TEXT: Luke 19:1-10

My name is Zacchaeus. I am a very rich man. I am also a very short man. Now, that’s not such a hard thing except when I am in a crowd. I have trouble seeing over people, or anything very high. But I want to tell you about a time when being short helped me to meet Jesus.

I had heard a lot about Jesus and His wonderful power. I had heard about the miracles He did and the stories He told. I wanted to see Him.

One day Jesus was going to be coming through my town of Jericho. I went out early so I could get a good place near the front of the crowd. I knew that I would not be able to see over all the people so I needed to arrive before they did. But I wasn’t early enough. A huge crowd of people had gathered there already! They must have been excited to see Jesus, and wanted to be near the front of the crowd too. As I looked around me I noticed a large sycamore tree. It was a little way up the road. I ran to the tree and climbed up onto a branch. I thought it was a pretty clever thing to do because I had a good view of the road from there. The tree had lots of leaves so I was sure no one would see me. But I was wrong!

Before long I heard some people in the crowd saying that Jesus was coming. I peeked through the leaved and, sure enough, there He was.

When He reached the sycamore tree that I was in, He stopped and looked up at me. He said, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down from that tree because today I am going to go to your house.”

I was so surprised! How did Jesus know I was in that tree? How did He know my name? I didn’t stop to question Him. I hurried down from that tree as fast as I could. Jesus was coming to my house!

People all around started to complain. They couldn’t believe that Jesus would come to my house. They did not like me because I was not an honest person.

I didn’t listen to the people. I just stood there next to Jesus and told Him that I had done many wrong things. I had taken money from people, but now I was sorry. I told Jesus I would pay back all that money. In fact, I would even pay four times the amount that I had taken. That meant if I had taken one dollar from someone I would give back four dollars!

Do you know what Jesus did then? He forgave me! And as He talked to me, such a happy feeling came into my heart. I felt so good and clean inside. I still do. I’m very glad that Jesus loves me and has the power to forgive sin.

PARENT’S CORNER