The Zacchaeus


He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2And there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small of stature. 4So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ““Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”” 6So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9And Jesus said to him, ““Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.” 10″For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19 : 1 – 10).

From the story, we knew that Zacchaeus was a tax collector who had cheated people of money. Everyone hated him and nobody wanted to go near to him except when they had to pay tax. When Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was coming, He wanted to see who Jesus was because he had heard of all the miracles that Jesus had performed. Zacchaeus was very short in stature, so he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed up a sycamore tree, so that he could see Jesus.

To his surprise, when Jesus passed by, He stopped where Zacchaeus was, looked up to the tree and talked to him. Jesus told him that He wanted to stay at Zacchaeus’s house for the night.

Though Zacchaeus was rejected and sneered by his people, Jesus accepted him for who he was and not counting on the sins that he had done. Jesus neither judge him nor condemn him for what he had done in the past but instead He showed him love and acceptance by willing to stay at his house. The love that Jesus showed to Zacchaeus touched him and he was willing to repent. He willingly decided to give half of his possessions to the poor. He was also willing to pay back to all those people whom he had cheated fourfold.

Jesus publicly declared that salvation had come into Zacchaeus’s life on that day since he was also a son of Abraham.

We knew that when Jesus came to Zaccheaus’s house. He did not perform any miracle. So, Zacchaeus was not touched by any miracle at all but by the unconditional love that Jesus had showered on him.

This story tells us that if we are to come across anybody with weaknesses, or people who had committed sins in their lives like Zacchaeus, God is calling us not to condemn them and reject them but to help them by accepting them and showing them love as Jesus did to Zacchaeus so that they will be touched, willing to repent and change themselves and turned to Christ.

Miracle, signs and wonders can heal the physical body, but it takes the love of God to touch, change & heal the heart of a sinner.

Jesus came into this world to save sinners. Therefore, let us try to walk in love towards others, following after the example set by Jesus. Let us extend our love to the “Zacchaeus” and allow the love of God to touch them and convict them to repentance.

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