January 25, 2026 ・ Luke 19:1–10
Osaka Church
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit
In the town of Jericho, crowds filled the streets, eager to catch a glimpse of Jesus as He passed by. Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, was stirred by the commotion. He longed to see Jesus. Boldly, he stepped out into the street.
But the crowd blocked his view, and being short, he could not see Him. So Zacchaeus climbed up into a nearby fig tree. People must have laughed at the sight—a grown man, hitching up his robe, scrambling up a tree like a child.
Yet the Lord noticed him. Jesus called out:
“Hurry down, for today I must stay at your house.”
Overjoyed by this unexpected invitation, Zacchaeus welcomed Him home. Zacchaeus had no friends; his harsh tax collecting had made him despised. No one ever said to him, “Come, let’s share a meal.” That is why this moment filled him with joy.
With a burning heart, Zacchaeus made a promise to the Lord:
“I will give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have taken anything unjustly, I will repay it four times over.”
Hearing this, Jesus declared:
“Today salvation has come to this house.”
If you were a film director, how would you begin this story? Perhaps with the image of a grown man climbing a tree, while the crowd bursts into laughter.
Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. Even when blocked, he did not give up. His desire to see caused him to overcome the limits of his height. Because of that desire, he was noticed by the Lord, received His mercy, and discovered the joy of salvation. His generosity—giving to the poor, repaying fourfold—was not simply restitution. It was the overflowing sign of the joy of being saved.
Think of it: Zacchaeus, a man who had oppressed others with merciless demands, who had grown rich through greed, was saved. Meanwhile, many serious, respectable people did not experience salvation. Not only in the past, but even today, countless people live with rigid seriousness, never tasting the joy of being saved by God. Why is that?
Because they do not desire to see Jesus. They chase after many wants—this thing, that thing—but they lack the one desire that matters: the longing to see Jesus. They do not even know such a desire exists.
Zacchaeus was once the same. But at last he realized what he was truly seeking, what thirst and hunger lay deep within him. He turned his desire toward its true goal. Repentance is this—the turning of desire. Faith is the thirst for what the soul most deeply longs for.
Saint Augustine begins his Confessions with these words:
and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
This “You,” the One whom human beings seek at the deepest level, we call “God.” When we say, “I want this, I want that, but nothing satisfies,” it is because deep inside, the desire for God is burning.
We must honestly admit this. We are unsatisfied because we do not desire to see Jesus, to see God.
We must say to ourselves with honesty: “Nothing in this world can truly satisfy me. I want to see God.” And then, like Zacchaeus, we climb above the noisy crowd.
No matter how much we think or study, we cannot grasp God by reason alone. We must climb in prayer—the posture of the heart. Even when nothing is visible, we call out into the seeming emptiness, “You.”
At that moment, we are met by the gaze of Jesus, the God who became man so that He could be seen by us. For God Himself desires to find us.