Sermon On Zacchaeus The Tax Collector

He Came Looking For You Too

There is something almost comic about the scene, and Luke seems to know it. A man of considerable wealth and influence, a chief tax collector, is running through the streets of Jericho and climbing a tree because he cannot see over the crowd. Everything about that image cuts against what a man in his position would normally do. You do not run when you have status. You do not climb trees when you have dignity to protect. But Zacchaeus ran, and he climbed, and that detail alone tells you something important is already happening inside him before Jesus ever arrives.

Open your Bible to Luke chapter 19, verses 1 through 10, and follow this story carefully. It is one of the most compressed and complete pictures of grace in all four Gospels.

"He entered Jericho and was passing through. There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, since he was a short man. So running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since he was about to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, come down quickly, because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.' So he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully. All who saw it began to complain, 'He has gone to stay with a sinful man.' But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, 'Look, I'll give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord. And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I'll pay back four times as much.' 'Today salvation has come to this house,' Jesus told him, 'because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.'"

That last sentence is not a footnote. It is the whole point. Keep it in mind as we walk through this story together.

The Man In The Tree

Luke introduces Zacchaeus with three facts: he was a chief tax collector, he was rich, and he wanted to see Jesus. Those three details are loaded with meaning.

In the first century, tax collectors were not simply unpopular. They were considered traitors. They worked for Rome, the occupying power, and they were permitted to collect more than the official rate and keep the surplus. A chief tax collector oversaw other collectors, which meant Zacchaeus had built a small empire on a system that exploited his own neighbors. His wealth was real, but so was the cost of it. He had money and no community. He had a house and no welcome in anyone else's. The crowd that surrounded Jesus that day would have known exactly who Zacchaeus was, and they would have made sure he could not get close.

So he ran ahead and climbed a tree. Luke does not tell us what Zacchaeus was thinking. He does not give us access to the man's inner life. What he does show us is the action, and the action is remarkable. Something about Jesus had gotten through to this man. Maybe he had heard reports. Maybe he knew that Jesus had already called a tax collector named Levi to follow him. Whatever the reason, Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was, and he was willing to look foolish to do it.

That is worth pausing on. The crowd was a barrier, but Zacchaeus found a way around it. He did not give up and go home. He did not decide that Jesus was probably not worth the effort. He climbed a tree. And when you are desperate enough to climb a tree in front of people who already despise you, you have moved past caring what those people think.

There is something in that posture that God honors. Not the tree itself, but the reaching. The willingness to press through whatever is in the way.

The Word That Changed Everything

Now watch what happens next, because this is where the story turns.

Jesus did not pass by. He stopped, looked up, and called Zacchaeus by name. He did not wait for Zacchaeus to confess his sins. He did not require a statement of repentance before extending the invitation. He simply said, come down, because today I must stay at your house.

That word "must" in the original language carries the weight of divine necessity. This was not a casual social call. This was the purpose of the journey. Jesus came to Jericho, passed through the crowd, and stopped at the exact tree where the most notorious outsider in the city had climbed to catch a glimpse. And he called him by name.

Zacchaeus came down quickly and welcomed Jesus joyfully. The joy is significant. This is not the response of a man who is merely surprised by a celebrity. This is the response of a man who has been found. Something in the way Jesus spoke to him, something in being known and called rather than avoided and condemned, produced joy.

The crowd had a different reaction. They began to complain. He has gone to be the guest of a sinful man. And they were not wrong about Zacchaeus being a sinner. They were wrong about what that meant for whether Jesus should go near him.

This is one of the persistent tensions in the Gospels. The people who were most confident in their own standing before God were often the most resistant to Jesus extending grace to those they had written off. The logic of grace offends the logic of merit. If you believe that proximity to God is something you earn, then you will always be troubled when God draws close to someone who has not earned it.

But the gospel does not work that way. The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Not the almost-lost. Not the lost who have already started cleaning themselves up. The lost.

What Grace Produces

Now here is where the story does something unexpected. Zacchaeus does not wait to be told what to do. He stands up and makes a declaration. Half of his possessions to the poor. Anyone he has defrauded, four times the amount back.

The law of Moses required restitution plus one-fifth for certain wrongs. Zacchaeus is committing to four times the amount. This goes far beyond legal obligation. This is the overflow of a changed heart.

And notice the order. Jesus did not say, clean up your finances and then I will come to your house. He went to the house first. The repentance and restitution followed the encounter with Jesus, not the other way around. This is not a man trying to earn his way into grace. This is a man responding to grace that has already arrived.

That sequence matters enormously for how we understand salvation. Zacchaeus did not become worthy of Jesus's attention and then receive it. He received it while he was still the man in the tree, still the chief tax collector, still the one the crowd had pushed to the margins. The grace came first. The transformation followed.

Jesus confirmed it plainly. Today salvation has come to this house. Not, salvation will come once you have made full restitution. Not, salvation is on its way if you follow through. Today. Now. In this moment. Because Zacchaeus too is a son of Abraham.

That phrase, a son of Abraham, is a reclamation. The crowd had effectively written Zacchaeus out of the covenant community. He was a sinner, a collaborator, an outsider. Jesus declared him back in. Not because Zacchaeus had earned his way back, but because the Son of Man had come to seek and to save exactly this kind of person.

The Mission Behind The Moment

Luke places this story just before Jesus enters Jerusalem for the last time. The cross is close. And in that context, the declaration at the end of this passage takes on its full weight. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.

This is the mission statement of the incarnation. Jesus did not come primarily to give moral instruction, though he did that. He did not come primarily to model a way of life, though he did that too. He came to seek and to save. Those are active, costly words. Seeking implies going where the lost are. Saving implies paying a price.

The road from Jericho to Jerusalem was the road to the cross. Jesus was on his way to give his life as a ransom for many. The grace he extended to Zacchaeus that day was not a free-floating kindness. It was purchased at the highest possible cost. The welcome that Zacchaeus received was made possible by what Jesus was walking toward.

This is why the gospel is good news and not merely good advice. It is not telling you to try harder or climb higher. It is telling you that the one you are straining to see has already seen you. He knows your name. He knows what you have done and what has been done to you. And he is not passing by.

What This Means For You Today

If you are in this room today and you feel like the crowd has pushed you to the outside, like your past has disqualified you from anything God would want to do with you, then the story of Zacchaeus is written for you. You are not too far gone. You are not too well-known for your failures. You are not beyond the reach of the one who came to seek and to save the lost.

And if you have already trusted Christ, this story is a reminder of what brought you in. Not your worthiness. Not your religious resume. The seeking of the Son of Man. He came looking for you. He called you by name. And the right response to that grace is the same response Zacchaeus gave: joyful welcome, and a life that begins to look like the transformation is real.

Genuine repentance changes how we live. It changes how we handle money, how we treat people we have wronged, how we hold our possessions. Zacchaeus did not just feel differently. He acted differently. The proof of the encounter was in what happened after Jesus came to his house.

The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. That mission did not end in Jericho. It continues through the proclamation of the gospel, through the gathered church, through every person who carries this story to someone who has climbed a tree just to catch a glimpse.

He came looking for Zacchaeus. He came looking for you. And if you have not yet welcomed him joyfully, today is the day.

Sources Consulted

Bock, Darrell L. Luke 9:51 to 24:53. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Baker Academic, 1996.

Green, Joel B. The Gospel of Luke. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Eerdmans, 1997.

Marshall, I. Howard. The Gospel of Luke. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Eerdmans, 1978.

Garland, David E. Luke. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Zondervan, 2011.

The Holy Bible, Christian Standard Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2017.