Sermon on Zacchaeus and Stewardship

At St. Peter Lutheran Church, we celebrate Confirmation Sunday on the same day as Reformation Day, which means there are two sermons for this day. This is the sermon on the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10 as preached on October 26 & 27 at the 6:00 pm and 8:30 am services. I found helpful Ira Brent Driggers’ commentary on WorkingPreacher.

Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

If I asked you to list your favorite heroes of faith from the Bible, who would you name? You’d probably mention great patriarchs like Abraham or Jacob, or perhaps a great prophet like Isaiah or Jeremiah, or a king like the wise Solomon. Or maybe you’d mention some of the apostles, like Peter, James or John. Very few people, I imagine, would think to name Zacchaeus as their favorite faith hero.

In fact, from this story, which is the only place in the Bible he’s mentioned, it’s hard to tell if Zacchaeus should even be called a hero of faith. I mean, all he does is climb a tree, right? The only reason he’s in the Bible seems to be that he’s short. He’s not very heroic. He doesn’t lead an army into battle like King David, or rescue God’s people like Moses, or even write books of the Bible like Paul.

I want to make the case to you today that Zacchaeus is a great hero of faith, and we should all follow his example. In particular, he’s a great hero for us Lutherans to think about on Reformation Day.

This story starts with Jesus and his entourage entering Jericho. At this point in the story, Jesus is almost to Jerusalem, where he’s going to be arrested and killed on the cross. As he approaches Jerusalem, he has huge crowds following him. He’s at the peak of his popularity.

As he enters Jericho, there’s a man there named Zacchaeus (for those who were here last week, his name means “pure” or “clean”).

Zacchaeus is a tax collector, which means a couple things. For one thing, it means nobody likes him. And it’s more than the general distaste most of us might have for IRS agents. Remember, Israel is an occupied nation. The Romans have taken over the country and are ruling it as a vassal state. Zacchaeus is a Jew, but he’s working for the Romans, collaborating with the enemy. And apparently he’s good at working with them, because he’s risen to be a chief tax collector.

He’s also rich, because as a tax collector, he’s expected to skim off some of the money he collects before passing it on. Collaborating with the occupying force is profitable, but it also means his neighbors despise him. He’s far from heroic.

But Jesus has a different opinion of Zacchaeus. When Jesus comes into town, Zacchaeus is curious about him. He wants to see who this Jesus guy is. But, Luke tells us, Zacchaeus is short in stature. He’s not very tall. And there’s a big crowd around Jesus. So Zacchaeus climbs a tree so he can see.

When Jesus comes by, he looks up and sees Zacchaeus, and says to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” Jesus invites himself over.

Here’s why I think Zacchaeus is the perfect hero for Reformation Day: In his story, Jesus is the one doing all the work! Jesus doesn’t wait for him to get his act together, to stop his sinful ways, to stop collaborating with the Romans; Jesus says, “I’m coming into your life. Let’s go.” And Zacchaeus is happy to welcome him. He obeys the call.

The central insight of the Protestant Reformation is Martin Luther’s rediscovery of God’s grace. Luther recognized that no matter how hard we try, we can never live up to the standards of the law. As the verse in Romans says, “’No human being will be justified in God’s sight’ by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” The more we know of God’s law, the more we recognize how we don’t measure up to it. Luther realized that we are fully dependent on God, that we can do nothing towards our own salvation.

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But—and here’s the insight Luther latched on to—“They are now justified by God’s grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith.”

In the Zacchaeus story, Jesus makes the first move. All Zacchaeus does is respond. Jesus doesn’t ask permission; he just declares he’s coming into Zacchaeus’s life. Your faith is a gift from God. It’s the Holy Spirit’s work in you. Everything you do in faith is a response to God’s action. Everything we do as Christians is in response to God’s grace given to us.

And we have a church word for those things we do to respond to God’s grace and blessings. Ready? “Stewardship.”

You might remember our New Consecration Sunday stewardship campaign last fall. We’re not doing that this year. But stewardship is something we need to talk about, because it’s part of who we are as church, and what we do as Christians. It’s how we respond to God’s grace. For the next three weeks, we’re going to have bulletin inserts with some “testimonials” from some members of our congregation about how they live out their faith through stewardship.




Sometimes we get mixed up about what stewardship is and we reduce it to just giving money in the offering plate (or from your bank account, or through the app). Stewardship includes money, but it also includes much more. As Christians, we believe everything we have is a gift from God given to us in trust. Our calling is to steward the gifts God has given to us, to use what we have to build God’s kingdom and do God’s work, all in grateful response to what God’s done for us. I put my favorite definition of stewardship on this week’s insert, under the testimony from Kelly. It says, “Stewardship is everything I do after I say, “I believe.’”

What you believe influences how you use your money, and how you use the abilities God has give you, and how you use your time.

This weekend, we’re specifically focusing on serving in worship. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Worship is not a spectator sport. Worship is something we do together. I’m not nearly entertaining enough for you to just show up and watch me.

This is also a very Lutheran understanding of worship. It’s appropriate for Reformation Day, because one of Martin Luther’s big insights in the reformation was the priesthood of all believers, the understanding that through Jesus, all of us have direct access to God. We don’t have priests to do the worship on our behalf.

The work of the church is not the responsibility of one class of people. The “Church” is not defined by the hierarchy of the pope and the priests. The church is not the institution serving everyone else. The Church is the people of God gathered together. Where the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed and where the sacraments are administered, there the church is.

My job is to lead you in worship, not to be the one doing it with you observing. We worship by singing together, praying together, studying together, greeting each other as a community, supporting each other, giving praise to God together. And to make worship happen each week, we need a bunch of people to help.

I’m convinced there’s a role for every single person to help in worship. God has given us different gifts and talents, so some people are comfortable reading, while some people have an easier time standing and serving communion. You don’t want me doing special music. But anyone can usher and greet people. If you can’t think of a way to serve, talk to me.

Let’s pray, and then I’ll ask the ushers to pass out worship servant signup sheets.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the gifts you have given each of us to steward. Thank you for the blessings you give us so we may bless others through our time, our talents, and our treasures. Thank you for calling people who are too short, or too old, or too busy, or too poor, and equipping all of us to serve you with what we have. Thank you for your grace that always makes the first move, that does what we could never do, and for your servant Martin Luther who called your people back to that grace shown in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen