Lessons from a Publican: Zacchaeus’ Financial Testimony

Political, social, and religious divides in the U.S. are evident everywhere from billboards to social media posts. Ask anyone their source for news, and you gain insight into their personal persuasions by their response.

When Jesus walked the earth two thousand years ago, political, economic, and religious divides were similarly prevalent. Just as we have loaded labels for various persuasions in our culture (Democrat/Republican, pro-life/pro-choice), there are loaded labels in scripture that identify the cultural divides of that day (Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots). In the same manner we navigate with intense feelings our cultural divides, the Jews operated with skeptical resentment of those in opposing factions. In the Gospels, at the top of the broadly-resented list were the tax-collecting publicans.

Publicans served as financial middlemen tasked with collecting tribute from fellow Jews. Tribute was a harsh, targeted tax system that a foreign ruling power demanded of their conquered subjects. When Jesus walked the earth, the publicans collected this tax for Caesar, revealing their acquiesced allegiance to the conquering Roman empire.

The publicans’ collections were many and varied. There was a purchase tax on items bought and sold, like our sales tax; bridge money paid when a bridge was crossed; road money paid when main roads were used; harbor dues paid when a ship entered a harbor; and town dues collected when a traveler entered a walled town. While it was the task of the subordinate, minion publicans to do the actual collections, it was the responsibility of the chief publicans to oversee specific geographical regions.

As publicans collected tribute for Rome, they collected additional tax for themselves and the chief publicans above them, making this a lucrative profession from top to bottom. Today, we call it embezzlement - a white-collar crime. In scripture, “publican” is a loaded label consistently found in negative association with the broadly categorized “and sinners” (i.e. Matt 9:10). All Jews knew publicans were greedy, lying traitors, as they coalesced with the wrong political power playing an active role in an abusive economic system.

Though Chief Publican Zacchaeus is famous for his short stature, his stewardship transformation is even more newsworthy.

When we meet Zacchaeus in Luke 19, Jesus’ earthly ministry was coming to an end. Within days of riding into Jerusalem on what would become known as Palm Sunday, Jesus encountered one of the best-known publicans in scripture.

1 “JESUS ENTERED AND PASSED THROUGH JERICHO.”

With 15 miles to go, the disciples were focused on getting to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, but Jesus did not pass over Jericho. He walked up Main Street, through the center of town.

2 “BEHOLD, THERE WAS A MAN NAMED ZACCHAEUS, WHO WAS THE CHIEF AMONG THE PUBLICANS, AND HE WAS RICH.”

The Hebrew name Zacchaeus means “pure and righteous,” which is fabulously ironic, because as “chief among the publicans,” he was anything but pure and righteous. If you combined a greedy IRS worker with a member of the mafia and put him at the top of a pyramid scheme, you would have Zacchaeus. He was enormously wealthy and anything but “pure and righteous.”

3 “HE SOUGHT TO SEE WHO JESUS WAS, BUT COULD NOT BECAUSE OF THE CROWD, FOR HE WAS OF LITTLE STATURE.”

The fact that Zacchaeus was “a wee little man” was only half the problem. Notice how Luke describes Zacchaeus’s first barrier to seeing Jesus: “because of the crowd.” It was the crowd pressing him back that blocked Zacchaeus from seeing the Savior. The second and less germane issue was his height. Everyone knows how to watch a Christmas parade – short children in the front, tall siblings and parents in the back – and the entire family gets to watch the floats moving down the street. The crowd had the perfect opportunity to push Zacchaeus to the back, on purpose, so he could not see, because they did not want him to see Jesus. After all, they judged, he did not deserve to see Jesus.

4 “SO HE RAN AHEAD AND CLIMBED UP INTO A SYCAMORE TREE TO SEE HIM; FOR HE WAS GOING TO PASS THAT WAY.”

In a culture where dignity and honor were valued, Zacchaeus humbled himself in his effort to catch a glimpse of the savior. There’s no honor in a grown man climbing a tree like paparazzi. He sacrificed his dignity to climb that tree.

5 “WHEN JESUS CAME TO THE PLACE, HE LOOKED UP AND SAW HIM, AND SAID TO HIM, “ZACCHAEUS, MAKE HASTE AND COME DOWN, FOR TODAY I MUST STAY AT YOUR HOUSE.”

At the same time Zacchaeus climbed a tree to see Jesus, Jesus was walking through Jericho looking for this publican. It’s a beautiful picture of the gospel true yet today: If you’re looking for Jesus, He is looking for you too! As Jesus took the initiative to invite Zacchaeus down from the tree, he lifted him up in front of a loathing audience. Was Jesus thinking, “Zacchaeus, my child. Right now, I’m on my way to Calvary for your financial sins. By this time next week, your debts will be paid.”?

6 “SO HE MADE HASTE AND CAME DOWN, AND RECEIVED HIM JOYFULLY.”

It was a profoundly simple act of obedience: Zacchaeus came down from the tree. What a shame when, today, people stay up in the tree, watching Jesus from afar. Oh sure, the Savior is welcome from a distance, but it gets real when He is up close and personal.

7 "WHEN [THE CROWD] SAW IT, THEY ALL COMPLAINED, SAYING, “HE HAS GONE TO BE A GUEST WITH A MAN WHO IS A SINNER.”

The crowd muttered about the guy whose financial sins were public knowledge. Zacchaeus was a sinner with the wrong political allegiance. Though his name meant “pure and righteous,” he was the exact opposite. The crowd knew it, and they were right.

8 “THEN ZACCHAEUS STOOD AND SAID TO THE LORD, “LOOK, LORD! HERE AND NOW I GIVE HALF OF MY GOODS TO THE POOR; AND IF I HAVE TAKEN ANYTHING FROM ANYONE BY FALSE ACCUSATION, I RESTORE FOURFOLD.”

The Old Testament Law gave specific consequences for the publican’s notorious fraud (Leviticus 6:1-6): return what was taken and add a fifth-part to the principal. Zacchaeus, however, offered three times what the law required. He went from embezzlement to embellished giving in one sentence.

9 “TODAY SALVATION HAS COME TO THIS HOUSE, SINCE HE ALSO IS A SON OF ABRAHAM.”

What a difference a day makes! Notice Jesus did not say “salvation will come,” implying Zacchaeus’s salvation was contingent on the actions he would take in the days ahead. No, salvation had already come to this sinner. God’s salvation does not come in response to a changed life. Rather, a changed life comes in response to the free gift of salvation. A complete about-face in financial stewardship was Zacchaeus’s response to the gift of salvation. In our lives, too, money is the mirror reflecting the change that has happened (or has yet to happen) in our lives.

10 “FOR THE SON OF MAN CAME TO SEEK AND TO SAVE THE LOST.”

As the summary verse for the entire Gospel of Luke, we see the publican, a lost and hated traitor among the people, saved by the Messiah. Jesus called the guy with an ugly past and messed up bank account down from a tree and forever into fellowship with Him.

THE LESSONS WE LEARN FROM ZACCHAEUS’S STEWARDSHIP JOURNEY ARE POIGNANT: 1. Jesus rebuked the crowd, not Zacchaeus. The crowd was too busy pressing Zacchaeus to the back: they failed to revere the Messiah standing in front of them. We only know with certainty one sinner’s life forever changed that day. 2. Jesus restored Zacchaeus. The greedy publican exploited the tax system for his personal gain. He committed fraud and embezzled from fellow Jews; he literally got it all wrong with money. Be grateful we serve a God who restores people who get it all wrong with money. Rich or poor, Jesus is not intimidated by our finances or how we manage them. No matter how well, or how poorly, we have stewarded money in the past, Jesus calls us down from the tree and lifts us up knowing full well every financial decision we’ve ever made—the good and the bad. 3. Zacchaeus’s testimony is recorded. He said, “Look, Lord.” “Look, very specifically, at my finances.” He doesn’t make excuses for his bank account. Today, people are apt to say the opposite: “Please don’t look at my finances, Lord.” Many prefer that money never come up, and when it does, that it only come up in vague generalizations. In contrast, the publican’s money mess was quite public. It was common knowledge among the crowd. 4. Zacchaeus responded with money immediately. “Look, Lord, here and now I give.” He didn’t say what we are tempted to say today: “I will give someday;” or “As soon as I can, I will;” or “When I get my financial house in order, then I will…” Zacchaeus went from greedy to giver in a moment. 5. Salvation results in generosity. “Look, Lord, here and now I give half my possessions to the poor.” People have the best of intentions when it comes to living generously. What a powerful testimony when the follow-through matches those intentions.

Maybe all of us need a little more publican in us. Zacchaeus, the chief publican whose past was all wrong with money, received one invitation from Jesus the Christ and proclaimed a powerful testimony: “Look Lord, here and now, I give.”

---

This article was published in our Faithful Steward magazine, a quarterly publication filled with encouraging stories, biblical teaching, and practical tools to help you grow as a wise and joyful giver. If you'd like to begin receiving Faithful Steward, consider becoming a FaithFi partner.