Let’s talk about Zaccheus. Luke 19
Behold there was a man named Zaccheus, a chief tax collector, and he was rich. Verse 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was but he couldn’t because he was short; this man could have reminded himself about his height and made it an excuse for not seeing Jesus and looked for another opportunity, but dealt with every barrier. He ran ahead of the crowd to wait in a tree he knew Jesus will pass; maybe he didn’t climb the tree so that he could be noticed, he just wanted to see Jesus. Zaccheus wasn’t ill, or poor or in debt, he didn’t even have any favor to ask of, all he wanted to do was see Jesus. Probably he was saying, “Lord I just want to see you, it’s all I desire, so I will run ahead of whatever is stopping me and I won’t stop until I see you.”
And when Jesus saw him, he said Zaccheus, it is my duty to stay in your house today (Aramaic text). No sermon preached!! This man was a tax collector, a chief for a fact!! The people saw his kind as thieves and criminals. He could possibly have been a tax collector for many many years. But when Jesus saw him, he called him by name. The name Zaccheus means pure, but the man was a dinner as the people termed him. All his life people have called him Zaccheus, but the minute Jesus mentioned his name, something changed. Just like at creation when he looked at the darkness and called light, Jesus looked at this sinner, this impure man and called forth purity. The man heard beyond the name people have been calling him, he heard what Jesus was calling him, pure. And that instant, purity found expression and rose up from within him and he said in verse 8, “Lord, I’ll return all I have taken, I will give to the poor…”salvation found him that day because Jesus called his name.
And just like Zaccheus, he knows us by name; not the name people know you as, not a good for nothing, a liar, a thief, a sinner, or whatever lie the devil has made you call yourself..for Jesus even called Zaccheus a son of Abraham. He knows your name and he doesn’t called you downcast, or a sinner, he calls you his beloved. A quote by Ricardo Sanchez says, God knows your sin, but he calls you by name.
So brethren, will you like Zaccheus take a step forward towards Jesus and respond to the name he calls you?
