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What Does Zacchaeus Teach Us About Grace?

Sep 1, 2026    Nate Preisinger

What if Zacchaeus isn’t a story about a bad man who finally becomes good? In this episode of Sunday School Remix, Pastor Nate takes another look at Luke 19 and explores what changes when we pay attention to the details we may have missed in Sunday school. The story becomes less about fixing Zacchaeus and more about Jesus seeing someone the crowd had already labeled and written off.

What You’ll Learn:

Why the story of Zacchaeus may be about labels and assumptions

How Luke connects Zacchaeus with stories about wealth, outsiders, and belonging

Why Zacchaeus’ generosity may have already been part of his life

What Jesus’ decision to eat with Zacchaeus communicated to the crowd

How this story reminds us that every person is worthy of being seen

Chapters:

00:00 What if we’ve misunderstood Zacchaeus?

00:43 Why Zacchaeus only appears in Luke

01:35 The rich ruler and Zacchaeus

02:33 Jesus sees both rich and poor outsiders

03:19 Jesus makes room for interruptions

05:17 What Zacchaeus’ name means

06:55 Was Zacchaeus actually the short one?

08:07 Why Zacchaeus climbs the tree

10:39 Jesus sees Zacchaeus

11:15 Why eating together mattered

12:38 The crowd starts grumbling

13:37 What Zacchaeus actually says about his money

15:10 Looking beyond assumptions

16:07 “He too is a son of Abraham”

17:11 How communities can lose people

18:22 Jesus sees both of them

19:15 The story doesn’t end in Sunday school

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Connect with Bethany:

📍 Bethany Lutheran Church – Denver, CO

🌐 Learn more: www.bethany-denver.org