Click here to listen to this 13-minute message, preached on 3 November 2019.

Anyone who spent a year in Sunday School as a kid will surely remember the story of Zacchaeus – a short-statured tax collector, who climbed a tree to see Jesus passing by (Luke 19:1-10). Here’s the story:

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

⁹ Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

In this message, I explore the mechanisms that led to Zacchaeus’ transformation, emphasising the importance of talking about Jesus. In short, I make three main points:

1. Zacchaeus climbed the tree because he had heard people talking about Jesus: what he had done, including the miracles Jesus had performed, but perhaps more importantly, about the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in the previous chapter (Luke 18:9-14). Had it not been for people talking about Jesus, Zacchaeus would probably never have met Jesus.
2. After Jesus comes into Zacchaeus’ house for tea, people start judging, grumbling, moaning, criticising, etc. They criticised Zacchaeus for being a dishonest tax collector, which was probably true. And they criticised Jesus for hanging about with ‘sinners’, which certainly was true, frequently! In response, Zacchaeus stands up and talks about his faith response to Jesus. He speaks directly to Jesus, not to the critical crowds, and he professes his faith. Jesus responds affirmingly: “This man, too, is a son of Abraham”.
3. Two thousand years later, we are still reading about Zacchaeus! The question for us is: are we talking about Jesus? Are we following in the footsteps of the people of  Zacchaeus’ time and talking about Jesus? Are we following in footsteps of Zacchaeus and talking about our faith in Jesus? Are we, like we imagine Zacchaeus doing after this story, living out our faith, moment by moment, by the way we embody the values of Christ: compassion, inclusivity, justice, human dignity and rights, challenging the abuse of power and pointing to a God of extravagant love?

Zacchaeus in the Sycamore Awaiting the Passage of Jesus (Zachée sur le sycomore attendant le passage de Jésus), by James Tissot (French, 1836-1902), painted 1886-1896. Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, Image: 7 1/8 x 9 15/16 in. (18.1 x 25.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, New York. This image downloaded from https://www.newemangelization.com/meeting-jesus/catholic-mens-daily-devotional-and-bible-study-31st-week-in-ordinary-time-sunday-cycle-c-luke-191-10/