Luke 19:1-10
When a Little Guy Meets a Big God
Today’s passage is a very popular children’s Bible story, but it’s a lot more than that. It reveals the very heart of God: one who pursues each one of us to bring us into a loving personal relationship with him.
I want to walk us through what I consider to be four important parts of the story: first, in thinking about Zacchaeus, how low he was, and second, how high he strived. Third, when it comes to Jesus, a personal invite, and fourth, a changed life. So let’s begin with Zacchaeus,
1. How low he was. Zacchaeus is famous for being a short man. Perhaps he got ribbed growing up, “Zacchaeus, you ought to be a Rabbi. At least your sermons would be short!” Or, “I feel sorry for short people. When it rains they are the last to know.” Zacchaeus was “vertically challenged,” “height-impaired.” But when I say he was low, I’m not talking about his physical stature. Zacchaeus was despised among his own people. Back then tax collectors made their living by charging more than they had to for the occupying force and lining their pockets with the difference: kind of an authorized extortion system. Their salary could be as high as their ability to pressure their fellow citizens. The locals considered them traitors and cheats, scoundrels out of reach of retribution. And Zacchaeus was not only an IRS agent; he was head of the department, the “chief tax collector.” The end result was that Zacchaeus was filthy rich ... and greatly despised ... and very lonely ... and very lost. How low he was, but also consider...
2. How high he strived. The good thing about Zacchaeus is that he got curious. When Veterans are bound by their PTSD symptoms, we ask them to get curious, to grow in curiosity about some of the thoughts they have concerning their trauma, why it happened and what it means for the world today. As they become curious, and begin putting some of their long-held beliefs to the test, they discover some of those thoughts haven’t been so accurate or so helpful after all. “Maybe I couldn’t save my buddy, no matter how hard I wanted to.” Or, “Maybe it wasn’t my fault; maybe there was nothing I could do to prevent it.” Curiosity may have killed the cat but it has saved many a Veteran’s life.
Curiosity saved Zacchaeus’s life, too. Verse 3 says, “He wanted to see who Jesus was.” What a great goal us! But be careful; it could change your life! Zacchaeus undoubtedly had heard of this famous rabbi who was healing people and preaching to the masses in the countryside, who had recently raised Lazarus from the dead just fifteen miles away. Now Zacchaeus wanted to check out Jesus firsthand. And he wasn’t going to let anything stand in his way, not even his vertical challenges. Zacchaeus decided to climb a tree.
For the botanists among us, I’d like to point out that the sycamore-fig in today’s story is not of the American or European variety, but more from the mulberry family. These trees were often planted close to roadsides and had big, low limbs, easy to climb. Zacchaeus was highly motivated because he was putting himself out there in the public eye. It would have been embarrassing for people to see him in such a desperate state, being a public official and all. But he didn’t let his pride get in the way, which leads us to part 3 ...
3. A personal invite. Basically Jesus invited himself over to Zacchaeus’ house. Sound rude? Not if you’re a VIP. Imagine someone very important—an athlete or politician or famous author or actor you respect—and they come up to you in the crowd and say, “Hey, do you mind if I come over to your house today?” After you recover from fainting, you would be thrilled, albeit a bit nervous.
So here was Jesus, the “Time magazine Man of the Year,” inviting himself over to Zacchaeus’s house. And Jesus put some urgency into the invitation. Verse 5 says, “When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’” Jesus was quite emphatic. There was no choice. It was God the Father’s will that the two get together that day. Did you know this is the only place in scripture where Jesus did this—invite himself over like that?
Isn’t it ironic that we talk about how we finally found the Lord, but in reality, long before, God was seeking us out. In this story, Zacchaeus thought he was looking for Jesus, but even more so Jesus was looking for him!
And how did Jesus know Zacchaeus’s name? Do you ever wonder about that? Maybe Zacchaeus’ reputation was the talk of the town. Or perhaps God revealed it to Jesus. Could it be that the God of the heavens knows every details of our lives, even when we forget to talk to him?
Zacchaeus responded well to Jesus’ invite. He embraced Jesus warmly. And that leads us part 4 ...
4. A changed life. Jesus announced publicly that he was going to the house of someone everybody knew as corrupt and unpatriotic to boot. And of course, that brought criticism. To dine with someone back then (as today) implied acceptance. So verse 7 records, “All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’” But Jesus never worried about public opinion polls. He just tried to please his Father in heaven.
Aren’t you glad that Jesus likes to hang out with “sinners?” Can we all admit that label includes us? Please raise your right hand: “I [state your name] am a sinner.” There, that’s settled. Now please turn to your neighbor and tell him or her your very worst sin ever. (Just kidding.) Think about this: the people who missed out on the Savior were the ones who thought they didn’t need saving. And yet Jesus’ name ironically means, “God saves!”
Look how radically God saved Zacchaeus’ life! One minute he was gypping his fellow countrymen to line his own pockets. The next minute he had a conversation with Jesus—details of which we do not have—and then announced (in verse 8), loud enough for onlookers to hear, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
If he had cheated people—which he undoubtedly had—the law required him to pay back an extra twenty percent (Leviticus 6:5; Numbers 5:6-7). So when Zacchaeus pledged to pay back four times, he was taking on the penalty for animal theft (Exodus 22:1). (Anyone who has ever watched a western knows that horse-stealing is serious business!) It’s as if he was saying, “I’m as guilty as the worst possible robber and thief.”
Why did Zacchaeus give away so much more than he needed to? Because his whole life had been turned upside down by an encounter with Jesus. All his material wealth now seemed inconsequential compared to his newfound spiritual wealth. As such, he stood in stark contrast with the rich young ruler of the previous chapter. Zacchaeus wasn’t giving away money to purchase his salvation. He was giving away money to catch up to his salvation: who he was now as a brand new creation in Christ. A Christ-follower is a giver, not a taker; a blesser, not an extortionist.
Jesus called Zacchaeus a true “son of Abraham” (verse 9), a Jew not just by blood but now by faith, just as Abraham walked by faith and it was credited to him as righteousness. You see, “God don’t have no grandchildren, just children.” You don’t get saved by your ethnicity or family roots, not by your great-grandmother’s perfect church attendance or your father’s stellar faith. You get saved when you come to God on your own, confessing your sins to him and receiving forgiveness and life forever in relationship with him.
And that brings us to how Jesus summed up the entire encounter, basically giving us his own job description. In verse 10, he used his favorite title for himself, as he said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Jesus came to seek and to save you and me. He sees us hiding in that sycamore tree, checking him out from afar, and he calls us by name and says, “I absolutely must go to your house today.” Jesus seeks and Jesus saves. He is so much more than a role model for us, although he is that. He is also the agent for our salvation, for our entry into God’s family. He saves us the moment we put our full and complete trust in him, the moment we give him all our sin and all our pride, and receive God’s forgiveness in return. That’s the moment we become a child of God and enter into a love relationship with God for all eternity.
Will you trust Jesus with your life right now? There is no time like the present. As I pray, feel free to pray along with me:
Father, help me to trust my life right now to Jesus, the one who seeks after me to reconcile me to you. Please forgive all my sin. Please help me realize how much you have forgiven me as I give my sin to you. And in my fresh start, please let me live radically, for my life now belongs to you. Use it to bless everyone around me. And help me to see the Zacchaeus’s of the world as you do, in desperate need of you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
