The Washington herald., 1918-02-20
EVENING SERMON
ZACCHEUS

Billy Sunday last night delivered
this sermon:
Luke the 18th chapter and 10th
verse The Son Of Man is come to
seek and to save that which was
lost"
Jesus is on the final journey to Je-
rusalem.
He entered the city of Jericho.
And there was a famous man that
lived in that town named Zacchaeus.
- the subject OF my sermon. He was
the chief Of a gang Of publicans and
he was rich and he had made his
money by trickery and by intrigue
and extortion because of the system
that was then in vogue.
You must remember that the Jews
were under the control, at that time,
Of Romans, and they were severe in
their commands. The Jews were
hard-working. thrifty, industrious
people, and the Romans were lazy,
lustful and indolent, and so the Jews
were required to come into the temple
every year and bring their money and
lay it before these money-changers. 1t
was a single taxation system. the only
one I have ever heard Of that was in
working force.
The Jew used to go to the temple
and give all his money to the money
changers and the money-changers
would scoop 1t all up and give none Of
il back
The Jews became shrewd, so instead
Of taking it all, they used to take a
small portion OF 1t and hide the rest
Of it. and the Roman government be-
gan to feel the effects Of that system
and they said: I'VE have to change
this system or We will go into bank
ruptcy.''
Describes Old Law.
And so here is what they did and
It was the law that was in force when
Jesus came on earth. The Roman
government figured out how much
money they had to have from Pales-
tine and from the Jews and they took
no chances. They said: TT takes q
Jew to catch a Jew" So they figured
up and they sold the privilege of COL
lectfng the taxes to a gang Of fellows
who paid the Roman government the
full amount that they figured that
they had to have from the Jews. For
example, supposing that should buy
from the legislature of New York the
right to collect the taxes and I paid
N0Oo0000 for the privilege, then 1
would make $4,000 900 or so 900 900 on
it.
The Roman government gave q GER
tain figure and they didn't give a rap
how much beyond that the Jews paid,
Just as long as they got their money.
So Zacchaeus was the leader of the
gang of publicans who purchased the
privilege Of collecting the taxes from
the Roman government. So that was
the way he had made his fortune.
And there was a great crowd In the
streets. Zacchaeus was a man short
OF stature and he could not see over
the heads Of the crowd, but he saw
that the route which Jesus was TAX
ing would lead him down to the IA
nous sycamore tree.
And Jesus came down the street
and. seeing Zacchaeus, he said: FAC
chaeus, make haste, for today must
abide at your house, for the Sun of
Man has come to save that which was
lost"
And can imagine Zacchaeus say
ing to himself: II wonder who has
been telling him about me?"
The reason for the command was
that he wanted to dine at his home.
Jesus, honoring the most unpopular
man OF his day. the most unpopular
man you could have found in the
kingdom!
Jesus Pays Visit.
And I can see them going down
the street OF Jericho. Zacchaeus and
Jesus with his disciples going up to
ha =
agine what kind of a woman Mrs
Zacchaeus was. There isn't a word
said about her. I imagine the chill
house playing and they saw their IA
ther coming and they said: Ma, here
comes pa with a lot of men"
That was not unusual then; they
had no hotels. People invited them
selves up to Zacchaeus' house; that
was the custom in those days
And SO Jesus said: This day must
/ abide at your house." so it was up
to Zacchaeus to come across with the
grub.
And so can see the children when
they see their father go back into
the house and say: ma, he is bring
ing them all into the house"
And she would say: Here, take
your hobby horse. and put that chair
out Of the way" and 1 can see her
fixing herself up, bustling around to
get the house looking presentable and
in comes Zacchaeus and he says:
This Is Jesus of Nazareth and this
Is Mr.. Peter. Mr.. John, Mr.. Nathan
iel, Mr.. Bartholomew" and no doubt
they had the same custom Of intro
ducing his- wife to all the disciples,
and he said: II brought them up to
the house to dinner"
Jesus did not go up there to eat
what that rich Jew had to eat. He
went up there to win him to the fact
that he was the Christ, and when he
oade them good-by he said to Fac
chaeus: This day has salvation come
to your house" and he left behind him
one believing that he was the Christ,
the Son Of the living God. He said to
him Make haste"