LEARNING DAILY

Luke 19:2-3, And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.

Rome controlled the area of Israel when Jesus walked on this earth. The Roman government hired Jewish men to collect taxes from the Jewish people; of course, the tax collectors were very unpopular among their own people. The Romans taxed the people as much as 80% of their income while the chief tax collector adding a little more to this to pay those he hired to collect the taxes. Zacchaeus was one of these chief tax collectors; “he was Jewish but worshipped the Roman government” (Pastor Ed Newton). “There were great problems between the Jews and the Romans. One of those problems meant Zacchaeus was unwanted by his people because of his position. It also meant he was unclean by his association with the Gentiles, meaning he could not go into the temple” (EN).

You probably remember hearing about Zacchaeus being a “wee little man and climbing a sycamore tree to see Jesus” from a Sunday school class. But did you ever consider why he was even interested in seeing Jesus?  Zacchaeus had wealth, possessions, everything he wanted, but he was lonely. Pastor Newton thought out loud about the possibility that Zacchaeus had heard about Jesus calling Matthew, another tax collector, to “follow Him”. Could it be that He might do the same for him? Remember it was not typical for a tax collector to go out of his way to see who Jesus was!

Jesus was passing through Jericho; He was passing through with a crowd following him. Being “small in stature”, Zacchaeus had to climb a sycamore tree to get a look at Jesus. Perhaps Zacchaeus is “a reflection of every person’s desire to know God even when the outward expression of their life reflects otherwise” (David Jeremiah). When he was in the tree and Jesus passed by, he had a defining moment, an encounter with Jesus that changed his life.

Pastor Newton reflected on the problem with the crowd. Too many people made it difficult for Zacchaeus to see or get to Jesus. There were other times “the crowd” made getting to Jesus difficult. John 18:35-43, tells of Jesus passing by a blind beggar who cried out to Him to have mercy on him. The crowd wanted him to be quite but he would not. In Luke 8:43-48, a woman who had an issue with blood for years knew that if she could just touch the garment of Jesus, she would be healed – but there was a crowd and it was difficult to get to Him. The point? Jesus stopped to talk to and healed the blind beggar. Even in a great crowd, Jesus knew healing had gone from Him to heal a woman in need of healing.

And Zacchaeus, Jesus knew him by name and called to him to come down from the tree because He had to stay at his house. That is the result of the compassion of Jesus! “Salvation does not just happen in the temple. It happens at a person’s table, in a classroom, at the gym; it can happen anywhere because Jesus comes to the person who needs to be saved or healed or encouraged” (PN). “When Zacchaeus got saved, he also got generous” (PN). He basically admitted he was a thief, giving to the poor and reimbursing those he had defrauded four times (verse 8) (From the Listener’s Guide). It is important to understand that Zacchaeus did not get saved because he promised to return people’s money. No, these actions were promised because Jesus had saved him and God was already at work in his heart; this was an indication of his decision to follow Jesus!

“And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." (verse 10). In other words, Jesus was restoring Zacchaeus and identifying him as a true Jew. The reason Jesus came into this world was “to seek and to save the lost." When Zacchaeus met Jesus, everything changed for him.

Can I say that is my story and the story of every person who meets Jesus and gives his/her life to Him. When one meets Jesus, everything changes!