Luke 19

The Man Who Climbed A Tree

And he ran on before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him. Luke 19:4.

Today I am going to tell you the story of the man who climbed a tree. The man's name was Zacchaeus, and he lived nearly two thousand years ago in the busy town of Jericho. He was a rich man, but he was not a happy man, and I am going to tell you the reason why he was not happy.

Zacchaeus was a publican, and as such he was very much despised and looked down upon by his fellow- Jews. Perhaps you will ask why a publican was looked down upon, and to understand that you will have to know what a publican was. Judaea was at that time governed by the Romans. The Romans had conquered the country and they wished to tax the people in order to make a little money and pay themselves back for the expenses of governing the land. But they gathered their taxes in what seems to us a very strange way. Instead of paying a man a fixed salary for doing the work, they sold the taxes to those who would buy them. They would say, “We must get a certain amount of money in taxes out of

Jericho. If you like to pay us that sum then you can have the right to collect the taxes from the people and get your money back from them with a little profit for your labor.” The men who bought the right to collect these taxes were called publicans.

Now the publicans were very unpopular for two reasons. The first reason was that they were often unjust. You see they had paid a large sum for the right to collect the taxes, and they wanted to make as much money as they could, so they often imposed very big taxes on the people and exacted more than was their due. And, as a result, they got themselves very much disliked. Not all the publicans were unjust, but a great many were, and the bad ones earned a bad name for their class, so that nobody would trust a publican even if he were a good man. It was very difficult for a publican to be good, just because people supposed that, being a publican, he must be wicked. I daresay Zacchaeus often said to himself, “Well it's no use my trying to be good, for everybody thinks I'm bad.”

But there was another reason why the publicans were disliked, and that was because they were in the service of Rome. The Jews thought it was a very unpatriotic thing that any of their countrymen should serve the conqueror, and they hated and despised the tax-gatherers in consequence.

Zacchaeus was a chief publican that is to say, he had a number of other publicans under him. He had made a lot of money, and he held an important position, but he was not happy. When he walked along the streets people drew away from him as if he were infectious. They classed him with sinners “publicans and sinners” and the priests would hardly allow him to attend the synagogue.

As nobody else would have anything to do with them, the tax-gatherers formed a set of their own. I have no doubt that Zacchaeus had often heard some of his fellow-publicans talk of Jesus, the Man who was friendly to publicans and sinners. Perhaps the disciple Matthew, who had also been a publican, was a friend of Zacchaeus.

One day Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was passing through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. He was very anxious to see this Man who was kind to tax- gatherers, and he hastened to the road along which He was to pass.

Now Jesus was accompanied by a big crowd and Zacchaeus was a very small man, so the boys and girls can guess what happened. You have sometimes stood in a crowd to watch a procession, or to see the King or some other important person, and you know how difficult it is to get a view of anything because of the big people in front of you. Perhaps some kind, thoughtful person has noticed your difficulty and said to those before you, “Will you make room for this little boy or this little girl?” And nobody objected to letting you to the front, because they could easily see over your head.

But no one would make room for Zacchaeus, because he was so much disliked; and the poor little man simply could not see a thing. He craned his head this way and that; he stood on tip-toe, and dodged from one side to the other of those in front of him; but it was no use.

Then a brilliant idea came to him. Some distance along the road stood a large sycamore tree. He would run on ahead and climb that, and so he would get a good view of Christ.

Perhaps some of you think, Well, he would have to be a really good climber to get up a sycamore tree in a hurry! The trunk is so high before you reach the branches, and there is nothing knobbly to get a foothold on. But the Syrian sycamore is not the tree we know by that name. It is really the Egyptian fig tree, and its branches grow low down, and spread far out on every side. It is very often planted by the wayside, and the branches spread out over the road. So you see what a splendid tree it would be from which to get a view.

Well, Zacchaeus ran on ahead and climbed up into this tree. It was not a very dignified thing for a man of his age and position to do, but the publican did not care so long as he could get a glimpse of the Man he had set his heart on seeing. You may imagine how excited he felt as the crowd drew nearer and he was able to distinguish the face of Jesus.

Then all of a sudden Jesus stopped just beneath the tree. He looked up; He spoke; He called Zacchaeus by name! “Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down;

for today I must abide at thy house.” The poor little man could hardly believe his ears. To think that out of all the people in Jericho, Jesus should have chosen him, a publican, to be His host! There were many who would have been pleased to have Him as their guest, but He had asked shelter of a tax-gatherer!

How proud Zacchaeus was to take Jesus home with Him! He had sought a passing glimpse of Christ, and Christ was honoring him with His company. The crowd were scowling now. They were putting their heads together and whispering that Jesus had gone to be the guest of a man that was a sinner. Zacchaeus did not mind their taunts. He had met with Someone who believed in him, and he was the happiest man in Jericho that day.

So Jesus went home with Zacchaeus. He spoke kindly to him, He trusted him, He never once blamed him for the life that he had led. He treated him as if he were a good and honorable man. And Zacchaeus' heart was touched. He knew that he had not always been the man he ought to have been, that he had often been unjust and exacted more than his due. He felt ashamed of himself, for Christ had evidently made a mistake. Jesus was thinking that he was a good man. At last the tax-gatherer could bear it no longer. He must let this Friend know what kind of man he really was. And with the desire to confess everything came the wish to lead a better life, to be worthy of Christ's friendship.

So he stood up and made a clean breast of it. He promised to try and make up for what he had done by giving half his goods to the poor, and restoring fourfold all that he had got by unfair means. This was no boast. It was a humble desire to make up in some small measure for all the wrong that he had done. In promising that he would return four times as much as he had taken wrongfully, Zacchaeus was showing how very black he thought himself, for that was what the Law required of the very worst and lowest kind of thief. The Law was quite satisfied if men like Zacchaeus returned what they had taken and a fifth part more.

How pleased Jesus must have been! You can hear the joy ringing in His voice as He says, “Today is salvation come to this house.... For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Wouldn't you have been proud to be Zacchaeus that day? Wouldn't you have liked to have Jesus staying with you and speaking such kind words to you? Wouldn't you like if Jesus came here today and asked to stay with you? Well Jesus is here today, although we cannot see Him, and He wants to stay with you in the house of your heart. He is saying to you just as He said to Zacchaeus long, long ago, “Today I must abide at thy house.” And if you invite Him in He will make a splendid man, a noble woman, of you; for it is Jesus alone who understands all about us, and who knows how to make the best of the best in us.