Amy C Walters

Zacchaeus | Luke 19:1-10

Zacchaeus is determined to see Jesus. But the crowd is intentionally blocking his access. So Zac goes out of his way to climb a tree and see him. And Jesus goes out of his way to connect with Zac: he knows his name, he changes his plans, and he invites himself over. Because Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.

This is a story that we know really well because of the kids’ song. But in spite of our familiarity with it, there’s still a lot that we can learn from it. 

At the beginning, it says that “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.” Zacchaeus was also there. 

Zacchaeus has a few strikes against him. Number one, we’re told that he’s a chief tax collector. That means that not only is he a member of a group that is known for stealing and cheating people, but he’s also a chief among them. He is a boss of cheats. 

We also know that he’s rich. And because he is a tax collector, we can infer that he has gained that wealth through cheating other people, charging them more for taxes than they actually owe.

We also know that Zacchaeus is short. Now, this is a bummer. This is something that he can’t help. The tax collector thing, yeah, he can help that. He’s responsible for that. His height, he cannot. Some people who are short may try to compensate for lack of height by being extra tough. And I kind of see Zacchaeus maybe as one of those people. 

But Zacchaeus, for some reason, has heard about Jesus and wants to see who he is. Maybe he’s heard about Jesus’ interactions with other tax collectors. In Luke 5:37-32, Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector, to be one of his disciples. And Levi throws a party at his house for Jesus and invites his other tax collector friends. So maybe stories like that have given Zacchaeus a curiosity to find out who this Jesus is. He doesn’t sound like any other religious leader or teacher that Zacchaeus has ever heard of before.

But there are a few obstacles in his way. His shortness, for one. And we might stop there thinking that that’s the only obstacle, that he just can’t see over the crowd. But I think the ESV is very intentional in the way that it reads, “but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.” “On account of the crowd.” And, “he was small in stature.” I don’t think it was merely an issue of seeing over everyone’s heads. I think the crowd was intentionally keeping Zacchaeus away from Jesus. They were actively blocking his access. 

But Zacchaeus is undeterred, which I find really interesting. He’s got all of this wealth. He could have just gone home, and maybe sat there in a big pile of his money and counted it. But he’s still so curious. He’s discontent with just a distant, limited view of Jesus. 

So instead, Zacchaeus says, “I’m going to climb that tree.” He sees one up ahead along the path that Jesus is heading on, and he goes in and climbs it.

When Jesus comes to that place, he stops, looks up, and speaks to Zac. Let’s notice a few things here. First of all, Jesus knows Zacchaeus’ name. He knows who he is. I wonder how that felt for Zacchaeus, to have Jesus call to him by name. 

It might be really embarrassing. Maybe he was trying to go unnoticed up there in that tree. Then Jesus calls attention to him. 

Maybe he was afraid that Jesus was going to reprimand him. Or maybe his curiosity grew even more at what was about to happen.

Also, regarding Jesus knowing Zacchaeus’ name, it was no accident that Jesus was talking to him, a sinner. Jesus knew full well who he was interacting with. He was intentionally going after Zacchaeus. 

We were also told that Jesus was “passing through Jericho.” But here, he stops. And he says, “I must stay at your house today.” Stay. Jesus seems to be changing his plans. Instead of just passing through, he is going to stay with Zacchaeus. He changes his plans to be with him. 

Jesus also initiates this interaction. Zacchaeus is just up there in the tree. Jesus stops to talk to him. And Jesus invites himself over to Zacchaeus’ house.

Zacchaeus was in no position to invite Jesus to his home. First of all, he probably didn’t expect to get a chance to speak to him. And also, as such a sinful man, he wouldn’t be allowed to have a religious person like that in his home. So Jesus, by inviting himself to Zacchaeus’ house, honors Zacchaeus. 

It’s interesting, both Jesus and Zacchaeus are breaking social conventions here. Zacchaeus by climbing up into a tree, something that’s very undignified for an adult to do, and Jesus by inviting himself over.

I often have to remind my kids that we can’t invite ourselves over to other people’s houses. That’s rude. We have to wait to be invited. But Jesus here invites himself over. 

Both of them were not afraid of things being awkward. And this awkwardness led to some wonderful things. 

I know for some of you awkwardness is the last thing that you want to experience. But in this story, it’s good. It leads to a good place. 

How does the crowd respond to all of this, though? These people who had tried to keep Zacchaeus away, they weren’t happy. It says that they all grumble that Jesus has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. 

What is the assumption here? Why would the crowd be upset that Jesus is going to be a guest of Zacchaeus?

The assumption is that good people like Jesus hang out with good people like us. This, of course, is built on the faulty assumption that we in the crowd are good people.

So, Jesus dispels this assumption by telling them that “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” It is no accident that Jesus has gone into Zacchaeus’ house. It’s actually the very purpose for which Jesus has come.

It reminds us of what Jesus said to the Pharisees again back in Luke 5:32, when he’s at Levi’s house. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” And to do that, he’s got to be with them.

Our key truth for today is that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. In fact, Jesus even explicitly says that at the end of the story. 

Jesus doesn’t shy away from people who are hot messes. He doesn’t make Zac clean up his act before he engages with him. He doesn’t come to preach to the choir or have a holy huddle. He came for sinners, and he came for their salvation.

And Jesus has been consistent with this. If you remember all throughout Luke 18, the previous chapter, we saw Jesus inviting widows and tax collectors and children and blind beggars to come to him. He takes time for them. He listens to them. He shows them such mercy. This is our amazing Jesus.

There are some important implications that come with this. First of all, are we like the crowd thinking that good people like Jesus hang out with good people like us? Or do we recognize that we ourselves are sinners too? That we ourselves needed Jesus’ salvation? 

And another important implication is, are we as Jesus’ followers also pursuing lost people? Or are we like the crowd and intentionally keeping lost people away? If we are making sinful people feel unwelcome at our churches and Bible studies and in our homes, then we are at cross purposes with Jesus, and we will not succeed. His purpose was to seek and save them.

We need to be on mission with Jesus by pursuing lost people and telling them that Jesus saves sinners like us and sinners like them.