Chapter IV: Zacchaeus

LUKE 19

OUR Lord Jesus was journeying towards Jerusalem, where He was going to die for us.

On the way He came to Jericho, and passing through it, numbers of people followed Him, and when He came out of the gate there was quite a crowd of those who wanted to see Him.

There was one man who specially wished to catch sight of Jesus, but he was such a short man that he felt sure he would not be able to see Him in the midst of the crowd.

So thinking about what he should do, he saw before him a low tree which could be easily climbed.

This pleased Zacchaeus very much, for now he made sure that he should see this wonderful Man whom everybody was talking about.

Zacchaeus was a chief of the Publicans, and was very rich; but he was not thinking about his riches just then, but just about seeing Jesus!

He did not know that that sight of Jesus, and that look from His holy eyes, and the cheering words which He would utter, would completely change the whole of his life!

So he sat on the bough of the sycamore tree, and looked to see Jesus come through the gate.

At length He came, among the thronging multitude pressing round Him, and Zacchaeus thought he was quite hidden by the branches, and that no one would think of his being there!

But when Jesus came to the place, He looked up, and saw him, and said to him: "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for to-day I must abide at thy house!"

And Zacchaeus made haste and came down, and received him joyfully.

That look from the eyes of the Son of God had gone straight into the heart of the rich, avaricious Publican; and though the crowd was offended, and said that Jesus had gone to be with a man that was a sinner, Zacchaeus did not trouble at all as to what they said! He had seen the face of Jesus, and he had felt in his own heart that he was a sinner, and he was longing to ask the forgiveness which he believed Jesus would give him.

So he stood before them all, and he told Jesus, in a few simple words, that he wished to make up for what he had taken wrongfully, and would make up four-fold if he had accused anyone without cause.

And Jesus said to him, "This day is salvation come to this house ... For the Son of Man is come to seek, and to save, that which was lost!"

When any of us remember past sins, as Zacchaeus did, the best thing we can do is to go to Jesus and tell Him all about it, and ask Him to forgive us; and He will say to us, as he did to Zacchaeus, and to all who heard him: "The Son of Man is come to seek, and to save, that which was lost!"