Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” 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.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

–Parallel verses:
‭‭Mark‬ ‭10‬:‭24‬-‭27‬
The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Have you ever been faced with a challenge or opportunity that seems impossible to achieve? It might be repairing a broken marriage, or a relationship with children or parents. It might be working through and having a positive attitude amidst significant pain. Or it could involve having so much work to do you literally do not have the time to do it all. Whatever the issue, today’s passages will help you to see things more from Jesus’ perspective.

Zacchaeus was a hated and despised man among the Jews. Not only was he in the direct employ of their captors, the Romans, but he had a lot of power over them. He was likely encouraged by the Romans and incentivized to take as much taxes as he could get away with. He was a man who seemingly got rich off of the hard work of others. Imagine the scene with me when a father comes to pay his taxes, and he thinks he owes $X, but Zacchaeus calculates $4X? This father would have to sell his home, possibly even sell his family into slavery, to pay this tax.

Over time, a worldly man like Zacchaeus would become hardened to his emotions over these things. He likely experienced regret and felt for others at times, but maybe it seemed he was beyond help, his relationships were already so bad with his countrymen there was no hope for repair.
Then one day, he wanted to see this miracle-worker, Jesus!

Enter Jesus (stage right)!
He comes with one main thing on his mind: to seek and to save the lost. What about justice for the people? What about all of the bad things Zacchaeus had done? Why should he recognize him and honor him with his presence? Jesus knew this simple truth (and he believed it to such a complete degree, that it showed up in his thoughts and actions all the time): “All things are possible with God.”

And so today, we don’t need to have a way mapped out or understand a plan to get all of our problems resolved — we just need to seek out and accept the call of the Savior. IT IS THAT SIMPLE. He will guide us just like he guided Zacchaeus!

It was impossible for a hardened, evil man like Zacchaeus to ever even consider doing what he did — giving up his wealth and his proud position and in humility admitting he wronged people. But once he accepted the invitation of Jesus, the Spirit of God changed his heart. God’s Spirit showed him the way to make things right and to love again!

The people in this town were immediately greatly blessed; they received half of his wealth as a result. And he paid back 4X the amount he swindled from them.

So what I take away is that in order to serve well in God’s Kingdom and do his work, I focus first on introducing lost souls to The Savior. Once this is done, God’s Spirit can change their hearts!

Lord, thank you for the story of Zacchaeus! You can accomplish the impossible! The townspeople thought his oppressive stealing would never end, no doubt. Zacchaeus thought he would never experience their love in his lifetime. And you changed it all by reaching out and inviting a sinner into your grace! Teach me to have a heart to reach out and invite the hard-to-love into your grace too!