Nuggets 59: Longing of a Little Man

  • B. Shelburne
  • Mar 3, 2007
  • Series: Nuggets

The country was buzzing as Jesus walked toward Jerusalem.  Was this the long-awaited Messiah king?  Would he restore David's throne and bring back the golden days?

Zacchaeus heard that Jesus would pass through Jericho.  Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector for the hated Romans.  Tax collectors were famous for overcharging people and pocketing the difference.  "Tax collector" meant crook.  Zacchaeus had no friends except his own kind.

Zacchaeus heard the growing noise of the crowd accompanying Jesus.  He wanted to see Jesus but even on tiptoe he was too short.  He remembered a tree down the street.   He raced to climb it ahead of the crowd.  Why did this official thief have such an interest in Jesus?  Was he among the tax collectors who had heard John the Baptist preach?  If so, was the seed sown in him beginning to germinate?

Zachaeus was a wee little man; a wee little man was he.

He climbed up in the sycamore tree, the Savior for to see.

When Jesus came along that way, he looked up in the tree,

And he said, "Zachaeus, quick, come down, for I'm coming to your house for tea."

Why Zacchaeus out of all that crowd?  Jesus detected a heart ready for repentance.  He always does and comes near.   Jesus sent Philip to the Ethiopian, Peter to Cornelius, Paul to the Macedonian and the Corinthians, all of them hungry for God.  At table Zacchaeus stood up and made a decisive commitment:  "Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor...If I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."  From ripping off to giving away!  There are people all around us tired of sin and looking for a better way.  This 180-degree transformation shows what Jesus can do for the most improbable life.

Luke 19:1-10;  7:34;  3:12,13;  Matthew 5:6;  Acts 14:23;  Revelation 3:18-21;   Acts 8:26-39;  10:1-48;  16:9,10;  18:1,9,10;  Ephesians 4:22-24,28;  2 Corinthians 5:17;  Matthew 9:36;  John 4:35

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Copyright 2007 by G.B. Shelburne, III.  May be freely reproduced or forwarded for non-commercial purposes provided content is unchanged and this copyright notice is included.  These shepherding messages are sent to members and friends of New Beginnings Church (www.nbchurch.com), to students and alumni of South Houston Bible Institute (www.shbi.org), and to other interested persons.

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