Sycamore tree in the heart of Jericho(Image courtesy of http://upload.wikimedia.org/)
The man named Zacchaeus (Hebrew-Aramaic form: Zakkai) forms a foil to the unnamed "rich young ruler" we read about recently in Luke. The latter was given no name, because he never changed his mind and joined the Christian community, whereas Zacchaeus, whose life the Lord changed so dramatically for the better, did and became a primary source for this incident.
As to the name Zakkai, Richard Bauckham has the following to say, based upon Tal Ilan's studies:
"Many names had different forms and these could sometimes be used to distinguish one bearer of the name from another. For example, Jesus' brother Joseph (Matt 13:55) was evidently known by the abbreviated form Yoses (Mark 6:3) in order to distinguish him within the family from his father Joseph. This is exactly like a modern family within which the father is known as James and the son as Jim. It is possible that other persons known by abbreviated forms of a name were first so called to distinguish them from close relatives of the same name. Perhaps Zacchaeus (Luke 19:2, i.e., Zakkai, the short form of Zachariah) was first so called to distinguish him from his father or an uncle or grandfather called Zachariah" (Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, p. 78).
There is an intriguing possibility that the Zacchaeus whose name the early church historian Eusebius found in a list of 15 leaders of the first generation of Jerusalem church leaders was indeed the man of this story. Although Eusebius names him the fourth bishop of Jerusalem in a sequence of 15, Skarsaune (In the Shadow of the Temple, pp. 195-96) is probably right to interpret the list so as to make him and the eleven others that complete the list an "apostolate" of twelve assistants to one of the first three bishops who head the list: who were James (Jesus' brother), Symeon and Justus.
"If Jesus traveled from Jericho to Bethany on Sunday, he must have spent the last Sabbath before his death in Jericho. This throws light on the story of Zacchaeus. What Jesus says to this tax collector is, 'I must stay at your house today.' The verb 'stay' (Luke 19:5) and the phrase 'He has gone to be the guest of a sinner' (Luke 19:7) imply that Jesus stayed overnight with Zacchaeus. Jesus spent the last Sabbath in humiliation in order to bring salvation and joy to the home of a tax collector. This reinforces the program for ascending to Jerusalem: 'For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost' (Luke 19:10)" (Van Bruggen, Christ on Earth [1998], p. 202).Zacchaeus' promise to repay fourfold was based on Exodus 22:1 (compare Jesus' comment
with Mark 2:13-17).
"According to the Mishnah (M. Arak. viii 4) a man may devote only part of his means to the Temple, and to go further than this was not valid. This passage demonstrates that men were obliged to set a limit to their generosity. It had already been recognized as a precept in the first century AD that it was not permissible to spend more than a fifth of one's means on acts of charity (j. Peah i.I, 15b.23). Zacchaeus the publican was ready to give half his goods to charity, and so to make recompense for fraud (Luke 19.8), and this intention Jesus commended. [Elsewhere in the gospels] The phrase, 'to sell all that he had' (makar kol ma she yesh lo, b. Pes. 49a Bar.) cannot always be taken literally, and the evidence shows how far the demands for charity on a man's means were taken in practice. On the other hand, it was performed to the letter by such a man as R[abbi] Johanan: for the sake of studying the Torah he sold all his material possessions without even retaining enough for the needs of his old age. We must, therefore, consider the possibility that 'to sell all' is not to be taken literally, but is rather a powerful expression for the demands of charity. There is no doubt in this case that such demands played a large part in the teaching of Jesus" (J. Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, pp. 127-28).
Several lessons emerge from this account. Although Zacchaeus had all that anyone in his location and era could want—wealth, influence in society, probably a reputation for orthodoxy and religiosity among the more well-to-do class—he was clearly an unhappy man and was seeking to fill the emptiness in his soul. The measure of his desperation is shown by his willingness to appear ridiculous in order to attract Jesus' attention. His surprise and delight that Jesus "invited himself" to stay the night in Zacchaeus' home. And his eagerness to let Jesus change him from a self-serving, greedy person into a repentant man happy to rid himself of undeserved money and thirsty for the forgiveness of those he had wronged.
Some of us may still find ourselves in Zacchaeus' position. He had a thirst that perhaps others in his neighborhood, city or nation had. But unlike many of them he was willing to risk ridicule in order to slake that thirst in Jesus. Do you?
Others of us may have taken the step to "drink" the forgiveness of God through personal trust in Jesus, but need to examine our lives in this season preceding Passion and Easter. Are we only "respectable" on the outside, but inwardly driven by personal ambitions and acquisitiveness that shoves the needs of others aside? Are we "defrauding" others by ignoring them and failing to take their needs into consideration? Our spouses? Our children? Our parents? Our brothers or sisters? Our fellow church members? Our colleagues at work? How much do we even allow ourselves to see need around us?
If we are in either of these two positions, the story of Zacchaeus shows us the remedy. We need to go to Jesus, seeking his forgiveness and promising with his enablement to change. This kind of change is not an attempt to earn forgiveness and salvation: it is the grateful response of one who has found forgiveness and has drunk deeply of Jesus.
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