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Hear the devotional here: https://anchor.fm/eradio-valverde/episodes/Wee--Wicked-Man-Was-He-e1plpne
1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:1-10 New International Version of The Bible)
This passage makes me sing the song I learned in Sunday school and/or Vacation Bible School. It was a favorite of mine, and maybe of yours, too. Being a story in a children's song, we never realize the wickedness, selfishness, and other terrible things this man. whom we lovingly and fondly sing as being "wee," how could any wickedness come out of him?
Zacchaeus was a successful man. He was a chief tax collector. He had been promoted to being an overseer of other tax collectors. Now, you may remember that the Pharisees lumped the "sinners" that Jesus interacted with into three groups; prostitutes, tax collectors, and other sinners. If there was a top sin, for the Pharisee, it might just have been the tax collector. A tax collector was seen by the Israelites as a traitor or sell-out to the nation of Israel, because the tax collector is collecting money from the Jews to give to the Romans, the oppressive army that occupied Israel and were the conquerors who ruled Israel. The idea that a countryman would do such a job was a terrible idea, and even to the Pharisees. And, to make matters worse, the Roman oversees of tax collectors trained them in the ways to fulfill their quota as well as have "A little something to take home." Okay, I blame the overseers, but it might just as well have been the initiative of the tax collector himself, to ask the family that owed 30 coins, that they really owed 60, and in that way they could send to Rome the 30, and keep the other 30 for themselves. I heard a story about a woman from a Caribbean island who moved to Miami, and there went to a church where her country-people worshiped, and she told the pastor she was an employee of the I.R.S. and wanted to open an office there to better serve her people. The church rented her the office and she had a sign painter paint the official lettering that identified the office as being a sub-office of the IRS. She began to prey on the people of her church. She was employing the same tactics; "I understand, since I work for the IRS, that you owe the US government $2,100, but if you pay me $1,800, I can get the IRS off your back." So, the person believes that it's better to pay this lady cash than run the risk of getting the US government angry at you. Long story short, she was caught, and sent to prison.
To be fair, there was something moving in that wee little man. He had heard the rumblings of this traveling rabbi that was stirring things up against the establishment, and he may have even heard this man has some words of life, and the kind of life that doesn't end with death. The crowds that followed Jesus were growing, and the desire of the people was to see, hear, and maybe meet, Jesus. And so, as the news of Jesus' appearance in his town stirred Zacchaeus to climb up a sycamore-fig tree to get a better view of Jesus. As Jesus enters the city, he comes to the tree and calls Zac by name saying, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So, Zac comes down gladly and opens his home to Jesus. Of course, the critics see this and begin their criticism, "He has gone to be the guest of a sinner." This spurs Zac into action and declares to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Boom. A confession and a decision to make right whatever wrong he had done. He came to an important realization; that money cannot buy the things that really matter in life, such as being right with God. Zac knew to make right the wrongs he may have committed and this in order to be right before God and Jesus. Jesus declared, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." And thus added to our list of questions we will have answered in Heaven; what happened to Zacchaeus and his life? How did it end? And was he truly justified before God?
The more important question is what has happened to us after our encounter with Jesus? Is our life any difference at all after we surrendered ourselves to the Lord? Or, are we still lost in sin?
PRAYER: Loving God, make right in me that which has been wrong for so long. Guide me to faithfulness and fruitfulness; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! YOUR CALL TO ACTION: Spend time in relfection about your life and where you know God wants you to be.
Receive my blessings of joy and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
