“Today”
November 2, 2025
Rev. Rebecca Migliore
“Today salvation has come to this house.” That’s the bottom line of the Zacchaeus story. Zacchaeus gets right with God. That’s what we all want! To be right with God. For salvation to come not just to Zacchaeus, but to our house as well. But what exactly does Jesus mean? Does salvation only come to Zacchaeus? Why does Jesus say “to this house?” What is going on here?
If you went to Sunday School, you probably heard the story of Zacchaeus, the little man, who went up into a tree to see Jesus. It’s a popular story to tell to children, maybe because they might recognize themselves in Zacchaeus—living in a world where they aren’t always able to see what is going on!
And it seems a simple story. Zacchaeus is a tax collector, oooooooooo. That’s bad. But Jesus wants to eat with him, yeaaaaaaaah! That’s good. And Zacchaeus, blown away by the love Jesus is showing him, changes his ways—giving half his possessions to the poor, and making restitution (times four) to any he has cheated.
All right! Certainly, salvation has come to this house. That was easy.
Not so fast. I’m going to take Rev. Steve’s sermon message last week to heart (that we have to be careful who is telling the story). And that makes me want to dig a little deeper into this telling of the encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus. So, what do we know? Well, we know that this is taking place in Jericho. That famed city of old. Remember Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, (and the walls came tumbling down). The archeological evidence isn’t so great that the walls of the city came tumbling down, but we do know it was a city, not the capital, not the place where the temple stood, but a pretty important city—let’s think of it as akin to New York City—big, brash, lots of people, lots of money to be made.
And Zacchaeus was making money. We are told he was rich. Now we don’t know if he inherited his money, or earned it correctly. What we are told is that he was a tax collector. In fact, he was the chief tax collector. This meant that he had dealings with the Roman Authorities (the occupiers) and the stereotype of a tax collector was that they were cheating people. So, we can imagine that Zacchaeus was not the favorite person in the community. He was wealthy, by hook or by crook, and he made his money by taking money from his fellow citizens and giving it to Rome.
And Zacchaeus was considered a bad man (when Jesus says he’s going to eat at Zacchaeus’ house everyone whispers, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner!”) Yes, we can imagine that Zacchaeus didn’t have many friends in town. People probably shunned him in the street (if they didn’t spit in his direction). He could buy his way into the best seats in the synagogue (money does talk, even in religious institutions), but that didn’t mean that anyone thought he was holy.
So here is Zacchaeus, an outsider, hearing about Jesus coming to town. What was it that attracted Zacchaeus to Jesus? Was it just his growing fame? Did he just want to see this person, this rabbi, that they were all talking about? Did he fantasize that maybe, just maybe, the one who wasn’t afraid of lepers or people possessed by evil spirits, maybe he would be able to see Zacchaeus as a man worthy of God’s care.
But in the traditional reading of the text, Zacchaeus was short. (As an interesting exercise, imagine as Isaac Soon has suggested, that it is Jesus who is short, not Zacchaeus. What might it mean if we had a short savior? I’ll let you think about that.) We’re going to assume it is Zacchaeus who is short and so to have any possibility of seeing Jesus (because no one in the crowd is going to let him get to the front! and maybe Zacchaeus doesn’t want to be too close to people who might throw a punch or two), Zacchaeus runs ahead in the planned route and climbs a tree.
Literally, he is apart from the rest. Outside the crowd. Looking down. A lonely place. His usual space. And here comes Jesus and the disciples. He’s going to get a bird’s eye view. This is great. And as Jesus approaches, does Jesus look up? Does Jesus meet Zaccheaus’ eye? What is happening? Jesus has stopped. Everyone has stopped. And now, everyone is looking where Jesus is looking—everyone is looking at him!
“Zacchaeus” Jesus calls. How does Jesus know his name? Is it a Holy Spirit thing? Had he asked someone from the crowd. Had he called up to the little man in the tree? Did Jesus know that that person was the chief tax collector? I’m sure someone from the crowd pointed it out. “Hey, Jesus. Don’t talk to Zacchaeus! He’s a tax collector, the CHIEF tax collector.” But Jesus is focused on the one in the tree. “Zacchaeus, hurry down. I must stay at your house today.”
I can’t imagine what Zacchaeus thought. Jesus at my house? How is this possible? I haven’t got anything prepared. The household will be in an uproar when I arrive with this amazing guest. We do hear what everyone else is thinking. What kind of rabbi is this? What kind of prophet doesn’t know the worst person in the whole city? And to eat with him? To defile himself that way? What is Jesus thinking?
The whole crowd moves to Zacchaeus’ house (I think that is what is meant by “Zaccheaus was happy to welcome him.”). And as the household is trying to get ready to feed at least Jesus and the disciples (how many was that?), Zacchaeus stands before Jesus and filled with the wonder of being seen by Jesus, he professes that he will repent, he will be generous, as God has been generous, he will be a changed man.
Now, this was not something Zacchaeus would necessarily have had to have learned from Jesus or John the Baptist. No, prophets from time long ago had set out what God wanted from God’s people.
Isaiah says in his very first chapter-- Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow.
Zacchaeus seems to be making such a pledge. I’ll share with the poor. I’ll make up anything I have done wrongly against others. I will be right with God as God has asked. And then Jesus responds. Now, I think I have always heard the response as a personal one. Yes, Zacchaeus, that is what you have been called to be. Today, salvation has come to you. As if Jesus had said, (as he does say to others), “Your faith, your actions, have made you well.”
But that’s not what Jesus says. And here is where I think Rev. Steve’s injunction to sniff out the story beneath the story comes into play. What is it that Jesus says? “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.” Who is Jesus talking to? Certainly to Zacchaeus. He’s right there. Certainly to the household. “salvation has come to this house.” But what does it mean that Jesus says, “because he, too, is a son of Abraham.” If he were only talking to Zaccheaus wouldn’t Jesus have said, because you are a son of Abraham.
No, Jesus is talking to the others gathered there. Not just the disciples. Not just the household. But the community that is probably still hanging around to see what will happen next. The community that has put Zacchaeus outside as certainly as it asked the lepers to be outside the gates. The community that has forgotten that Zaccheaus is one of them, a son of Abraham, kin in the largest sense of the word. Listen well, community, Jesus says. Listen up, church, Jesus says.
Today salvation has come. It has come to this man. It has come to this house. It has come to this household. It has come to this community. Today. Your eyes are opened. Your ears are unstopped. I have written God’s love on your hearts. I have torn down the walls that have separated you one from another.
I have restored you. I have repaired the breach. It is what I came to do. It is what God has always asked of us as God’s people. Go and do likewise.
That’s the message I hear—Today is a brand new day. Today is the time. You have heard that the kingdom of God has come near—see it into action. There are no excuses. You can’t be too short or too tall. You can’t be too rich or too poor. You can’t be too in or too out. You don’t need to wait. The time is now.
And this is a message not just for each one of us individually. It is also for us as a community, a church community, a town community, a state community, a national community, a world community. God has come to be with us—all of us. God must eat at our house today. God doesn’t just want to eat at our house, God doesn’t just need to eat at our house, God doesn’t just ask to eat at our house. God MUST eat at our house. It is what God does.
Seeking out the lost and alone—like that one wandering sheep. Seeking out the wayward and the hidden—like that one silver coin. Seeking out the foolish and the angry—like that father and his two sons. Who does God seek? Each and everyone of us. When does God do that? Today and every day.
Will we climb out of our tree?
Will we welcome Jesus into our space?
Will we change our lives because of God’s love?
Will we reimagine community as well?
Will we make it happen today?
May it be so, Alleluia, Amen.