Luke 19:2-6 -- On the Story of Zacchaeus

"And, behold, there was a man named Zacchæus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchæus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.
And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully."
Luke 19:2-6


The fact that Zacchaeus sought to see who Jesus was seems to indicate that they had never met before, but in this cool story, Christ asks Zacchaeus to come down because he needs to stay with him. Like several other stories in Christ's life, this hints at a sort of spiritual knowledge that normally we would think of as impossible, but which on a spiritual level tell us how God works with the entire world as a tapestry, all of it a part of the big picture. A fish might have a piece of money here, a man might have a colt that someone has never sat on somewhere else, but only the Spirit of God can bring those things into the stories of other people to answer the needs of others somewhere else. ... Not to mention how the fish got the money or the man got the colt, or how Zaccheus was inspired to be bold enough to climb a tree, or who planted that sycamore tree in the first place. When God tells us that all things work together for good (Romans 8:28), he means it... and that is what we can tap into if we have the spirit with us.

The other thing that I really love about these verses is imagining being Zacchaeus at this point. He goes to see Christ, and can't because he is too short... so he makes a bigger effort, he runs ahead to find somewhere he can stand to see him farther down the street, and he sees a tree... climbs it, which I am sure was also difficult, and then when Christ comes close, the person that he made all that effort just to see... he looks up, and he *knows* him. He wants to stay at his house. I can't imagine how cool that would have been, to make all that effort just to see him, and then to get to spend time with him.

Today, let's work on tuning into the spirit and trusting God enough to walk in his way. And when God calls us down from our trees and asks to stay a while, let't be willing to drop everything for him and realize how precious that opportunity is.