He Invited Himself Over

Picture a road lined with people, all waiting for someone famous to walk past. Now picture one man in that crowd whom nobody will make room for.

This story is told by Luke, one of the four writers in the Bible who recorded the life of Jesus.

Jesus is walking through Jericho, an old city near the Jordan River. He is on his way to Jerusalem, the capital, where he knows he will be killed. Crowds have come out to see him.

1. The man nobody would make room for

And there was a man called by the name Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him.

Luke 19:2-4

Zacchaeus was short, and the crowd would not let him through. So a grown, wealthy man ran ahead and climbed a tree, like a child at a parade.

To see why the crowd blocked him, you need to know what a tax collector was. At that time the Roman Empire, a foreign power, ruled Israel. Rome hired local men to collect its taxes. Those men could charge extra and keep the difference, and many did. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, the boss of other collectors. So his neighbours saw him as a traitor and a thief.

And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

Matthew 9:11

Matthew, another writer of Jesus' life, tells of a different day. The Pharisees were strict religious teachers, deeply respected. Disciples are students who follow their teacher everywhere. The Pharisees speak of "tax collectors and sinners" as if the two belonged in the same box. A sinner is someone who breaks God's commands. Everyone put tax collectors in that box.

And they were not wrong about the cheating.

You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him.

Leviticus 19:13

This comes from the law God gave Israel through Moses, their leader, long before Jesus. To oppress means to crush someone weaker than you. Zacchaeus had done that to people he saw at the market every day. The crowd was not just being unkind. He had really hurt them.

2. Jesus stopped at his tree

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today."

Luke 19:5

Jesus stops under that tree and looks up. He calls Zacchaeus by name. Then he invites himself to stay.

Back then, staying and eating in someone's home said, "I accept you." Jesus could have stayed with anyone in Jericho. He picked the one man the whole town avoided.

Look at the word "must". Jesus says this has to happen. Luke uses the same word earlier for the biggest "must" of all.

The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Luke 9:22

"Son of Man" is a title Jesus often used for himself. The elders, chief priests and scribes were the leaders in Jerusalem. Jesus tells his friends those leaders will reject him, and he will die and rise again. It was God's plan, not an accident. The same "must" that took Jesus to the cross took him to Zacchaeus's house. Finding this man was part of the reason he came.

God had called people by name before.

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

Isaiah 43:1

Isaiah was a prophet, a messenger who spoke for God. He wrote this to Israel after they had failed God badly. "Fear not" means do not be afraid. To redeem means to buy someone back, the way you might pay to get back something you had lost. God tells people who let him down: I know your name, and you are mine. Under that tree, Jesus does the same for one man.

And notice the order. Zacchaeus has not said sorry. He has not paid anybody back. Jesus welcomes him first.

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

Paul, an early leader among Jesus' followers, wrote this to Christians in Rome. "Christ" is a title meaning God's chosen King. God did not wait for us to become good before he loved us. Jesus died for people while they were still in the wrong.

So you do not have to clean up your life before you come to Jesus. You come as you are, the way Zacchaeus came down from the tree.

3. The crowd grumbled, and they had a point

And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner."

Luke 19:7

Everybody in the crowd grumbled. Imagine a classmate who stole from half the class, and the new teacher picks him first to sit at the front. People would mutter.

To be honest, the crowd's worry was a real one. The Bible itself warns against letting guilty people off.

He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

Proverbs 17:15

Proverbs is a book of wise sayings. To justify someone means to declare them innocent. An abomination is something God hates. This verse says it is wicked to tell a guilty person, "You did nothing wrong." So how can Jesus welcome a thief without pretending the stealing does not matter?

The answer is where Jesus was walking: to Jerusalem, and to the cross.

It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:26

Righteousness here means doing what is right. Paul explains that God does not ignore wrongdoing. He punished it, in Jesus, when Jesus died. So God can be just, meaning fair, and also be the justifier, the one who declares the guilty person innocent when they trust Jesus. The welcome Zacchaeus got was free for him, but it was not cheap. Jesus paid for it a few days later.

4. The change came after the welcome

Now watch what happens at the house.

And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold."

Luke 19:8

Nobody told him to do this. Jesus gave him no list of rules. "Behold" means look. Zacchaeus promises to give away half of everything he owns. Anyone he defrauded, meaning cheated, will get back four times what he took.

God's law already said what someone should pay back after admitting a wrong.

He shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did him wrong.

Numbers 5:7

Restitution means paying back what you took. The law asked for the full amount plus a fifth more. Take ten coins, give back twelve. Zacchaeus chooses a much harsher rule.

If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

Exodus 22:1

That was the penalty for a thief who stole a farmer's animal and sold it. Zacchaeus applies it to himself. He is not looking for the smallest payment he can get away with. He is calling himself a thief and paying like one.

Then Jesus explains what has happened.

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."

Luke 19:9-10

Salvation means being rescued by God: forgiven, brought back to him, and made new. Abraham was the man the whole Jewish nation came from. The town treated Zacchaeus as an outsider. Jesus says he still belongs to God's family.

Then Jesus says why he came: to look for lost people and rescue them. God had promised exactly that, long before.

I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak.

Ezekiel 34:16

Ezekiel was a prophet in a time when Israel's leaders had failed. God called them shepherds who fed themselves and never looked for lost sheep. So God promised to go looking himself. In Jericho, Jesus is doing it.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.

Ephesians 2:8-10

Grace is a gift given to someone who has not earned it. Faith is trusting Jesus. Workmanship means something God has made. We are not rescued because of good things we do, but the rescue leads to good things. Zacchaeus did not pay people back to get Jesus. He paid them back because Jesus had already come to him.

What this means this week

If you think you are too far gone for Jesus, look at who he chose in Jericho. You do not have to climb your way up to God. Jesus comes looking for you, the way he came looking for Zacchaeus. Come to him today, as you are, and tell him the truth about what you have done.

If Jesus has already welcomed you, let it change what you do with your hands and your money. Is there someone you took something from: money, a borrowed thing never returned, credit for work they did? This week, give it back, and add something extra.

And look around for your own Zacchaeus, the person everyone avoids at school, at work, or in your street. Jesus went to that kind of person's house first. This week, sit with them at lunch or start a conversation.