“And when Jesus came to the place,
He looked up [a]and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down,
for today I must stay at your house.” So he made haste and
came down, and received Him joyfully. But
when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He
has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”
Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give
half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone
by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”
And Jesus said to him, “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.” –
Luke 19:5-9
We all know about Zacchaeus. There’s even a song written about him for
children. You probably know it:
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
And when the Savior passed that way
He looked up in the tree
And said, 'Zacchaeus, you come down!
For I'm going to your house today!
For I'm going to your house today!'
Zacchaeus was a wee little man
But a happy man was he
For he had seen the Lord that day
And a happy man was he;
And a very happy man was he
But there’s so much more about Zacchaeus
that we don’t get from this song.
Zacchaeus was hated by those that knew
him. He was snubbed because he was a tax
collector. In those days tax collectors were predominately bad people who took
more than they should and kept part of the taxes they collected for
themselves.
But in Zacchaeus’ own testimony to
Jesus he said he gave half of what he had to the poor. Moreover, if he ever overcharged anyone, he
gave it back to them four times over.
Zacchaeus wasn’t just a wee little man, he loved poor people enough to help
them. He was honest. And when Jesus came to town, knowing he was
short and wouldn’t see him pass by, he climbed a tree to see him. His admiration for Jesus was that strong.
We often do the same thing. There are certain places that if people work
there, we consider them as sinners. Yet the
truth is, we all need a job! We work to
take care of our families the best we can.
Judging people by where they work makes about as much sense as judging
them by color, shape, size, smell, or anything else. Friends there are good people and bad people
of all sorts of shapes and sizes. And because
only God truly knows anyone, we need to withhold all judgement. For, after all, with the judgement you give,
you will also be judged. Now some of us
have made a long list of ways we will be judged. Isn’t it time to stop adding to that extensive
list?
Zacchaeus may have been a wee little
man, and a tax collector. But Jesus
chose to stay at his house, and to see him as the son of Abraham.
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