Death and taxes

"The only difference between a taxman and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin." ~ Mark Twain

"The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets." ~ Will Rogers

April 15th has come and gone and hopefully by now the wounds inflicted on you by the IRS have begun to heal. Before I let you heal completely I thought I might yank the band aid off real fast and post some thoughts on taxes. We have all likely heard Ben Franklin's oft repeated quote; "In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes." Both are something we would rather not face or think about, but as try as we may they are part of life's certainties that we must eventually deal with.

My job has afforded me the opportunity to travel internationally on a frequent basis. One of the things that I have discovered is that Americans are taxed to a lesser extent than most of our allies. Tax Freedom Day in the US, or the day on the calendar where we cease paying the government and start actually paying ourselves is caluculated to be April 9th. Our neighbors to the north in Canada celebrate tax free day on June 6th, the UK on May 14th and in Germany it is July 8th. Sweden and Norway are the run away winners paying 57% of their annual income in taxes and their Tax Freedom not kicking in until July 29th.

If you attend SS or Bible time as a child you have probably heard the story of Zacchaeus before as found in Luke 19. Maybe as a child you even sang the song about Zacchaeus being a “wee little man” who climbed up in a Sycamore tree “for the Lord he wanted to see”

ZACCHEUS WAS A WEE LITTLE MAN
A WEE LITTLE MAN WAS HE
HE CLIMBED UP IN THE SYCAMORE TREE
THE SAVIOR FOR TO SEE
AND WHEN THE SAVIOR PASSED THAT WAY
HE LOOKED UP IN THE TREE
AND HE SAID,
ZACCHEUS, YOU COME DOWN FROM THERE
FOR I'M GOING TO YOUR HOUSE TODAY
FOR I'M GOING TO YOUR HOUSE TODAY

It is a memorable song and it is a good lesson for children to learn about the compassion of Jesus and His love that He shows for every individual. But there are many lessons in this passage for adults that I think we sometimes overlook in these stories we classify as “children’s Bible stories.”

We all are familiar with paying taxes and none of us really care to give the IRS or other government agencies any money. But what we experience in our current culture is nothing compared to the taxation at the time Luke was writing his Gospel. Taxation was a huge form of oppression at this time. During the earthly ministry of Jesus the Romans occupied Israel and they dominated the region. Part of being a conquered nation was the requirement to pay tribute money or taxes to the government. This taxation was not for the local benefit but for the benefit of Rome. It would be like we were invaded by Canada and on top of the our state tax and Federal Taxes we pay today, we would also have to send money up to Canada too.

The job of tax collecting which was also known as being a “publican” and it was not a low paying government job. These positions were auctioned off to the highest bidder and then that person would have to meet quota or a specific amount that they would have to pay to the Roman government. But they just didn’t collect the amount that was necessary but they would collect more than enough to make themselves wealthy in the process. This led to abuse and unfair taxation. It says in Luke 19:2 that Zacchaeus was a “chief tax collector”, but what did this mean? He was in charge of a district or larger area and had tax collectors or publicans reporting to him. Zacchaeus must have been quite wealthy to start with because he had the tax collecting franchise for Jericho which was a large city that was a center for commerce and trade so bidding on the right to collect taxes there would have been expensive. It would be like being the chief tax collector in Atlanta or maybe Chicago.

What type of taxes could Zacchaeus and his crew of publicans collect? They could tax just about anything.

• Road and bridge taxes on anyone walking or driving a horse and cart
• Poll taxes on males 14+ and girls 12
• House & Land taxes
• Market tax which would be paid when you walked into Walmart
• Registration or Inventory
• Livestock and animials...tax you on your dog and cat
• Entering the gate of a city
• Customs when you leave one county and enter another
• Income Tax
• Salt Tax (salt was the main preservative for meat and food)
• Sales Tax
• Any agriculture goods (your tomato patch…)
• Imports and Exports
• Census (Luke 2:2 Joseph & Mary going to Bethlehem and the associated inconvenience of travel)
• And on and on…


Because Zacchaeus worked for Rome he was a despised and hated man; a complete social outcast to the Jewish people. He would have been considered as someone that his fellow Jews would not want to associate with let alone be welcome in their homes or at their social gatherings. If they saw him on the street they would likely avoid him or cross the street to get away from him. We can see the opinion that they held for publicans in the previous chapter in Luke 18:9-11. He probably would not have been welcome in the Synagogue because his association with Gentiles or non-Jews like the Romans would have made him ceremonially “unclean” and therefore not allowed entrance into their meetings or worship. He was considered by the Pharisees or religious leaders to be one of the worst elements of society and in Matthew 9:11, 11:19, 21:31 and Luke 3:12 they would talk about “publicans and sinners”. Zacchaeus was in total disfavor in the Jewish culture.

Zacchaeus probably had to at times fear for his life. Remember he represented the oppressive Roman government that collected unfair taxes and gave it to there own people so they would not have to work. Israel hated being occupied and a group of people known as Zealots were known assassins who would kill traitors or Roman government officials. They were known as “the dagger men” and I am sure they would have loved to take out Zacchaeus.

But the unique thing about Zacchaeus is that despite all of his wealth there was something about the Gospel of Jesus Christ that appealed to him. It says in verse 3 that “he sought to see Jesus”. The other important thing about Zacchaeus is that he did not let anything stand in his way or any excuses stop him from seeking after Jesus.

His first obstacle was the crowd. He did not let the crowd influence him. Remember, Jericho is a large city and center or trade so there was likely a huge group of people that wanted to see this man who some said was the Son of God. They had heard about his healing, feeding and teaching of the people. The city of Bethany was less than 15 miles away and Jesus recently had raised Lazarus from the dead and probably word had made it to Jericho about Christ. The Bible says in Luke 19:3 “because of the press” or the large mass of people Zacchaeus was blocked from seeing Christ. Often we let “the Crowd” stop us from doing what we know is right and we worry about what “the Crowd’ thinks of us or what they might say about us. Zacchaeus was focused on just one thing and that was seeing Jesus and following Him that he ignored the crowd and found a way to get to Him. In verse 7 we can see that the crowd was murmuring that Jesus took an interest in Zacchaeus but Christ didn’t let the crowd stop him from His ministry. We cannot and should not let “the Crowd” stop us from seeking and accepting Christ or following His will for our life.

Zacchaeus was a "vertically challenged" man but he did not let his limitations hold him back. It says also in verse 3 that he was small in stature. So what did he do; it says in verse 4 that he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed up in a Sycamore tree. A sycamore tree has low spreading branches that would have hung out over the road. Imagine a short little man running down the street and doing something so undignified as climbing up a tree to watch the procession. This despised little man was probably being laughed at and being made fun of already for being short. He did not let his so-called or perceived limitations hold him back from seeking Christ. We sometimes try to convince ourselves that we have limitations or things in our lives that would make us unacceptable to Jesus. We are never asked to clean ourselves up before coming to Jesus Christ. Or maybe we view ourselves as not smart enough or good enough. There is no limitation to the love of Christ and He is ready to accept us no matter what.

Zacchaeus did not let his status in the Jewish society keep him away. Remember he was viewed as “unclean” for his association with the Romans. He did not let the possibility that he might be laughed at, spat upon or hated stop him from going into a crowded area and seeking after Jesus. God is no respecter of persons and it says in the Bible that he uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, (I Corinthians 1:27). He didn’t try to religiously or socially clean himself up first before he sought after Christ.

The final hindrance to Zacchaeus was his wealth. In Luke 18:18-27 we see the story of the rich young ruler who came to Christ and wanted to know what he had to do to gain eternal life. He talked about all of his goodness and his religious practices but when the time came to sacrifice everything to follow Christ he blinked and rather than accept what Jesus had to offer he went away sad. In contrast look at the reaction of Zacchaeus and the fruit of his conversion. In verse 8 it says that he acknowledge his sin and he gave half of his wealth to the poor and also gave 4 times the amount he defrauded from people. If he took 40 dollars from you, you would receive $160 back. The OT law only required one-fifth as repayment for fraud. Four-fold was only required if an animal was killed and two-fold if it was taken but found alive. What do you and I hold dear and what are we unwilling to give up in exchange for a personal relationship with Christ? What is our “idol” or thing we hold on to so dearly that we will not give it up to follow Christ? Is it our time, our friends, our habits or addictions? What is the thing we think most about and spend out whole lives chasing rather than seeking after Jesus and following God’s will for our lives. What are you willing to give up for Jesus? He gave up the glory of heaven and His very life for you and I. ANYTHING He asks for in return is small in comparison to what he gave up for us.

We need to notice what the Lord says to Zacchaeus in Luke19:5; “…make haste and come down; for today I must dine at thy house”. This was not a request but a mandate. Jesus invited himself immediately to fellowship with Zacchaeus. There was an urgency about this request. In our culture we don’t understand the importance or significance of dining with people like they do in the Eastern culture. It is a sign of acceptance and deep affection. Jesus loved Zacchaeus and He loves you and I and all He wants is fellowship and a deep and meaningful relationship with us.

Look at the reaction of Zacchaeus in verse 6; “he received him joyfully…” Imagine this man despised, shunned and ignored was having the chance to fellowship with the Son of God!

What does it say in Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

What is our reaction when we have a chance to fellowship or worship Christ? Do we receive it joyfully or begrudgingly?

Jesus knew the heart condition of Zacchaeus and He also knew that Zacchaeus was seeking after the Savior. Notice what Jesus doesn’t say to Zacchaeus. He doesn’t say; “I cannot spend time with you because you are a sinner, I cannot be associated with you because you haven’t cleaned up your act first, or I cannot fellowship with you until you stop sinning.” Jesus knew the heart condition and sin of Zacchaeus just like He knew and knows yours and mine. Jesus is concerned with our sin but He loved us before we first loved Him and he is ready to accept us unconditionally.

The theme of the book of Luke can be found in verse 10; “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” This is the message of the Gospel and the work and purpose of Christ!

There are only two sure things in life; death and taxes. Just like we have to prepare a tax return we also have to prepare for the inevitable outcome of passing on into eternity. Have we made adequate preparation for life's final journey?

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Don’t let the Crowd, your limitations, your socials status or things of this world you hold dear keep you from accepting Christ as your Savior. ~ I John 1:9