Ep. 16 - The One About A Wee Little Man Named Zacchaeus [Luke 19:1-10]

The hated tax collector thought he was hunting Jesus down. Turns out Jesus was the one doing the seeking.

Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree just to catch a glimpse of Jesus passing through Jericho — but when Jesus stopped, looked up, and called him by name, everything changed. In this episode of The Leader Lounge, Young Life leaders Chris and Emily Storms walk through Luke 19:1-10 and one of the most surprising encounters in the Gospels: a hated chief tax collector, a short man in a leafy tree, and a Savior who invites Himself to dinner. Along the way they talk about Jericho's biblical history, why the rich young ruler from the previous chapter makes such a striking contrast, and practical ways to teach this story to kids at club or camp. A perfect listen for youth ministry leaders, parents, and anyone who's ever felt too far gone to be found.

"Zacchaeus thought he was the one looking for Jesus. But really, Jesus was coming to seek him out and to save him."

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

• Why the story of Zacchaeus is only found in Luke's Gospel.
• Jericho's long biblical history — from Joshua's marching band to Jesus passing through.
• Setting the scene like a parade: crowds, a road, and one short man desperate to see.
• Why verse 3 matters — Zacchaeus was seeking to see who Jesus was, not what He could do.
• Context: Jesus healed the blind beggar right before this (Luke 18:35-43).
• What a chief tax collector really was, and why Zacchaeus was hated as a traitor.
• Contrasting Zacchaeus with the rich young ruler — two very different responses to Jesus.
• The interruptible life of Jesus — He always made time for the people who needed Him.
• The sycamore tree's leaves gave Zacchaeus a place to hide, until Jesus looked up.
• Fruit of repentance: radical generosity, restoring fourfold, salvation at his house.
• Luke 19:10 sums up the whole mission of Jesus: "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
• Why being called "a son of Abraham" matters — for Zacchaeus and for us.

FOR YOUTH LEADERS

• Teaching tip: use a visual — a branch, a prop tree, even a chair the speaker climbs — to help kids remember the moment Jesus looked up.
• Great talk question: "What are you risking to see who Jesus is?"
• Pair this story with the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-30) to contrast two responses to Jesus.
• Point out the crowd's reaction ("they all grumbled") as a launch point for talking about being in the world but not of it.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCED
Luke 19:1-10 (Zacchaeus)
Luke 18:18-30 (the rich young ruler)
Luke 18:35-43 (Jesus heals the blind beggar near Jericho)
Joshua 6 (the fall of Jericho)

NEXT WEEK ON THE LOUNGE
Join us next Tuesday as we dig into one of Jesus' most famous parables — the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15.

Note: We provide links to specific resources; this is not an endorsement of the entire website, author, organization, etc. Their views may not represent our's.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This is the Leader Lounge Podcast, a place where we have conversations about scripture and ministry in hopes of helping us all put God's word in our hearts and in our minds so that we can share it with others. And it's risky. I mean, nobody likes him. You know, he if he was with the crowd, nobody would have gotten out of his way probably to let him see Jesus. So he had to kind of take matters into his own hands and say, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna risk something in order to see Jesus. Um and that's a point we can share with people too. Like, what are you risking? Hey everyone, welcome back to the Leader Lounge. We're excited to have you with us. My name is Chris.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

And I'm Emily.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

And what are we doing today, Em?

SPEAKER_00 0:40

We are reading the story of Zacchaeus, which is only in the Luke gospel, right? That's right. Um, so we are gonna be in Luke 19, starting in verse 1.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

If you have a Bible, go grab it.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Yeah, read along with us. Okay, I can start. We're not gonna read the full story, but we're gonna stop and then talk about it. But he entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on the head and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

So this is quite a scene already, right? So what's the town?

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Jericho.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Which has a long history, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

When was the first time you remember Joshua? Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Was it part of the Promised Land?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

And they marched around it so that they could take it over.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

That's a really cool story about. I mean, God basically gave it to them. Yes. Right? I mean, they they marched around it for a week and then blew their trumpets and shouted, and the walls came tumbling. Isn't there a song?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Um, like from Veggie Tales or something.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Uh I have written in my um Bible the word parade because when I teach this story, I like to kind of talk about it like probably being like a parade, like not a not a parade that's um, you know, like we would think of today, but but I do think there was a sense of like this road that Jesus is walking down, and people are kind of gathering in the road. So there's people in the road, there's probably people sitting on the outside of the road too, kind of like how we would imagine a parade. In our family, we used to love parades, right? So I would describe, I can remember one time Molly, who is Emily's little sister, um, we were downtown Orlando, and we went to so many parades that we were downtown, we went to eat pizza, and we were going across the street to the Orlando Arena at the time, or whatever it was called at the time, and there were no tables, so we sat on the curb to eat our pizza before we went across the street to go to whatever we were going to, solar bears game or something. And um, Molly kept looking down the street, and I was like, what is she doing? Like, like she would stand up and look on the street and then come back and sit down, and we realized the only time she had ever sat on the curb of a street was when a parade came by, and so she was looking for the parade.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

It's so cute, it's adorable. I love that it says in verse three he was seeking to see who Jesus was. So he's obviously heard about him, um, but he's never met him before, and it doesn't even say he was seeking to see what Jesus would do, but he just wanted to see who he was. Like they're like, he's like, who's this guy that everyone's talking about? And why is everyone so obsessed with him? Like, who is he? What is he um all about?

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Yeah. I wonder how Zacchaeus knew that Jesus was coming to town. Like, was it announced beforehand? Like, did people come into town saying, Hey, Jesus is coming? Or did he hear people like the murmur of the crowd in the distance and then find out that it was Jesus?

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Like, I just I'm curious about well, right before this, he healed the blind beggar. It says in verse 35, as he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting there. And so he when he healed him, the he the people were already telling everyone, Jesus of Nazareth, Nazareth is passing by in verse 37. But then in verse 43, right before the story of Zacchaeus, um, the man is healed and starts following Jesus, and then all the people are praising God. So I bet a few of them ran into the town and just um there's a lot of instances where people are healed and then people run and go tell people or they go um into town to make sure everybody knows. And so they were probably doing that.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Yeah, I love that. Emily, that is such a good skill, what you just did when we're talking about like understanding scripture. Like, I think a lot of times we just read a story and we don't put it in context. But the fact that you went back and looked at verse 35 and as he drew near Jericho, so yeah, that mood makes sense that there's a big crowd and there's a healing, and so people are probably going crazy like that.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

They're all excited and they're running in.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yeah. Verse 2. So here's something I love to do. And you know, Emily and I are both involved in Young Life ministry and give talks at Young Life and wildlife clubs. And you know, we we usually, when we tell the story, we talk about the fact that Zacchaeus was rich and he was he was rich because he took advantage of people. Um, and he was also a traitor to his countrymen. He was he was Jewish, but he was a chief tax collector, and it says that in verse 2. And so we kind of explain what a tax collector was. And so a tax collector would take money for the Roman Empire, which was, you know, the Jews were occupied by Rome, so they didn't like the Romans to begin with. And now you have a Jewish guy who's like, I'm gonna work with the Romans to take money from my own people, and not only that, I'm gonna take extra money. Yeah, and not only that, he's the chief tax collector. He's not just a tax collector. So apparently there was a hierarchy, and he oversaw other tax collectors. So you can imagine how hated this guy is. I mean, the other thing I'll point out in that verse is he was very rich, right? And so I really like to contrast this story to a story that we did back on episode um eight um about sin. So if you're gonna talk about sin, um one of the stories that I like to use is the rich young ruler, which is actually one chapter back. So in chapter 18 of Luke is the rich young ruler, and it's interesting to have a contrast between the rich young ruler and Zacchaeus and how they respond to Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Because one of them walks away, but Zacchaeus does something very different when he encounters Jesus, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

We've talked about this so much, I feel like, but um even just in verse one, when it says that Jesus was passing through, like he was just walking through Jericho, like he wasn't. I mean, obviously he knew that Zacchaeus would be there and he um was going to meet him, but he was just nothing big that everyone else knew about was gonna happen in Jericho, like that was just on the way to Jerusalem, is where he's eventually heading, right? To for Holy Week.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Um and so he's just passing through, but he Jesus just lived such an interruptible life, like he would be walking and then meet someone in need and stop everything, even if he's in a rush or people think he should be in a rush. Um, he always made time for the people who needed him to actually have conversations with him. It wasn't like, okay, I'll heal you and then bye. Like there was there's been many times that are recorded where it's like he stopped and heard their story, or he stopped and invited them to follow him, uh, which is just so cool.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Yeah. And if we're sharing the, you know, we're sharing Jesus with people, like explaining that he was interruptible and he does care about the little things and the little people. Not no no pun intended with Zacchaeus, but speaking of that, he was little, right? I mean, he was a wee little man. We knew that from from the song, right? He was small in stature, it says. Uh I at this point, if I'm sharing this, I have all of the short kids stand up.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

And I like no, I don't do that. No.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

I think for leaders though, this is a cool, like, you can use not having the short kids stand, but like visuals. Um, I know that when we were at camp, there was a speaker, um, I think I was on honestly, I think I was on work crew, so I didn't get to see many of these talks, but I did see one where the speaker climbed a tree.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Who is that? That just Springer. Yes, climbed a tree to tell this story. And I just think that's the coolest thing ever. And I don't know, if you're a youth leader, that might not be possible for you to do, but even to like bring a branch in or like you can use visuals. I think that's so helpful for kids to see and super fun, also.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Yeah, he uh not only did he climb that tree, that tree had to be built. Like they or they chopped down a tree, brought it inside the club room, and then they had to add on different branches and stabilize it. So the the property, the camp staff, I mean, they worked really hard to make sure that that property staff is the best. Yeah, they're amazing. Shout out to our camp staff. We say camp staff now.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Camp staff, yeah. Okay, yeah. Camp staff is the best.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

So my friend Jose is on staff at Southwind. He says he listens to every podcast, so we'll uh we'll see if he texts us after this, after this one.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Shout out.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

Um, the another thing, so this is so cool because we're only we only read not even five full verses, and we we're there's so much in this, right? So he runs ahead. Okay, so you're picturing this crowd of people walking down the street. He runs ahead, and he it says he climbs up a sycamore tree. Now, I looked up sycamore tree because I've used this talk. Um, I've done it at camp, and I wanted to show kids what a sycamore tree looks like. But if you Google a sycamore tree, which by the way, there is a tree in Jericho today that they say is the tree that he climbed. Well, we don't know that, and I don't know if a tree can last that long or whatever, but there's a fence around it. Um but these trees had were they were full of leaves. So this wasn't a tree like an oak tree or a palm tree or something where people would have been able to see you. He could have hidden kind of in this tree, right? And so a couple things to point out. Number one, um, he really wants to see Jesus and he's willing to do something weird and potentially embarrassing. And it's risky. I mean, nobody likes him. You know, he if he was with the crowd, nobody would have gotten out of his way probably to let him see Jesus. So he had to kind of take matters into his own hands and say, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna risk something in order to see Jesus. Um and that's a point we can share with people too. Like, what are you risking? Like, how are you, you know, to really see who Jesus is? Right? Um, and so he climbs up in this tree. And I think he I mean he he probably just wanted to see Jesus walk by. And then his he was probably in his mind, he was like, All right, I'm gonna climb up this tree, I'm gonna see Jesus walk by, all the people are gonna pass by, and then when they all go by, I'm gonna climb back down and I'm gonna go back to my my chief tax collector job, right? But that's not what happened.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Julie say what happened. You want me to keep reading?

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Okay. All right, starting in verse five. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today. So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled. He has gone to be in he has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold. And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Man, this is such a good story. We we read over it so quickly and we write you know there's a song about it. Zacchaeus was a wee little man, but if you really take time to think about everything, like, okay, so remember what I said a second ago, he probably was waiting for the crowd to go by and then climbed down the tree, right? Can you imagine the horror that he felt? The embarrassment, the just I don't know, put fill in the emotion when Jesus stopped. It says when he came to that place, he looked up, right? So Jesus looks up into the tree. Oh my gosh. What did everybody else do when Jesus looked up into the tree?

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Look up.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Oh my gosh, yes. Oh, to be Zacchaeus, right? In that tree.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Then he calls him by name and tells him to come down. But he does. Which he doesn't say like he hesitates and he's scared and he hides. Like it said he hurries down and received him joyfully.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Yep. He hurried and came down. So his emotions. Well, we don't know, right? And again, we we can't say, but we can say I I bet that it was like if it was me in that tree, here's how I would have felt. And and then when he to hear him say, I wonder if it was when he said his name, you know? And it's well, I had a uh young life leader when I was in high school, his name was Charlie Scott, and um a pioneer in young life. Um started young life here in the state of Florida, and he would read this story and then but he would change the words and then just kind of move on, and then he would be like, actually, it doesn't say that. And then he would go back. But he would what he would do is he would say things like so when he would get to this point, he would say, and he said to him, Zacchaeus, you are a wicked little man. Come down out of that tree right now, and we would all sit there and we'd be like, Oh my gosh. And then and then he'd say, actually, he didn't say that. And then he would say something, and then he'd say, Here's what he actually said, and then he would he would read it, you know, just to kind of prove the point that Jesus didn't respond to Zacchaeus the way the world would have responded to Zacchaeus.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

I wonder, um, my mom and I lead a Bible study for my sister Molly and her friends, and we are going, we are going through Luke in that as well, and we were talking about it, and I had never considered the fact that it wasn't just Jesus and Zacchaeus in like having dinner or having it doesn't even say that, um, staying at his house. Jesus just says, I must stay, um, but he's with a crowd, so he's with all of his disciples. And I feel like when that would happen in other instances in the Bible, the person would receive all of them. And so, again, we don't know that, but it might have been a conversate conversations may have been had with the disciples as well, which I think is so cool because we know that at least one of the disciples, Matthew, um, has a very similar story to Zacchaeus and was a tax collector and then was encountered by Jesus and started following him. And so I just think it's cool to imagine that they may might have gotten a chance to have a conversation and just Matthew share his story and encourage Zacchaeus in that following Jesus is better than the security that came with collecting taxes or the status that he had. And again, no idea if that's true, but his disciples were with Jesus often and usually all the time when traveling. And so they might have had a chance to talk, which is cool to think about.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Yeah, that's good. You can also we look at the crowd as well, it says they all grumbled, right? Um, so while Jesus and probably the disciples, like you say, go to Zacchaeus's house, everybody's mad about it. Like, why is Jesus hanging out with this guy? Um, which says something about evangelism. Like, you know, we're told to be in the world but not of the world. Um, we should be hanging out with sinners. Not that doesn't mean you have to be best friends and and go along with the crowd with people who might lead you in the direction you shouldn't go, but we should be in relationship with people to share the gospel, right? Yeah, I really like where Zacchaeus restores restores everything fourfold based on the law. I'm pretty sure when I was reading through Deuteronomy, and I'm pretty sure that you just have to restitution, you have to return what you have um stolen, right? Um, I I think I I probably should look that up, but um it might be more than that, but it's definitely not fourfold. Like what happened in Zacchaeus's life is there is there's repentance. I I see repent, I mean it's not it doesn't say he repented, but you see fruit of repentance, right? I mean he he stands up and he says, I give half of my goods to the poor, and if I have if I've basically cheated anybody out of anything, I will give it back fourfold. Um and then Jesus says, Salvation has come to this house today. So radical generosity, repentance. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

I love verse 10. I think it is just such a beautiful verse to like really sum up the entire mission of Jesus. He himself says why he came here. It just says, For the Son of Man, Jesus, came to seek and to save the lost. And I love that. It's like Zacchaeus thought he was the one looking for Jesus, and he it even says like he was trying to seek who Jesus was, but really Jesus was coming to seek him out and to save him, which is so beautiful, and that's what he does today, and that's what he allows us to take part in, which is so cool.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Yeah, and to kind of sum up, sum that up, to go back to the last part of verse nine, he says that Zacchaeus is also a son of Abraham, which the whole mission of God, I mean, it started with Abraham when you know, and if you go all the way back to Genesis, and those of us who are not Jewish, who are what would be considered Gentiles, um, we are also adopted into God's family. And Paul talks about that. So we're all, if you're a believer in Jesus, we are all sons, sons and daughters of Abraham and a part of that that family that God established way back in Genesis. Good stuff, Emmy. Anything else before we pray?

SPEAKER_00 18:38

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Awesome. Would you pray for us today?

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Yes. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your compassion and just um the way you truly seek after the lost, and you just have this endless pursuit towards them, and the same that you had towards us when our hearts were lost. And so I pray that we never take that for granted and that we never look at someone and think they're too far gone, but that we just continue having faith and praying um for those around us. And we love you so much, Lord. Amen.