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-fig tree 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.”
8 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 19:1-10 (ESV)
EVERYBODY HATES TAX COLLECTORS
Tax collectors in Judea had a terrible reputation in Jesus’ day. They were known for their greed, collecting taxes at high rates and keeping the excess they collected. Their role was especially heinous to the Jews because they were cheating their own people, which put them at odds with the Law of Moses.
When the Pharisees (religious leaders) wanted to smear Jesus, they said things like, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Matthew 9:11). They spoke as if a tax collector were a special kind of sinner, and to lump them in with other sinners would be an insult to sinners everywhere.
The passage tells us that Zacchaeus was wealthy, which probably means he had been collecting taxes for a while. I often wonder whether Zacchaeus saw himself as the good guy or the villain in his story. What was he telling himself to justify ripping people off while still being able to sleep at night? Maybe he thought something like, “It’s just my job,” or “If I don’t do it, someone else will,” or maybe, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
Like Zacchaeus, we often find ways to justify our wrongdoings. We have good reasons for our bad behavior. In his book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis put it like this:
“You can be good for the mere sake of goodness; you cannot be bad for the mere sake of badness. You can do a kind action when you are not feeling kind and when it gives you no pleasure, simply because kindness is right; but no one ever did a cruel action simply because cruelty is wrong—only because cruelty is pleasant or useful to him. In other words, badness cannot succeed even in being bad in the same way in which goodness is good. Goodness is, so to speak, itself; badness is only spoiled goodness. And there must be something good first before it can be spoiled.”
That is why it is so easy to get caught up in destructive behaviors and practices—we can always see the “good” reasons for doing what we do. Zacchaeus’ goodness was “spoiled” because, no matter what he told himself, his actions were selfish.
Interestingly, Zacchaeus’ name is Greek, meaning pure or innocent. When Jesus called his name, perhaps Zacchaeus was reminded of its meaning. The name from Jesus’ lips may have shown him what unspoiled goodness should look like, prompting him to change his ways to align with true goodness. He turned away from his self-centered rationalization, and the result of that change was generosity toward others.
Take a moment to pray and ask God to show you the selfish parts of your life. Ask Him to reveal the actions and habits you justify to yourself but, deep down, know are wrong. When He shows them to you, ask Him to change them.
Chris Boggess is the Next Generation/Family Pastor at NorthStar Church. He grew up in St. Albans, West Virginia, and still cheers for the Mountaineers. He and his wife, Heather, have two grown children and one granddaughter.
