As Jesus walked into the center of Jericho, "the city of palm trees", the superficial multitudes rejoiced. But he was determined to perform a profound surgery on their spiritually blind eyes that they might see who the Son of David was. He was not only the merciful, mighty Physician; but also the Savior of the sinners, who has mercy on the unholy, and seeks those that are disqualified and rejected by the society.
At the crossroad of the Jordan Valley, in the city of Jericho, there lived a chief tax collector called "Zacchaeus". This man was a deceiver, as all his colleagues, who pressed out the people to extract taxes from them under the command of the occupying authority. They gathered from the people more than the government required, and then they pocketed the excess amount. Yet Zacchaeus’ conscience woke and pricked him. Knowing that all his deceptions enraged God, he wanted to see Jesus who might be able to help him and make his conscience comfortable. As Zacchaeus was short, and unable to see Jesus, for the multitude was crowded and giving no attention to this despised cheater, he ran before, got ahead of Jesus’ procession, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him secretly from a short distance, knowing that the crowds of the procession were certainly to pass that way. The most wonderful thing was that Jesus had already known his heart, his name, and his condition. He looked into his eyes, in the midst of his hidden place among the branches, and called him by name, which was known by all the people of the city as criminal, agent, and robber. Jesus spoke to him a statement which does not appear but in this place of the Holy Bible: "Come down from your hidden place, for today I Son of God, and Son of David must visit you and dine at your house." The word "must" here signifies Jesus’ determination to make clear to the public that he did not only love the good and the godly, but sought first those who were going astray to save them.
As soon as he showed this principle, the self-righteous enraged openly, and hated Christ, for he did not visit any of notable persons in their city, but made his stop at the house of the apostate, traitor, robber, and mercenary tax collector who worked for a foreign oppressor of the Jewish people. Some of them wondered: "Is he looking for riches? Does he not know in his prophetic insight that Zacchaeus is a sinful tax collector?" The situations turned about. They denied Jesus’ sonship to David and his prophethood, and arguments continued in coffeehouses, parks, and houses until midnight during all that week.
Thus Jesus deemed it necessary within himself to deliver the multitudes from superficial zeal, and lead them into the design of his coming. He was willing to meet Zacchaeus who was hungry for peace with God and with men, knowing that Zacchaeus himself had not other chance but that very day on which he met Jesus. So Christ had to go into the house of that despised, and rejected man.
Zacchaeus soon came down from the tree, and opened his house joyfully. He immediately understood Christ’s intent, felt his love poured out on him who was sinful and lost, and thanked him from his innermost being, for he preferred him to the multitudes of the godly, and left them to save him first. With that knowledge and joy, an abiding faith grew up in him that Christ had justified and favored him. This faith immediately ripened in him true fruit and works in love. Zacchaeus knew that he could not hide any lie or robbery in the presence of Christ. Therefore he opened his heart completely to Jesus, separating himself from his false riches, and decided to distribute half of his possessions to the poor of the city, as a due gift, and restore the other half to those who were injured by his deliberate embezzlements. He was also prepared to pay more than commanded by the Law of the Lord (Leviticus 5:16; Exodus 22:1; 22:3-9) Do you have any vessels, furniture, or other things in your house, which you have stolen? Take them out of your house, immediately, in the name of Christ; restore them to their proper owners; and organize your life, for every stolen penny will burn you in the flaming furnace of hell.
Then Jesus said that such courageous works of faith do not make Zacchaeus’ house poor, but really rich. He was delivered from unrighteous mammon, and his heart was filled with the love of God. The Spirit of the Lord dwelt in the believer, who opened his door wide to Jesus and his apostles, complying immediately with the drawing of the Holy Spirit. Such faith saves not only few individuals, but also complete houses and families. Faith enters successively into the whole family: the mother, the children, the servants, the relatives; for the Spirit of God is the purifying and sanctifying power in the world.
The result of the faith that appeared in Zacchaeus was Jesus’ testimony against the complaining multitudes, for he had proved to them the King of God changes the hearts, and makes the sinners righteous that each one of them may pay his dues, and give the poor openly of his riches. Once again, the entire city talked about Jesus, for he had showed them how he made of the corrupt man a respectable son of Abraham, the father of the faithful. Jesus attained the design of his behavior by making the multitudes understand that the Son of Man had come to seek and to save that which was lost. The conversion of Zacchaeus was the greatest interpretation, and explicit expression of this statement.