Zacchaeus: A Lost Sheep, not a Lynched Sinner…
A reflection on Luke 19:1-10 given by Eric DeBode
In today's reading we have the story of Zacchaeus, which sums up many key themes from Luke’s gospel: the high are brought low, the lost sheep is gathered, justice happens outside of court by repairing harms done, the “child of Abraham” is welcomed back, and the outsider and unclean is recognized as key to the project of salvation.
Zacchaeus was Chief of the tax-collectors which meant that he got really rich by running a shady business; he collected taxes for the occupying Roman state, and he was despised by his fellow Jews.
He loaned money at exorbitant interest rates, disenfranchised family farmers by foreclosing on their loans and seizing their lands. He ruined people’s lives in pursuit of more wealth. He was hated and despised for lots of good reasons!
It is no surprise that the crowd reacts with anger when Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house for dinner. There is probably no one else they would rather see lynched from that sycamore tree than Zacchaeus. It's really no surprise that the crowd turns against Jesus very soon after this story.
Even though Zacchaeus is arguably an awful person, it is to his credit that he wants to see Jesus, and that’s how he ends up a tree.
Jesus is aware that rich people often bark up the wrong tree to seek him out. He calls Zacchaeus down to level ground, he calls the mighty to a lowly place, humbling this self-exalted tax-collector. This is Luke's Magnificat being played out right before our eyes. It is at this moment that Zacchaeus concretizes his conversion – he says, "I will give half of everything I own to the poor and four times what I have defrauded from people." Only after he publicly acknowledges his wrong, commits to change, as well as stating how he will make things as right as possible does Jesus say, "Today, salvation has come to this house, because he too is a child of Abraham."
In Jesus' justice system offenders are allowed to live and are called to conversion. They are encouraged to rehabilitate, and are held accountable. In Jesus’ justice system, Zacchaeus doesn’t get hanged from the Sycamore tree. There is no death penalty because the death penalty is an act that says, “There is nothing more that God can do with this life.” And we all know because of our faith in the God who brings life out of death itself that the death penalty is a lie! It is a lie told to murder victim’s family members that killing this person will bring you healing. It is a lie told to society that killing this person will reduce crime and make you safe. It is an act of revenge carried out in the sight of God who is above all else, Love, Compassion and Mercy. It is blasphemy.
But people think it will deter other murders. Here are a few facts:
All the studies show that murder is overwhelmingly a crime of passion, done without reflection on any of the consequences, least of all whether or not your state has the death penalty. Studies show that rather than deter, violent crimes actually increase during the 6-months after an execution. Killers don’t identify with the death row prisoner. They identify with the executioner who can kill without reproach.
Further, of the 4 regions in the US, the South continues to have the highest murder rate by far even though in 2001 and 2002 over 80% of all executions happened in the South. No other region has executed more than 100 people since 1976 – but the South has executed 722 people in that same amount of time. If deterrence worked, they should have the lowest murder rate in the country.
84% of our nation’s top criminologists reject the notion that the death penalty is a deterrent. Police chiefs polled around the country rank the death penalty last in what helps reduce violent crime.
It costs LA County almost $700,000 more per case to prosecute a capital offense instead of a permanent incarceration case. Los Angeles County has successfully sent 194 people to death row in the past few decades, which means we have spent over 120 million dollars on death when we could have spent it on schools, health care, family supports, housing and crime prevention (the main factors that lead to criminal behavior in the first place).