Gratitude Generates Generosity

Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, who does not change or shift like a shadow (James 1:17). Amen.

A local fitness center was offering $1,000 to anyone who could show they were stronger than the owner of the gym. Here's how it worked: The muscle-bound owner would squeeze a lemon into a glass until all the juice was gone. Then he would hand the lemon to the challenger. Anyone who could squeeze just one more drop of juice from the lemon would win the money.

Over time many people tried to best the owner – other weightlifters, construction workers, even professional wrestlers – but nobody could.

Then one day, a small, skinny man in a suit came in. He had come for other business, but when he heard about the challenge, he said he wanted to give it a try. When the laughter finally died down, the owner grabbed a lemon and squeezed away. Then he handed the wrinkled remains to the little man.

The crowd's laughter soon turned into silence as six drops slowly fell from the lemon. The crowd cheered. As the owner paid out the prize money, he asked the little man what he did for a living. "Are you a lumberjack or weightlifter or what?" he asked.

The man in the suit replied, "I work for the IRS."

The IRS has ways of squeezing every last drop. As Christians we understand that paying taxes is what we do as citizens, that doesn't mean we like it. In our day, someone who collects taxes isn't very popular.

In Jesus' day, it was even worse. The Romans who ruled over Israel would pick people from every region to collect their taxes for them. If you agreed to be a tax collector, right from the beginning people would hate you. You were a traitor to Israel and to the true God. You were collecting money for the hated Romans and their pagan emperor.

The Romans collected their taxes by having the tax collector collect a certain amount from each person to give to the government. Anything the tax collector could get above and beyond that, he could keep. He would also have Roman soldiers standing behind him as he collected.

You can see how tax collectors could become extremely wealthy. Most were corrupt. They were cheaters. They were traitors. Tax collectors in Jesus' day were viewed as the scum of society. Everybody hated them.

Understanding that will help you understand the Gospel lesson. It's the week before Holy Week. Jesus is walking with the thousands of pilgrims who are headed up to Jerusalem from Galilee for the Passover Feast. The last big city they travel through before arriving in Jerusalem is Jericho, the City of Palms – a lush valley with towering trees.

The custom in those days was as the pilgrims went through a town on their way to Jerusalem, the citizens gather along the streets to cheer on their brothers and sisters. The citizens of Jericho heard that Jesus, the great prophet from Nazareth, was among the pilgrims. The citizens flood the streets. Curious onlookers come to see the man who some claim is the Messiah. It's like a parade. Women sitting on the ground. Men with their young children up on their shoulders. Everyone hoping to catch a glimpse of the Messiah. Can you imagine the chatter? "Will he do a miracle?" "Will he stop in Jericho or keep going to Jerusalem?" "If he stays here, whose house will he stay in? Will it be one of the chief priests or the elders of the city?"

That's when Luke introduces us to Zacchaeus. The name Zacchaeus in Hebrew means "just" or "pure." Zacchaeus, however, is anything but just or pure. He's the chief tax collector of the district – the top of a corrupt pyramid scheme. If he's like most tax collectors, he's a crook.

Like most people, Zacchaeus has heard of Jesus. He wants to see Jesus, but he has a problem. Zacchaeus is vertically challenged. I'm guessing way shorter than 5'6". He's short. He can't see over the taller dads with their kids on their shoulders.

Since Jericho is the City of Palms, streets lined with different kinds of trees, Zacchaeus climbs a sycamore tree so he can see. When Jesus comes to Zacchaeus' tree, he stops, looks up, and says, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today" (Luke 19:5). Jesus is going to spend the night in Jericho, but at the house of the chief tax collector! The people go nuts! They can't believe it! "When the people saw it, they were all grumbling because he went to be a guest of a sinful man" (Luke 19:7). The citizens stick up their noses as their eyes look down on Zacchaeus.

Luke doesn't tell us about the conversation between Jesus and Zacchaeus in his house. Perhaps we can assume Jesus talked about sin and forgiveness and how he had come to save sinners. Those are things Jesus regularly talked about.

We can assume Jesus talked about saving sinners because Zacchaeus stands up to announce, "Look, Lord, I am going to give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone out of anything, I will pay back four times as much" (Luke 19:8). Zacchaeus is so grateful for Jesus' forgiveness that it generates generosity within him. He promises to give half of his wealth to the poor. If he had cheated anyone in the past, he'll pay them back four times what he had cheated them in the future. Gratitude generates generosity.

Jesus responds to Zacchaeus' statement of generosity, "Today, salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham" (Luke 19:9). Jesus' declaration must have shocked the people! Imagine their thoughts, "Wait a minute! This guy is a traitor to Israel and the true God! A thief! A vassal of the Roman imperialists! How can Zacchaeus be a son of Abraham?! That's us!"

Here's how Zacchaeus can be a son of Abraham, one of God's true believers. Jesus explains, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10).

These words echo even more loudly when we remember that only seven days later this same Jesus, the Son of Man, will be in Jerusalem to rescue the world by bringing salvation on the cross. He will be beaten and bloodied, nailed to two intersecting pieces of wood, and forsaken by his heavenly Father on Golgotha's hill. There Jesus will bring lost sinners into his family. They will go from being outcasts to being Abraham's children, part of the family of God. Jesus promises Zacchaeus salvation at the cross.

The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. The people of Jericho struggled to accept that truth. The Pharisees were endlessly horrified because Jesus was always speaking with, dining with, and now rooming with tax collectors, prostitutes, and other assorted sinners. If Jesus was so holy, if he really was from God, if he was a child of Abraham himself, how could he wallow with the filth of society? They lifted up their noses and looked down their eyes on those whom they considered unworthy of God's love.

Sadly, each of us has a little Pharisee in our hearts. Our noses go up so easily and our eyes look down so quickly as we see sinners out there in the world. You know the ones. They're on the opposite side of the political aisle from us. The men who think they're women. The women who think they're men. The men sleeping with men. The women sleeping with women. The women who don't want their unborn child. The men who won't support their unborn or born children. The people addicted to drugs or alcohol. The teens who are just plain mean and won't accept others into their group. The other teens who are just plain weird and separate from all groups. Our little Pharisee inside of us looks down on all these people … and so many more. Tax collectors, prostitutes, sinners – all of them!

We'll say in polite conversation that we don't think we're any better than they are, but deep down in the recesses of our hearts, each of our little Pharisees announces, "I'm so glad I'm not like them. I'm above their low-life living. I haven't done what they've done."

What we so often forget, what we so often fail to see, is that the Son of Man came to seek and to save each one of us. We need to keep praying, "Lord, have mercy." Every time we pray, "Lord, have mercy," we're really praying, "Lord, I'm lost." In our personal prayers at home or in our congregational prayers in church, we need to continually be praying, "Lord, I am the worst of sinners. I'm no better than a prostitute or a tax collector. That's me sitting in that tree. I'm sitting there surrounded by strangers, but friendly with my pride, anger, lust, and laziness. I'm no better than those I look down on. I, too, am lost. In my lostness, I deserve an eternity in hell."

Jesus came to seek and to save you – a lost one. He came to your house when you were an infant to claim you as his own through the waters of Baptism. Or he came to your house when you were older to find you in your lostness, to rescue you, to convert you, and make you his own.

Jesus did this by fulfilling the meaning of Zaccheaus' name. Jesus was always practicing justice and purity. He never cheated or stole. He never stuck up his nose or looked down with his eyes on people. He never gave in to unrighteous anger, lust, or laziness. He endured God's righteous wrath that we deserve as the scum of society. Jesus finds the lost. He forgives the sinner. He redeems the worst.

Jesus comes into our lives, looks up, and instructs us to come down from our tree. He's here for us. He stays with us – in our home, in our church, in our community, in our school, and in our workplace. Jesus enters our home with forgiveness so one day we will enter his home in heaven with faith.

When we understand how lousy and lost we were; when we appreciate how loving and forgiving Jesus is; when we become grateful for what Jesus has done for us; then we'll react as Zacchaeus did. Zacchaeus couldn't contain himself. He had finally found what money couldn't buy. He had found peace and hope. That's because Jesus had found him with his forgiveness and salvation. So, Zacchaeus gave away a large amount of his money. Gratitude generates generosity.

The secret to gratitude is opening your eyes to all the amazing things God has done for you. The secret to gratitude is understanding that you don't deserve any of it. The secret to gratitude is recognizing how lost you were before Jesus found and saved you from your lostness.

God has been generous with you. Consider how much spiritually Jesus gave you by bringing his forgiving love that changed you from being lost to being found. He moved you from being a citizen of hell to a citizen of heaven. He converted you from a sinner into a saint. He baptized you as an heir of Satan and claimed you as an heir of the Lord.

Consider how much physically Jesus gives you as he treats you as family. Look around at your home and vehicles, your family and friends. Look at the food you eat and the air you breathe. Look at your church family, the freedom you have to worship God and learn from him. Like Zacchaeus, you haven't earned any of it. You don't deserve it. You're not better than anyone else. Yet God is generous with you.

Lord willing, God's generosity generates gratitude. Respond like Zacchaeus and give generously. As you give from a generous heart, God promises to bless you. Be generous with your family and friends. Be generous here at church. Be generous with complete strangers. Give as God has given to you. Learn from poor, vertically challenged Zacchaeus. God's generosity generates gratitude. Amen.

The Lord promises: "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22). Amen.