No One Is Beyond Grace

If you attended Sunday school or Vacation Bible School, chances are you’ve heard the story of Zacchaeus. You probably sang the song about him:

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he.

He climbed up in a sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see.

And as the Savior passed that way, he looked up in the tree.

And he said, “Zacchaeus, you come down. For I’m going to your house today, I’m going to your house today.”.

If the only knowledge you have of Zacchaeus is this sanitized children’s version, you would think the only problem that Zacchaeus had was that he was short. Which is comforting for children, and that’s why we teach them this story. We teach them that Jesus will call them even though they are small in stature, that we should climb trees and do whatever it takes to get to Jesus, and that we should respond to his call.

All of that is well and good and appropriate for children.

But the adult version goes deeper.

The disciple Luke records this encounter:

Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town.There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich (Luke 19:1-2 NLT).

Let’s explore Zaccahaeus’ vocation: chief tax collector. The Roman government needed to collect taxes, so they hired local people to go door to door and collect the tax from each household. Local people knew where everyone lived. Tax collectors did indeed collect the taxes the Roman government required, but they also collected more for themselves. As the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus took from the ones who took from the people.

What if a household couldn’t pay? Payment might have been required in other ways. Tax collectors were scoundrels. And Zacchaeus was the scoundreliest scoundrel who ever scoundreled.

When the Jesus parade reaches that sycamore tree, Jesus calls Zacchaeus by name. I can imagine that the crowd got excited. They had been waiting for a Messiah who would right the wrongs they had suffered, a Savior who would punish those who had hurt them.

That was Zacchaeus. He had wronged them; he had hurt them.

When Jesus called him out, the crowd was ready to see a spiritual smackdown. They wanted redemption for all the hurt they had suffered. They wanted Zacchaeus called out, cast out, and punished for what he had done.

But Jesus does the opposite.

He doesn’t condemn; he doesn’t make an example of Zacchaeus in punishment.

Instead, Jesus makes an example of Zacchaeus in redemption. He calls him out of the tree and says,

“Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.” (Luke 19:5 NLT)

The crowd wants Zacchaeus punished, but Jesus honors him with a home visit. And the crowd doesn’t like it.

But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.” (Luke 19:7 NLT)

The crowd cannot believe that the man who is most reviled by and most hurtful to them is the one Jesus chooses. It turns them away. I can imagine that some of them said, “If that’s the kind of people Jesus is going to hang around with, then he’s no savior of mine.”

Jesus goes to the home of Zacchaeus, and although Luke doesn’t record all of their conversation, we know Jesus engages him. Perhaps Jesus gestures to a lovely pair of candlesticks and asks Zacchaeus about them. And Zacchaeus has to admit that they belong to someone else. Or a beautiful vase or tapestry that also belongs to someone else, taken in payment for taxes.

Luke does record that Zacchaeus sees the wrong he has done, and he vows to make it right.

Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” (Luke 19:8, NLT)

Zacchaeus sees through his encounter with Jesus the hurt he has caused and knows he has to live his life differently.

This encounter with Zacchaeus is important in the life and training of the disciples. “Jesus responded, ‘Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost’” (Luke 19:9 NLT). Jesus bestows on Zacchaeus a high honor: he claims him as a brother by using the phrase “son of Abraham.” And then he reminds the disciples and us of the real reason he came.

What can we learn from this adult version of the story of Zacchaeus?

First, we learn that no one is beyond the saving grace of Jesus, not even the scoundreliest scoundrel who ever scoundreled.

And that might require us to examine our prejudices. There may people in your life you don’t want to experience the same love of God, the same grace, or the same forgiveness that you do. There were many in the crowd that day who didn’t want Zacchaeus to be treated special, to be loved by Jesus.

But Jesus reminds them, and us, that he came for all of us. That he will call all of us into relationship with him and that relationship will change us for the better.

If you think that God couldn’t possibly know your name, Louie Giglio says, “God calls each and every star by name. It is not likely he has forgotten yours.”

Annie Carlson is rooted like a turnip to the plains of North Dakota where she raises great food, large numbers of farm animals, and three free-range kids with her husband. You can find her with either a book or knitting needles in her hands as she dreams up her next adventure.