Zacchaeus
Open Your Bible
Luke 19:1-10, Leviticus 6:1-7, Matthew 6:19-24, Hebrews 13:5, Galatians 3:7
BY Ellen L. Taylor
“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.
44 thoughts on "Zacchaeus"
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HE chose to love me anyway. Forever grateful! I slept in! And it felt so good. So here it is almost noon. Of course I would’ve started with the WORD but had promised my son to run an errand with him this morning. I’m so thankful that it’s still pretty quiet in our neighborhood As I finish up my devotions outside.
Praying for all you ladies. CHURCHMOUSE, i’m done early this morning I did wake up and thought of Julia. Praying for her!! I miss my little kindergartners so much and I know she’s around that age. -
I can’t help but reflect on the contrast between Zacchaeus and the rich young ruler…on one hand Zacchaeus is experiencing instant salvation and ready to give back what he has earned on the backs of others…and on the other hand, the rich young ruler who has followed all the laws, pretty much crossed all the Ts and yet finds salvation elusive because surrendering his riches was not an option for him.
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Kristin praying for you, I am so sorry. Remember you are a child of God and He is with you.
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What strikes me in so many of these stories, stories I’ve heard for as long as I can remember, is that Jesus saw each person, He knew each person. To know that personally and rest in that– that is faith, that is abiding, that is trusting. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and insights. Kristin, prayers for you.
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Reading Leviticus makes me appreciate even more what Jesus accomplished on the cross. When we sin there is no need for offerings or priests but instead just honest, open, vulnerable communication
with God. Sometimes it’s tough following God, but I can’t help but think it would be more difficult if regular rituals were required. Thank God for his love. -
Can you imagine? You just want to see what this, Jesus, is all about. You make a little extra effort and climb a tree to see him.
He stops, looks up and says, directly to you, ” Hey, Buffy, come on down. Today I’m need to be with you at your house.”
“What!?” I say almost falling out of the tree. “I’m not loved by anyone. Why me? You’ll be ripped apart verbally and maybe even physically by the people. Why am I so important? Oh, and by the way, how did you even know my name?”
Jesus! Wow, you know me by me and you have saved me from myself! Thank you, thank you, thank you…! -
Tina! Wow, so beautifully said. I feel your passion. I know that passion.
Thank you! -
For his community, Zacchaeus was in what we would call the 1% – he was rich off the backs of others. But Jesus saw him and loved him in his sin. As a result, when Zacchaeus reforms his ways, his whole community benefitted through the returned money he had illegally collected. This is an example of why it’s important to bring those in positions of influence and within our institutions into relationship with Christ, so that our communities are more just and our institutions perform the functions they are meant to in service to the common good. What a change in perspective to see the 1% as marginalized as well, and in need of the love of Jesus!
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