UP A TREE

A Drama for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost
November 11, 2007
by Pastor Laura Gentry

Luke 19:1-10
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost." (NRSV)


The following is a dramatic presentation for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost. It was written by Pastor Gentry and performed at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Lansing, Iowa in a "tree" by Mr. Gene Scott.

Good morning! I hope you don’t mind this tree in front of me. I just had to come here and tell you my story and I wanted to tell it from this tree, I guess, because this is the place, the very place where it all happened. Oh, excuse me, I haven’t even introduced myself yet. I’m Zacchaeus, tax collector. Ah, well, I used to be before my life was changed.

So let me start at the very beginning. As I told you, I was a tax collector here in the city of Jericho. I worked for the Roman government—you know, the big occupying force that has taken us over here in Israel. They have really made our way of life difficult and they tax us so hard. We’ve all been grumbling about it. But I was offered a job to collect tax for the Romans. Sure, it’s a stupid job and it makes everybody hate you but wow, did they ever offer me a great salary. There is no way I could make that kind of cash doing anything else!

Well, needless to say, I took the job. I could not resist the money it would put in my pocket. And once I got into the work, I found out the whole system is totally corrupt and pretty much all the tax collectors skim a little off the top for themselves because who’s gonna point the finger? I mean, come on! They are all doing it. And Rome’s too big to know just how much they’re being cheated.

After being a tax collector for a while, I became very wealthy and very unpopular around here. People couldn’t stand me. Said I was a sellout. And they had even worse things to say about me that I wouldn’t dare repeat. I guess you could say I was kinda getting miserable. I really think I was lost. But I was sort of locked into that lifestyle and it’s pretty hard to get out once you’ve become a tax collector.

Then, all of a sudden everybody in town was talking about this Jesus guy from Nazareth. Who was he? I didn’t have any idea. Some kinda prophet, I guess. He had been roaming around the country with giant crowds following him all over. It sounded ridiculous to me. I mean, why would people want to traipse all through the desert just to listen to some teacher?

Last week, word was buzzing that the guy was heading to Jericho and that he’d be here that day. You know, I had pretty mixed feelings about it. I didn’t care all that much about hearing some religious teacher. It’s not like I was leading a moral life. I figured he’d condemn me for collecting tax for the Romans. But there was something kinda irresistible about him. Gosh, I don’t know what it was but when everybody else was getting so hyped up to see him, I got really curious.

I got so curious, in fact, that I came up with a plan. I decided I’d show up and just sneak a peak at the teacher to see what the fuss was all about. I figured he wouldn’t notice me in the big crowd. But when I got here, the crowds were so thick! It was outrageous. You might have noticed, but I’m not the tallest man, and...well, I couldn’t see anything through the mass of people that were gathering. I was so frustrated.

So I darted ahead. I may not be tall, but I’m pretty fast. And I’m pretty agile. So when I saw this tree, I jumped up and grabbed that low limb down there and swung myself up into this spot right here. Ah, this was the perfect spot. I could see the whole scene from here and I didn’t have to worry about getting trampled by the crowd. This is the main street of the city so we all knew that when the teacher got to Jericho, he would be coming this way.

Sure enough, he appeared on the horizon. He looked so normal, just like you or me or anybody else. What was the hype all about? I still couldn’t tell but I sure could see the crowds going nuts for him. And sure enough, he came right down the main road and right past my spot in this tree. He was so close I could have reached down and grabbed his head. But I stayed pretty hidden in the leaves of this sycamore tree and I was sure he couldn’t see me, especially with the distraction of the crowds.

Then out of the blue, the teacher turned and looked right up at me. Me! He saw me! I was terrified. But he didn’t yell at me or anything. He pointed at me and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” Did you catch that? He knew my name. I don’t know how he knew it, but he did. He called me by name and I felt so important. And not only that, but he’d invited himself to my house! He was coming to my house! Thank goodness my wife had cleaned the place up!

I scurried down from this tree and I was beaming that he had chosen me. It was the first time I’d felt happy in a long, long time. I don’t live far from here so we walked over to my place. The crowd hardly knew what to do. The people who know me twisted up their faces, like how does this guy rate? I could hear their fussing and grumbling.

“He’s a corrupt old tax collector!”

“What a sinner!”

“Why would Jesus be hanging out with him?”

The insults kept coming. Frankly, I didn’t know why this famous teacher was hanging out with me but I didn’t care. I was just so delighted that he was.

I don’t understand what came over me, but I was suddenly sorry for how much I’d been cheating the people of Jericho. I suddenly wanted to do God’s will. I can hardly believe it yet but I stopped and put my hands up and said to Jesus, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much."

Four times as much! That is a pretty steep promise because I knew I’d defrauded lots of people. I was going to owe a lot. But I didn’t care anymore. I was so thrilled to have the attention of this remarkable man.

Then Jesus said to me, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."

I was lost. I was so lost that I hardly knew what to do anymore. I’m sure you’ve felt that way at times. But I’m telling you, this Jesus doesn’t hold back his love. It seems like the more lost and wrong you are, the more he seeks you out.

He changed me that day. He changed me entirely and now I will never be the same. I can’t go back to tax collecting. I can’t go back to being a corrupt man. Now, I actually want to do God’s will. I want to be a person that I can be proud of—and that God can be proud of.

I know some of you today doubt God’s power. I know I did. You wonder who is within God’s power to save. There are so many people out there doing wrong things. I, myself, was a very bad man. And yet, Jesus singled me out and called me back into God’s fold. If he could save me, then I assure you, he could save anyone! I’m serious. I am evidence that God wants to save everybody. We’re all children of Abraham.

Last week, you had your All Saints Day celebration and it’s fun to think about all the saints who are doing God’s will and those wonderful saints who have gone on to be with God in glory. But do you think about the fact that there are saints like me? There are saints that don’t have a lick of good in them except the grace that God has given them. It is God’s all embracing love that transforms us into saints. So you can hold your heads up high and declare with me that you are a saint. So let’s shout it out together so we can really believe it: I AM A SAINT! I AM A SAINT! I AM A SAINT!

That’s right. Wow! I’ve gotta get out of this tree and go do God’s will. So long!

© 2007 Laura E. Gentry