Reflective Bible Study

Have you ever had an impression of someone, simply from what other people have said about them, but then found out later that they were not what you had thought? In some cases, the person you meet came as a high recommendation from someone you trust, but you find out after meeting them that they are not as great as you imagined.

In other cases, the rumor mill has run wild and someone has a horrible reputation – whether it is because of their occupation, their friends, or simply because they are in the spotlight – when in reality, they are a much better person than their reputation suggests.

When I read this story of Zacchaeus, I am presented with two sides of a coin. On one side, we have the traditional view, which Zacchaeus being the stereotypical cheat – the reputation that tax collectors had in those parts of the Roman empire. Looking at Zacchaeus from this view is easy and it is what people have done for years.

On the other side of the coin, I am presented with a different picture – one that will take a little bit of math to explain. One morning, as I was reading and studying this passage, this other view changed how I saw Zacchaeus from that point forward.

To begin this shift in thinking, I began with the logical assumption that Zacchaeus was good at math. As someone who was the head tax collector in the region, he would have had ample experience crunching the numbers – whether it was “creatively” doing the math or accurately doing the math.

Next, I looked at Jesus’ positive response, which affirmed Zacchaeus’ response and generosity, and concluded that in Zacchaeus was being genuine and honest in his promise to give his money away. Jesus would not have reacted positively if Zacchaeus did not mean what he was saying, or if the promise was empty.

Then, I crunched the numbers of what Zacchaeus promised. First he starts by allocating half his wealth to go straight to the poor, and then secondly, he promises to repay anyone he cheated four times the amount that was cheated. Let’s do the math:

• We start at 100% and give 50% away to the poor. We now have 50% left. That is the easy part.

• With the 50% left, Zacchaeus then promises to repay 4x the amount anyone was cheated by him. Leaving investments and other ways of growing money aside, we must divide the remaining 50% by 4 which leaves us with 12.5%.

The conclusion is that no greater than 12.5% of Zacchaeus’ money was gained through cheating – otherwise he would have bankrupted himself in this request. If Zacchaeus was exaggerating and over-promising in this declaration, I don’t believe Jesus would have responded positively. If Zacchaeus was bad at math, he probably wouldn’t have acquired/kept the money in the first place.

So what does this mean? Where was Zacchaeus spiritually before this encounter – since Jesus’ response implies that salvation was not a part of Zacchaeus’ life before that night?

What I came to realize after doing the math, and analyzing what happened, is that this event is less about the numbers, or even about the generosity, and more about the focus and the heart. The Zacchaeus event was not recorded as a statement that warrants all “rich” people must give away their money, or that all “rich” people obtained their riches dishonestly.

The Zacchaeus event was recorded because it amplifies a temptation we all face: Do we place accumulating (i.e. saving) ahead of giving when it comes to our resources?

Zacchaeus was an excellent saver and investor, but a horrible giver. When his heart changed, his focus changed, and salvation came to his house that very day.

When we let Jesus change our heart, and when we change our focus from what we can get to what we can give, salvation knocks at the door of our hearts as well. Zacchaeus is a model of where we are before Jesus and how our lives and focus change after encountering Him as our Savior.

In one of the most impressive healings that we can find in the gospels, we also are left with a group of people (not the disciples) that are actually scared of Jesus. After Jesus has cast the legion of demons out of the man living among the tombs in the region of the Gerasenes, Mark tells us that the people living there were scared of Jesus.

In the healing, Jesus had permitted the request of these demons to enter a herd of pigs, and this in itself was an odd thing for Him to do. After the herd of pigs commits mass-suicide by stampeding off of a cliff, Mark tells us that “Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.” (v. 14-17)

What strikes the people the most about the situation they encounter is not that their livestock had just been killed. I wonder if this had happened before. Maybe the demon-possessed man had done something that would have caused the death of earlier herds of pigs. It is not the loss of the pigs that scared the people – it was when the saw they formerly demon-possessed man sitting, dressed, and in his right mind.

Healing this man was something they likely had tried to do many times. Perhaps some of the chains they tried to bind the man with was to get him close to a priest to do a formal exorcism. But the demons were too strong, and none of their plans had worked.

After learning that Jesus was more powerful than the demons living in the man, that it was the demons who recognized this, and that Jesus had granted the demons’ request to enter the pigs instead, their fears were confirmed that Jesus was really more powerful than they had imagined. They were scared of Jesus and pleaded with Him to leave their region.

What could have been the launch of a whole region turning to Jesus was instead undermined by the fear of a group of shepherds and livestock owners. Perhaps this is why Jesus tells the man He had just healed to stay and share what God had done for Him. Maybe this man’s testimony could help shift the perception of those present about whether Jesus is safe.

The big thing this teaches me is that we should be willing to push past our fears to grow closer to Jesus. If being near Jesus scares us, we might want to look into why that is. Everything Jesus did in this event is kind and/or loving. While the pigs died, it was because He was kind to the demons. The demons chose to kill the pigs. In this event, Jesus elevates that value of every human life because that is the reason He came! Jesus came to give His life so that each of us can have a new life in Him. While that may be scary on one hand, it is empowering for those who are ready to join Him.

In one of Jesus’ challenges to His disciples, He gives them instructions that I am sure startled them. While we don’t know if the challenge lasted days, weeks, or even months, during the middle of Jesus’ ministry, He decided to send the disciples out to the surrounding region.

This was no problem for the disciples – except for some of Jesus’ “conditions” for the trip. Jesus describes how He wants the disciples to prepare by saying, “Do not get any gold, silver or copper to take with you in your belts. Do not take a bag for the journey. Do not take extra clothes or sandals or walking sticks. A worker should be given what he needs.” (v. 9-10)

In these few short sentences, Jesus elevates this challenge. Not only are these disciples going to be missionaries, they are also going to learn how to trust in God and His provisions. By not taking anything with them, the disciples are both free to share and also compelled to share. The disciples are free to share because they don’t have packs weighing them down or stuff to keep track of, but they are also compelled to share because in sharing and making friends they will be able to find someone who is willing to host them in their home.

The big idea I see in Jesus’ challenge to these disciples is a challenge I see for each of His followers living today: Above everything you can make, earn, acquire, or build, trust God’s leading and guiding before all of that. While Jesus tells the disciples to prepare for their missionary journey’s closer to the end of His ministry, this was only shared on the foundation of the trust that had been built in God from the success of this earlier mission.

The foundation for our faith, hope, and trust in God should be on the sacrifice and promise of salvation that Jesus gave us through His sacrifice on the cross. Nothing matters more than this. With our trust in God’s guidance, we are free to do God’s will and move forward with His mission for our lives.

Have you ever intended to do something, but then either never got around to it, or missed your chance entirely? Perhaps you received a coupon or flier announcing a sale, but then misplaced it, only to find it later after the opportunity was gone.

It is this type of question that I think about when looking at this passage. All too often we look at the story of these ten lepers and assume that only the one who came back to thank Jesus was truly thankful. I wonder if the other nine were thankful as well, but when they came back to give thanks, this event was not recorded.

Or perhaps they intended to come back, but then missed their opportunity, because just two chapters later, in Luke 19, we find Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey and beginning the week of His crucifixion.

It is hard for me to imagine the other nine who were healed not being thankful, but perhaps giving personal thanks to Jesus simply slipped away. They probably reached the priest, who either pronounced them as clean, or perhaps, if asking them what happened, might have been irritated to learn it was Jesus and sent them away for another seven days or until a new priest was responsible. As is clear in all four gospels, the priests, Pharisees, and religious leaders as a group were not very fond of Jesus.

If the priest did pronounce them as clean, then they could have been so excited to see their families again that they made that their next destination, fully intending to find Jesus later, but not realizing that time was short – that Jesus had been making His way towards Jerusalem, and specifically towards the cross.

This event, mixed with my imagination surrounding what happened to these other nine men who were healed, leads me to the big point for this entry: Don’t miss your chance to develop a relationship with Jesus. Intentions are only as good as the actions that follow. There will be a time when it will be too late to choose Jesus. While you are breathing, you still can make that choice.