Prologue: We live in a world of video calls and FaceTime! Life has progressed so much but as we get stuck in the clutters of daily tasks there is one primary caller we forget in our life – the one who has called us and gave a purpose for our life: Jesus Christ.
Luke 19:1-3
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
Zacchaeus was a rich tax collector in the city of Jericho. In biblical times the tax collector was considered by the Jews to be a traitor and very probably a thief. These men often charged fraudulent taxes with remedy almost impossible. These tax collectors over charged (Luke 3:13) and brought false charges of smuggling in the hopes of extorting hush money. So basically, Zacchaeus wasn’t a man of good reputation in that society.
- Desire to See Jesus
In Luke 19:3 we read an interesting statement, ‘Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was’. Jesus Christ would have been a popular person (positively and negatively by the enemies) among the Jews during this time and there were a multitude of people following Him around. Now, this man who is a sinner also develops an aspiration to see the face of Jesus. Zacchaeus had this simple desire, ‘I want to see who is Jesus’, the man that everyone is talking about!
- Making a way to see Jesus
But, things weren’t really positive on Zacchaeus’ side to see Jesus. Zacchaeus being a short man had no scope of seeing Jesus because of the large crowd around Jesus (Being a short person myself, I can imagine the hardship of Zacchaeus seeing past people to witness things 🙂 ). Despite his disadvantage, Zacchaeus wasn’t ready to give up on his plan to meet Jesus!. He was determined in his desire and he tries to make a way for it.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way (v 4). And I guess it was quite an unconventional way to climb a tree to see Jesus (Probably not in India :D). Anyhow, Zacchaeus was determined in his decision to see and He makes the best possible way for achieving it.
- Receiving Jesus
The next part is the interesting part where Jesus spots Zacchaeus on the tree. There were lot of people around Jesus and He may have passed by many trees along the way, but He stopped exactly below the Sycamore tree on which Zacchaeus sat and called him down.
Jesus doesn’t stop there, but He also invites Himself to the house of Zacchaeus (:D). Imagine a popular person suddenly making a statement that she/he is gonna stay at your home- I would be super scared as my home may not be at its best order and I may not want to show myself to her/him as I am. I might try to postpone the event or shift the plan elsewhere.
But if I know that this person is super special and this is once in a lifetime chance, I guess, I may not care how I look or what plans I have to make it happen. Here we see Zacchaues in one of those ecstatic moods, as we see Him receiving Jesus openly and gladly. Without any hesitation, he came down at once and welcomed Jesus to his home (v6). He didn’t put off the plan of Jesus by laying any excuses, but simple as his desire to see Jesus was, he simply accepted the plan of Jesus .
- Transformation after Seeing Jesus
The story doesn’t end there, this man who was a sinner earlier is transformed with one meeting with Jesus Christ! This disreputable man’s life gets changed as He received Jesus into his life. Zacchaues at once vows to give half of his possessions to the poor, and if he have cheated anybody out of anything, he vowed to pay back four times the amount.
Now it all started with one small point: “a desire to see Jesus”. And, I want to connect the four parts in Zacchaues’ life to our own life:
i) Seeking the face of Jesus: Zacchaues was not at his life’s best point and he wasn’t a great man but he had a small desire to see Jesus. Do we have a heart that seeks Jesus?
ii) Making a way to see Jesus: Many times, we have a heart that seeks God, but overcoming the daily challenges and making a way for it is the hardest. But can we make a way to overcome the challenge? Can we be determined enough to say, no matter how much less time I have, how tired I am :- I still want to seek the face of God! I want to make space and time for it!
iii) Receiving Jesus: Sometimes we hear the gentle whispers of the Holy Spirit in our life but we are reluctant to obey/ receive it into our life. We may be clutched down by feelings of indignity, procrastination etc., to avoid the way of the Spirit. Here we see that Zacchaues did not have a second thought on receiving Jesus – (an uninvited guest) to his home. With one meeting, He knew who Jesus was and He gladly received him! We don’t see Zacchaues giving any excuse or procrastinating the visit of Jesus, but he realized how super special Jesus is and happily accepts the plan of God.
iv) Transformation: Zacchaues is no longer the same man after meeting Jesus! He is changed and he visibly takes new decisions to be a better person. As we come to God’s presence are we ready to commit ourselves fully to Jesus and take some new decisions?
May God help us to seek the face of Jesus and be transformed by being obedient in receiving His plan for our life.
Lets FaceTime Jesus! 😀
Author: Feba George
LIGHT ON THE CROSS 
It’s interesting to actually realise that it’s the encounter that changes a person. Fresh perspective on the story of Zaccheus!
Nice article feba❤️
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