Zacchaeus broke every social norm and pursued Jesus with all his might
When Jenny and I named our son Zac, many people assumed it was short for Zachary or Zacharias, and that Zac was named after the Old Testament prophet Zechariah or the New Testament priest and father of John the Baptist.
But that wasn’t the case; we actually named him after Zacchaeus. That’s right; the tax collector!
Why would you name your child after a sinful man, who was considered a thief and a traitor? You might wonder. Fair question.
For starters, the name Zacchaeus means ‘pure’, in Hebrew, which Jenny and I thought was a beautiful meaning. But more importantly, the story of Zacchaeus is so much more than the account of a sinner being brought to repentance; it is filled with beautiful revelations of Jesus’ love for us and how His presence changes lives.
Finally, Zacchaeus’ zeal for Jesus, his desire to come as close to Him as he possibly could, is something we prayed God would cultivate in our son’s heart, too.
We can read Zacchaeus’ story in Luke 19, and it is written that:
He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. – Luke 19:3-4 NIV
It might not seem like a big deal–climbing in a tree to see over a crowd–but it was a huge deal.
Zacchaeus was a wealthy man of high standing. And rich men didn’t run, that would be embarrassing, and they definitely wouldn’t climb a tree, that’s something only kids would do!😱
But it seems Zacchaeus didn’t really care about what people would say, or think about him; he had just one goal in mind: to see Jesus. There was something in his heart that stirred him to break every social norm and pursue Jesus with all his might.
I prayed for this same desire to fill my son’s heart when we named him Zac, and I want to pray it over you, too.
Heavenly Father, as we dive into the story this week, I pray that you cultivate the same Zacchaeus-like desperation in the heart to pursue You no matter what. In Jesus’ name, amen.
