The Bible tells us about the story of a man named Zacchaeus reaching out to Jesus, but one thing that we often miss is that the story is not much about a rich tax collector looking out for Jesus, but about Jesus reaching out to Zacchaeus.
We all know how the story goes in Luke 19:1-10: A short and wealthy man named Zacchaeus climbs up a sycamore tree to see the Man everyone was saying is the Christ. But it would surprise many that the story doesn't really end there.
This comes to show the inadequate view of Christianity that so many people have, thinking that it's about a religion where people do their best to achieve communion with a holy and powerful God. But Christianity is so much more about a holy and powerful God using relationship to achieve communion with a broken people. Here are three lessons from the story of Zacchaeus that point us to a God who reaches out to us.
Jesus called Zacchaeus down
Sure Zacchaeus went up a tree to see Jesus, but we don't really know why he did it. It could have been simply because He wanted to see a "celebrity," but not really to experience the transformational love of God. While Zacchaeus went out of His way to see Jesus, Jesus went out of His way to build a relationship with the tax collector too. Jesus must have had a hundred things to do, but He decided to let that go to get to know this man.
It's the same with us. We can search for Jesus all we want, but truth is we will never be searching for Him longer than He's been searching for us.
Jesus overlooked Zacchaeus's sin
Luke 19:2 says, "And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich." The Bible could have very well said "There was a man named Zacchaeus and he was corrupt." But Jesus looked at Zacchaeus and didn't see his past sin or his present struggle. He saw the man's future glory.
Jesus looks at you the same way today. He doesn't care what you have done, but about what you can do if you live by the power that Christ has given us access to through His death on the cross. Jesus said in Matthew 16:19, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Jesus changed Zacchaeus's heart
After spending time with Jesus, Zacchaeus feels a transforming power come upon him. All of a sudden he stands up and declares that from that point on, he would live a life that exalted Christ. Then Jesus declared in Luke 19:9-10, "And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
