Zacchaeus:
A Reconstructed Life

Luke 19:1-10

When people become Christians, does it really make any difference? It should, because becoming a Christian involves a complete re-shaping of our lives to bring them in line with the pattern that is laid down for us by the Lord Jesus. What the Lord wants for us is consistency between our religious belief system and our daily behaviour. And the hard part of our Christian experience is facing up to the surgery that the Lord wants to perform on our lives and characters to transform us into the image of His Son.

Zacchaeus: a case study in life reconstruction

Case studies are useful in education since they enable us to see an example of someone facing a problem in a similar environment to our own and addressing it.

This case study concerns a man called Zacchaeus, who was:

• a chief tax collector and wealthy (verse 2)
• a traitor, working for the Romans
• a sinner (verse 7): probably because he was a thief (verse 8)
• a short man: he could not see Jesus for the crowd (verse 3)
• a resourceful man: he climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see Jesus (verse 4)

Whether Zacchaeus wanted Jesus to see him or not, Luke does not say, but the Lord stopped and spoke to him. And, not for the first time, the crowd expressed their disapproval of the people with whom the Lord Jesus mixed. What is important, however, is the transformation that came to his life from meeting with Jesus.

The astonishing transformation in Zacchaeus

No hint is given of the conversation between Zacchaeus and the Lord Jesus but there is no doubt that the change was genuine, as the Lord's pronouncement in verse 9 shows. As He says also, in verse 10, this was one man that the Lord went out of His way to seek and to save. There are three ways in which there was a reconstruction job on Zacchaeus.

1. A changed attitude towards money
Before Zacchaeus met the Lord, he seems to have been largely driven by money.

• He was prepared to work for the Roman authorities-a traitor to his people
• The work was well paid and there was the added benefit that he could charge people more than they were actually due, which was common practice
• After his encounter with the Lord Jesus, his attitude changed (verse 8)
• Those who pursue wealth tend to find that it is incompatible with the pursuit of God (see Luke 16:13)
• Paul warns Timothy, in charge of the church at Ephesus, of the dangers of money (1 Timothy 6:9-10) but the striking contrast is in verse 11
• Godliness, with contentment, is great gain (verse 6) but not necessarily financial gain

Instead, it is to be measured in terms of the fulfilment that comes from leading a life that has value-not just for this life, but for all eternity

Like Zacchaeus, Timothy and Paul, we live in a materialistic age, and the world's priorities can make us preoccupied with wealth and consumer goods just like those around us who know nothing of the Lord.

2. A changed attitude towards people
Zacchaeus was an abuser and an exploiter of people. But, after meeting Jesus, his attitude seems to have changed. Zacchaeus reaches out to two groups of people in verse 8:

• Those he had stolen from:
  • Zacchaeus had used his position to take advantage of people who were unable to stand up to him
  • We may not steal directly, but for those of us in positions of responsibility, we have to guard against following the world's ways in the manipulation of people who are in a weaker position than ourselves
    
    
• We need, in contrast, to look out for their best long term interests (see Philippians 2:4):
  • The poor
  • As rich Christians (and those in the West certainly are) we too have an obligation to be generous to those in need. How we deliver on that one has to be worked out carefully, but the obligation is something we cannot hide from

In Galatians 2:10, Peter and John's concern as Paul developed his ministry to the Gentiles was that he should continue to remember the poor, which, Paul says, was the very thing he was eager to do; and it is something we should be eager to do also

3. Taking responsibility for the past
This is one of the hardest things to do. Sometimes the damage that we have caused in the past has repercussions that run on into the present. And they cannot be escaped.

• Those Zacchaeus had cheated had been damaged and recompense had to be made
• Zacchaeus's reconstruction job meant that he was prepared to face up to the consequences of what he had done in the past, even at great personal cost
• When we come to the Lord, we have deliverance from the guilt of the past, but sometimes the consequences of choices we have made live on-we can never get away from them
• What we need, and what we obtain from the Lord, is the grace to face up to the cost of these consequences and to live with it, as Zacchaeus did
  
  
  

Conclusion

In a case study the particulars may not exactly match with our own situation, but we can see quite clearly how the general principles apply. When we encounter the Lord Jesus Christ, major changes result. He puts His hand on the aspects of our character, our behaviour, our priorities that need changing and He does a reconstruction job on them, if we will allow Him to do so.