There was one man who wanted very much to see Jesus when he heard He was passing through the streets of his city. But great crowds of people were walking close to the Lord Jesus, and the man could not see over them as he was a short man.
Then he thought of a way to do it: he ran ahead of the crowd, and climbed into a sycamore tree by the roadside: that is a tree with low, spreading branches, and from there he would see Jesus as He walked by.
When Jesus came to the tree, He stopped and looked up. Although the little man had never seen Jesus, the Lord Jesus knew him and what he wanted, and He called him by name, telling him to come down and He would go to his house.
That was a happy surprise for this man who had heard so much of Jesus that he wanted to see Him who He was. When he saw Him, heard His voice, and realized Jesus knew his thoughts, he seems to have believed Him to be the promised One and called Him “Lord.” He came down from the tree quickly to take Jesus to his home.
Salvation for a Sinner
But people in the crowd thought the man was not worthy to have Jesus at his house; they said he was a “sinner.” He was chief of the publicans, who were the men to collect the taxes for the Roman nation which then ruled over that land. The Jewish people did not like to have that rule and thought it wrong to collect the tax; some of the men were not honest, and all were disliked.
This man was rich, but he thought of the poor, and if he had taken more tax than he should, when he saw the Lord Jesus he wanted to do right and said, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man [wrongfully], I restore him fourfold.”
Jesus said, “This day is salvation come to this house,” not because the man gave to the poor and wanted to be honest, but because he was “a son of Abraham,” which meant he believed God’s words as Abraham had. The Lord Jesus was Himself the salvation, the One to save the man and his family, because they were lost from God by sins, as all others. Jesus had come to earth to “seek and to save that which was lost.” He looked up into that tree to “seek” the man who wanted to know Him, and would save him and his family.
Some men would have thought it just was not proper to run ahead of the crowd and climb into a tree, and they would have missed seeing the Lord Jesus. There are people now who do not like others to think they want to know the Lord and do not try to come near Him. How much better to be anxious, like the little man, and be made joyful, for the Lord will surely let all know Him who want to.
Further Meditation
1. How did the little man show he had believed in Jesus for who He was?
2. Sometimes fear of what others may think holds us back from eagerly coming to the Lord. Fearing the Lord and fearing man are two radically different things. What does the Bible say about the fear of the Lord or the fear of God?
3. In understanding cultural details such as who the publicans were it would be helpful to have handy a book like Manners and Customs of Bible Lands by F. H. Wight.