Do you know the story of Zacchaeus? I remember singing a song about him as a kid. He was a rich tax collector. And he was hated. All tax collectors were hated by the Jewish people. Why? For a couple of reasons. First, they collected taxes established by Roman law, plus they also dreamed up taxes of their own that they forced the people to pay. Basically, they were thieves—taking money to pay phony taxes. Sometimes they even hired thugs to threaten people who “owed” taxes. Because of these practices, they were rich. Really rich. Now, most of the people were super poor so to have some rich tax collector illegally forcing them to pay more than they owed? No wonder they were hated. They were also hated because although they were Jewish, they worked for the Roman government. They were considered traitors who sided with the Romans against their own people.
So, one day, here came Jesus, passing through the city of Jericho. As usual, He was surrounded by masses of people. For some reason, Zacchaeus was desperate to see Jesus. He climbed a tree to get above the crowd so he could catch a glimpse of Him. What happened next is amazing. Jesus got closer…and closer…until He was close enough to make eye contact. Jesus looked straight at Zacchaeus and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5). What???? Jesus spoke to Zacchaeus! He knew Zacchaeus’s name! Jesus invited Himself to Zacchaeus’s house—not for a quick cup of coffee but to spend the night there. Jesus intended to spend some serious time with Zacchaeus. But Zacchaeus was a hated, thieving, tax-collecting traitor. He had stolen from everyone in town. Everyone hated him for it. The guy was a wretched sinner. Zacchaeus didn’t deserve to have Jesus notice him, let alone come and stay at his house, did he? Of course not. But that’s the same situation every single person in the world is in. No one deserves to have Jesus take notice of them.
So what happened with Zacchaeus? Well, he rushed to welcome Jesus to his house. It was a day of great joy for Zacchaeus! He proclaimed Jesus as Lord. He vowed to give half his belongings to the poor. He promised to give back to those he had cheated four times the amount he had wrongly taken. What happened to Zacchaeus is that Jesus sought him out and saved him that day. He was a changed man.
You know, on the surface, it doesn’t seem like Zacchaeus would be a good candidate for Jesus to go after. Zacchaeus had done so much wrong in his life, he was hopeless. Surely it was too late for him. But that’s the reason Jesus came to earth—He came to seek and save the lost, including the hopelessly lost. That means that He came to find sinners and to rescue them from their sin. You know, you might be thinking you need to clean up your act before you can respond to Jesus’s invitation to come to Him. Maybe you think you’re hopeless—too far gone. You’re not. No one is. Think about that thief who hung on the cross next to Jesus. There he was, dying, knowing he deserved to die for his crimes. He humbly asked Jesus to remember him when Jesus came into His kingdom. The dying man knew who Jesus was and believed in Him. Jesus graciously said, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). That man was not hopeless. He believed and was saved, at that very moment. I pray that you will respond to Jesus’s invitation today. If you need prayer or a Bible, let me know.