Luke 19:1-10

(Luke 19:1-10)

 

And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And, behold, there was a man named Zacchæus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.  And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchæus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchæus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

 

Jericho is a very negative city, but Jericho is known as the oldest city on the planet. Jericho was founded in about 8,000 B.C., the first city, located in the heart of Palestine, and was a metropolis where people from various countries came and went. At that time, Jericho was famous for balsam, which was used as the main ingredient for perfume oil. The price of perfumed oil was very high, but among them, the perfumed oil made from Jericho balsam was the best. Also, since Jericho is adjacent to the Dead Sea, it is an economic hub that can generate enormous profits because it is very rich in sulfur, bitumen, and salt. At one time, Cleopatra had a lover, Antonius, who owned a balsam plantation in Jericho. Later, Herod owned the farm and built his own Winter Palace in Jericho. As such, Jericho is a place where high value-added products are actively traded and merchants are constantly in and out, so the tax revenue was enormous, and along with Caesarea and Capernaum, it was one of the three largest tax offices in Palestine. Therefore, Jericho's customs office was one of the very important offices. Zacchaeus was a figure who held the hatred of the people of Jericho.

 

One day, when Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was visiting Jericho, Zacchaeus went out into the street to see Jesus. Many people surrounded Jesus, and Zacchaeus, who was short, could not see Jesus' face. Zacchaeus, who had devised a trick, predicted the path that Jesus would pass by, and climbed up the stone fig tree (mulberry tree) around him and saw Jesus. At a moment, Jesus raises his head and finds Zacchaeus on the tree, and tells him to come down from the tree. Then he and Zacchaeus went into his house in front of everyone. Thrilled by the grace of Jesus who called him, Zacchaeus decided to give up his former life, giving half of his fortune to the poor in front of Jesus, and proclaiming that he will pay four times the amount of money he has exploited by others.

 

Rome was truly a taxpayer country. Rome is a society where only taxpayers can have rights. In addition to the simple hierarchical class of citizens, the government ranks people according to the taxes paid by individuals. This also applied to the subordinate states that gave them autonomy, which were able to be recognized for their status by paying a tax set to Rome. Officials sent from Rome to tributaries focused mainly on the intertwined work of interests with Rome, such as collecting taxes, defending territories, and maintaining public order. The taxes were collected very strict. It was because it was the most powerful driving force that the Roman society could sustain. The nobles were able to advance into local or imperial politics using their own taxes. As a result, the number of nobles who exploited the rent of slaves and tenants in order to collect more taxes increased, and the lives of the lower classes were disastrous.

 

There were several types of taxes at the time. There was a tax that was equivalent to a person's head, which was a basic tax that all men aged 14 to 65 and women aged 12 to 62 had to pay. Next was the land tax. The government levied a 10% tax on all grains and a 5% tax on grapes and oil. In addition to that, there was an income tax that levied 1% of income. These taxes were fixed taxes, so tax collectors couldn't be fooled. When John the Baptist said to the publicans who came to be baptized, "Do not reap anything except what has been imposed", it meant this part.

 

The problem was other than that. At that time, Rome hired a tax collector made up of local people to collect taxes. Rome only had to receive the taxes it set, and other than that, it did not care much about how much tax collectors walked. As a result, the exploitation of publicans was rampant, and the publicans were perceived as very corrupt people. The tax collectors sometimes levied taxes based on the number of wheels on the wagon, and also taxed the animals that pulled the wagon. Sometimes, a pedestrian was called on the street to stop and unpacked, and then the exploitation was frequently committed to impose taxes on the contents. When people couldn't pay taxes, it was common for tax collectors to lend money, so the tax collector was also a money lender.

 

Although the tax was a problem that brought difficulties in life, it also caused religious conflicts among the Jews. The Jews at that time expected a political and economic Messiah to free them from Rome. People like Zealots were very unpleasant about paying taxes to Rome, and those thoughts drove public opinion. They dazzled the people, arguing that it was not right to pay taxes to the Roman emperor other than God. Those who came to Jesus and asked if it was to pay taxes to Caesar were talking about this tax issue with the intention of putting Jesus in trouble (Matthew 22:17).

 

The publicans collected large sums of taxes from the Jews and paid them to Rome, so the Jews considered them to be Romans. Also, because the people thought the tax collection was heavy, the tax collectors thought of them as robbers. When referring to publicans in the Bible as well, the frequent use of the expression "a tax collector and a sinner, a publican and a prostitute" rather than always referring to only one publican is a point of understanding the social sentiment toward them at the time.

 

Zacchaeus is "Zacchaeus" in Greek. This word comes from the Hebrew word “zakai”. The meaning of the name is “pure, righteous”. “There is a man named righteousness, and he was a tax collector and also a rich man”. Someone's name was righteousness, and unusually, this man was a tax collector and also a rich man. It is easy to think that he would have become rich through exploitation because he was a tax collector, but the Bible does not say, "There was a tax collector in Jericho," but says "There is a man named Zacchaeus" to clear this misunderstanding.

 

In Luke 18:18, this is an expression of the rich official who asked Jesus for eternal life. The rich man who appeared there was also an official. The tax collector is also a category of management. The official in Chapter 18 was also a rich man, and Zacchaeus is also introduced as a rich man. Luke contrasts the two, and talks about the difference between the two. By first mentioning Zacchaeus' name, he first reveals that Zacchaeus is a righteous man, unlike the rich. The righteousness here speaks of Zacchaeus' character, unlike the concept of justification "justified by faith."

 

This is deeply related to righteousness, and the basic concept of righteousness appearing in the Bible is “righteousness and fairness”. And this refers to maintaining a good covenant relationship with God. The job of collecting taxes is a job that deals with money, and the measure of this transaction is very important. It is also the job that demands the most justice, because it is the job where injustice or injustice can easily appear. But today's Bible text introduces Zacchaeus, introducing him as a "righteous" tax collector. Zacchaeus, unlike other publicans, was a righteous man. He wasn't exploited and was honestly a legitimate enforcer of the taxes he owed. Nevertheless, it was the negative agitation of those who had antipathy against Rome that spread bad comments about him.