He came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. 2 Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, 3 was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. 5 When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 And he came down quickly and received him with joy. 7 When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”
In biblical times, tax collectors and their collaborators were despised. Some of them were Jews who collected taxes for the Roman Empire that ruled over them. Jewish tax collectors were regarded as renegades and sinners (unclean). They would collect more than was legal and keep what they did not have to remit to Rome. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and a rich man.
Zacchaeus was “short in stature (v. 3).” He displayed childlike qualities (Lk. 18:17) by running ahead and climbing a tree to get a good look at Jesus. Jesus invited himself to stay at Zacchaeus’ house and Zacchaeus immediately offered him hospitality and a meal. The crowd grumbled (Lk. 15:2) because the clean [holy] was going to sit and share a meal with the unclean [unholy] (Lk. 5:30).
Zacchaeus showed Jesus that a moral change had taken place in him by telling Jesus that he would be generous and just in the future. Luke had previously written, “Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He answered them, “Stop collecting more than what is prescribed (Lk 3:12-13).” His actions in the future will be those of one who is seeking the Kingdom of God, not a sinner. Zacchaeus, also a son of Abraham, had a profound and sincere change of life because of Jesus, and consequently, salvation came to his entire household. Jesus makes possible what is humanly impossible (Mk. 10:27). Jesus seeks out the lost and saves them. No one is beyond the saving grace of God. Jesus said, “There will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Lk. 15:10).”
Lord Jesus, you came to proclaim liberty to captives and free the oppressed, to help the blind see, to bring glad tidings to the poor, to let the deaf hear, and the mute speak. In your mercy free your adopted brothers and sisters from slavery to sin. Open our eyes and ears so we can see and hear the truth of your Word, and grant us your salvation.
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.
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