Zacchaeus - background
At this stage in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and Jericho is the last big city they pass through on the way. The crowd that’s travelling with him would have had a growing anticipation about what would happen when they got to Jerusalem; that the Romans would be thrown out, that God’s rule and reign would be established, and the kingdom of Israel would, once again, rise to greatness.
We can see that Jesus’ reputation is immense, and expectations are high. We know that crowds follow him, and, as word of him goes ahead of his arrival, crowds line the streets of Jericho, looking to catch a glimpse of him. Perhaps some of them just wanted to witness this moment, but there are likely to have been others that wanted to join him.
This is where Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, enters the scene.
Throughout history, tax collectors have been unpopular and are still today. In Jesus’ time, they were reviled even more as they were seen as collaborators with Rome, and chief tax collectors even more so.
Rome stayed out of the details of collecting taxes; they worked through intermediaries… the tax collectors.
A chief tax collector would bid to take on an area of Israel and agree on a level of tax that they would send to Rome. The chief tax collector would then appoint local tax collectors in the key towns/villages in their area and negotiate with them for the amount of tax they would collect and send to the chief tax collector.
These local tax collectors would take in the money owed by the local people and, after they had taken their cut, pass on the required amount to the chief tax collector. In turn, he would pass on the agreed amount to Rome and keep the difference for himself. That is why the tax collectors were hated, not only because they were the channel for funding the Roman Empire, but also because they were getting rich in the process.
As in most countries, I expect that the wealthy had preferential rates and special relationships with the tax collectors, but the vast majority of the country saw them as Roman lackeys.
Tax collectors were in poor standing with the religious authorities too… We often see the Pharisees bracketing them with ‘sinners’… people they regarded as being out of favour with God. The fact that Jesus included tax collectors among his followers may be one of the reasons that the religious authorities couldn’t believe he was the Messiah.
Understanding why tax collectors were despised also helps us understand the crowd's reaction when Jesus goes to eat at Zacchaeus’ home.
But there is so much we don’t know… What happens over the meal? What prompts Zacchaeus to say what he does at the end? Does he have a long conversation with Jesus? Is he trying to earn Jesus’ approval, or is it just a guilty conscience that makes him want to do right in front of Jesus? If the latter, why would Jesus say, ‘salvation has come to this house’?
As we imagine ourselves in the story, we can perhaps get new insights into these questions.
Before reading on, read the passage from Luke’s Gospel again (Luke 19:1-10)… and then imagine that you have Zacchaeus with you, sharing his story, witnessing directly to what he saw and felt on that day.
As you read through the Bible passage and the story:
Take time to notice how you feel about what you are reading.
Are there things in the story that jar, or resonate with you? Why is that?
How would you react if you put yourself in Zacchaeus’ shoes?
At the end of the story, before moving on to the thoughts and questions for reflection, pause and ask God what he wants you to take from this story.
If you find it helpful, make notes in a journal as you read and pray.
Click the button below when you are ready to move on and read Zacchaeus’ testimony…