Our Reading: Luke 19
When
I was a little girl, I was privileged to have a grandmother who taught me and
the other children in her kindergarten memorable children’s songs about the
Bible. She added acting out gestures as well and one of my favorites was about
the wee little man Zacchaeus who wanted to see Jesus so much that he climbed up
in a tree.
Zacchaeus
was a wee little man
And
a wee little man was he
He
climbed up in a sycamore tree
For
the Lord he wanted to see
And
when the Savior passed that way
He
looked up in the tree
And
said, 'Zacchaeus, you come down!
For
I'm going to your house today!
For
I'm going to your house today!'
Zacchaeus
was a wee little man
But
a happy man was he
For
he had seen the Lord that day
And
a happy man was he;
And
a very happy man was he
I
may only have been a child, but I understood that a special event took place in
that song. It was a big deal event. It was a life changing event. I knew that
It was important to Zacchaeus to see Jesus but he didn’t expect for Jesus to
see him. And he certainly didn’t expect for Jesus to call him by name and ask
to be a guest at his house that day. And I wonder, do I take for granted how
special it is that Jesus “sees” me too, personally seeks me out, knows my name
and wants to spend time with me?
What
I didn’t understand when I was a child, was that Zacchaeus was considered by
the religious people of that day to be “a bad person”. He was a tax collector,
the “ scum” or “lowlife” of Jewish society. He was disliked and even hated
because of the power and corruption of his position. In that time period, tax
collectors could overtax the people and become rich themselves off the profits.
They had the full support of the Roman government to do so and the people were
powerless victims. Zacchaeus was at the top of this food chain “....He was a
chief tax collector and was rich.” (v2)
No
wonder the people were shocked when instead of choosing to stay with a
respectable member of society, he chose to go to the home of Zacchaeus. “And
when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a
man who is a sinner."” ( v7)
But
Jesus didn’t care that Zacchaeus was a sinner. Jesus saw his heart and knew
that his heart could be changed. He didn’t expect Zacchaeus to have his life
all polished and perfect. He didn’t expect him to be “ a good man” in the eyes
of society. He had only one expectation....a repentant heart willing to
acknowledge the wrong and desiring to make it right. Zacchaeus truly repented
“And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my
goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore
it fourfold."”(v8)
That’s
all Jesus asks of any of us. He wants us to see Him and when he asks us to
invite Him in, he wants us to accept that invitation and allow Him to change
our heart. He already knows the selfish, sinful choices we have made and He
offers us a new beginning. He offers us salvation from who we were so that we
can be what He designed us to be. We can’t discount any one. Even
the “scum” and “ lowlifes” of society can be changed by an encounter with
Jesus. Sometimes the ones who seem to be living a life that would be most
displeasing to Him are the ones who value what He offers the most.
“And
Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also
is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the
lost."” ( v9-10)
Today
could be the day that Jesus calls to you. Today could be your day for a life
changing encounter with Jesus.