Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was
there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He
wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the
crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus
was coming that way. 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. All the people saw this and
began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a sinner." But
Zacchaeus stood up and said to the LORD, "Look, LORD! Here and now I give
half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of
anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Jesus said to him,
"Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son
of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Luke
19:1-10
I am always amazed at the power of the gospel with its
impact on me as if it was a fresh word today.
This scripture is no different. I
heard the story of Zacchaeus as a boy and sang the song of Zacchaeus “..a wee
little man was he.” Now as I read it I am
drawn by another inspirational nudge of God’s Spirit.
In Luke 19:1-10, I am moved by the “sight” words – how
Zacchaeus was seeking to “see” who Jesus
was. But due to his short stature,
Zacchaeus could not see that Jesus was coming through town because of the crowd
that gathered in front of him. Besides,
Zacchaeus was not a very popular man – he was rich because of defrauding his
town folk of money through collecting taxes.
But, Zacchaeus was going to see Jesus and so he climbs a sycamore tree
to get perspective.
Now, Jesus comes along and “sees” Zacchaeus up in the
tree. Jesus tells Zacchaeus to climb
down and receive him as his guest. This
thrills Zacchaeus, but the town folk “see” what is happening and grumble for
Jesus is now being hosted by a notorious fraud and cheat.
But notice how the miracle happens. Zacchaeus receives Jesus into his home and
the impact is instantaneous. Note the
verbs that Luke uses – all present tense – suggesting an action is now taking
place – an action of change. Zacchaeus
will make restitution fully and more so 4 or more times than what he took. It is because of the power of the guest that
Zacchaeus has received not only into his home, but into his life.
My encouragement is to take notice of Jesus. See Him approaching your life and my life as
Zacchaeus notices. We may be hiding up a
tree or in some corner someplace, but Jesus sees us and invites Himself into
our home – our life and must take up residence with us. God’s grace has found you and me and it’s
impact is instantaneous. Change will
happen. For when it does, Jesus will
affirm you and me with the same grace that greets Zacchaeus: Today, salvation has come to this house –
your house and my house – your life and my life. Thanks be to God!
Rev. Dr. John J. Duling
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