Acceptance Transformed Despised Tax Chief's Heart
Daily Scripture
Luke 19:1-10
1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through town. 2 A man there named Zacchaeus, a ruler among tax collectors, was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but, being a short man, he couldn’t because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to that spot, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down at once. I must stay in your home today.” 6 So Zacchaeus came down at once, happy to welcome Jesus.
7 Everyone who saw this grumbled, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this household because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 The Human One [or Son of Man] came to seek and save the lost.”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
As a chief tax collector, Zacchaeus likely would have overseen a network of collectors like Matthew. * They both represented everything their neighbors hated—they collaborated with Roman occupiers and grew rich by overcharging their own people. Something about Jesus drew Zacchaeus to climb a tree just to catch a glimpse. Jesus didn’t lecture or condemn him. He simply showed acceptance by inviting himself to Zacchaeus’ home. This radical acceptance transformed Zacchaeus so deeply that he voluntarily pledged to give away half his wealth and repay anyone he had cheated four times over. Through this encounter, Luke showed that Jesus’ love could reach and change even those society had written off as hopeless. The transformative power of acceptance remains just as potent today.
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Jesus chose to publicly reach out to Zacchaeus despite knowing it would draw criticism from the crowd. (After all, Matthew was almost certainly there with Jesus.) Jesus’ acceptance came before Zacchaeus promised any kind of change—Jesus simply said, “I must stay at your house today.” This unconditional welcome sparked a dramatic transformation in Zacchaeus’ heart and actions. When have you experienced the transforming power of being accepted just as you are? How might you extend that same kind of acceptance to others? Zacchaeus’ response to Jesus’ acceptance was both immediate and concrete. He pledged specific actions to address the ways he had wronged others. His transformation wasn’t just emotional or spiritual. It led to practical changes in how he handled money and relationships. What specific actions show (or could show) that your encounter with Jesus’ love is changing how you live? What concrete steps have you taken or could you take to make things right with others?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you’ve invited yourself to my heart and my house in Revelation 3:20: “I’m standing at the door and knocking. If any hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to be with them.” I open that door to you today—come in and do your transforming work in me. Amen.
GPS Insights
Ashley Morgan Kirk
(Apologies for any confusion. We needed to put our e-mail "to bed" just before Ashley's Insights blog arrived last night, thanks to her outstanding involvement in Resurrection's "Beloved" women's conference. We're grateful for her faithfulness in writing this excellent blog late at night.)
Rev. Ashley Morgan Kirk serves as the Online Community Pastor at Resurrection. After seven years of higher ed in religion, she finally understands that she can't figure out God (no matter how hard she tries). She’s leaning into the challenge to move from a solely thinking-based faith to loving God with her head, heart, and hands.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* “The person who promised to collect most, and who knew and bribed the right people, would then hire others to collect more than he had promised to submit. The people he hired would have a quota to meet, and whatever they collected above that would be their profit. Zacchaeus, ‘a ruler among tax collectors’ (Luke 19:2), may have been an example of a person near the top of this unjust system, while Levi (Luke 5:27) was a low-level tax collector.” (Richard B. Vinson, sidebar “Tax Collectors” in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 112 NT).
