Repentance and Restitution Luke 19:1-10

“Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much’” (Lk. 19:8, NASB).

As a child I was taught to say “I’m sorry” when I did something wrong to anyone. I learned to apologize for my wrongdoings. I learned to feel sorry, and I learned that I should do my best not to do again what I had done. I learned to feel sorry for others when they are hurting and suffering from the storms of life. Although I learned to apologize, I do not remember being taught that I needed to do anything about the pain and suffering that I had caused. I learned to be sympathetic, but I did not learn restitution. Sympathy has to do more with feelings than actions. Thus, sympathy cards are manufactured and given to those who have lost a love one. We also express our sympathy by sending telegrams, letters, and by means of social media.

When I entered nursing school I learned that it is important that I the nurse learn to empathize with my patients. I was to put myself in the place of my patients so that I could understand their pain and their perspective of their illnesses. This is important, because what the nurse knows to be important as it relates to the patient’s illness may be less important to the patient as he might have other people and other things that he views as more important in his life. The patient may not want to stay in the hospital today to have a series of tests. It is more important to him that he gets home to see about his wife because she was not feeling well when he came to the hospital. His wife cannot drive, so he needs to get home to make sure that his wife is alright.

In the bible we read about Jesus and others having compassion for someone. For example, Jesus has compassion on the crowds that follow Him because they have gone without food for a long time. Obviously, they are hungry. “And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, ‘I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way’” (Matt. 15:32, NASB). We can see that compassion goes further than sympathy. Compassion does more than empathy. Compassion is doing something to help someone in need.

So, in my life I have been taught to apologize. I have been taught to empathize with others. I have been taught to have compassion for others. Do I need to do more? What else except apologize can I do when I wrong someone? For the remainder of this article I want to talk about something that is often not taught, or, at least not emphasized enough. I learn to say “I’m sorry,” but I might not learn that with my repentance I should seek to make restitution. According to the Blue Letter Bible the word “restitution appears only six time in the bible and only once in the New Testament in Acts 3:21. However, restitution as a principle is found throughout the Bible. We have an example in our text today, Luke 19:8.

In the story we meet a man named Zaccheus. He is described as a chief tax collector and a very short man. Zaccheus cheats his own people, the Jews, when he collects taxes from them. He is despised among his people. The description of him as a man little in statue says something about his physical size, and it also implies how the people see him as a person because of his standing in the community and in the people’s understanding of his standing with God. The people see him as a cheater of the people and a sinner in relationship to his standing with God.

There is a tendency to look at this text as it relates to Zaccheus’ effort to see Jesus by climbing up into a sycamore tree. We emphasize the fact that Jesus takes notice of the man. Jesus sees us wherever we are. Jesus calls this vilified tax collector and calls him down from the tree. Jesus invites Zaccheus to allow Him to go home with him. The people are upset because Jesus, this holy man of God, is going to go home with this sinner and share a meal with him. Jesus explains to the crowd that the worst sinner should be forgiven. Those that are lost are to be given a chance to be restored to the community. After all forgiveness of sin is the reason that Jesus comes to the world. We, the Christian community today know something that the people then did not know. The people that followed Jesus at this time did not know that Jesus is the Son of God. On the other hand we know that Jesus is the Son of God. We know that God sends His Son to die on the cross so that forgiveness of sin is possible. God demonstrates His love for us, and because Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice we are reconciled to God. However, what we often overlook is the fact that Zaccheus repents of his sins and his repentance leads him to have the desire to make restitution.

Restitution is an important principle. The Law calls for an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This commandment sets a limit on the amount of restitution that I can require of a person that has caused me harm. The guilty party is to pay back equal amount in value what he has taken. If the victim seeks more than what is taken away, the victim is seeking revenge. God says that vengeance belongs to Him. However, Zaccheus expresses his desire to pay back four times what he took from those that he defrauded. Why do you think that Zaccheus wants to pay back more than the Law requires of him? Let us not forget that Jesus has not yet died on the cross. This means that the Jews are still at this time following the Law. What can we learn from Zaccheus?

Obviously, we can see that Zaccheus knows that he has done the people wrong, and he knows that the Law requires him to make restitution. Zaccheus also teaches us that sometimes the results of our wrongdoing cost our victims more than we take. The 800,000 federal workers are an example. These workers are not being paid and they are going to be without a paycheck for the second time. So, when these people are paid when the government reopens they will receive what they are owed. They will receive an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Will their paychecks cover all of their losses?

Think about these things. The employee misses a credit card payment. The credit card provider charges a late payment fee and raises the interest rate on the card. Two boys get into a fight. One of the boys suffers an injury. Saying I’m sorry does not relieve the pain, and it does not pay the medical bills.

Many white people in America see no need for this country to make restitution for the harm done to slaves and their descendants. Many of them say things like “get over it,” “I did not do it,” “it happened before I was born,” “I’m not guilty,” “I’m not responsible for what someone else did.” I wonder if any of these people that call themselves bible believing Christians have ever read in their bibles Nehemiah 9. The people have returned to Jerusalem after seventy years of exile in Babylon. In their prayer they confess the sins of their fathers. They confess their own sins and see their sins as being directly connected to the sins of their fathers. In Nehemiah 9:36-37 the people confess that they are still slaves because of the sins of their fathers. In Nehemiah 10 the people sign a document confessing their own sins and they make an “oath to walk in God’s law, which was given to Moses, God’s servant, and to keep and to observe all the commandments of God our Lord, and His ordinances and his statues” (Neh. 10:29, NASB).

So what can a Christian people and American citizens learn from these things? First, we must own up to our sins as individuals and as a community. Every individual shares in both the blessings of the community and the curses of the community. The rain falls on everyone in the community including the just and the unjust. Secondly, Zaccheus teaches us that those we victimize are hurt beyond the cost of what is taken and stolen from them. Thus, restitution means that I pay back not only the fifty dollars that I stole. I recognize that the lost of the fifty dollars will cost my victim more than fifty dollars. Zaccheus offers to pay back four times the amount that he defrauded his victims. When does Zaccheus decide that he should make restitution? That’s a good question, and I have no definitive answer. However, I think that the text offers us a suggestion or two.

Apparently Zaccheus has heard about Jesus. He is aware of the ministry of Jesus. As he attends his tax collecting booth he hears about Jesus healing people. He hears about how Jesus feeds people. Jesus gives a mother her dead son back alive. Zaccheus is curious. He wants to see this man. What does he look like? Zaccheus climbs a tree just to see this famous man. However, Zaccheus experiences Jesus in ways that he never imagined. Jesus looks up. He sees Zaccheus and calls him by his name. Jesus wants to go home with Zaccheus. Jesus wants to share a meal with Zaccheus. Zaccheus, the little man with the hidden little self image of himself sees himself in a brand new way. He is not an outcast to Jesus. Jesus wants Zaccheus to know Him. Why do we expect people to act like Jesus and be like Jesus when they have never met Jesus?

When Jesus comes to earth His ministry has the purpose of showing people what God the Father is like. God cares about the people. God provides for the people. Through Jesus the people learn that God’s ways are not our ways. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. Jesus teaches us that we are loved by God. God makes restitution for us. Jesus dies on the cross. We are forgiven of our sins. We are restored to a right relationship with God. Zaccheus learns that He needs to repent and make restitution when he meets Jesus.