In this passage of scripture is a story that you are probably familiar with that has a song for children that goes like this: Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he, He climbed way up in a sycamore tree, For the Lord he wanted to see…
While that song teaches this story to young children this story occupies an important place in Luke’s account of Jesus’ life because it is Jesus’ last recorded personal encounter with an individual before his arrival in Jerusalem and the events that will lead to his death. This story has an important thread and the main part of the story is in Luke 19. But before we get to main part of the story there are a couple of background stories that will help us fill in this encounter that Jesus has with this tax collector named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus’ story is preceded by the story of the rich ruler where Jesus states that it is humanly impossible to enter into the kingdom of God.

In fact, Jesus said,
Luke 18 25 “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God”.
Right before that passage is Jesus’ encounter with little children where Jesus makes a very important statement:
Luke 18 16 “Let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 17 Truly, I say to you whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
These two statements put together lay the ground for our understanding of the story of Zacchaeus. Because in Zacchaeus’ story he is extremely rich and at the same time shows child like exuberance and faith. In other words, the story of Zacchaeus helps us understand these two statements by Jesus.
So, let’s take the statement by Jesus regarding the little children.

What does Jesus mean in Luke 18:16, 17 and how does it apply to us?