“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.
KRISTIN R: So glad you invited us into your painful breakup. I pray the Lord brings the very peace you are seeking as reminders of his love for you is most displayed in his words, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Amen. Love this passage of scripture. ❤️
Praying foryou Kristin.
Ellen—spot on devotional!!!
SRT—thank you for including Leviticus in this reading. When the old and new testaments come together to have scripture interpret scripture it is powerful. Thank you for this !!!
I needed this reminder this morning. God chose to love us anyway! I am clinging to His love this morning, as my boyfriend of three years and I broke up this week. I know I don’t post often and none of you know me. But we are all of one body, and you ladies seem like some really great prayer warriors. So, if you think of it. I could really use prayer for peace, understanding, strength and a reminder of Gods love, which is so much greater than this love that I had. Thank you in advance. Blessings ♥️
Kristin, I’m so sorry that’s happened. It is such a hard thing to go through. I’m praying for God’s light and peace to be present with you as you move through your life without that relationship.
Praying for you, Kristin. May God surround you with His love and care and strengthen you to continue to walk worthy. Blessings.
I went through a break up this great Kristin so I feel your pain! God is close to the broken hearted, He truly proved that to me and I know He will do the same for you. May the Holy Spirit comfort you as only He can. Don’t count this as a loss, God obviously has something in store for you that is much better than what you want for yourself.
Kristin R I am so sorry for such a life changing experience to go through around the 4th of July. I am praying for your family and especially you. May God and the Holy Spirit comfort and help you through the tough times. I will pray for better tomorrows, peace, understanding, strength, and a reminder of God’s love and His goodness and kindness. He will never leave you!
I’m praying for you Kristin! Know that you are single, but not alone. Jesus is walking through this with you!
Praying for you!
As soon as I saw the title of Zacchaeus, I started singing the song I learned in my childhood about Zacchaeus. I also started doing the hand motions I learned. It is amazing how certain Bible stories are ingrained into to your memory. It was until today though that I realized how grateful Zacchaeus really was. Not only was he willing to pay back four times the amount he extorted from them but he was willing to give up half of what he own to the poor. This is a sharp contrast to the rich ruler of yesterday who didn’t know whether he wanted to give up any of his possessions. The way Ellen Taylor writes about Zacchaeus reminds me of another song, a contemporary Christian song, “Come to the Table” by Sidewalk Prophets.
Father, God help me to remember that all I need is You and only You. You will provide everything I need. Amen.
God, you are growing me. Thank you for the things that are happening. May You be glorified in every single one of them. I can see your hand going before and helping to provide in these events, timing, protection, care, help, thank you. All will be worth it if You are honored. Please Lord, shine out of me. Use these events to purify my heart and mind. May my life can be a witness to others in a positive way for You. Amen.
Amen! ♥️
Reading through Leviticus… wow. It just brings SUCH a contrast to the forgiveness and access to Christ we have, this side of the cross. I sin in any capacity and that sin is for me to bring directly to Christ, no priest, no ritual, nothing. Absolutely I need to make relational amends to any person I may have brought offense to, but just the enormous reminder of what Jesus’ sacrifice provided in terms of our accessibility to Him and how vastly different that was than anything understood up to that point in time… I’m so grateful that to deal with my sin issues I get to have constant, uninterrupted access to my savior Who wants there to be zero excuse or obstacle for me to get to Him. It’s unbelievably refreshing today.