November 4, 2007                                                            Luke 19:1-10

  “Climbing A Tree To Shed Out Dragon Skin”

In the third book of the Narnia Chronicles, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a series of books which begins with the well known, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis tells the story of Eustace:  a self centered boy who systematically isolates himself from his companions and finds himself more and more alone and alienated.  Eustace wanders off by himself to an island where he discovers a dragon’s lair and a treasure.  But before he can steal any of it, he is turned into a dragon himself. Eustace is no longer the boy God created him to be.  He is cut off from his true self and cut off from the human family. His is trapped in dragon’s skin.

Eustace is rescued by Aslan, the lion, the hero and savior of these Chronicles.  Aslan leads him to a clear well and tells Eustace to shake off his dragon scales.  Eustace shakes off as many scales as he can, but he cannot get rid of his dragon skin by himself.

Eustace the dragon then lies down and Aslan the lion comes to him and using his claws, tears into Eustace’s skin.

Eustace says, “The very first tear the lion made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart.  And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I had ever felt¼ He peeled the beastly stuff off¼ and there I was, smooth and soft as a peeled switch¼ Then he caught hold of me and threw me into the water.  It smarted like anything but only for a moment.  After it became perfectly delicious and¼ I found that all the pain had gone.

How often do we become a dragon?  Despite all we know, despite all that those who love us try  to tell us, we lose our way and find ourselves trapped in some cave, some murky lonely place, surrounded by all the things we thought we wanted, but realize only too late that such things are worthless.  In that lost-ness, we discover that we have turned into something other than we were really meant to be.

This is the condition we find Zacchaeus.

Bible School children are taught a fun little song about this little man.  They sing, “Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he.”  And the song is right; he was “a wee little man.”  Not only in physical stature, but also in spirit.  Zacchaeus had turned into a dragon. Somewhere back in his past Zacchaeus got off track.  Like Eustace, he wandered away into isolation, away from the life with his human family.  Bad habits had taken root in his heart; and greed, selfishness, the lust for power, prestige, and money had taken him over.  And they were destroying him.  Zacchaeus developed dragon scales that cut him off from his true self, his human family, and from God.

Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector for the Roman government in the prospering city of Jericho.  He probably had a staff of collectors, and he was, very possibly, the most hated man in Jericho.  He worked for the occupying Roman forces, and was regarded as a traitor to his own people. 

This hatred stemmed from how he took advantage of his power and authority, exploited those around him, and had complete disregard for the welfare of others.  For instance, he and his cohorts could stop a person in Jericho and assess duties on nearly everything in his or her possession.  A cart, for instance, could be taxed for each wheel, for the animal that pulled it, and for the merchandise that it carried.            Zacchaeus was required to send in a certain amount of money, but anything over that amount he was free to keep.  The system was ripe for abuse, and this passage tersely states in verse two “he was rich”, as if it were some kind of indictment.  Which it was.            Zacchaeus had accumulated his wealth in service to the Roman invaders and at the expense of his countrymen, and he was regarded as human filth. 

Zacchaeus, whose name meant “the pure one” and “the righteous,” had turned his name into a sneer on the lips of his fellow Jews.  He was a standing joke.  The mention of his name evoked disgust. The money was nice, but to live as an outcast among your own people, with no one to call a friend, no social life, no involvement with others except those who wanted to use you for their own ends had to be a lonely and depressing existence.

And it becomes apparent to us that Zacchaeus is ready to be done with this life.  Zacchaeus is ready to and wants to shed his dragon skin.  But with all the wrong he has done, with all the people he has abused, with all that now binds him to the life he has created, it appears as if there is no possible way to shed his dragon skin.

But then he hears that this Jesus, this Messiah is coming to his town.  He hears how this man is different.  This Jesus tells stories where the tax collector is the hero and the Pharisee is the foe!  This Jesus comes into towns and is comfortable being associated with those on the fringes of society, people like women, children, the diseased, and the outcast.  All those rejected by the trends of culture found in this Jesus a listening ear, a warm reception, a compassionate heart.  Certainly he was worth checking out, because maybe, just maybe this was the one who could help him shake off his dragon skin.