When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.”
Those who despised Zacchaeus labeled him as a “sinner.” He was unwelcome in their community. Our fellowship is so different because it begins with our acknowledgment of being sinners. This opens us up to receive the saving grace of God through Christ. Then we are joined together as a community, not of perfect saints, but of forgiven sinners.
The story of Zacchaeus is a favorite of mine for many reasons. Perhaps of yours, too. When I was a boy, I loved it that Zacchaeus was short, like I was, and that he climbed trees, which was one of my favorite pastimes. I wasn’t a tax collector and I wasn’t rich. But I could relate to Zacchaeus in a way because I was like him.
If you’re familiar with the account of Zacchaeus, you’ll remember that he lived in Jericho, where he collected taxes from folks who lived nearby. The fact that he was wealthy meant he had charged ample handling fees in addition to the basic taxes. This meant Zacchaeus was despised by his neighbors as a sell-out to the Roman government and someone who had taken advantage of them.
But, for some reason, Jesus was interested in Jesus. Because Zacchaeus was short he couldn’t see Jesus pass by because a crowd was in the way. So Zacchaeus climbed a tree to catch a peek of Jesus. When Jesus walked by, he spied Zacchaeus in the tree and called to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5). Zacchaeus was thrilled to welcome Jesus. But his neighbors did not share Zacchaeus’s enthusiasm. They started to grumble, saying, “[Jesus] has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner” (Luke 19:7).
We don’t know exactly the nature of Zacchaeus’s sins, though it’s likely that they included “defrauding” people from whom he was collecting taxes (see Luke 19:8). But the Jewish label “sinner” wasn’t used simply to identify people who did things contrary to the law. It was also a cultural slur, a way of saying that somebody was an outsider, someone who didn’t belong to the community of God’s holy people. Even though Zacchaeus was Jewish, his status as a sinner meant he was effectively cut off from his neighbors. Sinners like Zacchaeus didn’t belong. They weren’t welcome.
Though the rest of the story includes the good news of Zacchaeus’s repentance and Jesus’s announcement that “salvation” came to Zacchaeus’s house that day, I want to reflect a little longer on what it means to be a sinner.
Moreover, being a sinner doesn’t mean exclusion from the community of Christ. Rather, it’s a prerequisite to membership. As Jesus said after his encounter with Zacchaeus, “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). You can replace “lost” with “sinners,” if you wish. Jesus came for sinners. Jesus came to save folks like Zacchaeus, and me, and you.
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