Who is zacchaeus in the bible

Commentaries for Luke Articles about Zacchaeus - Bible Story. The Men in Christ's Life: Zacchaeus. Kris Swiatocho. Crosswalk the Devotional. Veronica Neffinger. When Jesus Came to Town. A New Beginning - Greg Laurie. Video about Zacchaeus - Bible Story. A Man Named Zacchaeus. Ralph Douglas West Ministries. It can be difficult for us to look beyond ourselves to the needs of others. Yet, as we will see, Zacchaeus had that potential and eventually embraced it.

We all want to see things that are going on around us. We slow down and investigate when we see a crowd. Our nature is to wonder what people are looking at and talking about and to get involved ourselves. This is the setting as Jesus walked through Jericho. People were flocking around Jesus, and, like any of us, Zacchaeus wanted a look at what was going on.

How shocking it must have been when Jesus spoke directly to Zacchaeus in the midst of this large crowd. Zacchaeus was not a tall man and had to climb a tree to see Jesus. Yet, in a certain respect, Zacchaeus already knew who Jesus was and that he was worth seeing. We too, through the word of God, have full access to the complete truth of who God is. We tend to look high and low for every secret to life we may be afraid of missing out on.

We search through self-help books, look for hidden messages, and seek out purpose and meaning in all the wrong places.

Zacchaeus showed he was willing to change by offering half of his belongings to the poor and paying back four times as much to anyone he had cheated. This amount was what the Old Testament law demanded as a repayment for dishonesty.

Jesus meets Zacchaeus Luke Jesus was passing through Jericho. An illustration of Zacchaeus climbing a sycamore tree to see Jesus. Jesus told Zacchaeus that salvation would come to his house that day. At the home of Zacchaeus, Jesus told the parable of the ten servants.

Zacchaeus is not mentioned again in the Bible after that episode, but we can assume his repentant spirit and his acceptance of Christ did, indeed, lead to his salvation and the salvation of his whole household. He collected taxes for the Romans, overseeing the customs charges on the trade routes through Jericho and levying taxes on individual citizens in that area. Clement of Alexandria wrote that Zacchaeus became a companion of Peter and later the bishop of Caesarea, although there is no other reliable documentation to substantiate these claims.

Zacchaeus must have been efficient, organized, and aggressive in his work. Zacchaeus was eager to see Jesus, suggesting that his interest went deeper than mere curiosity. He was a seeker after the truth.

When he repented, he paid back those he had cheated. The very system Zacchaeus worked under encouraged corruption. He must have fit in well because he made himself wealthy from it.

He cheated his fellow citizens, taking advantage of their powerlessness. Probably a lonely man, his only friends would have been sinful or corrupt like him. Jesus Christ came to save sinners in the days of Zacchaeus and still today. Those who seek Jesus, in reality, are sought, seen, and saved by him. No one is beyond his help. His love is a constant call to repent and come to him.