I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. (Philemon 1:6 NIV)
On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus had to pass through Jericho. There lived a very wealthy man named Zacchaeus, who supervised all the tax collectors. He was very eager to see Jesus and kept trying to get a look at him through the massive crowd. Since Zacchaeus was a short man and couldn’t see over the heads of the people, he ran on ahead of everyone and climbed up a blossoming fig tree to get a glimpse of Jesus as he passed by.
When Jesus got to that place, he looked up into the tree and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry on down, for I must stay at your house today!” So he scurried down the tree and found himself face-to-face with Jesus.
As Jesus left to go with Zacchaeus, many in the crowd complained, “Look at this! Of all the people to have dinner with, he’s going to eat in the house of a crook.”
Zacchaeus was amazed over his gracious visit to his home and joyously welcomed Jesus. Zacchaeus stood in front of the Lord and said, “Half of all that I own I will give to the poor. And Lord, if I have cheated anyone, I promise to pay them back four times as much as I stole.”
Jesus said to him, “Your repentance shows that today life has come to you and your household, and that you are a true son of Abraham. The Son of Man has come to seek out and to give life to those who are lost.” (Luke 19:1-10 TPT)
Do you ever think about the people you’d like to ask questions of when you get to heaven? Zacchaeus is one of those Bible figures I look forward to talking to. What made him so determined to see Jesus, to the point of climbing a tree? Had he already seen Jesus speak or perform miracles elsewhere? And who was at the dinner at Zacchaeus’s house that Jesus unexpectedly invited himself to?
I don’t have the answers to these questions yet, but this story really stuck with me, especially after hearing a quote on Sunday:
“There is something about believing God that will cause Him to pass over a million people just to get to you.” – Smith Wigglesworth
I can’t help but wonder if Zacchaeus’s experience is something like what Wigglesworth is describing. Zacchaeus had the faith to believe that Jesus was someone worth seeking, even though, as a Jewish tax collector, he was a social outcast. The crowd calls him a “crook” and wonders why Jesus would choose him. Yet, his encounter with Jesus must have been life-changing, because Zacchaeus says, “Half of all that I own I will give to the poor. And Lord, if I have cheated anyone, I promise to pay them back four times as much as I stole.”
Jesus praises his repentance and faith. While I don’t think Jesus ignored “a million people” to be with Zacchaeus, I do believe He sought him out because of his faith. In response, Zacchaeus’s life—and the lives of the many poor people he blessed—was dramatically changed.
God,
Thank you for the stories of faith in the Bible and how they challenge us in our lives today. Thank you for the example of Zacchaeus, who sought Jesus in faith, and for the way Jesus came to him. Thank you for the lives that are still being changed by Your presence. Grow our faith deep and strong so that we can be a blessing to those around us. We ask this in Jesus’s name, AMEN.