Wee Little Man

Luke 19:9-10

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What do you know about Zacchaeus? Maybe because of a popular children’s song, when you think about Zacchaeus, the only thing you remember is that he was a wee little man. And while that’s true, it’s kind of a bummer because the story of Zacchaeus is not just a children’s story. This is a biblical account about repentance and forgiveness, about Jesus seeking and saving the lost. It’s about what it looks like when a life is lived in thanksgiving for what God has done for us through faith in Jesus.

Now, Zacchaeus was a tax collector, and he was a dishonest one, a sinful man, and he was indeed short. So Zacchaeus hears one day that Jesus is going to be passing through his city of Jericho, and he’s excited about this. And to see over the crowd he climbs a tree. He was absolutely floored when, as Jesus is passing through the town, he singles Zacchaeus out and he says, I’m going to stay at your house. At dinner that night, Jesus tells him this

“Today, salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:9-10)

Zacchaeus is remembered as a short little tax collector, but look at his identity through Jesus. Because where Jesus goes, salvation goes to. And so now, instead of a short little tax collector, Zacchaeus, his real identity, is a forgiven child of God and heir of eternal life.

Now Jesus was passing through Jericho that day on his way to Jerusalem, and he was going there to die. He was walking towards Jerusalem carrying the sins of Zacchaeus. My sin, your sin, in order to pay for it with his life. Jesus, who had no sin of his own, he became sin for us. He sacrificed himself on the cross. He laid down his life as payment for ours. Now, through faith in him, salvation has come to us. The same thing that Jesus says to Zacchaeus. He says to you, salvation has come to your house as well, because your sins have been paid for, you are forgiven. Your identity is that of a forgiven child of God. You are an heir of eternal life.

As we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, remember that this is the source and the reason for our thankfulness. We can go around the table and talk about all of our earthly blessings, every single gift that we’ve been given from our God. But if we are still in our sin, none of those earthly blessings truly matter because none of them last. Everything in this world fades away. So what is the most important thing is a right relationship with our God. And that is what Jesus has given to us. He came to seek and save the lost and that’s us. We were lost in our sin. We were lost in trespasses. We were dead in our sin. But Jesus, through His Word and His sacraments, has found us. And through those means he has given to us this wonderful gift of faith that’s united us to him and has given us new life in him.

Now, in the story of Zacchaeus, we see the impact that this salvation had on him. He says, I’m going to give half of my possessions to the poor. I’m going to repay anyone four times that which I have defrauded them or stolen from them. His thankfulness was a result of the salvation that came to him. The same is true for us. We’ve experienced the same salvation, the same gift from our God, and we cannot help but express that thanksgiving not just in our words, but in lives of faith. Amen.