Zacchaeus' Savior

With all we've discussed about the example Zacchaeus sets, it's possible for a person to wrongly conclude that Zacchaeus is the hero of this story—that it is his action, his running, his climbing, his repenting, and his giving that saves him. But Zacchaeus would not want us to make this mistake. He would want us to know that Zacchaeus did not save Zacchaeus. Jesus saved Zacchaeus.

And if we read this story rightly, it is Jesus' action, Jesus' love, Jesus' obedience, and Jesus' initiative that take center stage.

Jesus described his mission in Luke 19:10 when he said, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." You see, Jesus didn't stumble across Zacchaeus. He came looking for him. While Zacchaeus was straining to catch a glimpse of Jesus, the Savior already planned to eat at his home. Zacchaeus couldn't see Jesus, but Jesus knew Zacchaeus by name.

The NIV translates verse 5 this way, "When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up." It doesn't say Jesus saw Zacchaeus and stopped in the spot. No, it wasn't Zacchaeus' tree-climbing that caught his attention. He knew when and where he would call Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus could have been up a tree, down a hole or in the back of the crowd and Jesus would have found him.

And it wasn't Zacchaeus who called Jesus. Jesus stopped when he didn't have to. He called Zacchaeus by name. He invited himself over for dinner. You see, it wasn't Zacchaeus action of giving away his money that saved him. In verse 9 when Jesus said, "Today salvation has come to this house," he was speaking of himself.

Jesus is salvation. It's because he came to Zacchaeus that Zacchaeus was saved and then turned from his past life of sin. The whole of Jericho had written Zacchaeus off. He was outside of God's grace. He was no Jew. He was no Son of Abraham. But Jesus thought otherwise. Zacchaeus and every other sinner is not outside the scope of God's grace and forgiveness—they're merely lost. And Jesus reveals the heart of God when he announces his mission. He came to seek and to save the lost.

It was this mission that took him to Jerusalem. He was going to the Holy City not just to celebrate when God saved his people from Egyptian slavery. He was going to lay down his own life so that the whole world could be freed from the slavery of sin and death.