Ep. 85: Zacchaeus

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LUKE 19:1-10

Finally, Jesus arrives in Judea. Behind him was the ministry of the Gospel by word and deed; before him, the final act of his life, towards which all had signposted. Rejected as the Messiah of his people, not only personally but as regarded the Kingdom of God which he had come to establish. He was purposefully going up to Jerusalem, there to ‘give his life a ransom for many.’

The first place reached was Jericho, the ‘City of Palms,’ a distance of only about six hours from Jerusalem. News of the approach of Jesus, with the disciples and Apostles, would have preceded them. He would have been known to the people of Jericho, just as they must have been aware of the feelings of the leaders of the people, perhaps of the approaching great contest between them and the Prophet of Nazareth.

Close by was Bethany, from where they had all heard of the raising of Lazarus, so well known to all in that neighbourhood. And yet the Sanhedrin, as would have been known, had decided on his death! Jesus was going up to Jerusalem to meet his enemies!

It was the custom when a festive band passed through a place, that the inhabitants gathered in the streets to bid their brethren welcome. Only one in all that crowd seemed unwelcome, alone, and out of place. It was the head of the tax and customs department. As his name shows. He was a Jew, but yet that very name Zacchaeus (‘the just,’ or ‘pure’) sounded like mockery. We know in what repute Publicans were held and what opportunities of wrong-doing and oppression they possessed. And yet Zacchaeus was in the crowd that had come to see Jesus. What had brought him? Certainly not curiosity only. Was it the long working of a conscience or a dim hope of something better? Or was it only the nameless, deep, irresistible inward drawing of the Holy Spirit?

And, since he was too short to see him properly. He climbs up one of those wide-spreading sycamores in a garden, perhaps close to his own house, along the only road by which Jesus can pass, ‘to see him.’ Jesus looked up at him. Did Jesus know Zacchaeus before? It seemed that God had so appointed it and Jesus came for that very purpose. Let Edersheim explain:

‘As bidden by Christ, Zacchaeus ‘made haste and came down’ and, under the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit. He ‘received him rejoicing.’ Nothing was as yet clear to him and yet all was joyous within his soul. In that dim twilight of the new day and at this new creation the Angels sang and the Sons of God shouted together and all was melody and harmony in his heart. And so the whole current of his life had been turned, in those few moments, through his joyous reception of Christ, the Saviour of sinners. Zacchaeus the public robber, the rich chief of the publicans, had become an almsgiver. ‘

This is an extract from the book, Jesus : Life and Times, available for £10 here (Finalist for Academic Book of the year at 2023 CRT awards)