When Jesus entered Jericho…. There was a man named Zacchaeus… He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, because Jesus was going to pass that way. Luke 19:10
The writer, Luke, devotes most of his Gospel to Jesus’ journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. One of the people Jesus encountered was a tax collector named Zacchaeus from the town of Jericho, about 15 miles northeast of Jerusalem. Imagine crowds of people thronging Jesus to hear what he had to say. Curious, hungry, and determined – all of them.
Zacchaeus was shorter than most adults, so he could not see above the throng. So he ran down the road a short distance and climbed a tree. He had a perfect perch from which to see and hear Jesus as he walked by. And probably expected to be invisible in the tree. Probably surprised, Zacchaeus was not prepared for Jesus to stop under the tree to speak to Zacchaeus. “I want you to invite me to your home, Zacchaeus.”
It was a surprise for the crowd too, because Zacchaeus was a Jew that had sold-out to the Romans by collecting taxes for the Roman government. It was a lucrative job, but the cost of doing it was the utter hatred of all one’s fellow Jews. Why would Jesus want to go home with such a disreputable person?
The answer to that question becomes clear in the response of Zacchaeus. Luke says that Zacchaeus promptly came down from his perch and escorted Jesus to his home. I wonder if Zacchaeus might have invited some of his own friends as well. Without saying it, Luke implies that Zacchaeus took to heart all that Jesus had to say. “I will give half of my wealth to the poor… and four times as much to those I cheated on their taxes.” Luke 10:8.
Zaccheus is a perfect example of what happens when people take Jesus seriously. He made visible changes in his life in accord with what Jesus taught him. It’s not unlike what early Lent observers would have been doing as they thought about the implications of their coming baptism.
“How will my life change if I live in the way I am pledging to live?”
Prayer: O Jesus of Jericho, we are stunned by the pure, humble response of Zacchaeus to Jesus’ teaching. We can only imagine the pleasure he must have felt to know that Jesus would accept him, a hated tax collector. We pray that we too will have hearts made humble by inviting you to come home with us. In your name we pray this. Amen.