Have you ever wanted something so badly you were willing to look foolish to get it? How about wanting to get near someone? You’re on vacation and an article on page three of the local paper touts the new in restaurant. Not only for its gourmet food, but as enticing, its frequent celebrity sightings!

Perusing the article, you spot a name—No way, how cool is this…hey babe why don’t we…

Your favorite actor/actress/athlete/author frequents there often. Maybe, just maybe… Better make a reservation right away!

And so it was with Zacchaeus. An independently wealthy tax collector, perhaps an exporter of the notable Balsam resin traded in widely throughout his home town of Jericho. He has heard tell that Jesus would be making His way through His part of town and he just had to see him!

But how? You see He is quite literally, a physically short man, and with the crowds expected he would be easily overshadowed and swallowed up. I know—I’ll take to higher ground! And so he does what people do when we are truly willing to pay whatever the cost to find Jesus, he positioned himself  so not to miss Him. He looked around and saw a sycamore-fig tree, a thick hearty tree, sturdy in branch… this will surely hold my weight, so up he went!

We too must be willing to forsake all to grab hold of Christ.

Listen to how Joseph Campbell says it, “You must give up the life you planned to have the life that is waiting for you.”

Personally, I like to imagine that Zacchaeus had been keeping up with Jesus through all the various stories that had made their way to Jericho via the city travelers and traders. I can see him now, leaning in intently as he listens to one such traveler retelling what he had overheard Peter asking Jesus,

“We have forsaken all, and followed thee. What shall we have, therefore” (Matt.19:27)?

The disciples had just witnessed a rich young ruler walk away from a personal invitation to follow Jesus (Matt.19:22).

This was the first time Peter had heard Jesus make anyone such an offer. He’d heard Him speak to many people certainly, teaching, instructing and rebuking. Yet he couldn’t recollect ever hearing Jesus extend a personal invitation to follow Him outside of the one extended himself and his band of brothers.

Rich? A personal invitation to follow Jesus—not only did Zacchaeus recognize himself in these words, something inside of him stirred at the mere thought of being asked by Jesus to follow Him!

All the talk being spread about Jesus certainly indicated that He was the awaited Messiah, to the Jews that is, and Zacchaeus was proud to be known as Abraham’s son. Even though his own people despised him for his chosen profession of Chief Tax Collector. He too was learned in the Scriptures and the coming of Messiah—Is it possible that this is Him?

After everything He had heard, Zacchaeus set his heart to believe it was. And now He was here… look there, higher ground—I must go up! He could hear the voices of a multitudes in the near distance, and so up he climbed. He had no thought about what people may think of him nor of their snickering at his having to climb a tree to just maybe catch a glimpse of Jesus at all.

All that mattered to Zacchaeus was that He saw Jesus!

So let me ask you, has your heart ever burned the way Zacchaeus’ did to see God?

To catch a glimpse of Him as he passed by?

To hope against hope that He would see you?

Have you ever been so thirsty for just a taste of Him that you ran to a Bible, sat in a service, tuned into a podcast or just dropped to your knees and cried out for relief, for just one sip of the Water of His Word?

If so, you are in the perfect posture to be refreshed, as we will see in moment…

Was he imagining this? He heard a man below him say, “Zacchaeus come down immediately. I must stay at your house today” (Lk.19:5). What? Stay at my house—your talking to me? Now listen to the very next sentence in Scripture, “So he came down at once and welcomed Him gladly” (Lk. 19:6).

Just two weeks ago we saw the Prodigal Son show this same posture of the heart. One remembered the love of his estranged Father, and one has just heard His loving call. Both lives transformed. With Zacchaeus, the Bible said, he came at once and with the Prodigal it states, He got up and went to his Father (Lk.15:18).

Contrast this to the Rich Young ruler who received a Divine invitation to follow Jesus, yet turned and walked away because leaving behind His lifestyle and possessions was too high a cost to pay to follow Jesus (Mat.19:22). There are many in today’s world whom Jesus is calling to follow Him also.

Their answer too often—can I come tomorrow maybe, I just made plans to…tomorrow would be better for me.

I would love to follow you, I’ve heard so much about you, but I can’t leave my job, family, friends—stuff… can I catch up with you later?

His Word says, “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion”(Heb.3:15).

Studies show that the average person makes approximately 35,000 decisions, great and small, daily. But just as Jesus told Martha that her sister Mary had chosen the better portion, (to sit with Him and listen to Him teach instead of continuing to hurry about) we two, when faced with the decision to accept Jesus’ invitation to follow Him, must choose what we will do (Lk.10:42).

And if we choose wisely, we may here as Zacchaeus did, “I must stay at your house”. In other words, I’ll abide in you and you in me, because that is the ONLY way you will ever truly flourish.

Let’s turn back to Zacchaeus…

He’s in the crook of the tree, eyes glued to the approaching crowd. Watch what happened once he met Jesus face to face. The very next leg of his conversation is a declaration of repentance. He openly declares his intentions to live righteously, thus putting on display his repentant heart. Remember we have just seen this self-same heart mirrored to us through the prodigal son.

True repentance. There is no other posture for the heart after having had a genuine encounter with Jesus!

Draw closer, Zacchaeus is inviting us to sit at his table and witness him confess his need for Jesus, “But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount” (Lk. 19:8).

There will always be those who simply follow the crowd merely to be able to tell-tales of their exploits—yes I’m a Christian too, and yes, I was there the day… Today was no different.

But it is the those with a heart like that of Zacchaeus’ that the Lord seeks.

He’s here with me—Jesus himself called me down from the tree, I must, I must…ah yes, a gift.

All this time has passed and still the crowd that followed along remain just outside his opened door—scrutinizing. Jesus doesn’t feel that he has in any way demeaning himself by spending time with this humble, repentant new friend. Quite the contrary in fact, He came specifically to meet Zacchaeus and Zacchaeus had heard Jesus was coming and he immediately postured himself to make certain he didn’t miss out on the opportunity to see and hopefully, be seen by Him.

What are you doing in your life today to make sure that if Jesus were walking around in your neighborhood, you wouldn’t miss Him?

Would you be willing to climb a tree if need be?

How about appear foolish in the eyes of those around you that you may gain Christ?

I’ll leave you with the Words spoken by Jesus to all within earshot that day—These same Words echo still across the generations. And Jesus said to him,“Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk.19:9-10).

A Sheep, A coin, A lost son… the sons of Abraham. Jesus left His Throne in Heaven, wrapped Himself in flesh, and stepped across time and eternity to willingly lay His very life down. But not until that life had been beaten and scourged beyond recognition, until it had been spat upon, betrayed, cursed, and abandoned by those He came to tell—I must stay at your house today.

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Zacchaeus’ answer?

A speedy… whatever it takes!

What will yours be?