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The God Who Runs After You (Luke 19) · Prodigal Hope

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Our text this morning, of course, is a very familiar one.
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SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 19 and the story of Zacchaeus and Jesus
0:07
SPEAKER_00: and this little encounter is one of the most famous stories,
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SPEAKER_00: perhaps, in all of the Bible.
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SPEAKER_00: It's so famous we know all the beats.
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SPEAKER_00: We know all of the characters.
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SPEAKER_00: We know the setting.
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SPEAKER_00: We know all of the ways in which this story unfolds.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: You've perhaps heard this countless times from your days in Sunday school
0:26
SPEAKER_00: or junior church or vacation Bible school or whatnot.
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SPEAKER_00: It's so familiar.
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SPEAKER_00: We know all of the little beats from the wee little man himself to the tree
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SPEAKER_00: that he climbs up to Jesus just happening to pass by that very way to the meal
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SPEAKER_00: that they end up sharing to Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: How that turns this swindler,
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SPEAKER_00: this extortioner known as Zacchaeus into someone
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SPEAKER_00: who returns fourfold what he has stolen.
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SPEAKER_00: The redemption of Zacchaeus,
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SPEAKER_00: if you will, is so plain to see that again, we teach it to kids on repeat.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: It's easy to see how this man is saved and brought out of his selfishness into generosity.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: And much like some other stuff in the church that's often geared towards kids,
1:13
SPEAKER_00: I think when we as adults kind of approach a story like this,
1:16
SPEAKER_00: we can kind of, we are guilty of sometimes going on autopilot.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: And you don't look at me like you don't know what I mean because I know you know what I mean.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: This is what happens whenever we try to sing Jesus Loves Me.
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SPEAKER_00: We kind of laugh.
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SPEAKER_00: Look, we're singing a kid song.
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SPEAKER_00: But actually that song has so much richness and theology in it that Jesus loves me.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: Why do I know that?
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SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells me so.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: And I think that a lot more adult churchgoers could do themselves a lot of favors
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SPEAKER_00: if they sung that song about Jesus and his love that's on every page of the Bible,
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SPEAKER_00: if they sung that song on repeat.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: And I think the same sort of emphasis comes out in this little story here.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: Because I think Zacchaeus and the way that Jesus changes him is so familiar
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SPEAKER_00: that we don't really let it surprise us.
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SPEAKER_00: We don't let it actually take us off guard.
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SPEAKER_00: So that's the question this morning.
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SPEAKER_00: What can we glean from a story like this that we've heard so many times before?
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SPEAKER_00: What's something new that we can draw out of it?
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SPEAKER_00: Well, there's a slew,
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SPEAKER_00: as I was studying this last week and a half or so,
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SPEAKER_00: just trying to get ready for this exact moment.
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SPEAKER_00: There were so many new things that were popping out to me.
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SPEAKER_00: There's so many other threads that I could go on, other little pathways that I'm not going to.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm just going to mention them.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm just going to mention them and say, I could have talked about this.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: But what has stood out to me this time is just seeing how Zacchaeus,
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SPEAKER_00: in this interaction with Jesus,
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SPEAKER_00: is sort of the culmination of what Jesus has been talking about
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SPEAKER_00: for several chapters.
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SPEAKER_00: If you go back,
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SPEAKER_00: you don't have to,
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SPEAKER_00: but if you go back to Luke chapter 18,
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus tells the story of two individuals who go up to the temple to pray.
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SPEAKER_00: Do you remember who they are?
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SPEAKER_00: A Pharisee and a who?
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SPEAKER_00: A tax collector.
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SPEAKER_00: They go up to the temple to pray.
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SPEAKER_00: He tells that parable.
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SPEAKER_00: And in the same chapter,
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SPEAKER_00: he tells there's some children that they want to run up to Jesus
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SPEAKER_00: and his disciples push in the way.
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SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus is like, no, no, these are who belong to me.
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SPEAKER_00: This is who the kingdom belongs to.
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SPEAKER_00: He takes delight in the faith of these little children.
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SPEAKER_00: And at the end of that chapter,
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SPEAKER_00: he runs into a rich young man who his love for all of his riches
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SPEAKER_00: and his wealth actually stops him from becoming a disciple of Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: And it's actually fascinating to me how this little encounter with Zacchaeus kind
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SPEAKER_00: of pulls all of those threads together.
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SPEAKER_00: After all,
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SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus is the chief tax collector who acts a little bit childishly by climbing up
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SPEAKER_00: into a tree.
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SPEAKER_00: And when he sees Jesus in the aftermath of that,
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SPEAKER_00: he has a polar opposite response from the rich young ruler because he gives all
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SPEAKER_00: of his wealth away.
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SPEAKER_00: So Zacchaeus...
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SPEAKER_00: The wee little man isn't this random story that's kind of plugged in to Luke's gospel.
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SPEAKER_00: It's actually the crescendo of something that Jesus has been trying to convey and portray.
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SPEAKER_00: Which I think is why this little scene ends with the declaration that Jesus gives
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SPEAKER_00: in verse number 10.
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SPEAKER_00: As he distills and clarifies and declares what his ministry is about.
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SPEAKER_00: As he says, the Son of Man did what?
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SPEAKER_00: Came to seek and to save the lost.
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SPEAKER_00: He's been showing it for several scenes now.
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SPEAKER_00: Even go so far, you can even go as far back as chapter 17.
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SPEAKER_00: When Jesus receives the lepers and he heals them.
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SPEAKER_00: And then stretching all the way to the very end of chapter 18 where he heals a blind man.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus has been shining a light on the whole time.
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SPEAKER_00: He's showing everyone if they have the eyes and the ears to see it and understand it.
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SPEAKER_00: Just how eager he is to find the lost and to bring them home.
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SPEAKER_00: You know, he tells stories.
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SPEAKER_00: He's already told stories about a shepherd leaving the 99 and going out to save the one.
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SPEAKER_00: Here he is kind of demonstrating that in real life.
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SPEAKER_00: He's embodying that word of the Lord that comes out of Ezekiel chapter 34,
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SPEAKER_00: where the prophet Ezekiel says about the Lord,
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SPEAKER_00: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and I will seek them out.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus is showing us that in flesh and blood.
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SPEAKER_00: That's who he is.
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SPEAKER_00: So the point is that we are included in that just as much as Zacchaeus is.
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SPEAKER_00: We, right now, we are among the ones that Jesus has come to seek out and bring to himself.
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SPEAKER_00: Or think about it this way.
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SPEAKER_00: We put it differently.
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SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus' testimony in the aftermath of his time
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SPEAKER_00: with Jesus is what all sinners can say whenever Jesus comes looking for them.
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SPEAKER_00: And he always comes looking.
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SPEAKER_00: So three things this morning.
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SPEAKER_00: Three things I want you to know this morning that Jesus also knows that can serve,
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SPEAKER_00: we could say,
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SPEAKER_00: as the script, if you will, for your testimony, just as it could of Zacchaeus'.
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SPEAKER_00: Three things, really quick, write them down if you need to.
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SPEAKER_00: Number one, Jesus knows what you are.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows what you are.
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SPEAKER_00: In Luke 9.51,
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SPEAKER_00: if you really want to get into some Bible study stuff,
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SPEAKER_00: in Luke 9.51, Jesus says that he is setting his face to go to Jerusalem.
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SPEAKER_00: And this marks a serious shift and a turn in the narrative.
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SPEAKER_00: Because now all the other chapters are about how he is going to Jerusalem,
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SPEAKER_00: ultimately to die on the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: And along the way, he and his disciples, they...
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SPEAKER_00: And for whatever reason,
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SPEAKER_00: as we know from what we've read and from what we know from the story,
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SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus was curious about,
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SPEAKER_00: To see what all of the hullabaloo about Jesus of Nazareth was about.
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SPEAKER_00: Again, verse 3, he, Zacchaeus, was seeking who Jesus was.
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SPEAKER_00: But on account of the crowd, he couldn't because he was small in stature.
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SPEAKER_00: He was a short little guy with a Napoleon complex.
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SPEAKER_00: And we aren't told why, but he was curious.
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SPEAKER_00: Maybe he had grown up in synagogue and he heard the Sunday school teaching and all
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SPEAKER_00: that kind of stuff.
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SPEAKER_00: Maybe he heard about the Messiah and there's all these rumors.
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SPEAKER_00: Whatever it was that was motivating Zacchaeus to go to town that day,
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SPEAKER_00: he goes to town seeking to catch a glimpse of this rabbi from Galilee.
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SPEAKER_00: And he sprints ahead of this column of people,
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SPEAKER_00: a mass of people that had sort of crowded around Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: And he climbs up into a tree, as we know from the story, to get a better view of Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: Because he just wants to see him.
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SPEAKER_00: He wants to see what it's all about.
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SPEAKER_00: And suddenly, again,
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SPEAKER_00: it just so happened that the noisy crowd was passing by the very exact way
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SPEAKER_00: where Zacchaeus had sort of stationed himself.
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SPEAKER_00: And what is most stunning is that Zacchaeus hears this rabbi
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SPEAKER_00: that he had only heard rumors about speaking to him.
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SPEAKER_00: And more than just speaking to him, inviting himself over.
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SPEAKER_00: Verse 4.
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SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him,
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SPEAKER_00: for he was about to pass that way.
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SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus came to the place,
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SPEAKER_00: he looked up and said to him,
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SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.
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SPEAKER_00: And so he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.
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SPEAKER_00: And when they saw it, catch those words, when they saw it, they all grumbled.
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SPEAKER_00: He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.
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SPEAKER_00: Now there's probably some questions, at least for me, whenever I'm reading the Bible.
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SPEAKER_00: The best way to read the Bible and understand it is to ask a lot of questions.
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SPEAKER_00: The question that stands out to me after reading that little section is, who's the they?
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SPEAKER_00: Who's the they that are grumbling?
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SPEAKER_00: It's a really good question to ask.
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SPEAKER_00: Because if we answer that question,
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SPEAKER_00: it'll tell you something specific about these people
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SPEAKER_00: who are just expressing their distaste and their disgust over what Jesus is doing.
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SPEAKER_00: We've heard grumbling like this on a previous occasion.
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SPEAKER_00: Back in Luke chapter 15,
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SPEAKER_00: verse number 2,
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SPEAKER_00: what sort of prompts Jesus to tell those most famous trio of parables?
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SPEAKER_00: Well,
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SPEAKER_00: there was some Pharisees who were grumbling about how sort of close and how much
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SPEAKER_00: in fellowship Jesus was with sinners.
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SPEAKER_00: These scribes and these Pharisees,
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SPEAKER_00: they couldn't get beyond themselves to think that Jesus could hang out with them.
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SPEAKER_00: So it could be the Pharisees.
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SPEAKER_00: But really, the they here is more inclusive.
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SPEAKER_00: The they isn't reserved to just some pompous, self-righteous religious leaders.
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SPEAKER_00: It actually includes every onlooker in the crowd that day.
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SPEAKER_00: Everyone who was on the road, alongside the road, on the thoroughfare...
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SPEAKER_00: Who just a moment ago was praising God.
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SPEAKER_00: If you read at the end of chapter 18, Jesus heals a blind man.
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SPEAKER_00: And everyone praises God.
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SPEAKER_00: They're praising.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at what just happened.
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SPEAKER_00: If you read Mark chapter 10, you find out that this blind man, his name is Bartimaeus.
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SPEAKER_00: And now we have this interesting, we have to, no, watch this.
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SPEAKER_00: There's this awesome contrast.
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SPEAKER_00: This amazing contrast between a crowd who was moments ago praising and now,
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SPEAKER_00: right now, they're grumbling.
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SPEAKER_00: Bartimaeus,
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SPEAKER_00: the blind beggar who was just sitting by the road,
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SPEAKER_00: he was seen as someone worthy of grace and healing and the crowd rejoices to see it.
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SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus,
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SPEAKER_00: however,
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SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus,
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SPEAKER_00: the tax collector,
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SPEAKER_00: everyone hates the guy that's taking all their money,
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SPEAKER_00: He's deemed not worthy of grace, especially the grace of a rabbi's company.
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SPEAKER_00: So they're grumbling, they're muttering, they're cursing under their breath.
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SPEAKER_00: But I think the thing that,
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SPEAKER_00: of course, we have to also acknowledge, Jesus knew exactly what he was doing.
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SPEAKER_00: He knew exactly,
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SPEAKER_00: he knew what kind of reaction he was going to get when he invited himself over to be
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SPEAKER_00: and stay in the house of a notorious sinner.
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SPEAKER_00: Especially one like Zacchaeus.
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SPEAKER_00: You've probably heard the story many times, so you know why.
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SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus was one of the most hated men in Jericho, and for good reason.
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SPEAKER_00: He was a tax collector, he was a publican.
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SPEAKER_00: Which, if you want to put it in sort of modern parlance,
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SPEAKER_00: he was, we could say, a government-contracted worker for the Roman Empire.
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SPEAKER_00: Who his charge was to raise taxes, to raise money, to fund Rome's continued global advancement.
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SPEAKER_00: That's sort of what his job was.
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SPEAKER_00: And if he scraped off a little for himself, no big deal.
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SPEAKER_00: As long as he was supporting Caesar.
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SPEAKER_00: As long as he was siphoning enough to make sure Rome was being supported
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SPEAKER_00: by whoever they were occupying.
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SPEAKER_00: And of course, this made, as you might imagine, this made Jewish tax collectors doubly hated.
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SPEAKER_00: Which, of course, is the case for Zacchaeus.
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SPEAKER_00: He was a Jew working for Rome.
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SPEAKER_00: He was a traitor.
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SPEAKER_00: He was a collaborator with Rome.
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SPEAKER_00: Who is content, it would seem, to get rich at the expense of his neighbors.
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SPEAKER_00: As Luke tells us, Zacchaeus was good at his job.
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SPEAKER_00: Because what do we know about Zacchaeus?
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SPEAKER_00: He's rich.
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SPEAKER_00: That's all we know about him.
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SPEAKER_00: And the implication is he's really rich.
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SPEAKER_00: Like Scrooge McDuck swimming in coins rich.
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SPEAKER_00: Like that's who Zacchaeus is.
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SPEAKER_00: And when he went to town, you have to know that piercing glares.
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SPEAKER_00: He would just get stared at.
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SPEAKER_00: People would curse him under his breath everywhere he went.
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SPEAKER_00: So it's actually kind of surprising that Zacchaeus would even dare to venture
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SPEAKER_00: into town at all, knowing the kind of looks and the kind of remarks he would get.
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SPEAKER_00: But there he was in a tree.
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SPEAKER_00: With Jesus staring up at him.
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SPEAKER_00: And not just staring, speaking to him.
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SPEAKER_00: As it says, verse 5, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down.
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SPEAKER_00: For I must stay at your house today.
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SPEAKER_00: Another little note.
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SPEAKER_00: I think we often, I often think this too.
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SPEAKER_00: So I'm to blame as much as anyone.
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SPEAKER_00: But I often think of just the fact that Jesus is going over for dinner.
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SPEAKER_00: But actually, that's not really true.
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SPEAKER_00: I mean, he probably does eat dinner.
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SPEAKER_00: But that word stay there...
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SPEAKER_00: Doesn't really just mean he's going to go over for a potluck and then leave.
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SPEAKER_00: Actually, it means he's going to be there for a while.
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SPEAKER_00: Like he's going to stay for an extended period of time.
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SPEAKER_00: He's lodging in Zacchaeus' house.
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SPEAKER_00: And of course,
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SPEAKER_00: as you might know,
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SPEAKER_00: entering the home,
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SPEAKER_00: let alone staying in the home of someone like that,
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SPEAKER_00: a sinner who had such a notorious reputation,
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SPEAKER_00: meant that you were putting yourself at risk to be identified with that sinner.
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SPEAKER_00: And Zacchaeus' life was speckled with sin.
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SPEAKER_00: And even if no one could prove it, they saw what it led to as sort of like a mob boss.
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SPEAKER_00: You can't prove it.
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SPEAKER_00: You can't tie it to him.
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SPEAKER_00: But you know there's stuff around him.
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SPEAKER_00: And this is why the crowd was so offended.
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SPEAKER_00: This is why they're grumbling.
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SPEAKER_00: This is why they're complaining.
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SPEAKER_00: This is why they're so scandalized.
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SPEAKER_00: Because of what Jesus was offering.
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SPEAKER_00: There goes that rabbi from Galilee again, hanging out with sinners.
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SPEAKER_00: We know that he does that.
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SPEAKER_00: I think the point is this.
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SPEAKER_00: Before you shake your head at that crowd for their disgust at Jesus' actions,
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SPEAKER_00: we have to step back and admit we're just like them.
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SPEAKER_00: We're just like them.
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SPEAKER_00: I think if we're all honest with ourselves, we would all have to admit that we have a list.
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SPEAKER_00: Hopefully you don't have it written down,
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SPEAKER_00: but maybe it's a mental list of people that you would shudder about.
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SPEAKER_00: If they were shown such tremendous grace, you have a list.
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SPEAKER_00: Man, that person, he doesn't deserve that.
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SPEAKER_00: And I think the hard part is too, maybe you're on someone else's list and you don't know it.
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SPEAKER_00: We squirm sometimes when the wrong people, wrong people, Gets shown such tremendous grace.
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SPEAKER_00: And I think that's precisely the point that Jesus is making.
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SPEAKER_00: He is more than willing to hobnob with those who are despised and those who are rejected.
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SPEAKER_00: Those who are stiff-armed and outcast.
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SPEAKER_00: If it means he can restore them.
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SPEAKER_00: Why?
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SPEAKER_00: He's the sheep that goes after the strayed.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus knew what Zacchaeus was and he invited himself over anyway.
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SPEAKER_00: And the point is, he knows what you are.
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SPEAKER_00: And he seeks you out anyway.
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SPEAKER_00: He knows what you are.
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SPEAKER_00: And he died for you anyway, Romans 5a.
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SPEAKER_00: He died for us even while we were still sinners.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus never let the norms of society or propriety govern or dictate
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SPEAKER_00: who he ministered to, who he went out to reach out to, who he showed grace to.
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SPEAKER_00: He wasn't eager to live up to society's expectations for him.
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SPEAKER_00: He was doing what?
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SPEAKER_00: He was about the Father's will, which is what?
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SPEAKER_00: To seek and to save the lost.
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SPEAKER_00: And part of seeking and saving the lost means going where they are.
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SPEAKER_00: And that's what he did.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what he did for Zacchaeus.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what he did for you.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus is perfectly okay scandalizing his own name if it means saving yours.
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SPEAKER_00: That's why he came, for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows what you are, number one.
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SPEAKER_00: Number two, I'll hurry.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows where you are.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows what you are.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows where you are.
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SPEAKER_00: When Jesus,
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SPEAKER_00: as we already mentioned,
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SPEAKER_00: set his face to go to Jerusalem, it's a very deliberate decision that he's making.
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SPEAKER_00: He understood, Jesus at that moment understood that his time was drawing near.
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SPEAKER_00: Time for him to fulfill his mission, which meant going to the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: And therefore,
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SPEAKER_00: every step along the way,
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SPEAKER_00: every step on the journey to Jerusalem was filled with a sense of intentionality,
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SPEAKER_00: purpose.
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SPEAKER_00: It was deliberate.
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SPEAKER_00: So all the interactions on the way to Jerusalem are not accidental.
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SPEAKER_00: They're purposeful unfolding, unfurling who he is and what he had come to do.
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SPEAKER_00: Therefore...
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SPEAKER_00: Jericho isn't just some random city on the way to something else.
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SPEAKER_00: It's another place and another opportunity for Jesus to show what his mission was.
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SPEAKER_00: And we already got a glimpse of that.
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SPEAKER_00: Again, at the end of chapter 18, he heals a blind man.
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SPEAKER_00: Remember at the very beginning of Jesus' ministry in Luke chapter 4.
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SPEAKER_00: Remember he goes into the synagogue and he starts reading from Isaiah 61.
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SPEAKER_00: And he starts reading that passage that this is what the Lord says.
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SPEAKER_00: I will give him the spirit.
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SPEAKER_00: And he goes on.
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SPEAKER_00: He's going to heal the blind.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: He's going to set the captives free.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus sits down and says the scripture is fulfilled in your midst.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: He's kind of proving that by healing a blind guy.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: But there's something else I think that just stands out
19:53
SPEAKER_00: if you just read this passage and you sit with it.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: There's something else that has to be mentioned.
19:58
SPEAKER_00: Jericho was one of the most ancient cities in the history of civilization.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: Even in Jesus' day, Jericho was older than dirt, as they say.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: When he walked there,
20:12
SPEAKER_00: it was sort of a new Jericho because you might remember Jericho,
20:15
SPEAKER_00: its walls came tumbling down.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: And so just a little bit like a mile or so away, they built a new Jericho.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: But regardless,
20:22
SPEAKER_00: Jericho, the city, the metropolis had been around for around 8,000 years or more.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: It was a haven for the wealthy, for the one percenters, if you will.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: And it's, of course, mostly known from Joshua chapter 6.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: The people of God, they march around the city for six days.
20:41
SPEAKER_00: On the seventh day,
20:42
SPEAKER_00: they march around seven times and they blow their trumpets and they shout and
20:44
SPEAKER_00: the walls come tumbling down.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: And in the aftermath of that victory, if you remember, what does Joshua do?
20:51
SPEAKER_00: He lays down a curse on anyone who would rebuild those walls.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: He curses the city.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: Fast forward, if you go to the days of Elisha.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: Elisha, he was the successor of Elijah.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: He's a prophet of Yahweh.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: And wouldn't you know that Elisha visits that cursed city.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: And he brings blessing and he brings grace right there.
21:21
SPEAKER_00: You can read about it in 2 Kings chapter 2 verses 19 through 22.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: Elisha comes to town and he heals a cursed spring of water.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: So now we have to understand that this cursed,
21:36
SPEAKER_00: desolate place is being restored by a word of grace from a prophet of God.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: And what do you know?
21:45
SPEAKER_00: That almost the exact same thing happens in Luke chapter 19.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: When the true and better version of Elisha,
21:53
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, brings healing and grace to a man who is cursed by his neighbors.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: It's not an accident that brought Jesus on that road that day.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just coincidence.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just, wow, look at this awesome happenstance that happens.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: As it says in verse number five, he was headed to a specific spot.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: What does the Bible say when he came to the place?
22:19
SPEAKER_00: Definite article.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knew where Zacchaeus would be because Jesus knows where sinners are.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: And that's where he goes.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: From a cradle in Bethlehem to the streets of Jericho to a cross outside of Jerusalem itself.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: This has always been what Jesus has done.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: He goes to where the lost are to bring the lost back.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: He goes there to bring back the strayed, Ezekiel 34 says.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: He goes and he ventures and he dares to enter those cursed places.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: The places of death and decay and disaster.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: And right there he brings life.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: That's what he did for Zacchaeus.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: This outcast that was pushed aside by everyone.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: And by his own decisions.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: This is what he does for you.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: Those places that you think are hidden.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: He sees.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: He sees.
23:24
SPEAKER_00: He knows.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
23:27
SPEAKER_00: He knows those things that you've tried to bury or just sweep under the rug.
23:31
SPEAKER_00: He knows all of those regrets that you've repressed that still haunt you at night.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: He knows every last frustration.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: He knows everything about you.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: There is no place of sin that is off limits for the one who has come to seek and
23:50
SPEAKER_00: to save sinners.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: And by redeeming Zacchaeus,
23:53
SPEAKER_00: he is showing us just how far grace will go,
23:57
SPEAKER_00: will reach to bring and save the outcast and the desperate and those on the outside.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: And that includes you too.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: He knows.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: He knows.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows what you are.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: And he knows where you are.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: Lastly, number three, Jesus knows who you are.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows who you are.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: What do I mean by that?
24:22
SPEAKER_00: One of the most surprising details,
24:24
SPEAKER_00: I think,
24:24
SPEAKER_00: of this whole scene,
24:25
SPEAKER_00: and there's many that we could sort of dive into and wade in for a while,
24:29
SPEAKER_00: but one of the most surprising ones,
24:30
SPEAKER_00: I think, is Jesus' first words to Zacchaeus himself.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: Verse five.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: What do you notice?
24:42
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus knows Zacchaeus' name.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: Despite never having met,
24:48
SPEAKER_00: as far as we know,
24:49
SPEAKER_00: despite never having sort of,
24:50
SPEAKER_00: maybe they had mutual friends,
24:51
SPEAKER_00: we don't know,
24:52
SPEAKER_00: but despite not having any real knowledge of each other,
24:56
SPEAKER_00: Jesus spots Zacchaeus in a tree,
24:59
SPEAKER_00: sort of hanging precariously off of a limb, and he calls him by name.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: Step back.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: I wonder what that did to Zacchaeus.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: Oh my!
25:10
SPEAKER_00: I wonder what that did to him.
25:12
SPEAKER_00: Did it unnerve him?
25:13
SPEAKER_00: Did it shake him up?
25:14
SPEAKER_00: Did it surprise him?
25:15
SPEAKER_00: Did it also almost make him fall out of the tree?
25:18
SPEAKER_00: This guy knows who I am.
25:21
SPEAKER_00: This rabbi, he had only heard rumors about knew his name.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: And not only did he know his name, he didn't turn his nose up at his name.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: He didn't say Zacchaeus and then spit on the ground like everyone else probably did.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: No, instead...
25:39
SPEAKER_00: There was a warmth.
25:42
SPEAKER_00: There was a kindness.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: There was a compassionate gleam in Jesus' eyes as he said to Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus, hurry.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: I got to stay at your house today.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: And maybe this marked the first time in a long time, but maybe the first time in a while.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: That someone was eager to visit Zacchaeus who didn't want something in return.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: They weren't looking to get something out of him.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: No, instead, this teacher from Galilee just genuinely wanted to be with Zacchaeus.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that explains why he was so hasty,
26:23
SPEAKER_00: as it says in verse 6,
26:24
SPEAKER_00: that he hurried and came down out of the tree and received him joyfully.
26:28
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
26:31
SPEAKER_00: And although I wish we could have had like a fly,
26:34
SPEAKER_00: be a fly on the wall because we don't know as Zacchaeus and Jesus talked about
26:37
SPEAKER_00: that evening.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what their conversation was about.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: We only know what it did to Zacchaeus, that slimy tax collector.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: We know how it changed him and it moved him.
26:53
SPEAKER_00: To demonstrate his change of heart and his repentance,
26:57
SPEAKER_00: if you will, by giving back what he had falsely accumulated.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8,
27:01
SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus stood and sort of,
27:03
SPEAKER_00: you can imagine, in the middle of the dinner that's going on.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: He's making a declaration.
27:17
SPEAKER_00: A response.
27:19
SPEAKER_00: A response.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: That can only be explained by the fact that Jesus was extending grace.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: Even though he didn't deserve it.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: Only grace can take a person as self-interested and selfish as Zacchaeus.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: And turn them into a giver.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: Into someone who is going above and beyond what the law of God requires.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: That's what grace does.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: It changes you.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: And I think that change,
27:51
SPEAKER_00: if you'll stick with me,
27:52
SPEAKER_00: I think that change,
27:53
SPEAKER_00: it can be traced all the way back to the fact that Jesus called Zacchaeus by name.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: You know,
28:00
SPEAKER_00: names in the Bible,
28:01
SPEAKER_00: they carry way more weight and way more meaning than they do in our day.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of glad by that, by the way.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: My name is Bradley.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what Bradley means?
28:11
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not an eagle, like warrior thing.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: It's not like I'm going to be like the smart intelligent.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: You know what my name means?
28:20
SPEAKER_00: A broad meadow or a clearing in the woods.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: Not sure what to read into that, but that's what my name means.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad we don't sort of ascribe meaning to modern names.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't know what I would try to get out of mine.
28:35
SPEAKER_00: But anyways,
28:36
SPEAKER_00: you can study a lot or you can learn a lot by studying the names of the people in
28:39
SPEAKER_00: the Bible.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: The same told is true here of Zacchaeus.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: You know what Zacchaeus means?
28:44
SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus hails from a Hebrew root that literally means clean or pure or even innocent.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: Which is, of course, hugely ironic based on what we know about Zacchaeus.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: He was anything but clean or pure or innocent.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: And everyone in town knew it.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: Everyone knows Zacchaeus is not pure and clean and innocent.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: He was a swindler.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: He was a conniver.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: He was eager to defraud his own neighbors if it meant he could fill his pockets.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: And yet, watch, Jesus doesn't hesitate to call him by name.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: Zacchaeus, clean one.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: Come down.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: I've got to stay at your house.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: This is something that Jesus does throughout the Gospels.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: He calls people.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: Not by what they are in and of themselves,
29:42
SPEAKER_00: but he calls them by what he is making them into by his grace.
29:49
SPEAKER_00: For the best example of the clearest,
29:50
SPEAKER_00: because we can see it from Zacchaeus,
29:52
SPEAKER_00: but just to illustrate it,
29:53
SPEAKER_00: the best example of this,
29:54
SPEAKER_00: we only have to look at everyone's favorite apostle, Peter.
29:59
SPEAKER_00: Peter, formerly he was named Simon, son of Jonah, Simon Bar-Jonah.
30:05
SPEAKER_00: He was given the name Peter, if you remember.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: After he confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: You can find that in Matthew chapter 16.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: That's where he makes that wonderful declaration.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: And if I could just summarize Jesus' words right after that in Matthew 16.
30:21
SPEAKER_00: It's as if Jesus says, yes, exactly, Peter.
30:25
SPEAKER_00: And that's why you are Peter, a rock.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: Because on this rock-like confession that I'm the Christ, I'm going to build my church.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: That's what he says to Peter.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: He gives Simon the name Petros or rock for what he confesses.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the Christ.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: Only for Peter to act very unrock-like, if I can say that, just seconds later.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: Because what happens in the same chapter...
30:57
SPEAKER_00: Just a few moments later,
30:59
SPEAKER_00: he dares,
31:00
SPEAKER_00: Peter does,
31:01
SPEAKER_00: he dares to rebuke Jesus because he suggested that he was going to Jerusalem to die.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: That's not going to happen to you, Jesus, no.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: And what does Jesus say to him?
31:11
SPEAKER_00: Get behind me, Satan.
31:14
SPEAKER_00: Not to mention the fact that Peter utterly fails to act like a rock
31:19
SPEAKER_00: when he was caught denying that he even knew Jesus at all during the hours
31:24
SPEAKER_00: of his crucifixion.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: So much so that he's cursing Jesus to the people by the campfire.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: I don't know him.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: No, I've never known him.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, that's the point.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: He calls Peter a rock despite knowing he would fail because he names him,
31:42
SPEAKER_00: not based on what he is in and of himself, but on what he's making him into.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: And the point is, Jesus doesn't just know what you are and what you're made of.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: He knows who you are at the deepest level of who you are.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: He knows everything about you.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: The sins you've locked away, all the anxieties that keep on keeping you up at nighttime.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: He knows all the stuff that you don't let anyone else see.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: Because you put on really good masks when you come to church.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: All the shame that bogs you down and all the questions that you're afraid to ask
32:16
SPEAKER_00: and all the failures you think that you can't escape.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows all of that.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: He knows all of that.
32:24
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
32:25
SPEAKER_00: He still calls you by name and he still welcomes you to become one of his own.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: You see, that's the great comfort of the wee little man.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: It's not just some kid's story.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: It's the story of your salvation.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: Despite knowing what you are and where you are and who you are,
32:48
SPEAKER_00: none of that made Jesus turn around and turn away.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: He comes looking for you.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't come to find the good people.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: There aren't any.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: Neither does he come to give the righteous a pat on the back.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: No.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: He comes to do what?
33:03
SPEAKER_00: To seek and to save the lost.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: He comes for the down and out.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: He comes for those who don't have it all together.
33:11
SPEAKER_00: A.K.A.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: all of us.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: He comes for the Pharisee who is grumbling.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: And he comes for the sinner who is stuck in the gutter.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: He comes...
33:24
SPEAKER_00: As it says in God's word,
33:25
SPEAKER_00: he comes to be numbered with the transgressors by bearing their sins so that
33:30
SPEAKER_00: the transgressors might become the righteousness of God.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: That's what this story is all about.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: It tells us all about how a swindler like Zacchaeus can be called clean even when he wasn't.
33:45
SPEAKER_00: Which tells us all about how we sinners can be called beloved even though we aren't.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: How we can be called the friend of God.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: How we can be called his sons and his daughters.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: Because you see,
34:02
SPEAKER_00: long before Zacchaeus scrambled up a tree to seek Jesus,
34:07
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was already seeking him.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: And that's what he's doing with you right now.
34:12
SPEAKER_00: You're like, oh man, I already know all this.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: I'm already a Christian.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: You know, he still is pursuing you.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: He's still pursuing you.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: He's still seeking you out.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: We pray that Psalm 23, that surely goodness and mercy will follow me.
34:28
SPEAKER_00: Another little aside.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: You know that word follow is not the best.
34:33
SPEAKER_00: It's not just Jesus following you.
34:36
SPEAKER_00: That word means he's running after you.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: He's pursuing you.
34:42
SPEAKER_00: Surely goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: He's doing that right now.
34:50
SPEAKER_00: He's pursuing you.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: So if you are a person here, you've never known Jesus.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: You don't know what it means to be a part of the family of God.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: You don't know what it means to experience forgiveness.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
35:03
SPEAKER_00: Good news.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: There's one who's seeking you out.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: And he's been seeking you out even before you knew he was seeking you out.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: And I'm here to tell you, he's seeking you out.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: And also to you, believer, Christian, you've been in church your whole life.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you take for granted these things.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: I've heard these stories.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: Wow, yeah.
35:23
SPEAKER_00: I know what all this means.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: I've been a Christian, all that kind of stuff.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: He's seeking you.
35:30
SPEAKER_00: He's seeking,
35:31
SPEAKER_00: drawing you further and further into himself so that you see and experience,
35:37
SPEAKER_00: as we've already sung, just how amazing grace is because that's where he wants you.
35:44
SPEAKER_00: You know where worship happens?
35:45
SPEAKER_00: You know where discipleship happens?
35:46
SPEAKER_00: You know where a Christian life that is fulfilling and fruitful happens?
35:50
SPEAKER_00: It happens because we are so enamored by the grace of God.
35:54
SPEAKER_00: We can't help but share it.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: We can't help but get it out.
35:58
SPEAKER_00: We can't help but live it.
36:01
SPEAKER_00: I think Zacchaeus has a lot to tell us.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: Whether you're 8 or 18 or 80 or maybe older, I don't know.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: He has a lot to tell us.
36:15
SPEAKER_00: There's a God who never stops seeking you.
36:18
SPEAKER_00: There's an old hymn.
36:18
SPEAKER_00: I'll end with this.
36:19
SPEAKER_00: It's an old hymn.
36:20
SPEAKER_00: It's anonymous.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: Don't know who wrote it, but I love the words to it.
36:24
SPEAKER_00: The words go like this.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: I sought the Lord and afterward I knew.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: He moved my soul to seek him seeking me.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: It was not I that found, oh Savior, true.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: No, I was found of thee.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: That's our testimony.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: That's Zacchaeus' testimony.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: That's ours.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: I was found of thee.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.