Luke 19:1-10 - Jesus Dines with Zacchaeus

The story of Zacchaeus is one of many stories which highlight the reason Jesus became man; to save us from ourselves, to bring us the joy of His salvation.  To be perfectly honest, I had never heard this story as a child and that means I had never heard the popular children's song either. (Now you are going to have that tune in your head all day--sorry.)

Tax collectors in Rome were hated by the citizens, as they were Jews by birth and they chose to work for the enemy.  The people considered them traitors, cheats and thieves.  Their job/duty was to collect the heavy taxes the Romans levied on the people in order to finance this huge empire.

When Jesus came to town He often caused a stir and this time was no exception.  Zacchaeus had heard about Jesus and he wanted to see the man for himself.  Jesus' reputation had gone before him and people were curious.  The despised tax collector must have wanted more in his life to be open to Jesus' words.

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (Luke19:10)

Jesus came to save us, the lost, from being lost for eternity.  Each generation or even civilization has those people everyone would rather avoid, the outcasts of society.  Jesus avoided no one. There is great comfort in that truth.  There must be a fascinating story behind the man, Zacchaeus.  The story of what brought him to climb up the tree just to get a glimpse of the celebrity in town.  He was obviously ready to have his life changed.  Why?

What is your story?  What brought you to climb out on a limb with the likes of Zacchaeus?  Your story needs to be told too, so that others might hear and sense the same call upon their life.  So that all might hear Jesus' words: “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham." (Luke 19:9)

Read Luke 19:1-10 here.

Listen to Luke 19:1-10 here.