A Midsummer's Reflection Series

Saturday, June 20, 2026

Meditation 20: Luke 19:5-10

Sunflowers, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Arles, January 1889

The story of Zacchaeus, which is found only in the Gospel of Luke, is rich food for contemplation. In thinking about Christian hospitality, we find several relevant aspects in this passage. Jesus is called “the guest” of Zaccheaus (19:7). One of the most interesting facets to this story of hospitality is that Jesus invited Himself over to be Zacchaeus’ guest! It was Jesus who addressed Zacchaeus, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today” (19:5). 

If it were anyone other than Jesus, we might think, “what presumption!” With Jesus, however, it seems so natural, and we can get a sense of Zacchaeus’ excitement at being singled out for this favor. After all, Zacchaeus “ran on ahead” of the crowd and he “climbed up into a sycamore tree” to “see” Jesus as Jesus “was to pass that way” (19:4). 

Zacchaeus was known to the crowd, and he was known as “a sinner” (19:7). In fact, that Jesus would stay as a guest with such a man caused them “all” to murmur (19:7). Part of the reason for Zacchaeus’ ill-repute almost certainly had to do with the fact that he was not just a tax collector, but a “chief tax collector” (19:2).

The text also points out that he was “rich,” and thus seems to imply—by the close connection between his being a “chief tax collector,” “rich,” and known by “all” as a “sinner”—that Zacchaeus’ wealth was ill-begotten through his tax collecting. Notice Zacchaeus’ response to Jesus’ self-invitation: “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” (19:8). Perhaps some of those murmuring against him were victims of his sins. What an irony, that those murmuring against Jesus for staying with Zacchaeus might actually derive some benefit, some justice, precisely in Jesus singling out this “sinner” for divine favor!  

Jesus explained what had happened in a startling way: “Today salvation has come to this house” (19:9). Jesus’ staying with Zacchaeus, inviting Himself into Zacchaeus’ life, into his very home, became the mechanism of Zacchaeus’ salvation. Jesus likewise explained the reason for his self-invitation: “the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost” (19:10). Thus we should not be surprised that Jesus had the chutzpah to invite Himself over to stay with Zacchaeus; He does not wait to be invited.

The same is true of us. We may or may not have ill-begotten wealth like Zacchaeus. We may or may not be known publicly as sinners, like Zacchaeus. But, like Zacchaeus, we, too, are sinners in need of Jesus, and we will always be in need of Jesus. We need to be like Zacchaeus and take the steps necessary to “see” Jesus—finding our own metaphorical sycamore trees to climb, removing whatever obstacles lie in our way to Jesus. Only thus will we, like Zacchaeus, be able to hear Jesus’ invitation, “make haste . . . for I must stay at your house today.” Welcoming in Jesus, after He has invited Himself to stay with us, will help shed light on what steps we need to take for salvation to come to us today.

Lord, help us remove or go around whatever obstacles lie in our path so that we might see you this day, and every day. We welcome you into our homes, into our lives. We know you are always there waiting for us to let you in. Helps us, today, right now, to greet you with open arms, so that we, too, might experience your saving love. 

Dr. Jeffrey Morrow, Ph.D. is a professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and the Director of the St. Paul Studies Center at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He spent 15 years as a professor of theology at Seton Hall University’s Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. In his final year in that role, Dr. Morrow worked on the Preaching as Hospitality Formation Program, writing these reflections on Scripture through a lens of hospitality. 

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