A Lesson From a Little Rich Guy
Luke 19:1 Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2 Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.
Zacchaeus was a little rich guy. One wonders how a text collector becomes rich! Did he skim off the tax collections or was he paid bonuses for getting past due taxes?
Of course, we don't know the answer to those questions, but the point of the story is that Jesus did not care about the man's status. He cared about his soul. To the credit of Zacchaeus, he showed an interest and faith in Jesus as evidenced by climbing up a tree to get a better view.
There are people we might not think are worthy of God's love and mercy. Jesus receives the faith of anyone who is willing to turn to him.
What extraordinary action would you take to "see" and experience Christ in a better way? I would think that we could do better than a tax collector.
