A Quick Look: Luke 19: 8 - 10
Really Read It: Luke 19: 1 – 26
Memorize: Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. NIV
Zacchaeus was a wee little man. Everybody knows that, but Luke didn’t put his story in the Bible because he was short. Zacchaeus is a great salvation story. His story gets only ten verses in the Bible, but we can learn a lot about this guy in those ten verses. Before he met Jesus, Zacchaeus worked as a chief tax collector and he was rich. The tax collectors were hated by the Jews. You probably know about that already, so I’ll go by it quickly. But a tax collector was like a spy in a war. Who could ever be worse than the enemy in a war? The answer is the spy who acts like he is on your side only to take your secrets to the enemy to make money. A tax collector was a betrayer like that.
But when Jesus showed up in Jericho this little tax collector heard about Him and made a great effort to see Him. The Bible tells us that short Zacchaeus could not see because of the crowd, so he climbed a tree. It’s a guess, but there could be another reason for Zacchaeus to climb a tree. It may be that he was so hated that he was in danger in a crowd. Was he hated so much that he needed body guards? The Bible doesn’t tell us that, but it does say that Jesus called Zacchaeus by name and told him to come down. How did Jesus know his name? We have to guess, and I haven’t picked my favorite. Maybe Jesus had heard stories of a short tax collector in Jericho. Maybe God whispered it into the ear of Jesus. Maybe someone else in the crowd spotted Zacchaeus before Jesus did and called out something like, “Look up in that tree. It’s the enemy’s tiny, little thief, Zacchaeus!” Again Zacchaeus could be in danger. Some in the crowd might think that hurting Zacchaeus would please Jesus. Maybe the crowd called out the name Zacchaeus in anger before Jesus called his name for salvation.
How did Zacchaeus find salvation? It was not just because Jesus came to his house. That is a great picture. You can pray that Jesus will come to your house, and that is a great salvation prayer. But Zacchaeus didn’t find salvation just because Jesus came over for dinner. The mind of Zacchaeus, the heart of Zacchaeus, the will, the soul, the spirit of Zacchaeus changed that day. The Bible doesn’t tell us what happened inside of his heart, but we know because he did something. Money ruled the tax collector Zacchaeus. There is no other reason to be a betraying tax collector. But on the day that Zacchaeus met Jesus, money lost its grip on him. He gave away over half of his money and Jesus saw a changed life.
Jesus declared, “Today salvation has come to this house.” Then He called him a son of Abraham, a son that was lost. Those three words, “son of Abraham” are a big deal. Too big to tell about in the fourth paragraph. But it means that Zacchaeus had a deal with God, he was supposed to be God’s kid, but he was lost. I would say he was like a church kid. A kid who goes to church every week, a kid who said the prayer, who made a deal with God, a baptized kid, a communion kid, but he’s lost. Jesus is still seeking in churches. He’s seeking the lost. He is calling out your name. He is offering to come to your house. He wants to come so close. He wants you to know His presence, to feel Him close to you, in you, to hear Him speaking, to see Him working. He wants to bring salvation to your house.
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Nathan is amazed to see God move in power every week at his church. You can see what is happening: http://www.worldrevivalchurch.com
You can find more of Nathan’s writing on lulu and helium.
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