The Life Changer

Sing with me if you know the song:

Zacchaeus was a wee little man,

A wee little man was he

He climbed up in a sycamore tree

For the Lord he wanted to see

And when the Savior passed that way

He looked up in the tree

And He said, “Zacchaeus, you come down!

For I'm going to your house today!

For I'm going to your house today!”

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, so he climbed a sycamore tree so that he could see Jesus.

Jesus called Zacchaeus, and Zacchaeus climbed down that tree and received Jesus in his home.

Jesus changed Zacchaeus’ life that day. Jesus is in the life-changing business.

Please open your Bible or a Pew Bible to Luke 19. We’ll begin with the first verse.

v. 1 [Jesus] entered Jericho and was passing through.

Jesus entered Jericho on His way to Jerusalem. The Jerusalem part if introduced in v. 28 of this chapter.

v. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.

Zacchaeus presumably became wealthy through collecting taxes. Now, he oversaw other tax collectors.

v. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.

Zacchaeus wasn’t a tall man and because of the crowd surrounding Jesus, he could not see him.

v. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

So, Zacchaeus ran ahead of the crowd and climbed up a sycamore tree along the route that Jesus was traveling.

v. 5 And when Jesus came to the place he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”

Jesus saw Zacchaeus in the tree and invited Himself to Zacchaeus’ house. There is some sense of urgency in Jesus’ statement to Zaccheaeus. He tells Zacchaeus to hurry down from the tree and He says, “I must stay at your house today.”

It is necessary that Jesus stay with Zacchaeus. The why is introduced a few verses later in this story and we’ll get to it shortly.

v. 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

Zacchaeus did hurry down and he received Jesus joyfully.

v. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

The religious people weren’t happy. There goes Jesus again, consorting with a sinner. A known sinner. A notorious sinner.

v. 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

Zacchaeus, the sinner, the despised chief tax collector responded to Jesus with gratefulness, and he made Jesus a promise. He pledges that he will give half of his goods to the poor.

This is a significant amount, but only half of what Jesus asked the rich young ruler to give. In Luke 18, Jesus says to the rich young ruler, “Sell all you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” [18:22]

Jesus doesn’t ask Zacchaeus to sell all he has and give the proceeds to the poor. But Zacchaeus volunteers to give half his goods to the poor. This is a radical response to Jesus’ entrance into his life. The response of Zacchaeus to Jesus, and the response of the rich young ruler give us glimpses into their hearts.

Zacchaeus also pledges to restore four times as much to those he defrauded. Tax collectors got rich by defrauding others. Giving back four times as much sounds like the way to the poor house.

Tax collectors once came to John the Baptist and asked him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”

John the Baptist said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” [Luke 3:12-13]

Why would he say that? Because tax collectors took extra money for themselves when they collected taxes. Chief tax collectors profited from those below them in the tax collecting enterprise. Zacchaeus was renouncing the wrongs that he had committed.

v. 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.”

Jesus recognizes that Zacchaeus, “a lost sheep of Israel” (Matthew 10:6), is returning to God. Zacchaeus was once lost, but now he is found. This is why Jesus came to Israel. This is what he came to do.

In 1983, Mary was serving with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship when she met the Episcopal Church Chaplain to the University of Florida. She mentioned to him that I was a cradle Episcopalian and he invited himself to dinner at our house. Does that sound familiar?