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Gender: Male

Ascendancy/Descendancy: uncertain

Occupation: Chief Tax Collector of Jericho (under the Roman Empire)

Name Meaning: clean, pure

Significance: repentance, forgiveness (of God), seeking the truth

Bible Location: the book of Luke

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Scripture:

"And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.

And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

-Luke 19:1-10

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Character Dissection:

Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was going to be in town and was curious, so because of his short stature, he climbed a sycamore tree to be able to see Him. Now, Zacchaeus was a tax collector. In fact, he was a chief tax collector meaning he was one of the highest of the tax collectors, so basically this man was close to the top of the food chain in his times. With such an abundance of money, he had everything he wanted at the snap of his fingers. This has lead us to wonder, was Zacchaeus really that curious, or was he searching for something more in Jesus?

He was rich, he had everything, but even so nobody really liked him. As a result, we can infer that he possibly had this void inside of him, this emptiness that he was longing to be filled. No matter how much money or how much power he had, something was still missing and deep down he knew that.

That day he found exactly what he was searching for: ... Jesus.

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Personal Connection:

When we examine ourselves for who we truly are, there's a great chance that we are every bit like Zacchaeus. Some of us hold this void of loneliness inside of us that is eating away at our spirits, yet never seriously accept its existence. Some are simply not satisfied with the things of this world, no matter how much we obtain. And without us even realizing it, we are still searching for something to fill in that empty space.

Zacchaeus has taught us that no matter how you feel, you can always find what you're searching for if you are willing to look for it. Or better yet, it will find you, just like Jesus found Zacchaeus. All you have to do is take that one step. Jesus wants to stay with you, to tell you that He loves you and cares about you... And that's just one limb up the tree away.

If you look farther down in the Scripture you'll notice that when Jesus spotted Zacchaeus, He called him out of the tree by his name. Zacchaeus was a sinner... He taxed people out of bounds and gave the money to the Romans, and Jesus knew that. And Jesus knows you. He knows that you're reading this right now and He knows about your sin, whether you keep it hidden or not.

Satan knows your name but calls you by your sin.
Jesus knows your sin but calls you by your name.

Take a look at your "phone"... Is Jesus calling YOU?

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"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost."

God bless!
•BPL🔆