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Hi there. It’s a cool fall day in East Tennessee and I have a short devotional from Luke 19. We were studying about Zacchaeus in church Wednesday night and I was inspired to meditate on it a bit more.
In this passage Jesus was passing through Jericho. Now Jesus drew a crowd wherever he went. So there were people everywhere. This is where Zacchaeus was introduced in the book of Luke. He was a tax collector and was not liked by the people. It was a well known fact at this time that tax collector’s were dishonest. In their positions they were allowed to skim off the top, so to speak, when they were collecting taxes. As long as they got what was needed no one cared if they padded their pockets by overcharging the citizens. Well, Zacchaeus was a short man and could not see over the crowd so he rushed ahead on the road and climbed a tree so that he could see Jesus.
There are many take-aways from Zacchaeus’s story but the two things that really stood out to me are:
- Zacchaeus was determined to see Jesus, whatever it took. He had heard of Jesus and his works and I think his heart was already being changed. He was willing to do whatever it took to see Jesus.
Jesus saw Zacchaeus and told him to come down from the tree and that he was coming to Zacchaeus’ house that day. As I mentioned, the people did not like Zacchaeus and they were murmuring amongst themselves. They were disgruntled because Jesus was going to the house of a sinner. I can only imagine that Zacchaeus heard them complaining, too, which brings me to the second thing that stood out to me.
- We see no sign in the Bible that Zacchaeus acknowledged their negative comments. How easy would it have been for him to lash back at the people who were muttering under their breath about him? Or to complain to Jesus about them? I know personally that sometimes it is hard for me not to defend myself against other people’s comments. But that rarely does any good. Instead, Zacchaeus focused his attention on Jesus, right where it should have been. He acknowledged his past sin by telling Jesus that he would give half of his possessions to the poor. But that wasn’t all. He also said that if he had cheated anyone he would pay them back four times the amount.
I believe that this makes it clear that Zacchaeus had truly been touched by Jesus and was a changed man. Jesus said to him, “Today Salvation has come to this house. The Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost”.
Can we turn the other cheek and avoid arguments and fighting and leave that up to God?
Are we focused on Jesus or are there too many other things in our lives that fight for our attention?
Are we willing to admit our mistakes and make them right like Zacchaeus was?
I hope you’ve found some value in this devotion. It can be viewed on YouTube here. I’d appreciate likes and subscribes. Come back for more inspiration, DIYs, & fun videos. Thanks for watching and helping me to grow my channel.