“Zacchaeus was a wee little man/ And a wee little man was he. / He climbed up in a sycamore tree / For the Lord he wanted to see.”
If you grew up in Sunday school classes like I did, it’s likely that you sang this song surrounded by Cheerios and orange juice. For me, it was also the only thing I knew about Zacchaeus until I reached adulthood. Zacchaeus was short, he wanted to see Jesus, and he climbed a tree in order to see Him. End of story—Everyone grab your coloring pages and some crayons!
But reading Zacchaeus’s story now paints a different picture entirely. Zacchaeus was a tax collector, meaning he got rich off of everyone else’s money, which likely meant those people didn’t like him very much. He was an outcast, a loner. And just like everyone else in the town, he wanted to see Jesus. He wanted to find out more about this man people were talking about, this man who promised eternal life. So Zacchaeus climbed up a sycamore tree to be able to see, and when Jesus passed, He told Zacchaeus to come down because He was going to be staying at his house (Luke 19:5).
All the people in the town who overheard this were shocked. But Jesus, as He often does, was spending time with the people who were regularly looked over and cast aside. He was spending His time with the marginalized. After Jesus reached out to Zacchaeus in kindness, aligning Himself with the tax collector, Zaccheus became convicted of his sin and was then led to repent (Romans 2:4), declaring that he would give half of his possessions to the poor, and return extorted money four times over (Luke 19:8). In the eyes of everyone else, Zacchaeus was merely a rich, greedy man, but Jesus saw him as a man to invite into conversation, into community and relationship. Jesus told Zaccheus:
“Today salvation has come to this house…
because he too is a son of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:9–10).
Jesus came to earth to save the lost. He came for Zacchaeus. Jesus saw him up in the tree, and Jesus saw him when he came down. He saw Zacchaeus for who he truly was: a child of God, one of the very reasons He’d left a heavenly kingdom in order to bring the good news of salvation and His kingdom to us (Matthew 6:10).
From that day on, Zacchaeus chose not to serve the gods of money and wealth, but to serve the God who saved him from himself. His heart turned from a love of money to a love of Jesus and His message (Matthew 6:24)—all because Jesus saw him in the midst of his sinfulness and chose to love him anyway. Jesus does the same for us.
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44 thoughts on "Zacchaeus"
Jesus forgive my busyness, fear,selfishness -all of the sin that keeps me from sharing your hope with others. Help me be prepared and open to seeing the opportunities every day that are right in front of !e.
♥️
Rachiel,
I responded to your comment on yesterday’s post. I hope you find it encouraging and know that you are not walking alone in your journey!
He wants us! Our whole hearts, undivided. He made a way for us, the unworthy, to be with Him, to be loved and called worthy. He called us family. In the Old Testament, He was making a way, and now Jesus is the final sacrifice, risen back to life, so we can know Him. He will never leave, and He sought you and me.
“Today salvation has come to this house…
because he too is a son of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:9–10).
Lord, please give me a humble heart, and help me to fear not but walk in your power, love, and self control. Thank you for filling me with you Spirit! Please renew me every day with wonder <3
Yes, thank you, Jesus! You chose to love me anyway!
I am so thankful that Jesus took the time, many years ago to reach out to me and not walk by, how humble I feel. And I am so thankful that He took my shyness and made me bold for Him.
Luke 19:1 “He entered Jericho and was passing through.” This is the verse that impacts me this morning. Jesus was passing through, moving on to his next destination. But a brief encounter with Zaccheus makes Him stay for dinner. Hmmm.
How often have I hurried by people, focused on my next thing to do, when I should have taken the time to really see those who crossed my path? Everyone has a story and there is usually more to it than meets the eye. Zacchaeus may have looked like a mere tax collector, a greedy little man, but he was really a lost soul ripe for salvation. God, help me to be flexible with my time and open to interruption so that I might take opportunity to share Your good news. (Who doesn’t need some good news these days?) Give me eyes to see and ears to hear and boldness to speak. Give me a willingness to change my passing through to a sitting down, all to Your glory. Amen.
Truth!
When you truly encounter Jesus, when your world is turned upside down, when you know what you now know, Oh My Goodness, when Jesus, gently comes alongside you and the tears flow, and you have no idea why, except that it is pure, pure, pure love of the One walking alongside and within you.., when you want to make things right, and leave the past behind, but use it as an experience to help others, when you realise the material things in life do not fill the emptiness you keep trying to fill, when, in your life you can see the But God.. moments, and blessing even in the storm, when, your heart cries for the lost, and your arms raise in praise, Oh My Days, when, Jesus, is your first first stop, even if it means climbing a sycamore tree to see.. to reach, to call out..
Then..
Then my friend.. right there, my sister, you know, without a shadow of doubt, you, YOU are a muuuuuccchhhh loved child of God.., whom He came to save, and for whom salvation was bought, and that your love for the Saviour Jesus, is absolutely real.. and filled with the hope that He came to give..
Amen..
Happy happy Friday my dears.. wrapped in love..❤
❤️
Amen ❤️
How precious Jesus is! This story may make you fall in love even more. As she said, Jesus reached out to the outcasts and the overlooked. We have a lot of outreaches at church, so there are opportunities to reach out in love. During this time many people are afraid right now. Some may be more willing to want to be prayed for or more willing to hear about your faith, or why you are able to have joy or not be in fear right now. The pastor was saying that we have hope and the answer to everything. The answer is Jesus!!! This doesn’t have to happen at a church outreach, there may be opportunities for any of us to tell someone about the reason for the hope you have.