Remember little Zacchaeus? The little despicable man with the despised profession? The one who robbed all of the people's money and got rich in the process? Yeah! That guy!
Luke 19
1Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." 6So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.' "
8But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
Funny, Zacchaeus wasn't just a tax collector, he was architelones, the "chief tax collector," a phrase used only once in the New Testament. He was the best of the bad, but he was in need.
Your Zacchaeus is someone who needs your help...
1. This is someone who is up a tree.
This person is disgraced and isolated "either socially, mentally, physically, or economically." The thing about people like this is that if we genuinely look at them, we will get clearer glimpses of ourselves. To be able to look at someone who is "up a tree" and to acknowledge them as a person like you or me, just an everyday person with needs, mirrors the relationship we ourselves have found in our personal relationship with Christ. We all have needs and we all need somebody.
2. This is someone who is an outcast.
Society sees this person as an enigma, and so they have pushed her/him to the borders. Oddly enough, they can't get rid of Zacchaeus because he is a structural part of the community. Think about that? People society wants to get rid of, but can't. How do we "handle" those people?
3. This is someone who wants to follow, but can't get close enough.
Sometimes we can be so consumed with the Messenger, that we forget the message... and more importantly who the message was for... the outsider, the cosmos, those who don't know...
Sometimes we have to remove ourselves - literally "self" in order to reach those in need.
HERE's the BEST part!
4. Zacchaeus is in position to do something that you can't do.
Because Jesus took the time to stop and "see about" lil Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus was able to see himself in a new light... AND he was able to pour out his resources—which need not be money—in a way that helped the very people who rejected him.
Do you just hang with the folks in the crowd, or do you look outside of the crowd to find those who may not fit? The misfits, the outcasts, those on the margins...
Written by Frederick A Hanna
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