What was it that Jesus saw in Zacchaeus? The crowd saw the chief tax collector, who was a wealthy man and a short man (yes, the text actually says he was short, I checked that it wasn't just something I was told in Sunday School). Maybe they felt angry when they saw him, or maybe they just wanted nothing to do with him.
But Jesus had a different response. He told Zacchaeus, who had climbed the sycamore fig tree so he could see Jesus, that he wanted to come to his house. The crowd wasn't impressed with this at all!
Why did Jesus respond to Zacchaeus in this way? Why did he seek him out? OK, he was the only person up in a tree, but there's got to be more to it than that. I'm sure everyone in the crowd wanted to either ignore him, or throw rocks at him. I'm no theologian, but I wonder whether it was Zacchaeus' heart that Jesus saw. The crowd saw the external stuff. Jesus saw a man who was desperate enough to see Him that he would climb up a tree.
I'd love to see people like Jesus did (and still does). To not look at the externals and the mistakes they've made, but to look at their heart... and to love them because they are someone who is valued by God.
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