MY dear children, I am going to tell you a story about a very rich man, and as it will not be long, I want you to try and pay great attention. It is not a story that I have made up; you can read it in the Bible, in Luke 19, and you know that what some of you call “Bible Stories” are the best of all, are they not? They are quite true, for they are from the book written by God the Holy Ghost.
Once, a very long time ago, when Jesus was here on this earth, as He was going about with His disciples, He came to a city called Jericho. Someday I should like to tell you a story about Jericho, but it is too long for today, and I must not forget that you are waiting to hear about the rich man. His name was Zacchaeus, and he lived in Jericho. Let me tell you four things that I want you to remember about him. He was chief among the Publicans; he was rich; he was little of stature, and he was a sinner. I will explain to you what these things mean presently. Well Zacchaeus heard that Jesus had come to the town where he lived, and perhaps he thought within himself, “I should like to see this man, called Jesus, about whom all the people are making such a fuss. He is only a carpenter’s son, but He seems to be doing; very wonderful things, so I shall try to get a sight of Him too.”
Now the first thing we know of this loan is, that he was chief among the Publicans. At that time, Jerusalem and Jericho, and all the land of Judea, were under the government of a great empire, called Rome. This often made the Jews very angry, because they knew that they were God’s own people, and that no one had a right to rule over them but God, and yet, strange to say, when He sent His Son to be their King, they refused to have Him.
Zacchaeus was a person appointed by the Romans to collect taxes from the Jews, and he was called a Publican: that means a tax gatherer. The Jews despised the Publicans, not only because they obeyed the Romans, but because they were often unjust, and took more than they ought and sometimes kept it for themselves. Perhaps that was the reason why Zacchaeus was so rich. When Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was passing through Jericho, he began to consider how he could get a sight of Him. Jesus was surrounded, by His disciples and a crowd of people, who were following Him about, and as Zacchaeus was little of stature, that is, a very short man, it would be impossible for him to see over the heads of the people who were crowding around. So I will tell you what he did, and you will say perhaps that it was a very ungentlemanly thing for a rich man to do; but he was so anxious to see Jesus, that he did not care what people thought of him; he ran on before, and he actually climbed up into a thick tree, called a sycamore, which very likely stretched over the road, and where he could see Jesus as much as he wanted, but where he thought Jesus would be very sure not to see him. But it says in one of the Psalms, “Whither shall I flee from Thy presence?” and Zacchaeus could hot hide himself from God. Think how astonished he must have been, when, as Jesus came under the tree, He stopped in the midst of the crowd, and looking up said, “Zacchaeus” (He knew his name you see), make haste, and come, down, for today I must abide at thy house.” And Zacchaeus obeyed exactly. “He made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.”
Think of his delight! he had been trying by his own efforts to get just a sight of Jesus, and here was Jesus noticing him, and coming of His own accord, ready to stay with him, in his own house. Indeed he had good cause to receive Him joyfully. When he went up into the tree the half had not been told him, of all His love and grace, but now he had a chance of finding out all the wonders of this Blessed One for himself. But the people were angry, and said that Jesus was gone to be a guest with a man that is a sinner.
Poor Zacchaeus, he was indeed a sinner! but dear children, don’t you know that that was the very thing that made Jesus love him? because He “came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
But Zacchaeus did not quite understand this yet, and he begins telling the Lord some of his own supposed goodness in giving half of his goods to the poor, and in restoring four times as much for anything he had ever taken unfairly. But Jesus says to him, “This day is salvation come to thy house.” He meant by that that He was giving him something that he did not need to work for. He gave salvation, even Himself, without money and without price, and Jesus goes on to say, “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
It is so beautiful to think of this rich man being saved, because in the chapter before Jesus had been saying, “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God;” and He proves this in the next chapter, for Zacchaeus is the first rich man after this whom we read of as being saved, showing so plainly that God can do hard things. This is the end of my story, but there are one or two little words I want you to remember. What Jesus said to Zacchaeus was, “Make haste, and come down,” and I say to you “Make haste.” You need to be saved just as much as Zacchaeus did, and there is no time to be lost; and you must “come down” too, for perhaps some of you think you can help, even though a very little, towards your salvation; but it is a mistake. Jesus must do it all. He saves lost people and sinners. Dear children, are you lost? If so, come to Jesus. He bore the judgment of sin on the cross, instead of you, and His precious blood cleanses from all sin. Are you cleansed in that precious blood?
ML 10/13/1918