Luke 19.1-10

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.
⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
⁹ Jesus said to him, ‘”Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19.1-10, NIV)

Two things stand out to me about this passage. The first is the desire for Zacchaeus to see Jesus. He would do anything … even climb a tree. (Adults do not typically do that sort of thing!) The second is the way he was changed by Jesus, willing to give back even more than he cheated out of people. Jesus has a way of making a difference in our lives, doesn’t he?

Thought Questions:

How hard do you work to learn more about Jesus? Are you willing to do things that might be seen as “out of the ordinary?”

In what ways do people today–even or especially church going folk–ignore or shun those who are “sinners?” How should Jesus’ response to Zacchaeus and those around him affect our desire to reach out those we might consider “sinners?”

How has following Jesus changed your life in amazing ways?