Sermonette
“Zacchaeus was a wee little man…” so the children’s song goes. His story is only found in the Gospel of Luke, and there’s a great story, not just for the children, but for adults.
Luke indicated in the introduction of his gospel that he had researched the story of Jesus, so it is interesting to think that he may have actually talked with Zacchaeus, but we don’t know that for a fact. But the story is very compelling.
Being a short person, he probably got a lot of ribbing and ridicule during his life. But more than that he was a “tax collector.” Tax collectors were hated by the population, but there is a phrase “tax-collectors and sinners” that is used at least eight times in the New Testament. This would seem to indicate that they considered tax collectors as some special category of sinner. So the respectable citizens would have nothing to do with him especially on a social level. Now not only that, he was called a “chief tax collector” and this meant that he was over other tax collectors and, in that position, was probably very rich!
Now Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem where he would be crucified and he traveled through Jericho. News spread rapidly and crowds gathered to see Jesus and he traveled through the city, hoping to hear him teach a lesson about God and his love.
Being a short man he was not able to see or hear Jesus when he would come by and being a tax collector the crowd probably didn’t want him to get close to this great man. So Zacchaeus decided that he would climb up a sycamore-fig tree to get a better advantage point.
So Jesus came by, but he stopped! He looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down.” But then Jesus said something very startling, “I’m going to your house to eat.” Now this was something out of the ordinary as they did not socialize or eat with tax collectors. But Jesus is inviting himself.
We don’t know Zacchaeus’ motivation, but he desired to see and hear this prophet. Perhaps, he wanted to change; maybe he desired to be closer to God. As a tax collector he was not welcome in the Synagogue or the Temple. So Jesus, who knew his motivation, wanted to spend some time with him. As Jesus always did, he took advantage of the opportunities to ...
