Luke 19:2 “And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.”

Luke 19:3 “And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.”

One of my favourite stories in the Bible is the salvation of Zacchaeus. He’s well known in Christian circles for being the “short guy” that climbed a tree to see Jesus.

There are so many amazing details in this story that are so easy to miss, yet so worth considering!

Like for instance the fact that Zacchaeus’ salvation starts with him trying to see Jesus for “who he was”.

Like most people, Zacchaeus had heard about “Jesus”… but unlike most people, he made every effort to find out who Jesus actually was for himself.

With all the myriad, varied and many false representations of Christ out there these days, as Jesus warned there would be, now is the time more than ever to be in the Bible to know who Jesus is for yourself!

So he had the right idea, but Zacchaeus had problems in seeing Jesus. For one, he was too short! But he’s not alone there, because the Bible teaches that all have sinned, and come “short” of the glory of God. None of us measure up to God!

There’s plenty about us that stops us from seeing Jesus. Yet we all tend to think rather “highly” of ourselves in quite an inflated and deluded sense… yet which only prevents us from seeing Jesus.

But it wasn’t just his own “shortcomings”, Zacchaeus also had a “press” that was preventing him from seeing Jesus… people were getting in his way! Some things never change… just ask people why they aren’t saved and guess who they invariably blame… that’s right… other people!

I totally get it too, because I’ve been severely put off by other people in life myself.. and probably put off people myself as well.

The word “press” adds more detail than you might think too! Think of printing “press” or media “the press” … because there’s almost infinite published Christian material and Christian figures out there who seem qualified and “closer” to Jesus than others… and yet they are only good for getting in the way of people getting saved!

… But Zacchaeus overcame these obstacles! And he did it by climbing a sycamore tree where Jesus was passing through, and it was sitting in that tree where he met Jesus and his life was changed forever.

You may wonder how could that relate to us today… well… more than you think! Because it is still a tree, the cross of Jesus Christ, which was in Christ’s way and must be in our way also… where our eyes can be lifted beyond other people and our own personal shortcomings to finally!! receive true salvation through Christ for ourselves.

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