Climb the Tree

Context

Zacchaeus is the man in Jericho everyone has a reason to hate. He's the chief tax collector — the regional director of the IRS, except he works for Rome and skims off the top of every deal that moves through one of the richest cities around.

He's rich. He's also short. Both of those facts are about to matter, because word gets around that Jesus is passing through.

Story

The streets are packed. Zacchaeus wants a look too, but he can't see over anybody, and nobody is letting the tax guy push to the front. So this grown, wealthy man sprints ahead in his nice robes and scrambles up a sycamore tree like a kid trying to see a fire truck.

Jesus walks up. Stops directly under the branch. Looks up.

"Zacchaeus. Come down. I'm staying at your house today."

He says the name. He already knew it. The crowd loses it — these are the people Zacchaeus robbed. But Zacchaeus doesn't defend himself. He climbs down and announces, right out loud, that he's giving half of everything to the poor and paying back anyone he cheated four times over.

He didn't get a sermon first. He got seen.

What We Learn

Zacchaeus didn't climb that tree because he had it figured out. He climbed it because he was curious, and small, and he stopped caring who saw him being ridiculous.

Getting found isn't a reward for getting your life together. It's what happens when you stop pretending you don't need to be found.