Apr 19 2024 23 mins 9
Podcast Introduction
Today we’ll read Luke 19-20. Afterwards, I’ll have some thoughts to share with you. I’m calling today’s episode “The Dinner Guest.”
Comments on Luke 19
Zacchaeus was a *chief* tax collector, and the Jews hated tax collectors in general, so as a chief tax collector he probably was especially disdained by them. Tax collectors often got rich by extracting extra taxes from people, over and above what was required by the Roman government. Zacchaeus appears to be one who took full advantage of his position.
Interestingly, the name "Zacchaeus" means "pure one", which of course, he was anything but pure.
He had evidently heard about Jesus and the miracles he had done, and probably had heard reports of His teachings and the way he dealt with people. So Zacchaeus wanted to meet him, so much so that he ran ahead along the route that Jesus was taking and climbed up a sycamore tree because he was a short man and could not see over the heads of the crowd.
Let's consider the inclusion of Zacchaeus' short stature for a moment. While not always true, it is sometimes true that short men develop a personality trait called a Napoleon complex, or short man syndrome. They sometimes have a chip on their shoulder, often as a result of being bullied when they were young. And this might be why Zacchaeus became a tax collector, as a way of getting back at those who bullied him. He may have become driven to achieve financial success, no matter what it took. And this driven personality trait made him a man not to let anything get in his way, so on this day, in order to see Jesus, he set aside personal pride and climbed a tree as a child would do, so that he could achieve the goal of seeing this Jesus that everyone was talking about. I like what the commentator Alexander Maclaren said: "I wish there were more of us who did not mind being laughed at if only what we did helped us to see Jesus."
So Jesus did walk past the tree where Zacchaeus had perched himself, and He looked up and called Zacchaeus by name! He called him by name. I believe that Jesus had a divine appointment with Zacchaeus that day. This was no chance meeting. Jesus knew that Zacchaeus was waiting to see Him, and that Zacchaeus' heart was prepared for something special, even if Zacchaeus himself didn't know it.
"Hurry down from there, Zacchaeus, because I'm coming to your house today!" Jesus said. Can you imagine Zacchaeus' excitement at those words? The crowd around Jesus is so numerous that he had to climb a tree to even *see* him, and Jesus singles *him* out *by name* and says, "I want to spend some time with you." Jesus didn't just want to talk to him, He wanted to have a relationship with him.
In John 10:3 Jesus said, "The one who watches the door opens it for him. The sheep listen to the voice of the shepherd. He calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out." Jesus knew Zacchaeus' name, and He knows your name, beloved. Isn't that marvelous?
Of the billions of people who have ever lived, He knows your name. But of course He does, because He formed you in your mother's womb. Psalm 139:13 says, "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." I find this to be both humbling and reassuring, don't you?
So after Jesus called to him in the tree, what did Zacchaeus do? He did what Jesus asked him to do, he hurried down from the tree. And our verse says he "received Him gladly." Zacchaeus could have stayed in the tree. He could have come down but rejected Jesus inviting Himself into Zacchaeus' home. But Zacchaeus received Him gladly. The great preacher, Charles Spurgeon, said,
