A Tax Collector

“Zacchaeus was a wee little man
And a wee little man was he
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see”[1]

         In stature and moral standing, Zacchaeus was, as the classic children’s song says, “A wee little man.” He was an outsider in ways distinct from the typical outsiders we associate with Jesus—the sinners. We find in our Scripture that Jesus associated himself with sinners and tax collectors. In Zacchaeus, we have a chief tax collector. One who would have managed a sizable group of officials who would collect imperial taxes on traded goods. They’d pay the Empire up front and then collect taxes in excess of those payments—sometimes significant excess—to make their living.[2] These payments were then filtered up to the crown and to Zacchaeus himself. At the beginning of Luke’s Gospel, when tax collectors ask John the Baptist what they should do, he admonishes them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you” — implying widespread extortion, or at least the appearance of it.[3] Understandably, tax collectors in first-century Palestine had rotten reputations not too dissimilar from those of the IRS and “Tax Man” today. They were considered by many to be corrupt traitors. They paid fealty to the Romans and traded their people in for a buck. Tax collectors were not only disloyal, but Luke tells us that they were rich. Most likely, their ultimate allegiance, over and above their allegiance to Rome, was to their pocketbooks. The sentiment is echoed throughout the Gospel of Luke, “Woe to you who are rich,” and “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”[4] Indeed, Zacchaeus was a wee little man.

         But Jesus is different; he approaches Zacchaeus with open arms. This behavior, earning the ridicule of the righteous, is not new. Jesus invited outsiders in throughout his ministry, dined with sinners, and welcomed the stranger. The pushed aside are called into the center, where they are listened to, lifted up, and loved. So, we find that this Jesus has a history of eating with tax collectors and even called Matthew, a tax collector, to follow him. Despite the overwhelming social anathema toward tax collectors, Jesus argues that these outsiders are the quintessential lost sheep to be rescued by the Good Shepherd. No one is too lost to be found. No one stands outside the grace of God.

         The story tells us that Zacchaeus could not see. Though inclining himself left and right, Zacchaeus could not peer through the crowd and lie eyes upon the one people called the Son of God. And in this way, he makes a split-second decision not to remain where he is, not to give up and return home. No, Zacchaeus finds an opening through the crowd and runs ahead. Despite the gaze of the crowd following Jesus, he abandons all social conventions just to have a sight of the savior. Imagine a local authority—a sheriff, a mayor, or a judge—perched up in a tree (a tree without a lost cat), peering out over the crowds. This is no idle curiosity: Zacchaeus is avidly, enthusiastically, earnestly seeking after Jesus.[5] And so, he climbs. Knowing that the crowd will follow and block his sight once more. Zacchaeus risks health, dignity, and dress to catch a glimpse of the one who was promised. On the road from Jericho, he climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see.

“And when the Savior passed that way

He looked up in the tree

And said, 'Zacchaeus, you come down!

For I'm going to your house today!

For I'm going to your house today!’”[6]

         In the tree, Zacchaeus manages to catch sight of Jesus—and Jesus, in turn, catches sight of him. Their gaze held, Jesus calls out to Zacchaeus by name, “Zacchaeus, you come down!” In that precious moment of repose, the crowd stands eager, awaiting the judgment of Jesus. Finally, this corrupt tax collector will get his just deserts. Finally, we will get our comeuppance—or so they think. Instead, Jesus invites himself over for an afternoon snack. The crowds expecting Zacchaeus’ judgment, “grumble” and grovel to one another: There he goes again, consorting with and acquiescing to a sinner. The gall! He is not only “just” eating with this tax collector, though that’s bad enough; he’s honoring him by letting him be his host!  Zacchaeus, the pariah in Jericho and a man whose dinner invitation few would accept, has been honored by Jesus. Despite his wealth, Zacchaeus’ unethical behavior has placed him alone, like a dragon sitting atop his stores of gold, detested and abhorred by all. And here’s Jesus, not just accepting an invitation but proposing the visit in the first place!

         We tend to picture Jesus, the Good Shepherd, searching out “lost sheep” who are impoverished, underprivileged, and disinherited—this is true, but only in part. Near the conclusion of his public ministry, Jesus also pursues a “lost sheep” who is rich and purportedly corrupt. A lost sheep who represents and plays a central role oppressive regime of imperial occupation. Jesus does declare, “Woe to you who are rich,” but in this week’s story, he seeks to restore and reconcile the lost to his community. Jesus does say, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God,” but in this week’s story, he facilitates just that: to bring salvation to the rich man, to make the impossible a present possibility. Indeed, with God all things are possible.

“Zacchaeus was a wee little man
But a happy man was he
For he had seen the Lord that day
And a happy man was he;
And a very happy man was he”[7]

         Jesus definitively responds: “Today salvation has come to this house…”[8] Today, the presence of Jesus and the call of salvation is here. The graceful presence of Jesus calls for some of us to change the way we live. Jesus calls us, as Zacchaeus, to change our financial and professional lives, to repent, to pivot, and to become decidedly more generous and just. The graceful presence of Jesus calls for some of us to change the way we view others. Jesus calls us in the crowd to check our assumptions, repent, pivot, to become decidedly more generous and kindhearted. Whether we find ourselves in the crowd or sitting in the sycamore tree, the call of Jesus invites us to reconciliation, renewal, and resurrection.

         Jesus comes, as he puts it, “to seek out and save the lost.”[9] This grace is for all. It is for rich and poor alike to transform hearts, minds, and lives. It is the grace that makes the flock whole again. This may sound like little more than a pipe dream—an impossibility in a fragmented, polarized world so full of hurt, contempt, and disdain—but this is where heaven meets earth, where skepticism meets the miraculous love of God. What is impossible for mortals is possible for God here, now, today! With God all things are possible.

[1] This is the first stanza of the traditional children’s song, “Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man.”

[2] Elizabeth Myer, “A Camel through a Needle: Salt's Commentary for Twenty-First Week after Pentecost,” SALT Project (SALT Project, October 26, 2022), https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2019/10/28/a-camel-through-a-needle-salts-lectionary-commentary-for-twenty-first-week-after-pentecost.

[3] Luke 3:13.

[4] Luke 1:46-55; 18:22.

[5] Myer, “A Camel through a Needle.”

[6] This is the second stanza of the traditional children’s song, “Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man.”

[7] This is the second stanza of the traditional children’s song, “Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man.”

[8] Luke 19:9.

[9] Luke 19:10.