1 And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
2 And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.
6 And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.
7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.
8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Introduction
There was once a man who went before a judge to have his name changed. The judge asked, “Young man, what is your name?” He replied, “William Stinks, sir.” The judge laughed and said, “Well, I don’t blame you, my boy. With a name like that I would get it changed too. What do you want it changed to?”
“Bill Stinks, sir.”
Poor William needed more changes than even he realized.
The Bible tells us about another man with a strange name who needed some changes in his life also. His name was Zaccheus. Zaccheus was the commissioner of taxation in Jericho. Jericho was a border town situated in the fertile Jordan Valley near the place where travelers forded the Jordan River to enter Israel, and it was on the main route to Jerusalem just 15 miles to the west. Because of its strategic position the position of tax commissioner was an important and powerful one.
Zaccheus was very rich. He had gotten that way by cheating people through taxation. The Roman system of taxation lent itself to this kind of abuse. In taxing a nation Rome fixed a tax schedule for a given area and then farmed out the task of collecting the taxes to the highest bidder. The tax collector did not receive a salary for his work, but he collected as much as he could so that he would gain a handsome profit after paying the government its quota. This meant that collecting from a very lucrative place like Jericho could make a tax collector very rich in a short time.
Zaccheus was obviously very good—or very bad—at his job because he was very rich. But he paid a high price for his success because he was hated by both the Romans and his fellow Jews. The Romans hated him because he was a Jew. His fellow Jews despised him because he was a traitor to his own people who raised their taxes excessively.
Zaccheus was a Jew who had gone over to work for the enemy. Rome had conquered Israel and was ruling over it at the time. So he was hated by both sides.
Jesus was passing through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem when the people heard of his coming and rushed out to see him. This was not at all unusual. It was customary for the inhabitants of the city to welcome religious pilgrims as they traveled to Jerusalem. The name of Jesus increased the size of the crowd that day until there was a solid wall of onlookers. People stood shoulder to shoulder and Zaccheus, being small in statue, could not see over them. Because of his no-good reputation the people weren’t about to allow him to squeeze between them and stand in front.
But Zaccheus was not to be denied or outwitted by the crowd. He was determined to see Jesus and nothing was going to stop him. So, using the same ingenuity that had made him a rich man, he calculated the route Jesus would be traveling, raced ahead of the crowd, climbed up a tree that overlooked the street, and waited.
When Jesus walked under the tree, he looked up at Zaccheus and did two electrifying things. First, he called Zaccheus by name. Second, he invited himself to Zaccheus’ house. This was a most unusual gesture. In fact there is no other recorded instance where Jesus invited himself to anyone’s house. Ordinarily Jesus does not go where he is not invited. In your life and mine he comes only at our request. If we would like for Christ to come into our life he will. But we must invite him. The fact that Jesus invited himself into Zaccheus’ house is an indication that below Zaccheus’ superficial curiosity there was a longing for something he had not yet found in life.
Jesus saw right through him. He knew not only Zaccheus’ name but his character—all that he was thinking, feeling, and desiring. He knew his good impulses as well as his bad practices. And he knew that it was more than curiosity that got Zaccheus up that tree. He was there because of a deep conviction of sin and a great disappointment with his life. He was a very unhappy man. He had gained a great deal but he had also lost a great deal in the process. Jesus knew that Zaccheus was a man seeking for a new life.
All of his life Zaccheus had been laughed at and made the butt of jokes because of his size. He had probably acquired an inferiority complex, and had tried to compensate by building his income. In his insecurity, Zaccheus must have said, “If I can just make a pile of money I’ll be a big man. Then I’ll be somebody the people will look up to.” But he had gotten what he had gone after only to find out that it wasn’t what he wanted.
Zaccheus was terribly lonely. He had very few friends. For one thing, he had chosen a profession that ostracized him from his own people. Because of his greed and unethical practices he had been rejected by others. Zaccheus desperately needed acceptance. He felt terribly alone—even in a crowd. Many nights and days he spent by himself thinking about how he would like to be liked.
Zaccheus’ priorities were also out of order. He had put money before people, material possessions before God, and they had not filled the vacuum of his soul. Most of all, Zaccheus was lost. He was not right with God; he had no forgiveness for his past, no peace in the present, and no hope for the future.
In short, Jesus saw Zaccheus as a little man with big problems. Zaccheus had an identity problem—he had a poor self-image. He had a social problem—he was lonely and ostracized from society. He had a priority problem—his values were twisted. And he had a sin problem—he was lost without God. But Zaccheus desired a better life. He was not what he really wanted to be and Jesus saw that.
So Jesus took the initiative and invited himself to Zaccheus’ house. It was with great joy that Zaccheus scampered down from the tree and welcomed Jesus to his house. And that was the beginning of a life-changing experience for him. We don’t know all that Jesus said to him during that visit. I wish we had a tape recording of the conversation. But we do know that before Jesus left, he said, “This day salvation is come to your house.”
I am wondering if perhaps you are like Zaccheus. Have you been wanting a change in your life? Do you feel bad about yourself? Do you have an inferiority complex? Do you feel terribly alone? Do you want desperately to be liked? Do you need friends, fellowship, a family to love and care for you? Are you weighted down by sin, guilt, and self-condemnation?
If so, you will find the help you need where Zaccheus found his—in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the answer to all of life’s biggest problems.
1. We can never feel completely good about ourselves until we know how the Lord feels about us.
Zaccheus had a poor self-image. People may have made him feel that way by making fun of his size. The result was an inferiority complex. Now no one can make us feel inferior without our consent but, like Zaccheus, we so often give that consent to people by believing their belittling remarks.
How do you feel about yourself? When you think of yourself, what do you see? I wish I knew. If I did, then I would know why you do what you do. Why you dress as you dress. And why you run with the people you run with.
There are few things more important than our own self-image. A good self-image does not mean conceit or a super-inflated ego, but instead it is a recognition of the human potential that exists within us. It is a simple psychological fact that people act like the sort of people they think they are. It is impossible for us to act otherwise for any period of time, no matter how hard we try.
Several years ago Dr. Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon, discovered that as he performed operations on people to change their appearance it also had a remarkable effect on their personality. He came to the conclusion that when you change a man’s face, many times you change his future. When you transform his physical appearance, you often his whole personality, his whole outlook on life.
But as he continued to study his patients he then discovered that not everyone was affected by these physical changes. So he came to the conclusion that the important thing about people is not how they look, but how they think they look—their own self-image. That is the key to a person’s actions, productivity, talents, and abilities.
Dr. Maltz was right. A low self-concept forms an invisible ceiling that stops us from attempting to rise or progress above our self-imposed limitations. All of the truly successful people I have ever known had one quality or characteristic in common: a high degree of personal self-confidence—a healthy self-image.
I recently saw a sign above a receptionist’s desk that read: “Enjoy what you are.” God wants every one of us to do that. How could God’s will for us to go around feeling bad about ourselves, degrading ourselves, putting ourselves down? After all, we are made in his own image and redeemed by the blood of his Son.
But we can never feel completely good about ourselves until we know how the Lord feels about us. Once we realize how he feels about us, then we have to feel better about ourselves. Our identity and our self-image are bound up in him.
That day when Jesus took the initiative and invited himself to Zaccheus’ home, Zaccheus realized that in spite of his size, his sin, or his selfishness, the Lord loved and accepted and wanted him. He needed to know that and so do we.
This is the good news of the Gospel. This is what the cross means. On the cross Jesus tasted death for every man—for you and for me. He died so that we might live and be forgiven. Christ felt that you were worth dying for, so he took your punishment. That’s how much he loves you right now. Understanding how God feels about you ought to help you feel better about yourself.
And I’m persuaded that the work of salvation is not complete until it has changed our self-image. God’s purpose for salvation is not just to get us off of the road to hell and on the road to heaven. His purpose is also to give us an abundant life right now. And we cannot have that abundant life until we know who we are and enjoy what we are. The cross then is not only where we find forgiveness—it is also where we find ourselves.
2. There is in every person a loneliness that only God can fill.
Zaccheus also had a social problem. He was terribly lonely. Even in a crowd he was lonely. He had chosen a profession that led to his being ostracized by his fellow countrymen. And he had allowed selfishness and greed to dominate his life. The result was that he not only didn’t like himself, no one else liked him either.
Mother Teresa said, “The biggest disease today is not leprosy, or cancer. It is the feeling of being uncared for, unwanted, or being deserted and alone.”
Loneliness is not only one of man’s most destructive problems. It is also his oldest. The first thing that God named as “not good” in the garden was loneliness. He said, “It is not for man to be alone.” We can never be all that we were created to be until we both love and are loved by someone—and Zaccheus had missed out on both of those counts.
Loneliness is not the absence of people. It is the absence of feeling that you are known, loved, and cared for. That is why you can be lonely in a crowd, lonely in a marriage, lonely in a big apartment complex, and lonely in church surrounded by people.
When Jesus called Zaccheus by name and invited himself to Zaccheus’ home, it was a bold and daring act. This got the crowd buzzing. This kind of thing simply did not happen. Then, as now, the rule was “Good people associate with good people; bad people associate with bad people.” But here was a good man who dared to associate with someone who was supposedly bad.
By this act Jesus was saying, “Zaccheus, I care about you. You matter to me.” In the same way the Lord knows you, loves you, and wants you. You will never get rid of your loneliness until you know Christ as your friend.
There is in most people a loneliness that only another person can fill. But there is in every person a loneliness that only God can fill. We were created for God and our hearts are restless until they rest in him.
Christ felt a compete freedom to relate to people in need, not allowing the prejudices of society or the custom of his day to erect barriers between him and the other person. He refused to be controlled by the social codes of his day, though he continually drew great criticism for fraternizing with people like Zaccheus.
The actions of Jesus show that he loves us. While others may reject us, even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death the Lord is with us. And if we will let him he will bring us into a larger and greater fellowship—his family, and the church that will love and accept us.
3. Money can’t solve all your problems.
Zaccheus had made money, the most important thing in his life, and life had turned sour on him. He had gained the whole world only to lose his soul. His wealth didn’t satisfy him and so he was still a poor, empty man.
In Greek mythology, the gods sometimes punished a man by fulfilling his wishes too completely. That had happened in the case of Zaccheus. He sought wealth and when he found it he was fulfilled by it.
Robert Horton said that the greatest lesson he had learned in life was that people who set their hearts on money are equally disappointed when they get it or if they don’t.
Jesus taught us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the other things we need in life will then be added unto us. Until we get our priorities right, we will not be right with God. And until we are right with God, we can’t be right with others. And until we are right with God and others, we can’t feel good about ourselves. Until there is that trinity of rightness in our life—God, others, and self—life is never complete.
4. Our biggest problem is a sin problem.
Zaccheus’ biggest problem was a sin problem. He had broken God’s law and thus had been separated from God as well as from his fellow man. He was living without forgiveness, without peace, and without hope.
As he visited with Jesus, Zaccheus stood and said, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” With that statement Zaccheus acknowledged Jesus as Lord, confessed his sin, and repented of it.
Don’t be fooled by that word “if.” It doesn’t imply the possibility of the innocence. It implies actuality. The kind of conditional sentence that is used in the Greek implies that he knew full well that he had extorted money from others. The meaning is, “In those cases in which I have defrauded ...” or “Since I have defrauded ...”
Zaccheus had sinned and he not only was confessing it, he was repenting of it. In cases of fraud the law of Moses required only that a man restore what he had taken plus 20% interest (Leviticus 5:16; Numbers 5:7). Zaccheus was going far beyond anything required by the law. In so doing he was saying in effect, “Though I took the money under the guise of taxation and under the protection of the law, I am nothing but a common thief and I am going to repay every last cent.”
That was repentance. That was an about-face, a willingness to turn from all that he knew to be wrong. Zaccheus was taking steps to show that his commitment and his conversion were real—that he was a changed man. What more could he do to show that he was a different person?
Zaccheus did the three things necessary for anyone to be saved. He acknowledged Jesus as Lord, he confessed his sin, and he repented of it. If you want to be saved, if you want a new life, you must take these same three steps.
It is easy enough to confess that we have made a mistake. It is not even embarrassing to do that. But it is altogether different to pray, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” And it produces a far different result.
Zaccheus went home mastered by the compulsion to get and he came out swept up by the compassion give. He went in greedy and he came out generous. He began the visit in selfishness and he ended it in righteousness. He went in lost and he came out saved.
It was not enough for Zaccheus just to be interested in Jesus and to climb a tree to see him. The encounter was not complete until Zaccheus responded in the center of his soul, saying, “Lord, you can have me.”
For Zaccheus it was now or never. If Zaccheus was going to be saved, he would have to make haste and come down right then, otherwise he would be lost forever. Jesus would never walk the streets of Jericho again. He was on his way to Jerusalem where he would be crucified. This was Zaccheus’ last chance.
And at this moment, Jesus might be making his last appeal to you. It may be now or never for you also. As it was with Zaccheus so it is with you—the Lord knows you, the Lord called you. And you must respond by saying, “Lord, you can have me.”