Luke 19:10, The Outcasts

In Jericho, there lived two men. One was fantastically wealthy and the other miserably poor. One enjoyed a position of high power in the government and the other sat amid the road-dust kicked up by his betters. The one was feared and hated, the other pitied or scorned. Though separated by a huge social gulf, these two men shared one thing in common: they were both overlooked. And it was with these two men, the tax collector and the beggar, that Jesus had business on the day He travelled through Jericho. This was the Messiah's last journey through that region. In a few days, the enthusiastic crowds that now followed Him would be calling for His blood. Yet Jesus would not take the road to the cross until He had restored the two outcasts in Jericho.

Bartimaeus's cry for the Son of David was drowned out in the commotion of the crowd rushing from Jericho to glimpse the great miracle Worker from Galilee. Heedless to his pleas for help, the multitudes streamed by the blind man begging by the roadside. When they did notice him it was only to angrily hiss, "Silence! The Rabbi has no time for you!" Yet the great Shepherd had come to Jericho listening for the cry of His sheep, and amid the chaotic babble of the multitude, He heard Bartimaeus bleating for help. In perhaps the most tender moment in redemptive history, the Creator God knelt down in the dust before the filthy, shaking beggar, the man no other man had taken time for, and asked, "What would you have Me do for you?"

The following miracle only caused all of Jericho to erupt in ecstasy. Young street urchins ran through the alleyways of the city announcing that Jesus of Nazareth was on His way and had just restored the sight of old Bartimaeus who once begged by the roadside. The crowds pressed hard against the narrow street straining for a glimpse of the powerful Healer.

Trapped within the swarming throng was Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector of the region. A man of pretended dignity, he had no real respect among his fellow Jews. He demanded passage, but when the mob saw the hated and short tax collector trying to shove his way to the front, they both cursed him and laughed at him, deliberately blocking his way. Most men as rich as he would have instantly received a place of honor in any crowd, but Zacchaeus met only with the turned backs of his own people. He had traded his place among his own countrymen for wealth, and nobody was going to step aside to let this sinner see the great Prophet in Israel.

He looked up and saw several young boys dangling from the branches of a nearby sycamore tree. Desperate, Zacchaeus threw aside any pretense of august stateliness and did what no other self-respecting man of stature in Jewish society would do. He knew he would be the mockery of the city for years, yet he hefted himself in a gangly mess into to tree's embrace and clung desperately to the branches groaning under his weight. The scornful barbs from watchers below flew fast and stung him in humiliation. Soon everyone under the tree was hurling insults and making mockery of him. He shouted back angrily, waving a pudgy fist, and nearly tumbled off his branch which only heightened the mirth of the crowd.

Suddenly, the Shepherd was there, standing there beneath the tree, watching His frightened and angry sheep butt against shadows, perilously close to toppling back down the dark ravine of doubt, hurt, and self-consumption. In a soothing tone, He reached for the lamb, calling it with the voice He knew it would recognize: "Zacchaeus, come down. I must stay at your house today."

The mocking crowd hushed in disbelief. The Rabbi had not only spoken to this sinner, this traitor, He would now eat with him? In his home? Surely to darken that door would be instant impurity!

Bounding lamb-like down the tree, Zacchaeus ambled beside the great Prophet with childlike glee. Later at supper, Zachaeus, so filled with rapture and the joy of acceptance, stood impulsively and declared to all that he would give up his swindling ways, pay restoration to all, and distribute half his wealth to the poor. Lover of money though he had been, the tax collector felt nothing but deep satisfaction as he gave up his golden idol.

To the grumbling and disgruntled crowd, the Savior spoke these measured words, which summed up the eventful day: "The Son of man has come to seek and to save the lost." The Shepherd had come to Jericho to bring home the outcasts.