June 23

He made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. - Luke 19:6.

ZACCHEUS was filled with astonishment and surprise at such unlooked-for notice and address. But this was not all. This voice, this look, was the voice and look of the Master of mind, the Sovereign of hearts, which produced in him an immediate change, of which he gave most abundant and convincing proofs. “He made haste, and came down and received him joyfully.” And we must receive him as Zaccheus did-that is, we must receive him with alacrity, with humility, and with pleasure.

He “made haste.” He did not yield to a Spirit of procrastination. There was nothing in him like Felix, who was temporarily affected by Paul’s preaching, and said, “Go thy way for this time; at a more convenient season I will send for thee,”-no, but without excuse, without a moment’s delay, “he made haste to receive him.” So David -“I made haste and delayed not,” and “turned my feet unto thy testimonies.” The King’s business requires haste. Zaccheus made haste and came down, and what he did actually we must do morally.

Many have been humbled who are not humble, and are as proud as they are poor. Naaman was one of these; he would not “come down” when Elisha sent a messenger to bid him “go and wash in Jordan and be clean.” He was wroth, and went away; he could not come down. “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.” He was remonstrated with, and advised by one of his attendants, and subsequently “came down “to the waters of Jordan, in which he dipped himself seven times, according to the saying of the man of God, “and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”

The Jews would not “come down,” they were “ignorant of God’s righteousness, and went about to establish their own righteousness,” and therefore they submitted not themselves “to the righteousness which is of God.” How many are there in the same condition! they will not “come down” from their legal dependencies, high thoughts, exalted imaginings, their proud reasonings, and their creature dependencies so as to deny themselves and take up the cross, so as to be willing to be wise in another’s wisdom, strong in another’s strength, righteous in another’s righteousness, so as to give all the glory of their salvation undividedly to the “praise of the glory of his grace,” to acknowledge that they live entirely on alms-to come to him not to buy, but to beg, and if to buy, without money and without price.

“It is enough, my All in all,

At thy clear feet to lie;

Thou wilt not let me lower fall,

And none can climb more high.”

He received him joyfully; that is, he entertained him with the most cheerful hospitality, knowing that the obligation was all on his side. Many of the Jews were ready to exclaim, Ah! you will pay dear for your curiosity by taking in such a leader, with all his herd of followers; but he looked upon this as the happiest day of his life, and only grieved that he did not come sooner, and that he was to depart so soon. But though the Saviour departed, as to his bodily presence, the Spiritual blessings which he had to bestow were to abide, and did “abide” with him for ever.

Zaccheus received him not only into his house, but into his heart-into all the powers of his soul, as the “unspeakable gift,” and there we ought to receive him. The gospel is not only a “faithful saying,” but it is “worthy of all acceptation,” and can never be duly received unless it awaken up sentiments and desires such as nothing else can engender.

“Blessed,” says David, “are the people who know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.”