And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. Luke 19:2
What an incredible variety of people we will meet in Heaven! At the top end of the rank scale we will find kings, queens, generals and admirals; at the bottom we will find beggars, slaves and outcasts. At the top of the behaviour scale, we will find leaders of great social reformations and great fortunes to help the needy; at the bottom we will find rebels and rascals of all kinds, troublemakers and nasties. Among the vast multitude will be people from all the trades and occupations, people from every social, racial, and economic group imaginable. But according to Mark 10:25, there is one particular group that will be sparsely represented: the wealthy. The eye of a needle will allow a camel to pass through more readily than the portals of Heaven will admit a rich person. But, we know of one rich man who will be there; his name is Zacchaeus. And he is an interesting character for us to study.
Zacchaeus was not only rich, but he was also influential within his circle of publican friends. He was probably in charge of their work; at the very least he was recognized as their leader. Although despised by the local people, he enjoyed a certain amount of status. He no doubt dressed well, better than most of those around him. So it would have been an astonishing sight for the people to have seen this well-dressed rich man running and attempting to climb a tree. This must have been embarrassing to him, but he did not allow that to stop him from seeing the Lord Jesus. Unlike many of those who tried desperately to meet the Lord Jesus because they wanted to be healed of a disease, Zacchaeus had a different interest. His comments afterward indicates that he had a guilty conscience about his livelihood. This led him to want to meet the One Who could forgive him of his sins. The extent to which he went to see Jesus indicates how desperately he wanted salvation. And he received it.
None of us are as rich as Zacchaeus, and few of us are as short. But we have all experienced the need to have our sins forgiven. We did not climb trees to get a glimpse of the Saviour, but we did become desperate to meet Him when we realized our helplessness before a holy God. And, like Zacchaeus, we have experienced a dramatic change as a result of our encounter with the Lord Jesus. Like Zacchaeus, that encounter has made a change in us that is for the better.
Although he eventually had to leave all of his money behind, Zacchaeus is far richer now than when he encountered the Lord Jesus outside Jericho. And we will get to meet him, and rejoice with him that a rich man did make it to Heaven after all. And he will rejoice with us that poor undeserving sinners will be there too. – Jim MacIntosh