Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man

We all know the story of Zacchaeus. I always pictured him as a victim – the small guy everybody picked on until one day Jesus strolled in and made all those bullies be nice. But the opposite is actually closer to the truth. Zacchaeus was a jerk, a traitor, an exploiter, and a thief. He was despised, not because he was small, but because he wasn’t worth liking.

When Jesus came walking into Jericho and the crowds raced to His side, He fixed his eyes on the small man up in the tree. Imagine being Zacchaeus, watching the mob move as one with Jesus at the core, right over to your tree. Dozens, if not hundreds, of faces staring up at you, but only Jesus invites you down. Everyone else’s stares are screaming, “Stay there!” And you know the end of the story – Zacchaeus comes down to have dinner with Jesus and makes a covenant to give half his possessions to the poor and repay those he’d stolen from four times what he took.

What Zacchaeus did was bold, not because it cost him a lot of money, but because he shifted his place in his culture. Doing something radical requires not just a sacrifice of material possessions, but a sacrifice of your place in your world. For Zacchaeus it was for the better. Surely he gained at least a few people’s respect through his actions. More importantly, he decided he would no longer be the filthy rich guy living off other people’s money. He was changed by his encounter with Jesus.

We’ve all designated our own place in our own world. Maybe we WANT to do something radical for Jesus, but it would require sacrificing that place, those friends, this house, that career, this paycheck, etc. We see Jesus looking up at us, but the faces of the crowd keep us in the tree. Maybe it’s time you came down, ignoring the crowd, and joining Jesus for a life-changing conversation that will lead you to God knows where.