Zaccheus: LK. 19: 1-10
Today we’ll talk for a few minutes about a little man who becomes a big man, Zaccheus.
Most of us probably recall the childhood song about Zaccheus because of the words in it that started something like this, "Zaccheus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he." But this song leaves out a whole lot about Zaccheus, so today we’re going to see that although Zaccheus was small in stature he was certainly not small in nature, for he demonstrated a character that many people today need to develop within our own lives.
Listen as I read today’s text found in LK. 19: 1-10 and let us see if we might learn something that might help some of us to grow as we can apply what we see here to our own lives.
LK. 19: 1-10 1And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, [tax collectors, they collected monies for the Roman Government and often kept some for themselves, they were despised by the Jews] and he was rich.
3And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. 4And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for He was to pass that way.
5And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.
6And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. 7And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.
8And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.”
9And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
In these verses we read about a man named Zaccheus. Zaccheus was the chief tax collector in all of Jericho and we read here that he was a very wealthy man. He became wealthy by collecting taxes from his own countrymen.
The meaning of Zaccheus’s name means "righteous one."
He collected money from his own friends and neighbors and yet he was called by the name "righteous one."
Back in that day and time a person’s name was to reaveal to one and all his or her destiny, or future character and personality.
It’s likely that he had parents who were devout worshippers of the God of Israel and they had raised Zaccheus in the ways of Jehovah God.
Zaccheus’ destiny was to carry on his family’s religious beliefs and to walk in the ways of the Lord and truly be righteous, but he had apparently gone astray.
It must have been very painful and difficult for Zaccheus to live with the knowledge that he was defying his family’s wishes and that he was going against God’s plan for his life.
We read here that Zaccheus "was of short stature," meaning that he wasn’t very tall in height.
So according to the Bible Zaccheus was a short man, but it seems also that at this particular time as he met Jesus he was also short spiritually.
When we are out of God’s will for our lives there is a spiritual battle being fought inside of us and we are being cut down from what our spiritual size could really be.
Remember the name Zaccheus means “righteous one”.
God may have directed us to walk down the path of righteousness while we have chosen another path, and then we become torn apart on the inside. When we are out of God’s will for our lives we feel very small in spirit.
When we sin against God we are so ashamed, we feel very short and extremely small inside. And lets remember that all sin is against God.
Zaccheus likely felt what many of us feel when we are out of God’s will. When we are out of the Lord’s will we can feel depressed.
Zaccheus may have been down on the inside, but as Jesus was about to pass that way he had a desire to get as close to Him as he could.
It’s as though he found a spark of new life, for we read in Vs.4 4And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for He was to pass that way.
Wonder what the people must have thought that knew him? Most folks probably never had seen Zaccheus move so fast, they were used to seeing Zaccheus just slowly taking his time, but when Jesus came along he was up and running and climbing a tree!
In the East, it was unusual for a man to run, especially a wealthy government official; yet Zaccheus ran down the street like a little boy following a parade.
There was just something about that man named Jesus that made Zaccheus want to see him no matter what he had to do in order to see him.
Zaccheus may have been small in his spirit, but he wasn’t small in character. He may have been small in stature, but he wasn’t small in nature.
Many of us are traveling down the wrong path for our lives even though Jesus Christ is calling us to follow him.
Just like Zaccheus, many of us feel very small and helpless. For many people, when Jesus passes their way, they reason that it’s too hard to change and follow Him.
They tend to complain that they can’t reach Jesus for all the obstacles in their way. Many allow other people to hinder them from reaching Christ by holding on to past grudges and keeping bitterness in their hearts.
Zaccheus could have chosen to have become angry at his parents for giving him his name, that means “righteous one” and he could have refused to come to Jesus because he felt like religion had been forced upon him by his parents all of his life.
There were people there that day who could have hindered Zaccheus from coming to Jesus for we read that a large crowd of people, who were much taller than he, was blocking his view. Zaccheus could have complained and said that there were too many people in his way, however, he didn’t offer up any excuses for his spiritual or physical state.
He was both small in height and in spirit, but he mustered up the strength and the gumption to rise above the crowd of people in order to look upon the Savior.
People that sincerely desire to see Jesus Christ will use the proper means that it might take to see Him, and will break through a deal of difficulty and opposition, and be willing to take pains to see him.
For people that find themselves little in what ever the situation may be, must take all the advantages they can, to raise themselves to a place in order to see Him.
Zaccheus was very short in height and in spirit and there was a large crowd separating him from Jesus, but he had the desire to overcome his obstacles. If we have the desire to see Jesus we will find Him.
Jesus was not at all surprised that Zaccheus was in the sycamore tree, Jesus knew exactly where he was.
This was to be the most joyous day of Zaccheus,s life, he would never be the same. vv. 5-6 5And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.
6And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.
From these verses we see that "Zaccheus thought he was seeking Jesus, but
Jesus was [really] seeking him!"
In Romans 3:11 we read, --there is none that seeketh after God. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden by eating of the forbidden fruit they hid from God, but God came looking for them and he asked them, Genesis 3: 9 9And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? –Now where are you Adam, God wanted a confession.
The Lord is asking us the same question of many people today. In Revelation 3:20 Jesus says, 20Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
That’s exactly what Jesus did when Zaccheus opened the door to his heart! He went to his house and had dinner with him!
In verse 5 Jesus said, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down . . ." When Jesus seeks us he calls us by our names as he did Zaccheus, for he knows his chosen ones by name.
Jesus says in John 10:3 -and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, - If you hear Jesus calling your name then he is knocking on the door to your heart and telling you that he wants you to become one of his own beloved sheep.
He calls you by name because he deeply loves you. If we hear Jesus call our name let’s not question him as Nathaniel did in John 1:48 48Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
If he calls our name it means he has chosen us, so don’t hesitate to answer his call.
In verses 5 - 6 we see that when Jesus invited Himself into Zaccheus’ house, . . . Zaccheus received him joyfully. Joy is one of the key themes in this Gospel of Luke, and the word is found over twenty times in one form or another.
When Jesus calls us by name and invites us to become one of his own beloved and chosen sheep, he desires to bring joy into peoples lives. “ Joy” is a quality, and not simply an emotion, and its grounded upon God himself and certainly comes from God . . . Joy is something that we receive from God, and because it comes from the eternal God its something that endures and lasts for all of eternity. It is something that remains with us even through times of great difficulty. –JOY- truly a gift from God.
In Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language we read that happiness, on the other hand, is something that is comparative to a person’s life situation and that it varies based on external forces outside of a person.
We also read that, "Perfect happiness . . . is not attainable in this life." I heard
“Happiness” is something that we have when things are "happening" the way we like, but joy is not based on what is "happening" around us. Joy is something that is stable in an unstable world, and those of us who are trying to follow God and trying also to follow a life of sin are both mentally and spiritually unstable.
We are then double-minded because we are trying to go a two different directions, and we read in James 1:8 that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Jesus come to bring stability to Zaccheus’ unstable life. He come to bring him joy, and he wants to give each of us joy as well.
Zaccheus was a small man a stature, but when Jesus came into his life he was a big man.
vv. 7-10 7And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.
8And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.”
9And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Here the crowd complained that Zaccheus, who was a tax collector, was a sinner. They had put him with a crowed of people that nobody liked.
--Listen to this little story: There was a very tall man who was tired of people assuming he played basketball. His resentment finally hit the boiling point when a short man said, “Because you’re so tall I bet you play basketball.” The unimpressed giant replied back, “And because you’re so short I bet you play miniature golf!’"
None of us like to be judged, and all too often when people judge us we tend to believe what they say about us and we let it hold us back from becoming success.
Many times people don’t come to Jesus Christ and accept him as Lord and Savior because their worried too much about what people think.
Zaccheus didn’t let his short height or smallness of spirit hinder him from becoming large in spirit through Jesus Christ. He had the character to persevere in the face of obstacles and criticism and he aimed straight for Jesus.
It was not Zaccheus’ fault that he was ’little of stature’ and could not see over the crowd. He did what he could to overcome his handicap by putting aside his dignity and climbing a tree.
In a spiritual sense, all of us are ’little of stature,’ for Romans 6:23 says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.’
No one measures up to God’s high standards; we are all ’too little’ to enter into heaven . . . The tragedy is, many [of the lost] think they are ’big.’ They measure themselves by man’s standards - money, position, authority, popularity - things that are an ’abomination in the sight of God.’ They think they have everything when they really have nothing." Zaccheus may have felt small in height and in spirit, but after he sought hard after Jesus Christ he was walking tall.
