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| “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…” |
Zacchaeus
Who
Was Zacchaeus?
5
Ways We Can All Relate to His Story in the Bible
Jason
Soroski
Who was Zacchaeus? His Story from the Bible
Zacchaeus was a tax collector of the city
Jericho and learned that Jesus the prophet was passing through the city.
Since Zacchaeus was "short in
stature," he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed up into a sycamore
tree to have a better view of Jesus.
When Jesus arrived, he noticed Zacchaeus in
the tree and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must
stay at your house today."
This made Zacchaeus
very joyful but the crowd "grumbled," or murmured in a
complaint that Jesus "has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a
sinner."
Most of us who grew up in church know this
little song, and any mention of Zacchaeus starts it playing in our brains.
The story of Zacchaeus climbing a tree is fun
to share with young children; especially because they are also ‘wee little’
people.
Yet there is so much to learn about him
beyond the fact that he was a short guy who hung out in trees, and Zacchaeus is
someone that we adults can relate to as well.
Just Like Zacchaeus, We Are Also Sinful and
Greedy
“The Pharisee stood
by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people — robbers,
evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11).
Besides his small stature, the thing that
defined Zacchaeus was his career as the chief tax collector in Jericho.
Those who collect taxes are not popular in
any time period, but the dislike was even deeper in 1st century Jewish culture.
Not only was Zacchaeus the IRS agent of his
time, but he was also a traitor to his nation.
Even Jesus
acknowledges the hatred people had for tax collectors: “If they refuse to
listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector”
(Matthew
18:17).
Excessive Roman taxes were a hot topic in
Jesus’ day, and tax collectors were working directly for the Roman occupation.
There were no laws protecting the
hard-working taxpayers either.
People were required to pay large amounts to
a cruel, foreign government, and the tax collectors openly added extra for
themselves.
Zacchaeus became rich by using his position
to take as much as he wanted. This left the people overtaxed and resentful of
this man who was stealing from them.
And since he had the full support of the
Roman authorities, the people were powerless to stop him.
Whether we realize it or not, just like
Zacchaeus, our natural tendency is to ‘look out’ for ourselves and take
whatever we can get away with.
It can be difficult for us to look beyond
ourselves to the needs of others. Yet, as we will see, Zacchaeus had that
potential and eventually embraced it.
We Don’t Have to Climb a Tree to See the
Truth
We all want to see things that are going on
around us. We check social media regularly to see what we’ve missed.
We slow down and investigate when we see a
crowd. Our nature is to wonder what people are looking at and talking about and
to get involved ourselves.
This is the setting as Jesus walked through
Jericho. People were flocking around
Jesus, and, like any of us, Zacchaeus wanted a look at what was going on.
How shocking it must have been when Jesus
spoke directly to Zacchaeus in the midst of this large crowd.
Zacchaeus was not a tall man and had to climb
a tree to see Jesus. Yet, in a certain respect, Zacchaeus already knew who
Jesus was and that he was worth seeing.
We too, through the word of God, have full
access to the complete truth of who God is.
We tend to look high and low for every secret
to life we may be afraid of missing out on.
We search through self-help books, look for
hidden messages, and seek out purpose and meaning in all the wrong places.
We can figuratively spend our days in trees.
But there is no need for us to go to
extraordinary measures to find the truth that is written down for us on every
page of Scripture.
Jesus was the full human representation of
truth, and we need look no further than him.
Jesus Comes to Our House Anyway
It is likely that people were jeering at
Zacchaeus as he was climbing that tree. They surely didn’t want this type of
man interrupting their chance to see Jesus and were likely frustrated he was
even there.
After all, Jesus had come to save them from
people like Zacchaeus. Hadn’t he?
Yet, Jesus spots
Zacchaeus up in that tree, and, “when Jesus reached the spot, he looked up
and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house
today.’ So he came down at once
and welcomed him gladly” (Luke 19:5-6).
Jesus shocks the crowd by addressing
Zacchaeus and then saying that he must stay at his house.
Really? Jesus is going to stay with him?
It is as if Jesus had this in mind before he
even got to Jericho. He does not plan to stay with the local pastor, the mayor,
or anyone else respectable we might expect Jesus to stay with.
He has a plan to stay with the guy that no
one likes. In fact, he must stay there.
We Can Be Made Pure - The Meaning of
Zacchaus' Name
“Even tax collectors
came to be baptized. ‘Teacher,’ they asked, ‘what should we do?’ ‘Don’t collect
any more than you are required to,’ he told them” (Luke 3:12-13).
The name Zacchaeus means ‘pure’ or
‘innocent’.
As a tax collector, Zacchaeus didn’t live up
to his name. It was no secret that his wealth was gained on the backs of his
neighbors and countrymen.
Yet, John the Baptist says that these tax
collectors can make things right by simply being honest in their business.
Zacchaeus does this
after encountering Jesus: “And
Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I
give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false
accusation, I restore him fourfold” (Luke 19:8).
After Jesus reached out to him, Zacchaeus
changed his ways and went above and beyond to make things right. He finally
overcame his past and lived up to his name.
Our Meaning Is Found in Christ
Just like Zacchaeus, Jesus must visit our
house today. He has no requirements for us before he comes to visit.
We don’t have to make all things right with
all our dealings before letting him in. He already knows who we are and what
shape our house is in. He wants to be there anyway.
His presence alone and his love for us will
lead us to do things we never thought we could do: even admitting where we have
been wrong and making things right.
We can easily assume that Zacchaeus lived a
different, fuller life after this encounter with Jesus. And we can have the
same experience.
Jason
Soroski
is a homeschool dad and author of A Journey to Bethlehem: Inspiring Thoughts
for Christmas and Hope for the New Year. He serves as worship pastor at Calvary
Longmont in Colorado and spends his weekends exploring the Rocky Mountains with
his family. Connect on Twitter, Instagram, or at JasonSoroski.net.
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