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We have concluded our study of the Book of James, and now it is time to move onward.

A while back, the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector, as related in Luke 19:1-10 was the subject of our Evening Sunday School lesson at church, and I was honored with the chance to teach it. Honestly I had not really given much thought to the entire narrative, even though I had read it a lot of times. What I found was that this story has much more depth to it than we sometimes give it. Unfortunately, we have less than a half hour for our Sunday evening Bible lesson, and I didn’t get to cover it like I would have preferred.

So, for the next little bit, we are going to take up this story and poke around it a little bit and see what we can glean from this story in God’s Word.

Luke 19:1-10

And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich . And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

That’s all for today. Homework. Read our passage, and pray and meditate on it. Tomorrow we will begin unpacking it and exploring.