Small In Stature, Not In Nature

This morning we are going to look at the story of a very short man named Zacchaeus. Most of us have probably at least heard of Zacchaeus before because of a popular childhood song that we learned in church, either in Sunday school or Vacation Bible School. The lyrics of the song start something like this: “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.”

I think this song leaves out a lot about Zacchaeus, and because of this “we tend to think very little of him.” We are going to see this morning that “people of Zacchaeus’ stature are in short supply.” Though he was a man who was small in stature, he was by no means small in nature, for he demonstrated a character that many of us need to develop in our own lives.

Zacchaeus Overcame His Obstacle (vv. 1-4)

1 Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2 Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way.

In these verses we read about Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in all of Jericho, and we discover here that he was an extremely wealthy man. He obtained all of his wealth by collecting taxes from his own countrymen.

If we examine the meaning of Zacchaeus’ name in light of the evidence that we just gathered, we can see that he was a walking contradiction. His name means “righteous one.”(1) He collected money from his own friends and neighbors and yet he was called by the name “righteous one.” In this day and time a person’s name – in a way – represented his or her destiny, or future character and personality. It’s likely that he had parents who were devout worshippers of the God of Israel, and they had raised Zacchaeus in the ways of Jehovah God. Zacchaeus’ destiny was to carry on his family’s religious beliefs and to walk in the ways of the Lord and truly be righteous, but he had apparently gone astray.

It must have been painful and difficult for Zacchaeus to live with the knowledge that he was defying his family’s wishes and that he was going against God’s plan for his life. We read here that Zacchaeus “was of short stature,” meaning that he wasn’t tall in height. I believe that the Bible is being literal in stating that Zacchaeus was short, but I also see the reference to his height as being spiritually symbolic.

You see, whenever we are out of God’s will for our life there is a spiritual battle being fought inside and we are being cut down. God may have directed us to walk down the path of righteousness, while we have chosen another path; and then we become torn apart on the inside. Whenever we are out of God’s will for our life we feel very small in spirit. We know that we have sinned against God, and we are so ashamed that we feel like hiding from people’s sight. We feel very short and extremely small inside.

Zacchaeus likely felt what many of us do when we are out of God’s will, which is to feel down in the dumps. Zacchaeus may have been down on the inside; but something, or should I say Someone, caught his attention and distracted him from his spiritual pain. It’s as though he found a new spark of life, for we read in verse 4 that he took off running and climbed up a tree!

Think how he must have appeared to those who knew him. He was probably somewhat somber because of his spiritual turmoil, but when Jesus came along he was up and running and climbing a tree! Warren Wiersbe says, “In the East, it is unusual for a man to run, especially a wealthy government official; yet Zacchaeus ran down the street like a little boy following a parade.”(2) There was just something about Jesus that beckoned him to follow and to gaze upon Him no matter what he had to do in order to see Him. Zacchaeus may have been small in spirit at that moment, but he wasn’t small in character. He may have been small in stature, but he wasn’t small in nature.

Many of us are traveling down the wrong path for our life even though Jesus Christ is calling us to follow Him. Just like Zacchaeus, we are torn apart inside and we feel small and helpless. For many people, when they encounter Jesus, they reason that it’s too hard to change and follow Christ. All they can do is gripe and complain that they can’t reach Jesus for all the obstacles in their path. Many allow other people to hinder them from reaching Christ by holding on to past grudges and harboring bitterness in their heart. Zacchaeus could have chosen to become angry at his parents for giving him the name “righteous one,” refusing to come to Jesus because he felt like religion had been forced on him by his parents all of his life.