By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
November 2, 2025
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Luke 19:1–10 (ESV)
1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And 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.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
I have to admit that today’s passage has been difficult for me to consider this week. Mainly because my mind has been drawn to the children’s worship song that is attached to this story. It is difficult to think deeply on a passage when the words, “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he.” is running through your mind unrestrained. I tried and tried to get the song out of my head. Yet there it remained.
Then I got to thinking, why did Luke find it necessary to tell us that this man was of small stature?
Many of us have heard of The Napoleon complex, or Little Man Complex. This is not a scientifically proven condition, but the idea is that when someone feels inferior to another based on something such as height they try to overcompensate in aggression to prove that they are stronger than they appear. The terminology is actually funny, because Napoleon was not a short man when he began his conquest of Europe, and the reason we consider him to be short is because of politically motivated depictions, or early forms of political cartoons.
Many physiologists used this sort thought process in the early years of psychology, but have sense found that it cannot be proven scientifically. The idea is that men of shorter stature will be more aggressive, more combative, take greater risks so that they can attract a mate. This idea has remained present in our thought because of misapplied evolutionary sciences. The same pseudo science that continues to perpetuate differences in race. Is it a scientific fact that the color of our skin can dictate intelligence, strength, or anything else? There are some stereotypical inferences that can be made, but they are not scientific fact. Stereotypes seem real. On the surface it might appear that one race of people has a greater representation in certain fields. But is it science? No.
This line of thinking does not include one very important fact, that is the environment. The environment is what could also be described as privilege. It is unfortunate that sociologists used that term to describe the environment people grow up in because it gives us a false sense of what is being described, because what is available to us can influence what we think is possible. The culture we are raised also influences our future. If we were to consider the various stereotypes within our culture, we might say that some are smarter. But why are they considered smarter? Often it has nothing to do with their genetics, instead it is that their parents have urged their children to focus their attention on certain subjects that will get them better jobs. Where other groups have accepted the false notion that the only way to success is through athleticism, so their parents have urged them to focus all their attention on those aspects of life.
These are environmental factors. And have nothing to do with who we are as a person. And these false stereotypes continue within our society. They seem to have existed throughout history and persist. When we read through scripture we even get a sense that confirms the notion of the Napoleon complex. When Israel was choosing a king they picked Saul. Why did they pick Saul? He was a head taller than everyone else. The big man must be our leader. But when Saul lost favor with God, who did God appoint to be king? Samuel went to Jesse and had him present his son’s. One by one they came before him and Samuel looked at each. None of the kingly looking men were picked, and eventually Jesse told Samuel that he had one last son but he was small, the runt so to speak. It was David that was picked. And the moral of the story was that man looks on the outside, where God looks at the heart.
The story of David continues to perpetuate the myth of the small man, with the story of Goliath. This was a giant of a man, nine feet tall if we interpenetrate the measurements of scripture correctly. And David was this small man risking everything against the giants. We see these stories, we know that they speak of having faith in God, but there is a part of us that believes a myth. We tell those that are small, that if we believe enough God can do big things. If we risk enough. If we put ourselves out there. We must do this because no one will ever regard us as being of value unless we do something amazing. This is the Napoleon complex.
We often get caught in the mythology found within our culture. We perpetuate it. We share it. We encourage it. And it does do harm. There is an actual scientifically recognized syndrome attached to this. It is the Napoleon Syndrome. This syndrome is basically a combination of bullying, low self-esteem, and misplaced anger in response to many of the stereotypes our culture places on people.
What is the difference? The complex is that short people are naturally more aggressive and take more risks than people of average or taller stature. The syndrome is the anger or emotional disorder resulting from the perpetuation of stereotypes.
This is where my mind initially gravitated toward when I began to reflect on this passage this week. Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he. We are told that he was small. And we can based on our cultural prejudice assign certain social norms to him based on this. And this is what I did. I looked at this passage and my mind began to formulate the question, “why did this man decide to become a tax collector?” And the immediate answer I came up with was he was over compensating. He sold his life out to the imperial overlords because he was short. He was not tall so he did not look like a potential king or leader, he was overlooked by society because only tall people could have the intelligence to become a Pharisee. This is prejudice. And I mention it because it is so easy for us to assign prejudice based on things that have no real basis on knowledge.
It is scary how easy it is to be driven by the myths of pseudo science. It is easy to be swayed by the popular myths uttered by the people we see as leaders.
Last week we looked at a parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, and how they both went into the temple to pray. In that story Jesus told us that the one society deemed to be the sinner went home justified because of the humility he had before God. Today we see the parable in real life.
Zacchaeus, was a chief tax collector in the town of Jericho. In our contemporary culture we might not fully grasp what this implies because our system of taxes are different than ancient times. In the beginning of the gospels we told that there was a census imposed by Caesar where everyone would return to their hometown so that they could be taxed. For me when I read this I assume that this simply meant that there was a flat tax given to everyone in the empire so they needed to count the number so they could devise a budget. That is not completely accurate, it is not completely wrong either. They needed to know the population so they could determine the tax base, but there was not a flat tax rate. They determined the population of each of the regions within the empire, and then they divided the tax burden among the regions accordingly. Each region was required to obtain this set amount of money by whatever means they saw fit.
Judea was a unique place for this to occur. Within the culture of this region there were mandatory pilgrimages, where nearly everyone within the society were required to travel to one central location, Jerusalem. Everyone was coming from the north, east, south, and west. The southern portion of Judea was a vast desert with limited water so it had a very limited population, but the rest of Judea was populated. Jerusalem was fairly centrally located in the mountains, with one primary road from each direction. And every road through the mountains came together in one place, Jericho.
When Rome decided that they would include Judea in their taxation system, the easiest manner of taxation would be to impose a toll in Jericho. Those that were moving goods along the trade routes from the East to the sea could pass through Jericho. Those that wanted to travel to the Temple would pass through Jericho. Those that were bringing goods from the coastal ports to the trade routes to the east would pass through Jericho. Jericho was the ideal location to set up a toll. That is the job that Zacchaeus was given, to manage the toll booths. And every person that traveled through Judea, encountered this man. Zacchaeus, and any other tax collector appointed in a region were given free reign on how much they could collect. If they collected more then was required, they could keep the difference, and if they did not collect enough they would have to personally guarantee the payment. This type of system allowed corruption to easily enter into the system.
I want us to consider for a moment the amount of traffic in Jericho at certain times of the year. There were three feasts where every family was required to travel to Jerusalem. The feast of Weeks, Passover, and the feast of booths. Each of these feasts were important not only spiritually but economically. Passover was the festival at the beginning of spring. The lambs were being born, so everyone was bringing the best of their flocks to the temple to offer praise to God. This marked the livestock harvest. Every family was bringing these amazing young lambs through the city and then they were stopped in Jericho and the toll collector is looking at you with this lamb in your arms. What do you think would be demanded?
The next feast was the Feast of Weeks, this was also the feast of the first fruits. This festival was the time after the spring rains, the orchards and the vineyards were producing fruit, and the first harvest had just begun. In our geographic areas the feast of Weeks would have been the beginning of wheat harvest. At the beginning of harvest, everyone was to determine how much they expected their land would produce and they would place a tenth of what they expected into baskets and bring it to the temple. Churches will often speak of tithes, and encourage everyone to give a tenth of their gross income to support the ministry. I do encourage you to systematically give. But there is a difference to the tithe of ancient Israel and the majority of our income today. They did not know what they would have, where we know. Most of us know how much we will earn within a given year. We know that we are paid so many dollars and hour and we know about how many hours we will work. If you were to work for minimum wage in Missouri, you would make $13.75 an hour, you would work forty hours a week, fifty-two weeks in a year giving you $28,600. We know what our income will be. If we were to give a tenth of our income we would make sure to have $2,860 set aside to give. In ancient Israel the income was unknown. You had to guess the amount, you had to estimate your income prior to your actual harvest and give a tenth. You gave on hope.
Families would fill their baskets, they would fill them as much as they could and they would hope and pray that God would bless their household accordingly. They did not know for sure how much they would have, but they gave joyfully. And they took these baskets filled with faith to the temple. And they passed through Jericho. And the person at the toll booth could see everything you were bringing and they would take what they wanted.
The final feast was the feast of booths. This was the feast to celebrate the abundance of God’s provision, it was the feast at the end of harvest, what our Thanksgiving is to commemorate. After all the crops have been harvested, everyone once again comes to Jerusalem to praise God, but this time they are to bring their abundance. You and your family set up a tent within the city and everyone goes from tent to tent sharing all that they have with one another. You bring your abundance across the nation, and you once again come to Jericho and the man at the toll booth sees all that you are traveling with.
You cannot hide. Everything you have is in full view of the government and he has been given free reign to determine what is required. Every single person going to worship God, must first pass by Zacchaeus. Just the thought of it makes me cringe.
But this small man who had his nose in the business of every family of Israel, heard about Jesus. And he wanted to see him. He ran, which was undignified within the culture. He climbed a tree which again was undignified. Luke tells us he was small, and undignified. There was nothing about this man that could be loved or honored. He was the worst of the worst. Not a single redeeming quality. Yet Jesus came to the place, looked up and said to him. “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
We again have hospitality at the forefront of scripture. It was customary for people to stay at a friend’s house when traveling. It was not only customary it was the law in ancient Israel, to refuse to offer hospitality was the gravest of cultural sins. And the sin of Sodom was that they were flipping the law of hospitality upside down requiring the guest to be hospitable to the host instead of being a host to the one visiting the town.
Jesus wanted to stay with Zaccaeus, he went out of his way to not only speak to the sinner but to be his guest.
This changed something within the man. The most hated man in all of Judea. He was the chief tax collector. All of Judea’s tax burden was filtered through this one man. The mere suggestion that Jesus would go to his house caused this man to immediately respond. And he said, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”
I have not spoken much of the queries this year, but I want to mention one today. “Do you try to observe simplicity in your manner of living? Do you frequently inspect your affairs and settle your accounts? Are you careful to live within your income and avoid involving yourselves in business beyond your ability to manage? Are you just in your dealings, punctual to your promises, prompt in the payment of your debts, and free from defrauding the public revenue?”
Zacchaeus, saw the wealth of a nation. And he alone determined what was to be taxed. But the story can be broadened. Everyone in the crowd could also be brought into the story, because each of the people involved were looking at their financial affairs and bringing their tithes and offerings to God. They were all making a judgment. We hate the one man because he was taking what was designated for God, but have we considered the ones on the other side?
The query encourages us to be mindful of our spending, to observe simplicity. We encourage this not because we want to be cheap. There is a difference. We encourage those among us to observe simplicity so that we can become a blessing to others. If you are inspired to support a ministry like training key leaders in Africa, or buying Saris for women in East Asia, we want you to be positioned to freely do so. We encourage simplicity so that if you are called to become a minister in a church or if you are inspired to volunteer to join the ministries of Evangelical Friends Missions, you are free to go, without financial debts holding you back.
Do you frequently inspect your affairs and settle your accounts? We do this so that you are aware of where and how much you are spending. So you can decide if your various subscriptions are beneficial or merely a drain of your income. And to live within your means so that you are able to manage your business dealings. We want you to live a lifestyle where you are not bound by debt to anyone or anything.
So often we look at this query and we see it as meddling. We see it as the query that tells us we cannot enjoy the fruits of our labor. But it is the exact opposite. We want you to live instead of survive. We want you to become a blessing instead of feel as if you are a burden.
And then we get to the last of the questions within the query. Are you just in your dealings, punctual to your promises, prompt in the payment of your debts, and free from defrauding the public revenue?
When the query was first written just after the end of the civil war within the United States. There was a faction within Friends that felt that if we did not agree with the use of government funds we should not submit that portion of taxes. This primarily referred to the percentage of the budget used for military spending. A significant portion of Friends refused to pay taxes because those taxes were funding things that we morally opposed. And we hated the tax collectors because of that. We felt as though it was our right, our moral obligation to withhold from the government as an expression of our 1st amendment freedoms of religion.
Our culture has shifted since that time. Friends tend to forget about our stance on peace and we have often come to adopt the just war theory. I personally am on the fence myself. I know what I believe yet I so often see the inhumanity of mankind and just want it to stop, and it is too easy to justify the use of violence. But then there are other things within our society that we find morally debased. And we raise our voices in opposition.
We look at those small men among us. We allow our prejudice, our pseudo scientific minds to justify actions that seem good to us without looking deeper. We so often justify the defrauding because we do not agree. We see those that collect those funds as evil sinners, yet how does Jesus see them?
Jesus saw Zacchaeus, not as the enemy, but as the man he truly was. He treated him as a valued member of society, as a friend. And Zacchaeus responded. Today, I give half of my goods to the poor. Today if I have defrauded anyone I will restore not the bear minimum but fourfold. We live in a divided culture, we want to have our side of the debate win, and we cheer when our perceived enemies fail. But what are we causing in the process? Maybe we have failed to see something that they see. Maybe they have not considered something that we have considered. We will only know if we open lines of communication. We will only have peace if we decide to stop the fight, and welcome the sinner as a friend. And when we do this, we will see salvation come to this house. And only when we see the person next to us as a fellow son or daughter of Abraham, will we see God’s redemption of all creation.
Previous Messages:
Endure
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
Ransomed to Love
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
Born Again to a Living Hope
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
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