Title: Zacchaeus' Decision
1. The identity of Zacchaeus.
(1) Zacchaeus is a tax collector by profession.
The tax collector has economic wealth. However, they have to live with the stinging eyes of betraying their motherland and fulfilling their own self-interest. At that time, the power of the world was dominated by Rome. So Rome raised a tax collector to collect taxes and used it as an armament. They are tax collectors who are trying to collect more tax on the people of Israel who are struggling on a hunger boat. So, people at the time were very angry. It was a parasite for the nation. He was of high rank and possessed of power and money, but he was truly lonely and lonely. The tax collectors were tax collectors who had a lot of money but were not treated as human beings, and the leader of the group was Zacchaeus.
(2) A person who suffers from remorse of conscience.
He lived without hesitation to get happiness with money. When I actually saved money and became a powerful person, I felt pain instead of happiness. By seeing him tell Jesus about his past, you can see how uncomfortable he was with his conscience. He took the money, but lost his personality. So, in the midst of wealth, they could not stretch their legs and live an uncomfortable life like the shrimp of the Pacific Ocean.
(3) Lonely in the crowd.
Zacchaeus meets many people every day at the tax office. But not a single friend. He is a person who has no one to talk to with his heart while living among people. A person who lives in a prison without bars. The people he meets are for money, not for personal encounters. A man named Kielkegaard said that it is solitude that leads to death. The loneliness he spoke of was not social loneliness, but rather solitude before God. A person who cannot open his/her heart is truly a frustrating person. Zacchaeus doesn't like anyone. No one accepts the money he has as dirty money. Even his home-cooked food was considered profane. If he sees himself while walking in the town, he turns and does not turn his face until he passes by. They are considered more filthy than lepers and more terrifying than tigers and lions.
(4) A person with a physical defect.
Zacchaeus is an old man, but short in stature. Even if you are short, you are not usually short. A dwarf who becomes a decisive weakness. Many people try to cover up their weaknesses. .And he hates showing his weaknesses. Some people are reluctant to go to crowded places because of their weaknesses. Neighborhood kids make fun of it.
2. He was an active thinker.
He is a person who lives with feelings of alienation and guilt. He had a sense of inferiority as a possessor. Therefore, it had the stronghold of a strong self-esteem. However, he lived with a ray of conscience in his heart that he should not live like this. In his loneliness, he began to think about the true path of life. In the midst of this, I heard the news of the gospel about Jesus. Because he is an intellectual, he knows the promises of the Old Testament prophets. And he became attracted to Jesus Christ, who is the teacher of the nation, respected and loved by the crowd, and who shows the way of God's atonement. Zacchaeus is a man who lives in the soil. However, he is Zacchaeus with a conscience and an inner heart that longs for the way to live like a human being. Zacchaeus is a person who has a determination in his heart that I must not live like this, I must not live like a wretch. It is a good thing to use money to gain character, but because of money, I lost my character and thought that it would be okay to become a thousand guinea pigs to the people of the town.
3. The one who crossed the barrier.
Who is without barriers in life? However, the successful person is not the one who does not give up or sit in front of this barrier. who goes beyond it. He hears that Jesus is coming to his town, but the people in the town hate him. When Zacchaeus tried to meet Jesus, the barrier was 1) too many people. It was difficult to hear the voice of Jesus, let alone see Jesus in the forest of people gathered from various places. 2) And he was unusually short. People stand by the roadside and see Jesus passing by, but he is short of stature and cannot be seen. However, he did not back down and came up with a plan. Without hesitation, he climbed up the tree. So it overcame the obstacles of small stature and large crowds. He came down from the tree, Zacchaeus, and I heard that I must rest at your house today.
4. Jesus welcomes Zacchaeus.
The Jews became the object of hatred to the point that they asked not to meet the publican of God when they went on the road in the morning. No, beyond this point, it was the object of hatred. Even sitting in the same seat as a publican, he is a subject of jealousy to the extent that he is called a dirty person. When this Zacchaeus came to Jesus, he welcomed Jesus without condemning him as a bad guy. So Zacchaeus met Jesus
1) They believed that Jesus was their Messiah.
He believed that He was the One who forgave mankind's sins and opened the way to happiness. If anyone comes to Jesus, Jesus welcomes him. It doesn't matter which sinner. And no matter how heavy the burden of sin and the misery in our hearts, the Lord does not reject it.
2) I repented.
He gets up and confesses to the Lord in front of many people. And he announces his decision. He frankly confessed all his sins to Jesus. Jesus told Zacchaeus that today salvation is in this house.
3) A feast was prepared.
Zacchaeus made a great feast. I asked the locals. The joy of having Jesus in my heart is so wonderful and so great that the meaning of giving thanks and welcoming them is in the banquet.
4) A new person I have decided to live a new life.
He promised to use half of his possessions for the sake of his neighbor. He promised to pay back four times the amount of extortion according to the law. This is money by any means. He became a completely new person to Zacchaeus, who was doing money. Among the scoundrels, the scoundrels now know the use of money. It is to use it for the glory of the Lord as a means of love.
5) He became a happy person.
He cleared the past and became a new person. Freed from the pressure of conscience. He was a person who cast off the chains of sin and became a happy person who enjoys happiness as a child of God.
Jesus said, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Even now, the Lord is looking for those who, like Zacchaeus, are not satisfied with possessions, and those who cannot escape from the snare of sin as possessors. He tells me to come to me and find rest. Zacchaeus' face and body were the same, but he became a beautiful temple where Jesus was housed. I became a child of God. The moment that God sent Jesus was fulfilled.