Jesus and Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10, Jonah 3:1-10)
Rev. David Huffman, June 8, 2025Part of the Morning Worship at North Greenville Church series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
This passage is about a man genuinely seeking Jesus, a despised tax collector. Moreover, he was a chief tax collector, often viewed as traitors to their own people. His kind were commonly viewed as sinners and gentiles. However, he had a sincere determination to see Jesus, but almost certainly did not expect to have an audience with Jesus. Jesus was on His way to the cross, yet He was anticipated to be a great ruler who would throw off the Roman yoke. Zacchaeus gets far more than he bargained for from Jesus. Jesus, in fact, sought out Zacchaeus, using his name and also his heart, as He knows all who are seeking Him.
Zacchaeus hurries down and receives Jesus joyfully. They enjoyed intimate fellowship during a meal together. Zacchaeus addressed Jesus as “Lord.” He pledged to make restitution and more to anyone he had defrauded and to aid the poor. He didn’t minimize his sin; he acknowledged his sin honestly. Jesus proclaimed salvation had come to Zacchaeus’ house. Zacchaeus responded to his encounter with the Savior in faith. Faith manifests itself with acts of obedience. Jesus here proclaims His divinity and what He came to do, to seek and to save. What do we learn? Jesus doesn’t isolate Himself from sinners, who are in need for a Savior. So how can we isolate ourselves from sinners? We are to show them compassion. A pastor provided an example for us in the life of Rosaria Butterfield—lesbian and vegetarian. He invited her to a meal.
Eventually she attended his church. He blended kindness with truth, and she became a believer. We must likewise bear kindness and witness to sinners. God has left us in this world; by us our Lord comes to seek the lost.
| Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
|---|---|---|
| « Jesus and the Samaritan Woman | None |
Luke 19:1–10 (Listen)
19:1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
(ESV)
Jonah 3 (Listen)
3:1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
(ESV)