Morning Bible Study: Luke 19:1-10

Jesus Visits Zacchaeus

19:1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 

2 There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 

3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, since he was a short man. 

4 So running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since he was about to pass that way. 

5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.”

6 So he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully. 

7 All who saw it began to complain, “He’s gone to stay with a sinful man.”

8 But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, I’ll give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord. And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I’ll pay back four times as much.”

9 “Today salvation has come to this house,” Jesus told him, “because he too is a son of Abraham. 

10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

Commentary

(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, 1706 -- www.christianity.com)

"Those who sincerely desire a sight of Christ, like Zaccheus, will break through opposition, and take pains to see him. Christ invited himself to Zaccheus' house. Wherever Christ comes he opens the heart, and inclines it to receive him. He that has a mind to know Christ, shall be known of him. Those whom Christ calls, must humble themselves, and come down. We may well receive him joyfully, who brings all good with him. 

Zaccheus gave proofs publicly that he had become a true convert. He does not look to be justified by his works, as the Pharisee; but by his good works he will, through the grace of God, show the sincerity of his faith and repentance. Zaccheus is declared to be a happy man, now he is turned from sin to God. Now that he is saved from his sins, from the guilt of them, from the power of them, all the benefits of salvation are his. 

Christ is to come to his house, and where Christ comes he brings salvation with him. He came into this lost world to seek and to save it. His design was to save, when there was no salvation in any other. He seeks those that sought him not, and asked not for him."