Zaccheus – a giant of a man

Luke 19: 1-10

I am sure you are familiar with the story. Jesus has come to town and Zaccheus wants to see Him and is too short. He climbs a tree to get a better view and Jesus sees him and tells him to come down because Jesus is going to his house today. So why is this story important to us? Just so we will have a cute little song to sing in grade school? There has to be more. There is, a whole lot more. 

 In Luke 9:51 we are told that Jesus sees that the time has come for Him to die and to ascend to Heaven and He has resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem.  Luke 9:51 And it came about, when the days were approaching for His ascension, that He resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem. In other words the time has come and He is ready to do what God has sent Him here to do. In Luke 13:22 we see it repeated that He is headed for Jerusalem. And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem.  And again we see the same thing repeated in Luke 17:11 And it came about while He was on the way to Jerusalem, that He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. But here we get some additional information. Here it tells us exactly where He is located as He is headed for Jerusalem. He is between Samaria and Galilee. If you have some maps in the back of your Bible turn to those and find one that shows the regions and you will see that the Dead Sea (Salt Sea) is just South of the Sea of Galilee (Sea of Chinnereth) and the Jordan River is connecting the two. To the left of these is Galilee near the Sea of Galilee, Samaria below that and Judea, where Jerusalem is located below Samaria. To left of these is the Mediterranean Sea and the further South you go, on the other side, along the Jordan River the more mountainous it becomes.  In Luke 18:31 Jesus tells us again that He is headed to Jerusalem. 

So now we have the story of Zaccheus. 

vs. 1 And He entered and was passing through Jericho,

This verse would be real easy to just read over but actually it is very important. Jesus is in the area of Galilee and Samaria and headed for Jerusalem and now he is passing through Jericho. Jericho appears to be way out of the way.  At least, if you were heading in a straight line or had your face resolutely set on Jerusalem it would be. Not for Jesus and we will see why in just a few minutes.  The last thing we see important about this verse is the city is Jericho, and we know a lot about Jericho.

Jericho was the city that Joshua marched around in Joshua 6:1-20 and the walls came tumbling down. Then in vs. 26 Joshua made all the people take an oath.  Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, “Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his first born he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates.”  Then in I Kings 16:34 we see the fulfillment of that oath.  In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with loss of Abiram his first-born, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub… Obviously an oath to God is not to be taken lightly. 

We also know from history that Jericho became known as the city of evil.  Many of the vilest people in Jesus’ day lived there. It was a vacation spot and became known as a place sort of like Vegas. What happens in Jericho stays in Jericho. Most tax collectors for the region lived there because they were not welcomed anywhere else, and the equivalent of the modern day mob called Jericho home.

Another interesting thing about this verse is that Jesus would have passed on through Jericho unless someone had not called out to Him or in this case made the effort first to come see Him. Just as it is today for us, He makes Himself available for anyone but first we must call out to Him or make an effort to find Him.

vs. 2 And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; and he was a chief tax-gatherer, and he was rich.

Here we learn about Zaccheus. First of all his name means “pure.”  I’m sure when his mother and father named him they looked at an innocent baby and thought, oh how sweet and pure. But as Zaccheus aged his name probably became like a joke, especially as he became more and more corrupt. Look here comes Mr. Pure himself. Secondly we learn that not only was Zaccheus a tax gatherer but a chief tax-gatherer and he was rich. A tax gatherer in this day basically sold out to Caesar and turned his back on family and friends. A tax-gather would be assigned an area to collect taxes for Rome. His payment would be a portion of the taxes that he collected. Obviously deception would run rampant.  In Zaccheus’ case he was a chief tax-gatherer, meaning that he was one of the bosses of the other tax- gatherers. He received a cut from all of them. The fact that he was rich is an indication that he was very good at what he did. Humanly speaking Zaccheus was a giant of a man that needed to be brought down to size.

vs. 3 And he was trying to see who Jesus was, and he was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. 

Nowhere does it say that Zaccheus was a “wee little man” but rather he was just a little shorter than the average person. He had heard of Jesus and he like everyone else wanted to see him and he could not because of the crowd and his height. So he humbled himself and devised a plan.

vs. 4 and 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.  

Zaccheus ran ahead of the crowd climbed into a sycamore tree so he could see over the crowd when they came that way.  Zaccheus has exerted quite a bit of effort by now. The running, the climbing, and just the anticipation of seeing Jesus had his blood pumping pretty well.

vs. 5 And 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.”

First of all Jesus calls Zaccheus by name, just as He does anyone that has responded to His call and received the gift of salvation. I am sure Zaccheus is a little surprised that this Jesus knows his name.  There is almost a little humor here also. Jesus tells him to “hurry” and come down. Why hurry? I think Jesus is telling him that he knows that he had just hurried to climb that tree, he has Zaccheus’ attention, and then Jesus tells him the most astonishing thing of all, that He is coming to stay at his house today.  So obviously Zaccheus laughed at Him and said no way, dude. Well, that is not exactly what happened.

vs. 6 And he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly.

When a person comes to the point in their life where they realize that they need Jesus there is an urgency to receive Him. The same was true for Zaccheus. He may have been looking for Jesus but it was Jesus who found Zaccheus. The word “received” in this verse means to receive hospitably and kindly, to admit under one’s roof.  But I think it has a double meaning here. It also means that Zaccheus received Jesus into his heart, as we will learn as we keep looking at this wonderful story.

vs. 7 And when they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

The grumblers and naysayers are doing what they do best, looking at someone else and judging them. This time they have judged Jesus. How disgusting, this man, Jesus had gone to the house of a sinner. Not the home of a governor, Pharisee or mayor but a sinner. How awful. If they will talk about Him, what makes you think they will not mock, talk about and judge you when you witness for Him. Of course they will. The ones who are doing nothing always complain about the way someone is doing something. Satan wants others to talk to discourage us and hopefully to keep us from doing what God has pricked our hearts to do. Their grumbling had no effect on Jesus. And apparently there has been a period of time that has passed while they stand outside and grumble. 

vs. 8 And 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.”

When it says that Zaccheus stopped, it does not mean he stopped on the way while walking to his house. We know this because of verses 6 and 7. Verse 6 says Zaccheus received Him into his house. And verse 7 says that Jesus has gone (left this place) to be the guest of Zaccheus. Obviously a period of time has passed and we have no clue how long it has been or what has happened but we get to see the result of the visit between Jesus and Zaccheus. This is the point where Zaccheus gets it, he understands what Jesus has been teaching him. Zaccheus stops in his tracks, stops his old way of life and turns from it. A change has taken place in his heart and suddenly he wants to give to the poor and repay anyone that he has cheated. He is showing his faith by his works. James 2:18. Notice also that his salvation did not alleviate him from his debts but rather he was willing to make restitution. In fact the law said to make a 20% - 100% restitution and he is freely offering 4 times. Ex. 22:4,7, Lev. 6:5 and Num.5:7. He wants to double what the law requires.

vs. 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.

Jesus plainly tells us that Zaccheus has been saved. Not because of being a Jew but because he has become also a son of Abraham. I thought the Jews where the sons of Abraham. They are by birth but so are the gentiles by rebirth according to faith in Jesus Christ as is explained in Hebrews 11. This is the type of son of Abraham that Zaccheus has just become, the same as anyone who by faith believes in Jesus for salvation. It does not matter if Zaccheus was a Jew or not.

vs. 10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

It was Jesus who went out of His way to seek out Zaccheus and to save him, just as He sought me out to save me and just as He seeks everyone to save them, who will make the effort to find Him. Why did Jesus go through Jericho that was way out of the way? To seek and to save that which was lost.