A Wee Little Man

Today I am contemplating the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19.

In Sunday schools as a child, I learned a song about him: Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he... The song tells the story of how Jesus was walking by when he saw Zacchaeus up in a Sycamore tree. Zacchaeus was a short man and couldn't see Jesus over the crowd, so he climbed up for a better view. He may have had difficulty seeing Jesus, but Jesus had no difficulty seeing him. Jesus called Zacchaeus down and went with him to his house.

The children's song doesn’t say what happens next. First, there was a lot of skepticism and even mild horror from the religious leaders that Jesus would go to a tax collector's house. Tax collectors were known for colluding with the Romans as well as for cheating their own people. They were strongly classified as sinners. Unclean. Unwelcome. Outcasts.

Jesus goes to Zacchaeus' house because He sees beyond the tax collector. He sees Zacchaeus' heart and his desire to know Him.

We don’t know much about Jesus’s conversation or engagement with Zacchaeus at his house. But apparently, Jesus' presence was enough to make a difference. Zacchaeus stands up and declares, “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.” Wow! What a declaration!

Jesus' responded, “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.”

This is a very familiar story to many. I know I have heard it many times. But today, two things jumped out at me.

First, the religious leaders had already written Zacchaeus - and others like him - completely off. He was a sinner. Unsavable. Unredeemable. Only Jesus didn't see him that way. "For the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” - 1 Samuel 16:7

Who have we declared unredeemable that Jesus wants to save?  

Secondly, note that Zacchaeus didn’t say, Jesus, I accept you into my heart. Nor did he say, Jesus, I believe you are the Savior. He didn’t ask for forgiveness or confess his sins. He said none of those things. And yet Jesus said that salvation had come to his house.

Many Christian churches teach that you have to go through the ABCs to be saved. You have to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior; you have to believe in your heart; you have to confess with your mouth. Zacchaeus doesn't do those things. He doesn’t fit in the paradigm. He is so moved in his inner being that it comes out in direct, applicable action.

The action is restoring justice. He's giving of his wealth to the poor. He’s repaying those he cheated. He is making right what he had made wrong.

That’s powerful. In a time where we often think belief is enough, where the same churches preaching the ABCs and the salvation prayer tend to gloss over how we act day in and day out, we see in Zacchaeus that belief is not meant to be merely an idea we hold to in our minds but that doesn’t translate into who we are as individuals or how we behave.

The key is action. James 2: 18 says, "Show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you faith." Zacchaeus by his works showed his faith - and that is why Jesus said he had received salvation.

Faith is not just something in our minds. It is something we live. It is action; it is justice; it is love and compassion.

How will you live out your faith today?

FOR MORE FROM ME... 

- Subscribe to my blog through Substack: https://substack.com/@jadedevangelical.

- Pick up my book, "Letters to the Jaded Evangelical: Finding Jesus in the Shards of Religion." 

- Follow me on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@jadedevangelical.smreed