Luke 19:1-10
November 2, 2025
The story of Zacchaeus is a story
that appeals to children. I remember hearing about Zacchaeus when I was a
little girl in Sunday school. I think we even sang a song about him.
“Zacchaeus was a wee little man and
a wee little man was he ….”
I can understand why this story
appeals to children. Children understand what it means to be small in a world
that is bigger than you. Children understand what it means to want to see what
everyone else is seeing but you can’t because the crowd is too tall and big and
you are too small and short. As a child, I could relate to having to stand on
my tiptoes or peering around others or even pushing my way through the crowd to
the front just to get a glimpse of what everyone else can easily see and
witness. As an adult who does not fit into the tall category, I can still
relate with Zacchaeus.
From what I have read, I suspect
that Zacchaeus must have been quite small of stature. The average size man in
Jesus time is believed to have been no more than 5’5” or maybe 5”6”, which is
not extraordinarily tall. A diet that was based more on grains than protein,
and remittent periods of hunger and deprivation may have contributed to an
entire population being on the smaller side. So, if Zacchaeus was short by
those standards, it would seem that he was a little guy indeed.
But his stature had not stopped
Zacchaeus from making money. He is described as the chief tax collector and
rich. But what do we already know about tax collectors? They were traitors to
their own people, enemies of their fellow countryfolks. As tax collectors, they
were part of a legalized pyramid scheme that took more from the people than
required, gave more to Rome than was necessary, and skimmed off quite a bit to
line their own pockets. And as chief tax collector, Zacchaeus was situated near
the top of that pyramid – one vantage point that allowed him to see quite
clearly well despite his smaller size.
Those are the facts that we know
about Zacchaeus, at least the facts that Luke chose to include. But what we
don’t know about Zacchaeus must also be a lot. Because something in Zacchaeus
made him desperate to see Jesus. Maybe it was fear of missing out on what all
the other folks of Jericho were witnessing. Maybe Zacchaeus had heard the
multitude of rumors about Jesus, and he wanted to see if any were based in
truth. Maybe he knew that all was not well with his soul, and he longed for
someone to fix him. Whatever his motivation, Zacchaeus was desperate and
determined to see Jesus.
I use the word “desperate” because
what Zacchaeus does would have been seen as desperate by anyone else in his
community. He runs ahead of the crowd, which would have been a completely
undignified thing for a man of his wealth and position to do. But he does it
anyway. He runs ahead and he climbs a Sycamore tree – also completely
undignified – and climbs as high as he can into the branches of that tree just
so he can see this Jesus guy who is making his way into the city.
But I doubt that Zacchaeus or anyone
else could have predicted what happened next. When Jesus came to the tree
Zacchaeus climbed, he looked up and called to the rich, small, desperate man.
“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for
I must stay at your house today.”
Jesus betrayed no surprise at
finding someone in a tree watching him. He clearly knew who Zacchaeus was
because Jesus called to him by name. Jesus didn’t seem bothered at all that a
man as rich as Zacchaeus, who should have acted with more dignity and gravity,
had climbed a tree to see him. Jesus just looked up at Zacchaeus and said,
“Zacchaeus, you need to hurry and come down from that tree. I’m staying with
you today. We have a meal to eat and God’s work to do.”
I suspect that Zacchaeus was just as
shocked as everyone else. He must have shinnied down that tree quicker than he
climbed up, eager to welcome Jesus to his home, to his table. But if the shock
of Jesus’ recognition made Zacchaeus happy and enthusiastic to welcome Jesus,
the shock for the other folks witnessing this encounter had different results.
The people around them began to grumble and mutter and whisper; and these were
those loud kinds of whispers that you really want to be heard even when you’re
trying to act like you want the opposite.
“What is happening here?! What is
Jesus doing?! He is going to the home of a sinner! He is going to sit at table
with a sinner! And not just any sinner, but that Zacchaeus sinner! This is
outrageous and unseemly, and it’s just not done.”
Maybe those whispers influenced
Zacchaeus in that moment. Or maybe it was because Jesus didn’t hesitate to
associate with him. Or perhaps Zacchaeus, looking into the knowing eyes of
Jesus, saw his whole life reflected there and was ashamed of what he saw.
Whatever it was, something in Zacchaeus changed in that moment. Something in
him shifted. He looked at Jesus and made a vow, a covenant,
“Look, half of my possessions, Lord,
I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay
back four times as much.”
Standing there, looking at Jesus,
surrounded by people who hated him, people he had betrayed and harmed and
exploited, Zacchaeus repented. In Greek the word for repent is metanoia,
and it means to turn around. Zacchaeus turned around. Zacchaeus turned back to
his people. Zacchaeus turned back to Jesus. Zacchaeus turned back to God.
Jesus pronounced him saved.
“Today salvation has come to this
house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out
and to save the lost.”
Salvation has come. At first glance,
it seems as though salvation came because Zacchaeus promised to do good from
that point on. He would give to the poor. He would repair and repay the past.
It seems that when Zacchaeus saw Jesus, he knew he would need to be better, to
do better, if he wanted salvation. But I don’t thank that Zacchaeus brought
about salvation because of what he promised Jesus. That would be effecting his
own salvation, and I struggle with that concept.
I think salvation came not because
Zacchaeus saw Jesus, but because Jesus saw Zacchaeus. Jesus saw him. Jesus saw
Zacchaeus looking more than a little ridiculous up in that tree. Jesus saw
Zacchaeus and the way he lived his life and made his fortune. Jesus saw
Zacchaeus and all his past mistakes and missteps and sins. But Jesus also saw
Zacchaeus and who he could be, who he was created to be. Jesus saw in him one
who was lost and one who was a son of Abraham. Jesus saw this sinner, yes, but
even more he saw this child of God.
Today in our worship we observe, we
celebrate, All Saints’ Day. What is a saint really? Is a saint someone who has
been officially canonized by the Roman Catholic or Orthodox Church? Is a saint
someone who is the source of miracles? Is a saint someone who has achieved
perfection in this life or the next? Or is a saint someone who was faithful,
not perfect, not faultless, but faithful? Is a saint someone in our lives who
taught us about what it means to be faithful, who saw in us what we could be?
A saint as we understand it, is not
someone who was perfect but someone who was faithful. Zacchaeus was far from
perfect. He was a sinner, not just because the people called him that, but
because he fit the definition. But he was also a son of Abraham, a child of
God, and Jesus saw that in him. Jesus saw beyond his sin to his soul. He saw in
him, as Frederick Buechner described, the peculiar treasure of this flawed man.
And because Jesus saw him salvation came. And Zacchaeus, this flawed, wee
little man, was willing to be vulnerable, to be exposed. He wanted to see Jesus
desperately and maybe he was equally desperate to be seen. He was not perfect,
but in that moment, he became faithful. He became a saint because Jesus saw in
him who he was created to be.
So, let us give thanks for the
saints in our lives, for the people who are saints not just because they have
gone to their reward, and joined that great cloud of witnesses, but because
they were faithful in small ways and large. Let us give thanks for the saints
in our lives because they saw in us the people God created us to be. Let us
give special thanks that God sees us, that God sees all of us, that God sees
beyond our sins and our mistakes and sees instead the people we were created to
be, the people we are trying daily to become. And may we respond to being seen
as faithfully as Zacchaeus, giving generously, making amends for the past, and
moving forward into the future with hope because we are seen and we are loved
in spite of ourselves, rejoicing that through Jesus salvation has come. Thanks
be to God.
Let all of God’s children say,
“Alleluia!”
Amen.
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