When Jesus got to the tree, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is my day to be a guest in your home.” Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree, hardly believing his good luck, delighted to take Jesus home with him.
(Luke 19:5-6 MSG)
In Luke 19, we’re introduced to Zacchaeus, “the head tax man [who was] quite rich” (v.2). When Jesus entered Jericho, Zacchaeus “desperately wanted to see Him” (v.3). He was so desperate that being the short man that he was, Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see Jesus (v.4)! The Saviour, seeing the man’s yearning, invited Himself over his house. The tax man’s encounter with Jesus transformed him to the point that he declared, “Master, I give away half my income to the poor—and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages” (v.8). Wow!
See, when Jesus is more than enough, everything else sinks into oblivion—social status, money, power, fame. Nothing could fill the void in Zacchaeus’ soul (and ours) except Jesus. That’s why Zacchaeus was able to part with what he thought defined him because in reality, it didn’t; at least not from Heaven’s viewpoint. If anything, his power and wealth had made him an enemy to the Jews rather than a friend (v.7). But the struggle ended for Zacchaeus, and it will end for us too, when Jesus becomes more than enough.
Rising with the Son 