City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

1He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

-Luke 19:1–10

Reflection

Zacchaeus must have been an ambitious guy. To become a tax collector was to choose wealth in exchange for becoming an outcast.

Luke also notes Zacchaeus was diminutive in loin and limb. Maybe he’d suffered enough ridicule for his stature that it was easier to go over to the Romans who cared more about the amount of taxes collected than the size of the man who collected them. Perhaps he saw it as an opportunity to get rich off the people who had underestimated him because of his physical stature.

Still, Zacchaeus’s defection was not a decision to be made lightly. Yet Zacchaeus had made it, and once he made it he apparently was all in. Zacchaeus, you see, was not merely a tax collector; he was the chief tax collector.

Tax collectors made money by collecting more from people than they owed and then keeping the difference. The Romans allowed this as compensation for tax collectors doing an unpopular job. Zacchaeus, a supervisor, probably enjoyed the skim off the skim from all the tax collectors under him. He taxed the taxes. As Luke notes, he “was rich.”

In addition, Zacchaeus was probably fairly young. After all, tree climbing is not an activity of the aged.  Zacchaeus had apparently made a decision at a young age he was going to be wealthy, even if it cost him his family and friends. He had achieved his goal while still a young man.

On top of that, Zacchaeus lived in Jericho, the “City of Palms,” the Beverly Hills of 1^st century Israel. Zacchaeus was living the dream.

Yet, Zacchaeus was sufficiently unsatisfied that he climbed a tree to see the religious leader who was coming through town. Zaccheaus was so unsatisfied that all it took was for Jesus to acknowledge him by name for him to repent. Zacchaeus was ripe fruit ready to fall from the tree, and only Jesus saw it.

Application

We must learn to see as well. We often view worldly people through the eyes of the world. We think the wealthy have everything that would make them happy and will not be interested in Jesus. We only reach that conclusion if we are thinking like the world.

Jesus knew better; we should know better. Often the people we think need Jesus the least need Him the most.  

The gospel of Luke is not the end of the story of Zacchaeus. According to Church tradition, Zacchaeus became a Jesus follower and after Jesus’ resurrection traveled with Peter on his missionary journeys.

Later, Zacchaeus would become the bishop of Caesarea, the Roman administrative capital of Judea–from chief tax collector for the Romans to chief leader of the church in the Roman capital.  Like so many who run hard after wealth and worldly success, Zacchaeus had turned radically and run hard after Jesus.

Prayer

Lord, please give me discernment to see those who are ready to hear about You. Amen.