Monday, July 2, 2018
Restitution
Luke 19:8
Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”
It is strange how the mind works sometimes. I am no psychologist, so I am baffled when I see strange mental phenomenon at work. Let me give you an example of what I mean. Children are set to play and they each have their own toys, one child sees another child’s toy and takes it when an adult intervenes the child who took the toy yells and screams at being relieved of a toy that wasn’t theirs in the first place.
Some persons often acquire things through sleight of hand, deception, corruption, or outright theft but afterwards behave like it’s legitimately theirs and would defend it with their life. I don’t understand the mental process by which you can accept that the thing you stole is now yours to keep regardless.
We live in a world surrounded by corrupt politicians, corrupt officials, corrupt businessmen, corrupt neighbours, corrupt family, and alas, corrupt religious leaders. Corruption seems to be everywhere and more and more is being spent by various national, regional and international organisations to stem corruption. However, it seems that the more that is done to stem corruption the more corruption there is since now the anti-corruption officials are added to the mix of those who could be corrupted.
Corruption is not a new phenomenon, corruption is as old a personal property and monetary systems themselves. In the time of Jesus, when the Roman Empire was entrenched, corruption was at a high point. Tax Collectors ruled the roost. The Tax collectors weren’t Roman, there were from Palestine, Jews themselves, but they had taken service to the Roman government and as a result were hated and despised by their own people.
The Roman Tax system sustained the Roman Empire, but the system was vulnerable to abuse and as a result, it was very corrupt, and the poorer people suffered immensely.
Jericho, where we find Jesus arriving today in this account Luke 19:1-10, was a strategically located town, as a result, it was very wealthy and was, therefore, a haven for corrupt officials. Zacchaeus, a Tax Collector for the Romans who had oversight of other Tax Collectors was certainly making a killing in Jericho.
The way this familiar story goes is that Jesus was walking through Jericho and, since His reputation had gone before Him, He was being thronged by crowds. Zacchaeus, like the others, wanted to get a glimpse of this Jesus but he was a short man who could not get a good view in the crowd. Being enterprising, he ran ahead, got up in a tree, and waited for Jesus to pass. Jesus stopped at the tree, called him down and went to his house, probably to freshen up and have a meal. This, of course, led to a scandal, Jesus had gone to the house of a hated Tax Collector.
Something very profound happened to Zacchaeus in this account with Jesus, Luke does not record their longer discussion for us so we are left to infer from the very brief account that we have. What we do know is that during this encounter with Jesus, Zacchaeus came to know the truth and responded with personal piety. Zacchaeus recognised himself as a corrupt man who had taken that which was not his and that he needed to make immediate restitution of that which he has taken that was not his. There were Jewish laws and regulations about how much restitution one had to pay in various circumstance. Zacchaeus tossed the law aside and paid more than the law required because what was going on in his heart after meeting Jesus was greater than any law could achieve.
Zacchaeus also made a commitment that went beyond those whom he had robbed while carrying out his duties. He became a philanthropist, giving half of his wealth to the poor, making a public statement that he was now a changed man.
In working on justice and reconciliation, we have focused on restitution as a critical tool for alternatives to justice beyond punishment. Led in part by Prison Fellowship International, the focus has been on helping offenders to restore that which was taken and be reconciled with their victims and the community.
Here is an important lesson from Jesus and Zacchaeus that we need to refocus on. We have given a lot of attention to restitution and reconciliation in the criminal reform system but there are many other places where we have neglected to push for restitution.
One such place is the church. In today’s church that is very material and locked in efforts to keep up with the world, we are in desperate need of resources. The rich coming to our churches have been a boost to our efforts to build and outfit our facilities. Now, while not every rich person is corrupt, we have many a corrupt person who has given to the work. In these cases, we have not pressed them into restitution but have accepted their gifts to the church.
Jesus had financial needs, Zacchaeus becoming a convert could have helped with those needs. Jesus sent once to get the taxes out of the mouth of a fish, and we know that He depended on the households of some wealthy people, “Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.” Luke 8:3.
Instead of exploiting Zacchaeus’s Jesus led him to truth and to restorative justice. He led him to restitution of that which was taken by corruption and to reconciliation with the community by giving to the poor. These are no longer popular in our ministry but we need to re-examine our approach to the rich who come to us.
Think on these things:
- Have you ever taken what was not yours, have you made restitution?
- Do you know anyone who needs to make restitution of stolen things, how would you seek to help them?
- How does your church respond to the rich who show up?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would help the corrupt to see Jesus, to make restitution of what was stolen and to be reconciled with the community they have wronged.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex