Consequently he must have been a happy man, many would think, for the conditions of happiness are riches and prominent positions. But ZacchÆus was no happy man.

He may, of course, have experienced a certain degree of delight or happiness while he was so busily occupied in making money and in forging ahead until he reached the very top of the publicans' ladder; now, however, when he had accomplished all that—he was not happy, at all.

How could that be?

I believe at that time perhaps he had lived his life outside himself, as it were, and been wholly absorbed by his official duties. But now that he found time to be home by himself, and to be occupied with the inner world of his soul, he heard in there an accusing voice which told him: You are a sinful man, ZacchÆus! And the man who is sinful, is not happy.

What should he do?

He might devote himself once more to the mania for gathering wealth, might thrust himself energetically back into the work. Or he might devote himself to the merry life of society—seek pleasures, the remedy which the world offers to those who are afflicted with wounded souls. But in both cases he would once more be forced to live his life outside himself. He did not like that. It would be too much like taking flight from oneself.

But there was a third way—that of the repenting sinner. He chose that. People referred to him by calling him a sinful man, and sighingly he had to admit that the people were right. He understood that now since he was home by himself—O, could but his sin be stricken out!

Now there was this Man, Jesus of Nazareth! Wasn't He the same one whom John the Baptist had spoken of as the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world? And was not He the same one who had said to a poor fellow sick of the palsy: "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee!" If he might only see Him!

Suddenly streets resounded with the cry: Jesus of Nazareth is coming! ZacchÆus got busy, ran on ahead and climbed unto a tree. Hidden by the dense leafage there, he would have a chance of seeing Jesus—why, He is coming right there—He actually stops at the tree, looks up, sees him, and says: "ZacchÆus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide by thy house!" And he made haste, and came down, and received Him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying that He was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. But ZacchÆus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him: This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

He was son of Abraham!

As Abraham had learned how to be home by himself and to say, "I am but dust and ashes"—thus ZacchÆus had come home to himself when he realized that he was a sinner. And as Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, his heart's treasure, thus ZacchÆus had come to the point where he was willing to sacrifice half of what was his—that dear, dear property which his heart had loved so fervently and to which it had been attached for many years. That had been the most precious treasure of his heart.

To be home by oneself humbles. To live outside oneself makes haughty, and God is displeased with those who are haughty while He bestows His grace on those who are humble.

"For today I must abide by thy house," Jesus says.

Why? Because ZacchÆus could be found at home. Jesus always knocks on the doors of those hearts where He knows He finds someone at home. He must abide there.

To the men of our own age the danger of living outside themselves in their work and business, is great. Our age suffers from a tension which was not known in bygone days. If a man is to surge ahead, he must let his business absorb his entire strength. Therefore, it is so difficult for Jesus to find men at home when He knocks at the door of their heart, and therefore so few men are to be found in the church on the Lord's day. Women are not in the same measure tempted to live their lives outside themselves.

But ZacchÆus stands like one who admonishes the man of our age: Try to be at home by yourself, in your own soul. That is the road you must wander if you are to find happiness.

"This day is salvation come to this house." To ZacchÆus this means: Your sin has been forgiven—all has been stricken out.

Rev. Mr. Funcke relates how he on a certain occasion called upon Dr. KÖgel in Berlin—a man who was paralyzed and unable to move. He pitied Dr. KÖgel—regretted that this man, formerly so stately and erect, should sit thus crouching, but Dr. KÖgel said: "Rejoice with me—God hath forgiven all my sins!"

In a cemetery in Southern Germany there are two tombstones with strange inscriptions; one reads: Forgiven! and the other, In Vain!

Beneath the former rests the dust of a woman who through her extraordinary beauty fascinated a number of admirers. They seduced her, made her run away from her husband and children, and when once she had entered the life of immorality, she went swiftly down the grade. She developed into a criminal and was imprisoned. In the penitentiary she came home by herself, and here Jesus found her. When she left the institution, she went back to her husband and children and proved a blessing to her home; as a humble, Christian woman she did not spare herself for the sake of those whom she loved. But when death drew near, she asked them to inscribe upon her tombstone that one word, Forgiven! This word was a world to her, was everything. Her sin forgiven by God, forgiven by mankind.

Yes, when everything is forgiven we can rejoice at being home by ourselves. But we need still one thing more before our joy is perfect. We want to be told that we have not lived in vain.

ZacchÆus knows how to appreciate salvation. In proof of his gratitude he gives half of his goods to the poor. It is more blessed to give than to receive. Formerly he had felt a certain joy whenever he could add a sum of a hundred to his fortune—but how paltry that joy was compared to the joy of giving! That could not possibly have been done in vain.

Jesus said to His disciples: And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. No offering of thanks for salvation is in vain. It brings bliss. It will get its reward—from the greatest offer of thanks which we can afford to give, down to the smallest—a kind word, a friendly clasping of hands, a cup of cold water. Nothing of all this shall be in vain. But he who lives outside himself, absorbed by the cravings for ever more riches, lives in vain even though he may become a millionaire.

Are you not in need of having written above all of your life and all your doings that one great word, Forgiven! And are you not in need of being assured that you have not lived in vain? You may not have been able to bring the magnificent sacrifices which the world lauds in the newspaper columns, and you may easily be led into the belief that you have lived in vain; but then you shall know that the Lord who is the King of Kings and the Judge of all and everything, will reward also that which looks insignificant and small in the eyes of the world. Nothing of that which you do as His disciple, is done in vain.

Above the life of the children of the world one might place the inscription: Nothing forgiven—everything in vain! Above the lives of Christians: Everything forgiven—nothing in vain.

Isn't that so, then: Christians have glorious days!

What terms do you choose?

It was a day of joy to ZacchÆus when Jesus entered his house. But how were the following days?

Undoubtedly there were days when the old greediness tempted him again. When the people of Israel in a miraculous way had been helped across the Red Sea, they were saved from the armed hosts of the Egyptians, but not from their plagues. The Egyptian soldiers had been drowned in the waves of the Red Sea, but the Egyptian temptations accompanied Israel across the sea and made the wanderings in the desert beset with hardships and difficulties. Indeed, they often, in their worldly hearts, reverted to the thought: Would it not, after all, have been better to return and to partake of the plentiful provisions of Egypt than to fight their way laboriously onward to the promised land?

Likewise the tempter undoubtedly has often whispered to ZacchÆus: After all, wouldn't it have been wiser to gather money than to give it away as an offering in return for salvation? But then ZacchÆus in his mind reverted to that great day when Jesus for the first time was a guest in his house, and his thoughts have lived that day over and over again—No, never was I as happy as on the day when I gave half of my goods to the poor, and never have I been able to make as many people happy as on that day. The offering had not been given in vain. So the old greediness had to yield to the benevolent impulse.

But that very same thought may come to you and me: Wouldn't it, after all, be wiser to get a lot of money together than to give it away in the name of the Lord to mission work, to churches and schools, to the poor, the sick and the suffering?

No! And once again: No! For that person in whose heart greediness has triumphed, has lived in vain even though he may have gathered thousands of dollars. He has contributed to the increase of the lifeless capital of mankind, but not to its joy of living, to its happiness. But he or she who brings offerings in the name of Jesus, increases the joy of living and happiness of mankind by just that much. Perhaps he has struggled along laboriously to reach the promised land of joy and happiness. His life has attained a meaning both to himself and to others—and he has not lived in vain.