Zaccheaus (Luke 19:1-10)

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

As Jesus is passing through Jericho, an extremely rich tax collector, traitor, and cheat named Zaccheaus wants to see Him. Since he is too short to see over the crowds, he climbs a tree. To everyone’s shock, Jesus goes right up to the tree and tells Zachaeus that He must stay at his house. The crowd is shocked at the thought of Jesus staying with such a sinner. Zachaeus is shocked at Jesus’s care for such an unworthy man. Zachaeus’s response to Jesus seeing him, is to repent and make amends for the wrong he has done.

Jesus tells the crowd that salvation has come to Zachaeus’s household. This is the second straight story of salvation as Jesus approaches Jerusalem. In the first case, the blind man is saved because he believes Jesus can save him. IN Zachaeus’s case, Jesus choosing him brings about change, repentance.

What is more surprising is that this story comes so close after the story of the rich ruler. In that instance, Jesus all but said that it is impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom. Indeed, it is. However, it is not impossible for God, and for Jesus, to save the rich and bring them into the kingdom. The evidence of Zachaeus’s salvation is the change that it brings.