This story in Luke 19:1-10 takes place in Jericho and was the place where wealthy kings and elite rulers chose to build for themselves grand houses, palaces, pools, and entertainment complexes.[i] The main character is a short man named Zacchaeus who is hindered in seeing Jesus by a great crowd that is following Him. In order to resolve his problem, he climbs a sycamore tree and Jesus sees him, calls to him, and initiates an invitation to Zacchaeus’ house. Zacchaeus, by occupation, is not just a tax collector but he is a chief tax collector. Tax collectors were not highly esteemed among Jews because they worked for and served the Roman government and many felt animosity toward them on account of their job. Zacchaeus’ position as chief tax collector meant that he had a larger amount of governance and authority among the people and was in a position in which many would deal shrewdly with the people. Consequently, tax collectors were outcasts in Jewish society. He himself may have a past of stealing from the people or putting others in debt mercilessly.
Jesus is known by this time for sitting with tax collectors, for calling, Matthew, a tax collector to follow Him, and for dealing with insults from the Pharisees on account that he ate with tax collectors rather than the elite religious leaders. Taxes were a subject of debate that the scribes and chief priests sought to question Jesus about and then trap him by his answer in Luke 20:20-26. A wrong answer could possibly have sent the chief tax collector to investigate Jesus further on account that he could be creating an uprising against the king and against the established laws of the land.
Zacchaeus, himself, held a position of authority on account of his occupation and was determined to find a way to see Jesus because again in this situation like in his occupation, the people were not going to work with him in mutual respect so that he could achieve his personal intention which in this case was to see visibly who Jesus was. He wanted to have a physical description of Jesus and be able to identify Him rather than just hear second hand information about Jesus from others. It may not be clear immediately to Jesus (or the reader) if Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus on account of his occupation or on account of a sincere desire to understand Jesus’ teaching.
Zacchaeus was used to dealing with the crowd that showed him disrespect but it seems that he has heard Jesus’ teaching by this time. Perhaps he had been among the tax collectors or had listened to the account of tax collectors who came near to listen to Jesus in Luke 15:1. Perhaps he had been told the parable of the rich man and his manager who simplified the debts of those who owed a large amount of debt in Luke 16:1-9. Maybe he was terrified by the story of the rich man and Lazarus who both died but of whom the rich man went to Hades and was tortured because of the way that he dealt with the poor man Lazarus who was carried to be with Abraham in Luke 16:19-31! If Zacchaeus had heard the story of the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-30, he may have been bothered by Luke 18:24-25 when Jesus says, “How hard is it for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God?” Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
So great an authority had Zacchaeus with his wealth and occupation by this time that just encountering Jesus in Jericho, whether he was from Jericho or not or whether he was itching to see Him on account of his occupation or for personal reasons, -such may have been the anointed time for Zacchaeus to encounter Jesus personally. It would probably not be strange to Zacchaeus to find a man robbed, beaten, and left for dead on the road to Jericho (Luke 10:29-37) and he himself may have been the target of attacks at times since he was a chief tax collector. Moving around the disrespect of the crowd, he does not find a brutal beating with Jesus but instead an earnest plea to hurry down out of the tree to spend private time with him at his own house. Zacchaeus welcomes Jesus into his house at Jesus’ request.
The crowd reacts disrespectfully toward both Jesus and Zacchaeus. Jesus is regarded as bypassing the crowd in favor of being the guest of this particular tax collector and Zacchaeus is regarded not with respect but as a ‘sinner’. His authority is restrained to being applied only to his position as tax collector. Zacchaeus may have seemed somewhat embarrassed by the crowd and by the grumble that surfaces for he gives a humble reply to Jesus that shows his faith and his attention to some of Jesus’ past teachings as Jesus has journeyed toward Jericho on the way to Jerusalem.
Verse 8 describes Zacchaeus as immediately offering half of his possessions to the poor and as willing to pay back anyone he has defrauded by four times the amount. Zacchaeus’ response to Jesus in the face of the crowd was an affirmation of his salvation to Jesus and so Jesus draws attention to the difference in Zacchaeus that the crowd did not understand saying that “Today salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham.” Whether he repented on the spot or before when he heard Jesus’ teaching, he was expressing his willingness to exercise his authority in a greater manner through building a bridge to help the lost poor and those who had been scammed by fraudulent action through his occupation and through his own actions.
The author Luke, draws a conclusion in verse 10 that characterizes Jesus as the Son of Man with the intention and mission to seek out and save the lost. We see this double play back with Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus, a man of authority and wealth, seeks out Jesus, who seeks and saves the lost. Then, he demonstrates, like Jesus, seeking and saving the lost through giving to the poor and paying back those who had been defrauded. By doing this he is receiving God’s salvation, forgiveness of sin, and is participating in the kingdom of God by giving back in reconciliation efforts to those who are poverty stricken and scammed.
Here, we can draw some conclusions about authority from Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus and his salvation coming by the grace of God and resulting in giving back to others. 1) Great authority requires humility among oppressors and humbleness. Zacchaeus, a man of authority, subjects himself to Jesus, the man of authority as seen in his determination and desire to see who Jesus was when he was among a disrespectful crowd and somewhat humiliated. He gave a humble answer revealing he had received salvation despite the coldness of the moment and he would not let the crowd deter him from making that known to Jesus. How determined are you to see and listen to Jesus? In your determination, does your desire to see and listen to Jesus include a welcoming attitude or one of grumbling, when he makes a request of you, such as the invitation to fellowship as he did with Zacchaeus? 2) Submission to God’s authority moves us into using and exercising our own authority in a better way. God gives authority to do greater works in the kingdom of God to those who have by grace received salvation and who humbly listen to and respect the authority of God’s Son. God’s authority moves us out of using our own authority for our advantage and benefit and into using it for His glory and His purposes.
[i] The New Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, I-MA, V.3 (Nashville: Abington Press: 2008), 240.
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