zacchaeus received first hand experience in knowing that God’s grace is enormous, endlessness, and has boundary-defying possibility. 

I think that it is fair to say that when we hear this story, most, if not all of us, envision ourselves to stand in the place of Jesus.  We have our two feet on the ground and we are looking, like Jesus, at Zacchaeus in the tree.

However, this morning, I invite you to join me up in the tree.

Sit next to Zacchaeus,

where it probably feels natural,

looking out over the crowd, 

looking for someone to help you, 

looking for the one that you have heard about,

looking for the one that you have been told performs miracles,

looking of the one that you have heard brings hope to the hopeless,

looking for the one that makes friends with the ones that no one else wants to be friends with,

someone to call you down onto the safety of the level and stable ground, 

someone to call you down into a relationship defined by grace, mercy, hope, and love, 

someone to forgive you and assure us that everything is going to be alright,

someone who gives us first hand experience in knowing that God’s grace is enormous, endlessness, and has boundary-defying possibility,

someone named Jesus, because as the angel told His parents, He will save us from our Sin and bring us home to God the Father in Heaven.

You see, we are just like Zacchaeus.  Jesus finds us stuck in the midst of a life defined by self-centered and self-serving Sin.  But, Jesus doesn’t leave us there to rot.  Jesus calls us to quickly come to Him and be restored into a life with God who will use us to bless and change the world.  

Contrary to popular belief, this text isn’t about Zacchaeus.

Like all Biblical texts, this text is about Jesus.

And, as always, Jesus proves to you that God’s grace is enormous, endless, and boundary-defying. 

This morning, Jesus is looking for you.

This morning, Jesus sees you up in the tree, sick and dying in Sin.

This morning, Jesus calls you to quickly come to His side where He will give you hope, peace, rest by forgiving your Sin and restoring you into a right relationship with God.

This morning, Jesus makes His home with you and gives you His Holy Spirit which influences and empowers your thoughts, words, and actions to love and generosity, following Jesus’ eternal love and generosity toward you. 

Come quickly.  Do not wait.  Jesus desires to bring salvation to you and your house.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

November 2, 2025.