Zacchaeus the Tax Collector
Luke 19:1-10
1 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.”
Observations & Reflections
The events pertaining to Zacchaeus only occur in Luke’s gospel. It’s such a widely known story that one would think that it’s in all 4 gospels but it’s not. Luke includes large portions of exclusive teachings as Jesus nears Jerusalem. It does not seem to be significant that Zacchaeus’ interaction happened near Jerusalem.
However, it was likely that included in “all the people” were some of the religious leaders from Jerusalem. Jerusalem is just 15 miles from Jericho so if Zacchaeus knew Jesus was coming around, it was likely that the Pharisees were prepared to make a stink. Zacchaeus housing Jesus for dinner was the perfect excuse to make a stir about Jesus and his disciples. They took advantage of that and began muttering against Jesus for eating with known sinners.
Upon hearing the muttering (assuming they were still in public) Zacchaeus realizes that this is an opportunity to make things right and possibly get the religious leaders off of Jesus’ case. After he repents Jesus grants forgiveness which seems to be a sore spot in previous gospel events yet there is no indication that an uprising was started by Jesus assuming the role of being able to forgive sins. But it’s certain that such things were not taken well.
As with the previous passages from Luke, as Jesus nears Jerusalem, Jesus is seen ministering to the lowest in society, not the righteous or pious.
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free (Luke 4:18)