There was a first-century man named Zacchaeus. Not many people liked him, not even his own people.
The reason not many people liked him was because he decided to spend his life supporting the empire that was oppressing his own people. Zacchaeus was a tax collector, siphoning taxes from his fellow countrymen to support the Roman Empire. And as a “chief” tax collector, Zacchaeus was known for being good at what he did.
But one day Zacchaeus became known for something else.
Jesus was coming through his town. I’ll let Luke tell the story:
“[Zacchaeus] wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way” (Luke 19:3,4).
Have you ever felt like Zacchaeus? Maybe you felt like you were not worthy to be loved or even seen by Jesus, so you just went to get a glance. Maybe your version of “getting a glance” meant trying out a church for the first time or asking a friend about their faith or clicking on an online devotion.
I hope that what happened to Zacchaeus will happen to you. He just wanted a glance of Jesus, but he ended up getting Jesus as his guest. And from that moment on, Zacchaeus’ life was changed forever. (Read Luke 19:1-10 for the full story.)
