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 our house today.”
6 So he came down at once and welcomed Him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to muttered, “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.”
Zacchaeus’ salvation was evident by his lifestyle change. Here he was, a grown man, wealthy and notorious in his community, climbing a tree! He wanted to see Jesus so badly that he humbled himself like a little boy! In verse 8, he proclaimed to the crowd, promising to offer half of his net worth to the poor, widows, orphans, homeless. The crowd might have murmured half-hearted approval or disbelief, and then Zacchaeus cemented the evidence of his true faith by reminding the community whom he had swindled money out of. Perhaps it was the poor old widow struggling to pay $100 in taxes; now Zacchaeus will repay her $400. Perhaps it was that man whom he had a personal conflict with and slapped him with a $1500 tax bill; now he’s going to cough up $6000. Multiply this by 10, and the total amount of money would be pretty staggering. Zacchaeus might have to sell his possessions and even his house to repay all that debt! He would be considerably poorer by the time he was through. But I believe these are not just mere words but real actions, or else they would not have been recorded in the Bible. His words were backed up by his actions. Some years later, James thundered to this audience with these words, “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.” (James 2:18) Jesus recognized that Zacchaeus’ change of heart was proven by his actions, and He forgave him of his sins.
I’ve been re-reading Francis Chan’s first book Crazy Love, and I’m convicted, especially the chapters about lukewarm people. Ouch! True believers offered to God the first and the best, and that’s what Zacchaeus had done. So often, we give God our leftover time, money, energy, and devote the best to ourselves. Malachi 1:8 “When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the LORD Almighty. If you haven’t seen “Flywheel,” the first movie made by Sherwood Pictures, I’d highly recommend it! The main character had to go through what Zacchaeus had gone. He was a Christian who had to repent from cheating God on his offering (he puts an empty envelope on the offering plate), and then repaying back all the customers he had cheated and being honest with his business dealings. Does my lifestyle reflect a true change of heart and real gratitude to God? What is hindering my testimony to others?
Lord, convict us when we start to think we’re pretty good in Your eyes. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
