Zacchaeus
The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).
There are not many more well-known Gospel stories than the story of Zacchaeus. The trouble is that, because such passages of the Bible are so familiar, we can overlook some of their vital lessons. We need to return to such remarkable events to see how God works in the sovereignty of His marvellous grace. One of the joys of visiting Israel is seeing the places where the Son of God went. I have only driven down from Jerusalem to Jericho. But even in a car, it seemed a significant journey. Along the road were abandoned vehicles which witnessed to past conflicts. It was easy to understand how travellers could be attacked and robbed like the man in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The Lord walked that long and downward journey to the lowest city on earth, not to heal someone who was blind, deaf, lame or demon-possessed, but someone who was lost – Zacchaeus. Just as the Lord went to Sychar’s well (John 4) to meet one lost woman, so He went to Jericho to meet one lost man.
Zacchaeus was a wealthy chief tax collector. Tax collecting was essentially a franchised business, working for the Romans to collect taxes efficiently and often corruptly. Tax collectors were hated and despised for becoming rich by collaborating with the occupying forces. I don’t think the crowd would have given way to allow a wealthy, but short, tax collector a better view of Jesus. What is astonishing is what Zacchaeus did next. He ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Jesus. We are not told why Zacchaeus would even care about a visiting Man of God. But putting pride aside, and in his expensive clothes, he climbed a tree to see the Saviour. If we shared the reality of Jesus more, perhaps more people would want to see the Lord. At the beginning of Luke 15 we read, “Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him” (v. 1). Not some, but all! The Lord’s holy presence never drove people away from Him, but drew them nearer to Him to discover His love. I have never thanked God for being a short man. But Zacchaeus’ limitations were used through God’s grace to bring him into the Saviour’s presence.
What followed is the most beautiful insight into the grace of God. The Person who created and sustains all things puts Himself in a position where He looks up to where we are. In that moment, as crowds surrounded the Saviour, He speaks just to the heart of Zacchaeus. He had not physically met Zacchaeus before, but He knew his name and everything about him. The Lord felt the pain of those who came to Him with broken hearts and bodies. And He felt in His heart the lostness that was in the heart of Zacchaeus. Jesus says to the man whose company so many despised and avoided, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” It is the most difficult thing for people to “come down” in simple faith to receive the Saviour. The same pride that puts us above God also puts us above others that we judge. But it was not difficult for Zacchaeus to come down. Because God had already worked in his heart, he was ready to quickly come down and joyfully receive Jesus. Luke doesn’t tell us all the details. We know nothing of the subsequent conversation Jesus had with the tax collector, but we do learn that salvation came to his house, he was saved, and his life was transformed beyond recognition. If ever there was a cheerful giver, it was Zacchaeus. And we can sense the joy that filled the Lord’s heart in finding one lost sheep: “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” It was God who sovereignly moved in the lost heart of Zacchaeus. He compelled him to overcome obstacles to being led to the place where he would meet Jesus. There are still so many people like Zacchaeus who have so much materially, but are so lost spiritually. We are going through a pandemic where people are also feeling afraid and lost. We need, as those whom the Lord has already found and saved, to feel their lostness in our hearts. We need to appeal to the Lord to do what we cannot do, to move people to seek Jesus and make us ready to bring them to the Lord.
