On my visits to the Holy Land, we usually stop at this tree, just long enough to take a picture. Some say this sycamore tree in Jericho is over 2,000 years old and could be the one Zacchaeus climbed. You know, the tax collector I mentioned a few days ago.

Normally, Zacchaeus would have been at his desk in his office, ripping people off by imposing high taxes on them. I’ve often wondered what he had heard about Jesus that led him to run ahead of the crowd and climb a tree to get a better view. Seeing a wealthy tax collector sitting in a tree would have been unusual, the kind of thing you take a picture of. When Jesus saw him, He took the liberty of inviting Himself to be a guest at Zacchaeus’s home, which, by the customs of the day, meant He was also expecting a meal. Zacchaeus could have said no, but he didn’t. The people of Jericho could not believe that Jesus would visit such a wicked man.

When their visit ended, Zacchaeus went back to his office, but instead of gouging people for money they couldn’t afford, he started giving them money. First, he gave half of what he had to the poor. Then, he went through his record books and found the ones that had fallen victim to his abusive ways, and he gave them four times as much as he had cheated them out of. 

As I mentioned in that earlier devotion, although he was a Jew, Zacchaeus was hated and viewed as a traitor of his own people. But as Jesus left town, He not only said that salvation had come to Zacchaeus, but He also called him “A son of Abraham.” Zacchaeus had probably been called many things by his neighbors, but not that. His meeting with Jesus produced a dramatic change.

Jesus wants to visit our home. Will we invite Him in?