Who Then Can Be Saved? This Guy!

Below are a rough translation and some preliminary comments regarding Luke 19:1-10, the Revised Common Lectionary gospel reading for the 24^th Sunday after Pentecost. We have leapt over a few stories since the reading for the 23^rd Sunday after Pentecost – Jesus blessing the children; Jesus’ encounter with the rich ruler; Jesus’ third disclosure about how this journey to Jerusalem would go down; and Jesus’ encounter with a blind man. Now, we arrive at Jericho, the last town between Jesus and Jerusalem.  

 

In the 18th chapter, Jesus encounters a rich ruler who - when invited to sell all he had and give to the poor - went away sad. It is here that Jesus says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter to reign of God. The crowd responds to this event with the question, "Who then can be saved?" The story of Zacchaeus answers that question profoundly. 

 

¹ Καὶ εἰσελθὼν διήρχετο τὴν Ἰεριχώ. 

And having entered he was journeying through Jericho. 

εἰσελθὼν : AAPart, nms, εἰσέρχομαι, 1) to go out or come in: to enter  

διήρχετο : IMI, 3s, διέρχομαι, 1) to go through, pass through  1a) to go, walk, journey, pass through a place 

1. This verse has a participle (having entered), followed by a main verb (journeying). That pattern will be repeated in vv. 4, 5 (in Jesus’ words), 6, 7, 8, 

2. I learned early on that “Joshua fit the battle ‘round Jericho.” What I didn’t know was that Joshua cursed Jericho and anyone who tried to rebuild it and that Rahab the harlot was rescued from Jericho prior to its destruction. If this story intends to carry an echo from Joshua 6, one could say that Jericho is an evil place where notorious sinners find God and are saved. 

3. In Luke’s gospel, we have seen Jericho mentioned twice. In c.10, the victim of robbery and abuse in the Parable of the Good Samaritan was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Then, in c.18, Jesus came near Jericho as he healed a blind man. If Joshua’s battle is not the context for this moment, perhaps the needs and victimization of others is. Or maybe we’re just on our way to Jerusalem and Jericho is the city that one enters along the way. 

 

² καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀνὴρ ὀνόματι καλούμενος Ζακχαῖος, καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν ἀρχιτελώνης καὶ αὐτὸς πλούσιος.

And behold a man who was called Zacchaeus in name, and he was a chief tax collector and he [was] rich.  

ἰδοὺ: AMImpv ὁράω, 1) to see with the eyes, taking the form of a particle

καλούμενος : PPPart, nms, καλέω, 1) to call  1a) to call aloud, 

ἦν : IAI 3s, εἰμί, 1) to be, to exist, to happen, to be present

1. I’m reading that “Zacchaeus” means “pure” or “innocent.” Does that name have any significance or even ironic significance for this story? 

2. Zacchaeus is a chief tax collector. I’m feeling a pyramid scheme where he benefits from those who benefit from those who suffer. Tax collectors are literally tax purchasers, who pay taxes for the privilege and authority to collect taxes from others. As such, it is a system that lends itself to abuse and fraud. And Zacchaeus is rich. Taking those two descriptions together, he brings to mind the “tax collectors and sinners” who gathered around and listened to Jesus in 15:1-32, as well as the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector of Luke 18:9-14 and the story of the rich ruler who cannot let go of his wealth in Luke 18:18-30. 

 

 ³ καὶ ἐζήτει ἰδεῖν τὸν Ἰησοῦν τίς ἐστιν, καὶ οὐκ ἠδύνατο ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου 

ὅτι τῇ ἡλικίᾳ μικρὸς ἦν.

And he was seeking to see Jesus who he is, and was not able among the crowd, because in the stature he was small.  

ἐζήτει : IAI 3s, ζητέω, 1) to seek in order to find  1a) to seek a thing  

ἰδεῖν : AAInf, ὁράω, 1) to see with the eyes  

ἐστιν: PAI 3s, to be

ἠδύνατο : IMI 3s, δύναμαι, 1) to be able, have power whether by virtue of one's own ability and  resources

ἡλικίᾳ : dsf, ἡλικία, 1) age, time of life  ...2) stature, i.e in height and comeliness of stature

ἦν : IAI 3s, εἰμί, 1) to be, to exist, to happen, to be present

1. I’m hearing different opinions over whether the “he was small” (μικρὸς ἦν) has Zacchaeus or Jesus as its antecedent. One person has argued that because “Jesus” is in the accusative case (as the object of the infinitive “to see”) that he cannot be the antecedent. I don’t know if that’s a real rule or not. At the expense of questioning a good Sunday School song, what say the scholars out there? Who is short – Jesus or Zacchaeus? 

2. Okay, not to rock the boat overly much, let’s say Zacchaeus is the short one here. Is that simply an explanation for why he climbed a tree? Or is it something more? Robert Garland, in The Eye of the Beholder: Deformity and Disability in the Greco-Roman World (London: Duckworth, 1995) describes the Roman Empire as a world obsessed with the ‘monstrous.’ Physically deformed slaves would sometimes sell for three times what an able-bodied slave would bring. According to Pliny, human anomalies were put on display or paraded before the public [Nat. 7.34). Emperors like Nero and Domitian were reputed to have collected the physically malformed like trophies, and according to Pliny, Pompey the Great built the first theatre to house such human anomalies. Suetonius reports that Augustus put on exhibition a young man named Lycius 'because he was under two feet tall, weighed seventeen pounds, and possessed a very loud voice' [Aug. 43.3). Augustus also purchased a dwarf as a 'pet' for his niece. 

 

 ⁴ καὶ προδραμὼν εἰς τὸ ἔμπροσθεν ἀνέβη ἐπὶ συκομορέαν ἵνα ἴδῃ αὐτόν, 

ὅτι ἐκείνης ἤμελλεν διέρχεσθαι.

And having run on ahead, he ascended up a sycamore in order that he might see him, because he was about to pass by. 

προδραμὼν : AAPart, nms, προτρέχω, 1) to run before, to outrun

ἀνέβη : AAI 3s, ἀναβαίνω, 1) ascend  1a) to go up  1b) to rise, mount, be borne up, spring up

ἴδῃ : AASubj, 3s, ὁράω, 1) to see with the eyes 

ἤμελλεν: IAI 3s, μέλλω, 1) to be about  1a) to be on the point of doing or suffering something  1b) to intend, have in mind, think to

διέρχεσθαι: PMInf 3s, διέρχομαι, 1) to go through, pass through 

1. Luke emphasizes that Zacchaeus has run ahead by using the aorist participle “having run on” (προδραμὼν) and the prepositional phrase “into the before” (εἰς τὸ ἔμπροσθεν).  

2. The tree here is συκομορέαν (accusative of συκομορέα). thebible.org says συκομορέαν is a combination of “σῦκον and μορέα the mulberry tree.” In 17:6 it is συκαμίνῳ, which the same site says is “a sycamine, a tree having the form and foliage of the mulberry, but fruit resembling the fig. They then cite H.B. Tristram’s The Natural History of the Bible (2d ed. p. 396), to distinguish the sycamine as the black-mulberry tree, and the sycamore as the fig-mulberry. 

3. Pertaining to the question of who the implied “he” is in v.3 who is small in stature: The “he” in this verse of “he was about to pass by” seems to be Jesus. If so, that would violate the ‘rule’ that I mention in v.3, n.1 because the latest reference to Jesus is the accusative “him” that Zacchaeus wanted to see. That is to say, I’m not convinced that an accusative noun or pronoun is disqualified from being the antecedent of a following implied subject. 

3. The notion of Zacchaeus climbing a tree seems comical, but it could be a sign of his zeal, by throwing dignity to the wind, as the father in the parable of the lost son does when he hikes up his robe and runs down the road. It might also signify that he has learned how to get what he wants, despite his stature.  

 

 ⁵ καὶ ὡς ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον, ἀναβλέψας ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν, Ζακχαῖε, σπεύσας κατάβηθι, σήμερον γὰρ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου δεῖ με μεῖναι.

And as he came to the place, having looked up Jesus said to him, “Zacchie, having made haste, come down, for today it is necessary for me to stay in your house.”  

ἦλθεν: AAI 3s, ἔρχομαι, 1) to come

ἀναβλέψας: AAPart nsm, ἀναβλέπω, 1) to look up 

εἶπεν: AAI 3s, λέγω, 1) to say, to speak

σπεύσας : AAPart, nms, σπεύδω, 1) to haste, make haste  2) to desire earnestly

κατάβηθι: AAImp 2s, καταβαίνω, 1) to go down, come down, descend  1a) the place from which one has come down from  1b) to come down 

δεῖ : PAI 3s, δέω, 1) to bind tie, fasten  1a) to bind, fasten with chains, to throw into chains 

μεῖναι: AAInf, μένω, 1) to remain, abide  1a) in reference to place 

1. The name Zacchaeus takes on another form in the vocative case. It looks diminutive when I try to phonetically replicate it in English, but that does not seem to be the point. The form does not indicate a nickname, but a calling. 

2. Verses 2, 3, and 4 had references to ‘seeing’ (or beholding). Here, Jesus looks up. The previous story has a blind man asking to see and when the people see that he can see they rejoice. Just sayin’. 

3. The issue of time seems important to this verse. Zacchaeus must “make haste;” Jesus must stay with him “today.” Colloquially it might work to say, “Hurry up and come down. We have to go to your place right now.” 

 

 ⁶ καὶ σπεύσας κατέβη, καὶ ὑπεδέξατο αὐτὸν χαίρων.

And having made haste, he came down, and welcomed him rejoicing.

σπεύσας: AAPart, nms, σπεύδω, 1) to haste, make haste  2) to desire earnestly

κατέβη: AAI 3s, καταβαίνω, 1) to go down, come down, descend 

ὑπεδέξατο : AMI 3s, ὑποδέχομαι, 1) to receive as a guest

χαίρων: PAPart, nms, χαίρω, 1) to rejoice, be glad  2) to rejoice exceedingly  

1. Again, the phrase “made haste.” It seems that the temporal urgency is an implication of excitement. It also appears in Luke is 2:16, when the shepherds go to see the thing that angels had announced to them. Here, Zacchaeus is rejoicing as he welcomes Jesus. The temporality of haste and the feeling of joy make great companions. 

2. While ὑποδέχομαι is often ‘receive’ I like to make it ‘welcome’ when it is in the middle voice.

3. In the parable of the lost sheep, the shepherd finds the lost sheep and lays it on his shoulders “rejoicing.” It is a joy that is in heaven when the lost are found. This time it is Zaccheaus who is rejoicing.  

 

 ⁷ καὶ ἰδόντες πάντες διεγόγγυζον λέγοντες ὅτι Παρὰ ἁμαρτωλῷ ἀνδρὶ 

εἰσῆλθεν καταλῦσαι.

And having seen all were murmuring saying, “With a sinful man he entered to lodge.” 

ἰδόντες : AAPart, nmpl, ὁράω, 1) to see with the eyes  2) to see with the mind, to perceive, know

διεγόγγυζον: IAI, 3pl, διαγογγύζω, 1) to murmur  1a) either of a whole crowd, or among one another  1b) always used of many indignantly complaining 

λέγοντες : PAPart, nmpl, λέγω, 1) to say, to speak

εἰσῆλθεν : AAI 3s, εἰσέρχομαι, 1) to go out or come in: to enter  

καταλῦσαι: AAInf, καταλύω, 1) to dissolve, disunite  ...  1c) of travelers, to halt on a journey, to put up, lodge (the figurative expression originating in the circumstance that,  to put up for the night, the straps and packs of the beasts  of burden are unbound and taken off; or, more correctly from  the fact that the traveler's garments, tied up when he is  on the journey, are unloosed at it end)  

1. The verb διαγογγύζω (murmuring) is the word that the LXX uses for the people of Israel murmuring against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness in the manna story of Exodus 16. Luke uses διαγογγύζω in 15:2 to describe the Pharisees and Scribes murmuring against Jesus for receiving sinners and eating with them. In 5:29-32, Luke uses the root word γογγύζω to describe Pharisees and their Scribes murmuring to the disciples about Jesus eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners, specifically in the house of Levi, a tax collector. There is something very Christ-like about being the object of scorn for eating with and keeping ‘undesirable’ company. 

2. I have an extended definition of the infinitive καταλύω because it seems like a leap to go from a verb that means “dissolve, disunite” to “lodge.” But, given the etymological history, it might be something like “take a load off” or “unwind.”  

3. The phrase “a sinful man” reminds us that the position of chief tax collector is, in and of itself, fraught with connotations of being a sinner. 

 

 ⁸ σταθεὶς δὲ Ζακχαῖος εἶπεν πρὸς τὸν κύριον, Ἰδοὺ τὰ ἡμίσιά μου τῶν 

ὑπαρχόντων, κύριε, τοῖς πτωχοῖς δίδωμι, καὶ εἴ τινός τι ἐσυκοφάντησα 

ἀποδίδωμι τετραπλοῦν.

Yet having stood, Zacchaeus said to the Lord, “Behold half of my possessions, Lord, I give to the poor, and if I defrauded anyone of anything, I give back fourfold.” 

σταθεὶς : APPart, nms, ἵστημι, 1) to cause or make to stand, to place, put, set  1a) to bid to stand by, [set up]  1a1) in the presence of others, in the midst, before judges,  before members of the Sanhedrin; 

εἶπεν: AAI 3s, λέγω, 1) to say, to speak

ἰδοὺ: AMImpv ὁράω, 1) to see with the eyes, taking the form of a particle

ὑπαρχόντων: PAPart, gpln, ὑπάρχω, 1) to begin below, to make a beginning  1a) to begin  2) to come forth, hence to be there, be ready, be at hand  3) to be 

δίδωμι: PAI 1s, δίδωμι, 1) to give 

ἐσυκοφάντησα: AAI 1s, συκοφαντέω, 1) to accuse wrongfully, to calumniate, to attack by malicious devices  2) to exact money wrongfully  2a) to extort from, defraud.  

ἀποδίδωμι : PAI 1s, ἀποδίδωμι, 1) to deliver, to give away for one's own profit what is one's  own, to ... 3) to give back, restore 

1. Zacchaeus’ claims, “I give to the poor” and “I give back fourfold” are in the present tense, not the future tense, as the NRSV suggests with “I will give” and “I will pay back.” The NIV makes the first verb emphatic, “Here and now I give” and the second future, “I will pay back.” It seems to me that those translations read this comment by Zacchaeus as an impulsive act, a testimony that he has had a change of heart. That is a very common way of reading this story, but – consider this. 

a. We often read Zacchaeus’ words as springing from the ‘joyfulness’ with which he welcomed Jesus. Perhaps we envision a comical Danny DeVito-like Zacchaeus running to the cubbyhole hiding places in his house to offer up his hidden ill-gotten gains (half of them, anyway). But, within the flow of the story, we should keep in view Zacchaeus’ whole journey – his desire to see Jesus, his running ahead, and climbing a tree – rather than just this set of declarations. Are they spontaneous, or par for the course? 

b. Perhaps Zacchaeus is defending himself against the murmuring folks (“all” according to v.7) by showing that – even as the chief of tax collectors - he tries to do right with his possessions. His present tense claims are no different grammatically than what the Pharisee said in his prayer from last week’s reading, “I fast twice per Sabbath, I tithe everything that I possess.” He may not be making a promise as a result of a change of heart, but declaring to Jesus how he operates, even as a chief tax collector. 

c. The phrase “if I have defrauded” is not quite an admission of guilt in English, but thebible.org says that the word εἰ (if) with the indicative mood (as here) assumes the hypothesis as an actual fact, the condition being unfulfilled, but no doubt being thrown on the supposition. That could mean “yes, I have defrauded, but I intend to pay back fourfold”; or “when I defraud, I pay back fourfold.”  

d. If Zacchaeus is describing his ongoing activity of giving half of his money to the poor, he is at least halfway better off than the rich young ruler, to whom Jesus told to sell his possessions and give his money to the poor (Lk.18:22). 

2. thebible.org has an interesting comment about the verb συκοφαντέω (defrauded): At Athens those were "sukophantia" whose business it was to inform against any one whom they might detect exporting figs out of Attica;  and as sometimes they seemed to extort money from those loath to be exposed, the name "sukophantes" from the time of Aristophanes down  was a general term of opprobrium to designate a malignant and base accuser from love of gain. 

The suggestion is that ‘defrauded’ is a term related to our word Sycophant, which means puts the emphasis less on the deceit against someone as on flattering someone powerful for personal gain. 

3. Luke 3:12 shows that defrauding by tax collectors was an ongoing issue for the NT community: “Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they asked [John the Baptizer], ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” 

4. Wellford Hobbie points out that fourfold restitution exceeds the legal requirements for fraud in Lev. 6:1-7 (Wellford Hobbie, "Luke 19:1-10, Expository Article," Interpretation, 1977. EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection.) 

 

⁹ εἶπεν δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι Σήμερον σωτηρία τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ ἐγένετο, 

καθότι καὶ αὐτὸς υἱὸς Ἀβραάμ ἐστιν:

Yet Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come into being in this house, inasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham;”

εἶπεν: AAI 3s, λέγω, 1) to say, to speak

ἐγένετο: AMI 3s, γίνομαι, 1) to become, i.e. to come into existence, begin to be, receive being 

ἐστιν: PAI 3s, to be

1. Luke 18:26 has the folks who have heard Jesus’ conversation with the rich young ruler asking, “Who then can be saved?” (using the aorist passive form of σῴζω). Here Jesus uses the noun ‘salvation,’ answering the question of how, with God, it is possible for even a rich chief tax collector to be saved. 

2. As long as I am hearing an echo of John the Baptizer’s words in Luke 3, we might as well point out that John emphasizes “bearing fruit with repentance” rather than relying on the saying, “We have Abraham as our father” (3:8). Where John contrasts the lineage of Abraham with bearing fruit, Jesus connects them, in some way, with the words καθότι (‘inasmuch as’ or ‘as’ or ‘because’) and καὶ (‘and’ or ‘even’ or ‘also’). I cannot tell if the combination of these two words implies that it is more likely or less likely for Zacchaeus’ house to receive salvation as a child of Abraham. 

3. References to Abraham in Luke are: 1:55, 1:73, 3:8 (2x), 3:34, 13:16, 13:28, 16:22ff, this text, 20:37. 

 

 ¹⁰  ἦλθεν γὰρ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ζητῆσαι καὶ σῶσαι τὸ ἀπολωλός. 

for the son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”

ἦλθεν: AAI 3s, ἔρχομαι, 1) to come 

ζητῆσαι: AAInf, ζητέω, 1) to seek in order to find

σῶσαι: AAInf, σῴζω, 1) to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction

1. I have noted in red two possibilities regarding when the quote from Jesus ends. Perhaps it ends with v.9 and v.10 is a summary from Luke (as he does often). Or, perhaps Jesus’ words end with v.10 and Jesus is making reference to himself as the 3^rd person ‘son of man’ (as he does often).

2. The use of "to seek" and "the lost" seems to connect this story with the stories of things lost, sought, and found in c.15, which also began with people grumbling about Jesus' table companions. 

 

It bears remembering that this event takes place as Jesus has entered and is journeying through Jericho. I hear the echoes of the story of Rahab, a harlot, in Jericho in whose house the spies from the people of Israel stayed. Rahab saved their lives and, in doing so, they saved her and her household’s lives when the army of Israel invaded the city (Joshua 2). The phrase, “Today salvation has come into being in this house” seems to be bringing that ancient story of the sinner of Jericho whose house was a place of salvation in a doomed-for-destruction city.