June Yates-Boykin

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You asked about Zacchaeus?  I’m so glad you did.  I’d love to tell you about him.  Do you want to hear it my deep, methodical, scholarly voice – Zac…A…yus, or my “this is how I really talk” voice – Zac-e-us?  Oh, thank God. 

I remember the first time I ever heard of him.  It was in Sunday School where we learned a little tune about him.  It was a fun song to sing, complete with hand motions. It went something like this:

Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he.
He climbed up in the Sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see.
	And as the Savior passed that way He looked up in the tree... And He said, 
(Put a stern look on your face, point your finger upward and scold Zacchaeus)
	 "Zacchaeus, you come down for I’m going to your house today. 
I’m going to your house today.”

Ah, yeah, we had fun singing that song.  At some point, though, our finger-pointing scolding got changed to an outstretched hand invitation.  That was much better. I know, you asked about Zacchaeus, not my childhood memories. I get so carried away at times.

Anyway, that little song sparked my curiosity, so I decided to find out just who this “wee little man” was.  The Bible doesn’t say too awful much about him, just tells a short little story – no pun intended – about his encounter with Christ.  But let me tell you something, there’s like a gazillion life lessons in Zacchaeus’ story.  Lessons we really need.

I can’t cover them all today, of course, so I’ll begin at the beginning.  Zacchaeus was indeed extremely short, but he was powerful.  He was a chief publican (tax collector, that is).  Extremely rich from distortion – oops!  I meant extortion.  Come to think about it, his life view was distorted so maybe both words fit.  Yep, he’d cheat those common folk out of every penny.  Added some taxes of his own to supplement his already high collectors’ commission. He likely didn’t do too much of the actual collecting.  He had cronies for that.  He was a chief thief.

Being so very short, but also being so very powerful, I wouldn’t doubt that he suffered severely from “short man’s syndrome.”  You know what I mean, like Napoleon and like a judge I once worked with.  They walk around like they’re all that.  They think they are God and the whole world is supposed to bow down at their feet.

That’s the kind of guy old Zacchaeus was.  Yep.  Needless to say, he didn’t have too many friends.  He probably had to wash more spit out of his clothes at night than an auto mechanic has to wash out grease.  He was a hated man.

Well, his curiosity got the best of him one day.  He kept hearing about this kind, loving, miracle-working, straight-talking prophet in town.  Jesus was his name.  Supposedly a very tall man, go figure.  One who was kind and gentle – yet blunt and bold.  The people were following this man in multitudes.   Zacchaeus was not about to be left out.  He had to find out about this Jesus person for himself.

Only, the crowd wouldn’t let him through.  They weren’t going to help him out one bit.  He knew he would never make it through the mob, and he couldn’t see anything but backs and belts and baskets on heads.  He was just too short.

Then he got an idea.  He would climb high enough up in one of the Sycamore trees so that he could see.  From there, he would have a bird’s eye view, if you know what I mean.

Now you have to understand something, climbing trees was for children.  To be forced to climb a tree like a little kid just so he could see was quite a blow to Zacchaeus’ ego, which was likely too big to fit in his little head.  But Zacchaeus surprised everybody.  He swallowed his pride and climbed that tree.

It wasn’t easy for him either.  He wasn’t as young and agile as he used to be.  And let’s face it, folks; those clothes the men wore were not at all conducive to tree climbing.  He scraped himself up a couple of times, almost fell trying to reach the higher branches, His dress…uh…robe got caught on tree branch and yep, you guessed it, huge hole.  On top of that he had to endure the people below laughing at him and making fun.

“Look at the little guy, now!  Yeah, the one who thinks himself so big is not so big after all!”  Oh, they hated Zacchaeus.  They loved seeing him disgrace himself.

But he didn’t care.  He wanted to see Jesus.  So, up he went!

And here’s the thing: It paid off.  Jesus was moved by Zacchaeus’ willingness to humble himself and endure the difficulties of tree climbing just to see Him.  He was so moved, that He gave that mean old, cheating, stealing publican His full attention and a private meeting.  Jesus called Zacchaeus down out of that tree and went home with him for dinner!  Can you believe it?

Zacchaeus was a changed man after that.  He repented of his sins, accepted Jesus as Lord, and offered to repay with interest all the money he had swindled out of the people.  Amazing, the affect that Jesus can have in a life.

Like I said, there’s a lot more we can learn from Zacchaeus’ little adventure that day, but I don’t have time to hang around and chat further.  If you want to read his story for yourself, you’ll find it in Luke 19:1-10.  For now, just make sure you get this part:

If we really want an encounter with our Savior, we have to be willing to swallow our pride and climb a tree.  In other words, to humble ourselves and do whatever it takes, including getting mocked and scraped and bruised along the way or ripping holes in our favorite clothes.  That’s a heart that wants to see Him, and that’s a heart He will respond to with special attention.

©2014, 2023

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