10. The Dwarf in the Mulberry Tree

(Luke 19: 1-10)

Once there was a very little man who was no bigger than a young boy. He was so short that some people called him a dwarf. He lived in a very large house, was very rich, and had a money-making office. But no one in the town liked Zaccheus, the dwarf, because he was not good, or kind-hearted, or honest. People said that he had cheated them out of money and done other bad things. One afternoon, as he was walking along the street, suddenly he saw in the distance a great crowd of people coming along the main road leading into the town. The people were shouting excitedly, “Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming!” “How I would like to see Jesus,” said the dwarf to himself as he ran toward the crowd and tip-toed, trying to catch a glimpse of the great Teacher’s face. But he wasn’t tall enough. He could see nothing but heads towering above him. “I know what I’ll do,” he said to himself. “I’ll climb up into that mulberry tree near my house. Then I can see him easily.” So he ran quickly and climbed up into the branches of the great tree, and waited until the crowd came close. “There he is” he said to himself; “well, if I am a dwarf, no one can see better than I this time.”

He sat there quietly while the great procession passed by—men, women, children, and Jesus in the midst. Soon Jesus stopped near the tree, looked up into its branches and cried, “Zaccheus, make haste and come down, for I want to stop at your house to-night!” Zaccheus could scarcely believe his ears. Was it possible that the good Teacher would visit him, a man so wicked, hated, and despised? How did Jesus know his name? How did he see his hiding-place in the tree? The dwarf didn’t know, but he hastened down at once and welcomed Jesus to his house. In surprise some of the people cried: “Look! Jesus is going to stay with a sinner. Does he know what a bad man this is?” Zaccheus gave Jesus the best room in his large house, and did all he could to make his visit comfortable. “Prepare the best feast for Jesus,” he said to his servants. And while they were seated at the table, Zaccheus stood before all and said to Jesus: “Master, if I have taken anything from any one wrongfully, I will give him back four times over, and one-half of what is left I will give to the poor.”

Then Jesus said to all the people: “Zaccheus, whom you have despised and hated, is one of the children of my kingdom. I came into his house to help him to be good and kind-hearted and just. I came to seek and to save the lost!”

Zaccheus, the dwarf, never forgot that afternoon when Jesus found him seated up in the mulberry tree and spent the night at his house and loved him when everybody else hated and despised him.