Luke 19:1-10

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”^[1]

Life has a way of drawing one out of their purpose and calling into the pursuit of their own desires that often run contrary to that of God on their lives. We all have been called out of the darkness into the marvelous light of God’s grace, but far too many choose to linger in the darkness. Zaccheus was a Jew who elected to work for the Roman occupiers collecting their taxes. As such he was despised by the religious leadership of his time and excluded from worship in the synagogue. He lived in Jericho, an important customs center situated on a main route to Judea and Egypt. Working as a chief tax collector he became very wealthy. Like everyone else in Jericho he heard that Jesus was passing through and wanted to see him for himself, but his position kept him away from Jesus and his stature prevented him from seeing over the crowd. Perhaps he had heard about the other tax collectors that had encountered Jesus and was curious, so he climbed a tree so he could get a glimpse of him. Zaccheus exemplifies the desire for change and in the process teaches us some important lessons.

Zaccheus did not let his life circumstances become an obstacle (7). He would let nothing stand in his way of getting to Jesus (4). He was willing to make full restitution of his fraud (8), and fellowship with Jesus broke the hold his wealth had on him. Zaccheus found a new sense of value in Jesus’ presence; and finally, he became a new person, living in God’s grace. Jesus did not ask Zaccheus to give up his wealth, as the He did the rich young ruler. He did not ask him to leave his home and business as He did Levi. He accepted him just as he was. Are you living in God’s grace? Or, have you allowed your circumstances to become obstacles to your faith in and walk with Jesus? What are you letting keep you down instead of raising you up? Is there a tree you need to climb to see above and over?

Lord, thank You for the example we have in the story of Zaccheus. We confess that like him we are guilty of so many things that should disqualify us for entrance into Your Kingdom. Like him we have done enough to be shunned and excluded from the household of faith. But thank You for loving us and welcoming us still, while we were still in our sin and granting us the grace to transform our lives. Give us now the power rise above our circumstances to where we can see the joy that awaits us in Your everlasting presence. Amen.

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Lk 19:1–10.