Luke 19-20

A Wee Little Man

The story of Jesus and Zacchaeus makes for a fun VBS song. But his story is really our story.

You know that Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, and he got rich by extorting taxes from his fellow Jews on behalf of Rome. He was hated as a traitor to his people.

But in spite of how the people around him looked at him, felt about him, treated him, he had the courage to go out into the crowd, risking his neck to catch a glimpse of the Rabbi he’d heard about who ate with tax-collectors and sinners. Had he heard from Levi, a fellow tax-collector, this Galilean carpenter might really be the Messiah? And if, on the remote chance He was, was it even thinkable that He could care about a despised and rejected outcast such as Zacchaeus? Or would Jesus just walk right on by, roll His eyes and smirk in his direction, knowing Zacchaeus was the kingpin of the Jericho tax cartel, an abomination to his people?

We, too, are up a tree. We, too, know deep down inside we aren’t good enough to warrant a passing glance from God. We’ve failed, miserably, repeatedly. We’ve said we’d do better, and then we come up with creative ways to embarrass ourselves. We sink to new lows. Even if we could attract God’s attention, why would He give us a second thought? He, like everyone else around us, would shudder if our true nature was exposed.

But God does indeed know us, and He’s not surprised at the kind of person we are. Our sins don’t catch Him off guard. He doesn’t say, “well, if I’d only known you had done that sort of thing, I certainly wouldn’t have wasted My time with you.”

Instead, Jesus wants to come into our house and enjoy time with us. With us! And, like Zacchaeus, it is necessary for Jesus to slow down and pay attention. Because that is His mission – bringing hope to the hopeless, seeking and saving we who are very, very mis-placed without Him. He doesn’t ignore us, speed up and act like we aren’t there, and hope He doesn’t have to alter His agenda to deal with the likes of us - because we are His agenda! And, like Zacchaeus, we are forever changed, our priorities re-arranged by an encounter with the living Son of God.


Lee Thrasher
March 15