I Need To See The Lord

As we recall, when Jesus was approaching Jericho, he had an encounter with a blind named Bartimeaus, a poor beggar from the lowest of the social class according to society. As I recap the four conditions that Bartimeaus had. First of all remember he was blind. Then he had his belief. He had his boldness, and his final condition was his blessing. He was bless because the Lord asked him what is it that he wanted from the Lord and his reply was I want to receive my sight and the bible say that he immediately he received his sight and he began to praise God and those that were around him praised God also.

Now, as we look at Luke 19:1, we see that Jesus is passing through Jericho on his final trip to Jerusalem, and he comes in contact with Zacchaeus, a very wealthy government man from the top rung, the top shelf of the economic ladder.

And in verse two, we see that Zacchaeus was a man of some prominence. Even His name in Hebrew language meant, “Pure and righteous,” but he was not thought of as being anywhere close to pure or righteous because of the job he had as a tax collector, notice if you please that he worked for Rome and was considered a traitor by the Jewish people. The fact that he worked for the Roman IRS indicated to others that he was more interested in money than anything else.

Zacchaeus was more than just an IRS agent in fact He was the chief tax collector. He was in charge of all the agents and he was able to take a “cut” of commission from those who he collected taxes for himself. He stood on top of the collection pyramid, stuffing his own pockets with shekels before he sent the required taxes to Rome. So if Rome charged a 5% tax, Zacchaeus may have collected 10% from the people.

Understand that Jericho was a great place to be for Zacchaeus because there were a lot of people coming in and out of the city on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover. Jericho was considered the tax capital of Palestine, the center of a vast trading network that extended from Damascus to Egypt. And Zacchaeus was in charge of one of the three tax offices that was in the entire country; in fact he may have had the best job of them all. The b clause of verse 2 tells us that he was wealthy, or he was rich.

Not only was he wealthy but he was a renegade in the eyes of the religious people. In fact, in the minds of people, tax collectors were often linked with murderers, adulterers, robbers, and other “sinners.” But if we were to look at the connection between Jesus and the tax-collectors, the tax collectors were not new news to Jesus or of the worst people that Jesus has ever attracted or encounter. Because early on in His ministry, Jesus had attracted much worse, and yet in the eyes of the Pharisees, Jesus received them warmly.

To prove my point, if we were to look in Luke 5:30, Jesus was accused by the religious leaders for eating and drinking with the tax collectors and sinners. These two terms were almost synonymous to the Pharisees.

So in verse 3 we notice that while Zacchaeus is very a very wealthy and successful by the world’s standards. Even though he was wealthy and rich, he knew that something was still missing. People today, if they are honest with themselves, they would eventually admit that there’s more to life than just trying to make money and obtain possessions. They would admit that there is more to life than working 12 and 13 hours a day with no time to enjoy what they have earned. There is more to life than working 7 days a week without giving any time to the Lord.

So, if we were to really dissect this scripture, we will notice that it doesn’t say that Zacchaeus just wanted to see Jesus. But it says that He wanted to see who Jesus was. He wanted to figure out what was it that made Jesus different from everyone else. He was drawn to this man who had just given sight to the blind beggar on the outskirts of Jericho. And now he sees this healer the one who healed a blind man walking through his town. He may not have fully understood what was going on in his heart, but Zacchaeus had a desperate need to get to Jesus. He probably couldn’t even explain what drew him to see who Jesus was, but he knew that he wanted to see who Jesus was.

Perhaps that’s how some of us are feeling this morning, we’re drawn to Jesus, we’re intrigued by who He is, and we want to get to know more about Him. And I’ve got to tell you this morning that there is something about the drawing power of Jesus. There is something that is magnetic about Jesus that will pull us closer to him. Even the songwriter said Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died; draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to Thy precious, bleeding side. Jesus has drawing power.