FOCUS Day Twenty-Three | Luke 19:1-10 by Abigail
DAY TWENTY-THREE | Luke 19:1-10 by Abigail
In the city of Jericho there lived a very wealthy man named Zacchaeus, who was the supervisor over all the tax collectors. As Jesus made his way through the city, Zacchaeus was eager to see Jesus. He kept trying to get a look at him, but the crowd around Jesus was massive. Zacchaeus was a very short man and couldn’t see over the heads of the people. So he ran on ahead of everyone and climbed up a blossoming fig tree so he could get a glimpse of Jesus as he passed by.
When Jesus got to that place, he looked up into the tree and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry on down, for I am appointed to stay at your house today!”
So he scurried down the tree and came face-to-face with Jesus.
As Jesus left to go with Zacchaeus, many in the crowd complained, “Look at this! Of all the people to have dinner with, he’s going to eat in the house of a crook.”
Zacchaeus joyously welcomed Jesus and was amazed over his gracious visit to his home. Zacchaeus stood in front of the Lord and said, “Half of all that I own I will give to the poor. And Lord, if I have cheated anyone, I promise to pay back four times as much as I stole.”
Jesus said to him, “This shows that today life has come to you and your household, for you are a true son of Abraham. The Son of Man has come to seek out and to give life to those who are lost.”
Come and See!
Growing up, I (and probably most other kids who grew up in a Christian home) would hear the story of “Zacchaeus, the Wee Little Man”. I had heard it so many times it became just a story, like the Three Little Pigs. The meaning and purpose of the story got left behind. But as I was re-reading it, I began to see the true meaning and purpose! I saw how Jesus didn’t care about what others thought. Jesus didn’t care about His reputation, and He honored a man’s determination to see Him.
I remembered a part of a book called The Bronze Bow (I highly recommend it) that I had re-listened to about a month ago. Part of the story was when the main character met this other boy who had gotten beaten up because his father had become a tax collector.
I realized as I was writing this how absolutely hated Zacchaeus would have been. Most tax collectors stole some of the money they took and were looked at as thieves and traitors. I also realized that there was such a faith and humility on Zacchaeus’ part. Let me tell you, that was really startling\shocking.
Let me explain that last part a bit. I noticed the fact that Zacchaeus had been so eager to just see Jesus. That made me do a metaphorical double take at the fact that “Zacchaeus, the Wee Little Man” was so desperate to just have one glimpse of the Son of God’s face, he literally climbed a tree.
Two men, one a wealthy, hated, looked-down-upon (literally and figuratively) man and the Son of God. They were very different. I can imagine the reaction of the people as they said, “Look at this! Of all the people to have dinner with, he’s going to eat in the house of a crook.”
As I was trying to think of a good story, I thought of a story of when my parents lived in Ellwood City. It’s a tiny town that most people don’t like. Part of why Mom and Dad felt like they were there was to be and do church for people who wouldn’t go to traditional church.
Part of what that looked like was loving drug addicts and prostitutes. There were these two Gothic people, one was a stripper and the other was his girlfriend. They often didn’t wear a whole ton of clothes and definitely had a bad reputation around town. But mom and dad would love them, even when many others in town wouldn’t talk to these two who called themselves “The town color”. This story of the outcasts really reminded me of Zacchaeus because he was an outcast too.
The second story happened just a few months ago. We were in the streets of Fort Worth, Texas. We’d just finished up supper with our friends and were outside when this homeless guy walked up to us and asked for food.
The place that we had eaten at had closed, so Dad went with this man to get food, but the guy kept switching where he wanted food from. They ended up outside of a 7/11. At that time, four of our friends, Mom and I were in two cars. One of our friends, who was with us in our car, went to check on Dad.
Dad wanted us to see if we had any words for this homeless man. Everyone in our car had something, and we went to share it with him. As we were sharing with him, two of his friends walked up, and we got words for them too.
To make a long story short, we ended up spending hours on the street doing church with these beautiful, amazing children of God- just loving these spiritually hungry people. It was so life changing for them, but just as life changing for me. In showing them love, kindness and Jesus, my life was changed by being loved by them. It was such an honor to talk, pray and love these ones who are often seen as unlovable.
“The Son of Man has come to seek out and to give life to those who are lost.” My prayer is that we can know that things change when we are humble, take time to love and to seek out others who need to encounter Jesus, and to know that no matter where we come from, Jesus loves us.
