A little bit of Zacchaeus

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he. So he climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. The Lord he wanted to see. And as the Savior passed him by, he looked up in the tree. And he said, “Zacchaeus, you come down from there, for I’m going to your house today, Yes I’m going to your house today. Zacchaeus came down from that tree, as happy as he could be, he gave his money to the poor, and said, “What a better man I’ll be.”

Hopefully this is a familiar Sunday School song to many of you, and it does a pretty good job at explaining this story about Zacchaeus. Not only is it fun to sing, and to say, but helps to point out the change that occurs when you encounter Jesus.

Back in high school I worked out over the summer with a guy named Tony Campbell. Tony was off to the University of Tennessee on a football scholarship and he had to do the UT weightlifting program before he arrived on campus. Needless to say, he could lift a lot more weight than me, and after that first day, I was very sore. And Tony said to me, “if it doesn’t hurt, you’re not doing it right!” It didn’t make me feel any better, but it let me know that I was accomplishing something.

When we encounter the living Christ, if we don’t undergo a change, we aren’t doing it right.

I’ve always had trouble identifying with Zacchaeus. Because the Bible is very clear that he is short. And, as you can clearly see…I am not.

It also says that he is rich…I am not, nor have I ever been wealthy monetarily, though compared with many in the world I am. But as far as being known for someone who is wealthy, I wouldn’t come up as someone you would think about.

But I think there is a little bit of Zaccheus in all of us…pun intended.

Zacchaeus wants to meet Jesus. And he is willing to put aside many of his notions of propriety, and is willing to risk embarrassment in order to do so. He climbs a tree, because he is short, but for a grown man to climb a tree in public…when is the last time you have seen that?

He also runs, and if anyone has ever tried to run while wearing a robe, you know how strange that can look.

Because, in all honesty, there is probably a little bit of entitlement in Zacchaeus. And this is where I think we have a little bit of Zacchaeus in all of us. Zacchaeus is a wealthy, chief tax collector. If anyone is going to come into the city, he is the dignitary that you are going to meet. And Jesus is an important person as well, and so it stands to logic that Jesus would go meet with the “important people” in Jericho. So Zacchaeus might feel that Jesus should come to him.

We feel this in the church sometimes, that Jesus should come to us. That we have been coming here our entire lives, so Jesus should come meet us. Or we gave the most offering, so we should get our name on a building. So Jesus should come meet us, and give us what we want.

But he doesn’t. We have to seek Him, in everything that we do…no matter what we have done, or what we will do.

When Zacchaeus does seek Jesus, by climbing that Sycamore tree, the crowds grumble.

I’ve seen this before. Because when anyone goes out on a limb, there will be people who always want it to break.

And…I realize that I’m on dangerous ground here. In my study of scripture, and in my prayers, and in my meditations…I am so saddened by the status of politics in our world. We have elections coming up on Tuesday and it seems whenever anyone tries to actually DO something, it gets shot down by grumbling. Many of the political ads that I have seen are mainly based on anger or fear, which, the last time I checked are not on the list of fruits of the spirit. I think, we as Americans, have lost a complete sense of compassion for our neighbors both in our own country, and in the world. So we don’t go out on limbs anymore, because they are probably going to be sawed off behind us.

I feel it. There are so many opinions and thoughts and ideas that people have on things, but we are afraid to say them because of the repercussions. No matter if we have thoughtfully put our thoughts together, combining our faith, our family, our money, and everything together. And we have opportunities to state our opinions. But many people don’t want to hear it; they want us to say what they already think.

But if we are truly seeking Christ. We go out on that limb of the sycamore tree. We don’t let grumbling keep us from the one we seek. We don’t let the fact that we don’t ever measure up keep us from the one we seek. And it is when we do that, that we find Jesus’s gaze meet our own as he is scanning the crowds, he is ignoring the grumbling too, and he wants to meet us.

And in an instant, things change. Because if they don’t, then we haven’t done it right.

I hope we are all seeking Christ. And to do that, means that we travel out on limbs sometimes. That we leave the stability of the sidewalk to meet Jesus. To see what he is really all about. We listen to so many voices around us that tell us what to think… why not imagine to what the world would be like if we sought Jesus in everything we do?

I believe we would give more, because we know that we didn’t truly earn anything, but it was a gift from God. I believe we would have more compassion on our neighbors rather than grumble about how its their own fault they are in their predicament. I believe we would invite others to meet Jesus, because our lives are changed, we want theirs to be changed too.

The NBA season started this week, and if you have ever watched the NBA draft you hear interviews with the draftees and they talk about how it’s a dream come true. They are given an incredible opportunity. But the great ones know that the draft is when the real work begins. They cannot sit back in their talent collecting their money, because it will run out. They have to go to work, because their greatness is equaled by everyone else around them.

The same is true of Zacchaeus, and the same for us. Once we get “drafted” by Christ. That is when the real work begins. We are given an incredible opportunity to represent Christ to the world. We cannot sit back and collect what is given to us, no. That is when the work begins. To continue the extravagant generosity that Zacchaeus displays. To love and honor our neighbor. All of it, is because of what Christ has given us the opportunity to do.

Zacchaeus, the short, chief tax collector up there in a tree, pushes us further than we ever thought possible, and requires more of us than we want. I think that is the Good News. That our Creator continues to create within us.