Background on Zacchaeus
Potential Avenues of Discussion:
The Zacchaeus passage is about equity and fairness.
Most kids have very fine-tuned sensors about what is “fair” and what is not – nothing will start an argument or resentment faster than inequitably distributing something among a group of kids (especially between siblings). Kids, particularly in the early to mid-elementary age, have acutely developed senses of right and wrong – and so it will be an easy entry point into talking about how many tax collectors functioned in the Roman Empire.
Tax collectors are often lifted up alongside sinners in the Gospels because most tax collectors abused their power to take extra tax from families and keep it for themselves. You can have kids imagine the following scenario: they have a $20 allowance, but that if they don’t give $10 in taxes, then they’ll be thrown in jail. We grumble about it, but we pay. Now imagine that you knew the price was $10, but the tax collector asked for $13… and if you refused to pay that, he’d tell everyone that you didn’t pay your taxes at all. That’s not fair!! Tax collectors were notorious for gleaning money off the top – in fact, Zacchaeus essentially admits that he was defrauding people in his proposed restitution.
We are reminded that we should always be open to people changing.
However! Despite the distrust and dishonesty involved, Zacchaeus’ conversations with Jesus have a profound impact on him. After Jesus shares a meal with him, Zacchaeus states that he will give half his possessions to the poor, and pay back four times as much to anyone he stole from. This fourfold restitution is grounded in laws from Exodus 22, but it is clear that Zacchaeus recognizes the hurt and harm that he has caused over the years and wants to make it right. Often times we fall into the trap of viewing people through a single lens based off our initial experience of them, rather than giving them space to change and grow. Those in the crowd grumble that Jesus is going “to be the guest of one who is a sinner”, but Jesus reminds us at the end that “the Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost”. In his response to Jesus, Zacchaeus reminds us that it is possible for people to change – and we are asked to give that same sort of grace to others who our worst impulses would rather just write off.
Connections with the Lenten theme of repentance.
The season of Lent is often defined by prayer and fasting, but repentance is also a crucial aspect of this season. Repentance is sometimes a difficult concept for kids to wrap their minds around, but for older students it may be a window into talking about how our lives and actions affect those around us – and how sometimes we are called to recognize when our actions are hurting other and to change them for others’ sake.
Digging Deeper:
Zacchaeus as a culmination of earlier messages from Luke’s Gospel
Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus comes almost immediately before his entry into Jerusalem and it seems to be a culmination of several Lukan messages until one account – perhaps demonstrating that what Jesus was preaching/speaking of is now close at hand. There are hints of the following passages from Luke in the Zacchaeus account:
Luke 5:29-32 – “Then Levi gave a great banquet for Jesus in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.
Luke 15:1-10 – “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them’…. (Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep and lost coin)… just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents”.
Luke 18:25-27 – “How hard is it for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” He replied, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God”.
The Zacchaeus passage is about equity and fairness.
Most kids have very fine-tuned sensors about what is “fair” and what is not – nothing will start an argument or resentment faster than inequitably distributing something among a group of kids (especially between siblings). Kids, particularly in the early to mid-elementary age, have acutely developed senses of right and wrong – and so it will be an easy entry point into talking about how many tax collectors functioned in the Roman Empire.
Tax collectors are often lifted up alongside sinners in the Gospels because most tax collectors abused their power to take extra tax from families and keep it for themselves. You can have kids imagine the following scenario: they have a $20 allowance, but that if they don’t give $10 in taxes, then they’ll be thrown in jail. We grumble about it, but we pay. Now imagine that you knew the price was $10, but the tax collector asked for $13… and if you refused to pay that, he’d tell everyone that you didn’t pay your taxes at all. That’s not fair!! Tax collectors were notorious for gleaning money off the top – in fact, Zacchaeus essentially admits that he was defrauding people in his proposed restitution.
We are reminded that we should always be open to people changing.
However! Despite the distrust and dishonesty involved, Zacchaeus’ conversations with Jesus have a profound impact on him. After Jesus shares a meal with him, Zacchaeus states that he will give half his possessions to the poor, and pay back four times as much to anyone he stole from. This fourfold restitution is grounded in laws from Exodus 22, but it is clear that Zacchaeus recognizes the hurt and harm that he has caused over the years and wants to make it right. Often times we fall into the trap of viewing people through a single lens based off our initial experience of them, rather than giving them space to change and grow. Those in the crowd grumble that Jesus is going “to be the guest of one who is a sinner”, but Jesus reminds us at the end that “the Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost”. In his response to Jesus, Zacchaeus reminds us that it is possible for people to change – and we are asked to give that same sort of grace to others who our worst impulses would rather just write off.
Connections with the Lenten theme of repentance.
The season of Lent is often defined by prayer and fasting, but repentance is also a crucial aspect of this season. Repentance is sometimes a difficult concept for kids to wrap their minds around, but for older students it may be a window into talking about how our lives and actions affect those around us – and how sometimes we are called to recognize when our actions are hurting other and to change them for others’ sake.
Digging Deeper:
Zacchaeus as a culmination of earlier messages from Luke’s Gospel
Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus comes almost immediately before his entry into Jerusalem and it seems to be a culmination of several Lukan messages until one account – perhaps demonstrating that what Jesus was preaching/speaking of is now close at hand. There are hints of the following passages from Luke in the Zacchaeus account:
Luke 5:29-32 – “Then Levi gave a great banquet for Jesus in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.
Luke 15:1-10 – “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them’…. (Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep and lost coin)… just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents”.
Luke 18:25-27 – “How hard is it for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” He replied, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God”.