Luke 19:1-10

One of the most fascinating characters in the Bible is this corrupt businessman Zacchaeus. 

He's unlikely - He's wealthy, and this puts him in rather a small group of Jesus' followers.

Strange, really, that he appears in Luke - Luke tends to be very critical of the rich in general, if one is to look at the book overall.  But as we can see here, that's not the whole story.

Why is it that Jesus chooses to spend time with Zacchaeus?

Firstly, let's examine a little background.  He's a tax collector.  For us, a tax collector is simply a job; perhaps an unpleasant job, but you'd seldom bear anyone any malice for doing it.  But Zacchaeus (called Zac from now on!) was in a different situation.  In the Roman system of the day, tax collectors were private citizens who had put out a tender for how much the province could produce; the best bid won the contract.  Once the contract had been won, the successful bidder had the army placed at his disposal so the money could be extracted, and the tax collector was required to fulfil his bid (whatever means became necessary).  In effect, Zac had become a government-sponsored extortionist.

No wonder he was hated!

So what is it that puts him in the category of people Jesus is interested in hanging out with?

Throughout the book, we see a variety of unfortunate types.  Probably the main feature they all have in common is a deep understanding of their own unworthiness before Jesus.  This is striking simply because it's the difference between (say,) the Pharisee and the tax collector in Jesus' story! 

True, Zacchaeus wasn't in the normal demographic Jesus hung around.  But he was definitely reaching a low point.

How do we know?

Well, the tree is a clue.  He was desperate enough to climb the tree so that he could catch a glimpse of the teacher.  Ever considered how desperate that must be?  He was acting like a fanboy! 

Not surprisingly, this culminated in raised eybrows.  Jesus and Zac were a bit of an odd couple.  The short tax collector and the (probably) tall teacher did't seem to be  a match.

Yet salvation came to Zac's place.  Why?

I think the key to pleasing God is sipmply to show faith in Him.  What you do to show faith depends, but in Zac's case, he was willing to give whatever was asked of him - and then some.