Zacchaeus

Luke 19:1-10

Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called the Gospel of Luke. Luke loved Jesus and wanted others to know and love Jesus, too. And the word gospel means “good news!”

We begin with a man named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a tax collector. His job was to collect money from everyone in town. 


So, let’s say you have five dollars. Count with me: one, two, three, four, five.


And you owe three dollars for taxes. Count with me: one, two, three.


The problem was, Zacchaeus would take MORE than you owed for taxes. How many do we have left? Two dollars. Zacchaeus would take that, too. So, Zacchaeus would take ALL FIVE of your dollars.


That’s what Zacchaeus did day after day. He took MORE money than he was supposed to and kept it for himself! It was wrong. And it made everyone really mad at Zacchaeus.


But one day, something wonderful happened. Jesus came to town! Everyone was so excited to see Him. Zacchaeus was excited, too. But there was one problem. Zacchaeus was too short to see Jesus over all the people. 


Maybe Zacchaeus could jump and see Jesus? How high can you jump? Not high enough to see Jesus. And Zacchaeus couldn’t jump high enough, either.


If only there was something Zacchaeus could climb to see over all the people. What could Zacchaeus climb? A tree! Yes, Zacchaeus could climb a tree.


Climb, climb, climb! Now Zacchaeus could see Jesus. And Jesus could see Zacchaeus. And when Jesus saw him, Jesus said, “Zacchaeus! Come down right away. I want to go to your house today.” 


But the people thought, “Why would Jesus want to go with HIM? He has made SO many bad choices.”


Let me ask you a question. Do you think there is anything we can do to make Jesus stop loving us? No. Even if we get put in timeout, does Jesus still love us? Yes! Jesus loves us, no matter what. And Jesus loved Zacchaeus even though he had made bad choices. 


Zacchaeus was SO happy that Jesus loved him and was his friend that he gave back all the money he took from the people! Wow! Jesus loved Zacchaeus, and Jesus loves you, too. Jesus loves everyone!






Bible Paraphrase: Do everything in love.  —1 Corinthians 16:14, NIV

Text Truth: Jesus loves people even when they do something wrong.



Family Devotional

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
—Luke 19:5

Zacchaeus was SO happy when Jesus loved him and wanted to be his friend even though he had done something wrong. Jesus loves everyone, even when we do something wrong.

And because Jesus loves everyone, Zacchaeus wanted to love everyone, too. That’s why he gave back all of the money he had taken from the people. It was his way of doing everything in love like it says in the Bible verse we’re learning.

Do everything in love.  —1 Corinthians 16:14, NIV

Jesus loves everyone, even when we do something wrong. So, with your family, make a list of wrong things you have done. Everyone has done wrong things, but Jesus loves everyone, anyway!

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, say, “Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus to love us, even when we do something wrong. When we’ve done things like (read the list your family made), Jesus still loves us. Help us remember that Jesus loves everyone so we can love everyone, too. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

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Some story illustrations are in the Public Doman.

All illustrations are the properties of their respective owners.
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