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We read in this text, the natural story of how Zacchaeus desired to see the Lord, and to achieve this, had to raise himself above the crowd, by climbing the tree so that he could see. This text also applies to us in the Spiritual to-day. Firstly, we must accept that Jesus enters our own city every day, and as Zacchaeus sought out the Lord, we too, must seek also in Spirit to find our Lord. This we do in meditation and prayer, but as Zacchaeus found a press and could not see the Lord, so we, as we look around, are soon swamped down by the events happening around us, the cares, the worries, the problems of daily life, the fears, the distractions. Zacchaeus found a way to solve the press problem and we read, he ran before the press and climbed up the tree.

In symbol form we see that we have to place ourselves ahead of the cares and worries and lift ourselves above the world. Leave all of these natural things behind and raise ourselves above the cares, problems, worries, distractions and sins of this world, and then, and then alone, will we be in a position to find our Lord, who represents all the opposite things to the world. We see the Love, the Grace, the Compassion, the Blessings of a Saviour, and it turns our hearts to Hope and Joy, Peace and Faith. As Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:17, “Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” We can relive how Zacchaeus felt in his heart when Jesus looked up and saw him and told him to make haste, for to-day, I must abide at thy house.

We too, in spirit, can relive this as we resolve to do the Lords’ work, not wasting time, idling away, and take Christ into our house (hearts) for that day. The most important part of the text we read, “And he made haste, and came down and received him joyfully.” Do we make hast in our resolve to turn away from the carnal nature of man and receive Christ joyfully. If we do, we will be in a position to again come down unto the world with a different attitude, and be able to face all things and the reason being, that we are no longer alone, but have the Spirit of the Lord with us, who will lead and guide us throughout our day, through this world, and we will begin to understand the full meaning of Christ’s words John 9:5 “As long as l am in the world, I am the light of the world.” And we know a light will always shine and show the way. This light is freely available for us all, and the way to gain that light, is clearly shown to us by the example of Zacchaeus in our text.