This week we are focusing on another person who was TOUCHED by Jesus in a powerful way. This post seeks to illuminate Jesus' ENCOUNTER with a powerful government leader - a man named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector for the Roman Empire. This ENCOUNTER is found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 19, verses 1-10.

Our ENCOUNTER between Jesus and Zacchaeus occurred in Zacch's home town - Jericho. I wonder what Jesus thought as He entered this city for likely His one-and-only visit, as He traveled to Jerusalem for His final time. Did He remember the story of the Battle of Jericho? Did He think of Rahab, the prostitute (one of his blood relatives in the line of King David), who saved the Jewish spies sent to scope out the defenses of Jericho? Did Jesus think about the profession of Zacchaeus, and how hated he was by all the Jews, because of his alliance with Rome, and his deep-seeded greed and financial abuse of his countrymen? What was on the mind of our Lord, as he ENCOUNTERED this man who, in spite of himself, longed to be TOUCHED by someone who truly accepted him for who he was?

Like the leper in our previous story, and the religious leader from a previous post, Zacch longed to be accepted ... to be included ... to have value that was deeper than the monetary value he placed on everything in his world. But he never imagined that he would be noticed by someone like Jesus of Nazareth. His longings manifested themselves in curiosity, as he climbed that tree to get a look at this healer ... this Savior ... the Messianic figure. And in a crowd of hundreds, if not thousands, Jesus spoke his name, TOUCHING him in a way that had alluded him for most of his life. And that TOUCH ... that ENCOUNTER ... transformed this corrupt government business leader from the inside-out. His perspective on the world changed! His view of himself changed! His view of GOD changed!

That ENCOUNTER with the TOUCH of GOD caused Zacch to realize that he could no longer be the person he had always been. He could no longer treat people the way he had always treated them. He could no longer treat himself in disrespectful ways. Zacchaeus had been healed! But healed of what? He bore no physical illness, no terminal disease. But, like the leper, he had been cleansed and healed. And, like the leper, he could not remain the same. He had to speak with a new voice. He had to live a new kind of life. One that was consistent with the TOUCH he had received.

ENCOUNTER THE WORD

Examine Luke 19:1-10! Meditate on this ENCOUNTER between Jesus and a powerful man, who thought he had all the answers to life and to his needs. Let this story challenge your perceptions of others and yourself.

SOME ENCOUNTER QUESTIONS

• When a coach wants to take his team to the next level, he asks them, "How hungry are you? How bad do you want it?"
• What kind of spiritual appetite do you have? How much do you hunger and thirst for a TOUCH from Jesus?
• What do you think Zacchaeus hungered for that day?
• As full of himself as Zacchaeus was, he discovered that day that he was truly empty on the inside. He was broken and needed to be made whole. He wanted to be filled with something significant ... something meaningful ... something new! How empty are you?
• Consider The Zacchaeus Principle: "The amount of your emptiness determines the amount of your filling!" To make room for the new thing GOD wants to do inside of us, old things must go! It is hard for GOD to bring about something new within our hearts, if we are still crowded inside with old stuff.
• So ... how hungry are you?