Zacchaeus in the Bible: 4 Observations from Luke 19:10
Seeking the Lost: 4 Observations on God’s Heart | Christ Fountain
The mission of seeking the lost is central to the Gospel. Luke 19.10 records the story of Zacchaeus’s encounter with Jesus. Jesus was passing through Jericho for what would be the last time. This small-in-stature tax collector wanted to see Jesus and recognized this as an opportunity. Because of his limited height, he had to get a little creative in order to do so, which he did: he climbed into a sycamore tree.
You could say that ‘he went out on a limb’ to get to see Jesus. Read the full text of Luke 19.10 on BibleGateway While many study the encounter in Luke 19:10 to understand the tax collector’s conversion, it also provides a profound look at God’s heart for the lost.
Now let’s turn the coin over. Jesus is passing through Jericho and when he gets to that spot, he looks up and calls Zacchaeus by name, and invites himself to dinner at Zacchaeus’ house. The Bible says that Zacchaeus “ came down at once and welcomed him gladly” despite the objections and mattering of the onlookers. People who collected taxes for the Roman government where they were despised by the local population, thought to be traitors to Israel, and were notorious for overcharging, cheating and general dishonesty. And Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Crowd reaction: “ He (Jesus) has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner’” (v7).
Zacchaeus immediately voiced a significant commitment: “Here now I give half of my possession to the poor and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” (v8).
Interesting response. In giving half his goods to the poor, Zacchaeus was complying with the principle of repentance that John the Baptist had declared: “ The man with two tunics should share with him who has none…” And in committing to the pay four times any amount he might have obtained by illegitimate means, he was fulfilling the law outlined in Exodus 22 for restitution for stolen property and in some dimensions going beyond it.
Jesus summarized the situation this way: “ 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 what was lost” (v10)
Let’s pick up some of the learning revealed in this episode.
We never know when our last opportunity has come
Jesus would never go through Jericho again, but Zacchaeus did not know that. He simply seized the chance the occasion provided.
Friends, the Word of God tells us to “Seek the Lord while he may be found” and to “call upon him while he is near” (Isaiah 55.6). We have to take advantage of opportunity while it is there; once it’s gone, it’s gone.
We do not know the time of our own death, and we do not know the time of the Lord’s return. What we know is that “Now is the time; now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6.2b). None of us knows when our last opportunity has come to turn from our sins and turn to Christ.
Jesus knows you by name.
The Lord did not require an introduction to address Zacchaeus by name when he looked up at him in the tree. He knew who he was. And he knew what he was. He knows who you are. He knows what you are too. He knows your deepest thoughts. He knows your strengths and he knows your weaknesses. And do you know what? He loves you. He loves you whatever your weaknesses, and he loves you whatever your strengths. He knows us. He knows you. By name.
Restitution demonstrates the sincerity of our repentance.
When Jesus called him down from the tree, Zacchaeus made no hesitation in receiving him; he “welcomed him gladly.” He also immediately pledged generosity and undertook to make right any wrong he had done.
John the Baptist was the premiere preacher of repentance, and his message came with this corollary: “Show fruit that is in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3.8). I do believe that when we come to Christ, there is an instinctive motivation to want to make right whatever we can.
God’s heart for the lost is to seek us into repentance, but there are some things you cannot undo. In economic and financial matters, we should honour the Lord by making restitution where possible. However, in situations where that is impossible—like the story of an evangelist I once knew who committed arson before his conversion—we rely on the grace of God. We repent, we confess our sins, we receive God’s forgiveness, and we thank him for his mercy.
God’s heart for the lost: Jesus is looking for lost people.
Luke 9.10 is one of Jesus’ significant purpose statements: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
He came to seek and save what was lost. When you seek something, you are looking for it with a degree of determination. We see this in the parables Jesus told in Luke 15: the shepherd looking for a lost sheep, and the woman searching for her missing silver coin.
Jesus is looking for lost people because He wants to see them saved. God declares: “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
For our salvation, Jesus left heaven, took on human flesh, and gave himself as the all-sufficient sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins—a sacrifice we commemorate at the communion table. After rising again and returning to the Father’s glory, He sent the Holy Spirit to continue the search for the lost.
He wants to bring them home, and He has enlisted us—you and me—to join Him in that search. As we are told to “go into all the world and make disciples of all nations,” our task is to look for the lost.
Tell them the news that God loves them and that Jesus Christ has made provision for them to find a fulfilling life. In John 10:10, Jesus calls it “life to the full.” God is actively seeking the lost, and He has sent His Holy Spirit to empower you and me in that same quest.
Here’s the challenge question: When is the last time you deliberately went looking for someone to engage in a conversation with the purpose of sharing Jesus with them as if they opened the door, helped them pray to invite Jesus to come in?
God is looking for intercessors
Ezekiel 22:30: “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.”
This verse of the Scripture occurs in the context of the description of the violence and shaleful perversion and idolatry of the city of Jerusalem. Reading the whole chapter almost turns your stomach but verse 26 provides a kind of summary assessment: “Her princes do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the clean and the unclean…”
God saw the absolute degradation in Jerusalem and Judah and he looked for a person who would step in and build righteousness and stand before him, God, in the gap on behalf of the land so he would not have to destroy it. What was he looking for? He was looking for an intercessor. But he didn’t find anybody. And Jerusalem was destroyed and the people carried away into captivity.
Whether our present society has sunk as low as that, only God is qualified to judge completely, but more and more we see the same kinds of things happening around us in increasing intensity. And the alarm bells really sound when the leaders in society in any segment, be they national, provincial or local, begin to insist that there is no difference between the clean and the unclean. In other words, society begins to say there is no right or wrong except it’s wrong to say something is right and something else is wrong.
The prophet Isaiah laid it out like this:
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. “ ( Isaiah 5.20)
If western society is not there yet, it is getting dangerously close.
So what is God’s response? He is looking for intercessors. God’s heart for the lost is to seek them out, and He is looking for men and women who will pray and seek His face. He wants people to cry out for His mercy on their town, their province, and their nation.
He is looking for intercessors who will support the preaching of God’s Word with earnest prayer. This allows the protective walls of righteousness to be rebuilt, so people may be saved and judgment averted. The Apostle Paul asked for this same support in Ephesians 6:19 when he wrote, “Pray also for me that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel…”
I want to link this point to our first theme: many people who come to Christ had somebody interceding for their soul long before they became believers. I found this to be true in my own life.
I was aware of the evangelist who challenged me, but I was not aware until after I was saved that he had generated prayer for me across the country. He had included a photograph of me—with a circle drawn around me—in the back of a songbook used in tent meetings with the message: “Pray for this young man.”
Nor was I aware until after my conversion that my oldest brother and a Christian colleague at his workplace had agreed to fast their Wednesday lunches to pray for my salvation.
So here’s what I want to urge you to do. Pray for that lost one. Be an intercessor for them. Stand before God on their behalf and pray for their salvation. God is looking for people who will do that.
3. God is looking for worshippers
I have many favorite portions of Scripture. John chapter 4. 1-26 is one of them. This is the account of Jesus’ deliberate journey through Samaria (v4: “Now he had to go through Samaria”) where he comes to the well of Sychar and initiates a conversation with the woman who comes to get water. I get the distinct impression that she was a lost person that he was looking for. The conversation begins with water but it ends up at worship.
After Jesus presents her with facts of her life that he could only know by God revealing them to him, she changes the subject, and there is no better telling of the story than how the Bible tells it: “I can see that you are a prophet,” she says. “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Jesus declared, ‘Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is Spirit and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
She had no response to Jesus’ argument except to say, “ I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us. “ Then Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
This is as direct a revelation of himself that Jesus gave to anybody in his earthly ministry. And this is as clear an explanation of what true worship is that we are going to find anywhere in Scripture.
Four observations:
The Father is looking for a certain kind of worshippers – true worshippers.
True worship is not about a place – not on this mountain or in Jerusalem.
True worship is tied to salvation – “ We know what we worship for salvation is from the Jews “ You see the connection he makes.
True worship is worship in spirit and in truth. That says to me that worship, true worship, is from the heart – that’s the spirit part. The inner person pours out their recognition of the greatness of God, and their adoration of him, with expressions of love loyalty and devotion. It also says to me that true worship is from the head – that’s the truth part. Jesus said, “ I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” True worship has to recognize the indispensability of Christ in our coming to God. “…
We don’t need a mountain; we don’t need a certain city; we don’t need any props or aids or icons. We just need Jesus.
Arni Schmeichel
We need to know him and honor him as Savior and Lord and we need to express that from our hearts in both words and deeds. This daily pursuit of intimacy is much like the healing work of Elisha, where we learn that inviting God into daily life acts as the salt that restores our hearts. It is through this constant invitation that our worship becomes truly alive. This is what God is looking for. That is why God’s heart is for the lost.
What kind of worshiper are you?
Written by Arni
