The Man in the Tree

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” — Luke 19:10

In the city of Jericho there lived a man called Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, the boss of all the other tax collectors, and he was very rich. Like many tax collectors, he had probably become rich by cheating people, taking more money than he should.

Everyone in Jericho knew it. Nobody liked Zacchaeus.

One day Jesus was passing through Jericho, and Zacchaeus wanted to see who He was. But Zacchaeus was a short man, and the crowd was too thick. He couldn’t see over all the heads.

So Zacchaeus ran on ahead, and climbed up a sycamore-fig tree, a big tree with low, spreading branches, beside the road where Jesus was going to pass. Can you imagine? An important, rich man, climbing a tree like a little boy!

When Jesus came to that place, He stopped. He looked up into the tree.

“Zacchaeus,” Jesus said, “hurry and come down! I must stay at your house today.”

Jesus knew his name! And of all the people in Jericho, Jesus chose to go to his house.

So Zacchaeus hurried down, and welcomed Jesus to his house with great joy.

But all the people who saw it began to grumble. “He’s gone to be the guest of a sinner!” they muttered.

Then Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of everything I own to the poor. And if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay them back four times as much.”

Nobody had told Zacchaeus to do that. Jesus hadn’t lectured him. But meeting Jesus changed his heart. The greedy man who loved money now wanted to give it away. The cheat now wanted to put things right.

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Zacchaeus went looking for Jesus. But really, Jesus was looking for Zacchaeus. That’s what Jesus came to do. He came to find lost people, people like Zacchaeus, people everyone else had given up on, and bring them home to God.

Read it in your Bible: Luke 19:1–10

Dear Jesus, thank you that you came to look for lost people and save them. Thank you that you know my name. Please change my heart, the way you changed Zacchaeus’s heart. Amen.