Your mission, should you choose to accept it (Luke 19:11–27)

Well, last week, if you were here, we read 19 verse 8.

Just look at it because we asked who says that about 19 verse 8.

So page 1053, the corrupt official in their community, a man called Zacchaeus, who has cheated and stolen and menaced his way across the lives of the town.

He suddenly says, look, Lord, here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor.

And if I've cheated anybody out of anything, I'll pay back four times the amount.

Half.

And we said last week, we said we think that is unusual, isn't it? To suddenly decide to give away half your money to the poor.

If anyone wants to prove me wrong tonight, then our charity here that works with the isolated, the overlooked and exploited, they will happily take half your money off you tonight.

But it's not even just half.

The queue of people that he has cheated.

And he says, look, just ask.

I'll pay you back four times, four times as much for the whole town, probably.

And in 25 words only, the whole town of Jericho is transformed for years, isn't it, to come? It's a glorious total revolution through one change, but a total change in the life of just one man.

And we said that is what we all wish we could see.

And last week we asked these two things, both who says that, but also don't you want this kingdom to appear at once? Because that is this week's issue.

Look at verse 11.

They listened to Jesus talking to the man Zacchaeus and Jesus had to tell, it's like an emergency parable, had to tell a parable right away because they were near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom was going to appear at once.

So we put up this map.

They've worked out that Jesus is obviously God's promised king and they're nearly at Jerusalem, which is obviously God's capital city.

So they say, right, we are 15 kilometres away from the end of the world.

And they want the kingdom right away.

Of course they do.

If it is anything like as good as the evil man Zacchaeus turning his life around through 180 degrees and transforming the whole future of the town and ending corruption and fear and there'll be fairness and there'll be food and anything else good beginning with F.

The kingdom now, we want it.

So Jesus tells a parable.