Nov 19
I was sitting in a crowd of over thirty-thousand people, all watching a game of football. Row upon row, every seat taken. Sometimes silent, other times roaring.
I wondered if anyone was praying .. anyone of the thousands of men women and children around me .. so just in case none of them were, I did.
I didn’t like the thought of God being lonely.
Zacchaeus was a powerful man, feared in Jericho as the chief of tax collectors in the time of Herod. Known well by the city’s inhabitants. As a result of his power over the city’s purse Zacchaeus was able to accumulate great wealth, both by legal and illegal means and all at the expense of the population he served.
He was reviled by those he made destitute. Pandered to by the elite who wished his favours.
Zacchaeus was a small man, undersized, and on the day Jesus passed through his city he wished to see the man who commanded such huge followings, the man of whom it was said could cure the sick and heal the blind.
But the streets of Jericho were overcome with the city’s inhabitants as they too sought what Zaccheus sought. To see Jesus. To lay eyes upon him. But Zacchaeus was unable to do so and he hurried ahead and climbed into the lower limbs of a Sycamore tree that grew beside the road. This man of great power and wealth, perched on a branch like a small boy*, waiting to see the Son of Man pass by.
Jesus saw him up there and called Zacchaeus by name.
“Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.”
And once there, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord, enlightened by his presence, and swore to return all he had stolen four times over, and give away half of his possessions.
~~
At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.
Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way.
When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.”
And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.”
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.”
And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”
~~
Matthew 18:3 And He said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Witness 