…there
was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he
was rich. Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of
the crowd, for he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into
a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.
When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zaccheus,
hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house." And he hurried
and came down and received Him gladly. When they saw it, they all began
to grumble, saying, "He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a
sinner." Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half
of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of
anything, I will give back four times as much." And Jesus said to him,
"Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of
Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was
lost."[1]
This is an intriguing account of a man whom
contemporaries would have thought no less despicable than Shylock in
Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venus. Most commentators present Zaccheus as a person of considerable faith
seeking Jesus; that concept is, I believe, far from reality. Tax collectors
were despised, and this guy was the Chief Tax Collector. Zaccheus was a creepy
little money grubbing outcast, and yes, he was curious to see who Jesus was. He
was small and couldn’t see above the heads of those lining the route Jesus
followed. It may also be that other spectators blocked his way preventing him
from seeing Jesus and his entourage. Zaccheus was resourceful, he ran down the
road and climbed a tree; not the most dignified act for a man of wealth. To the
horror of all, Jesus invited himself to be a guest in the home of Zaccheus, taking
opportunity to state his purpose, “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save
that which was lost.”
Chances are that from time to time we
struggle with the notion that, Jesus died for us, as much as anyone else. Most
people at one time or another have wrestled with “unworthiness”; the feeling
that I am not good enough to receive God’s love or blessing. After Jesus made a
statement that it’s really, really, difficult for a rich person to enter the
kingdom, his disciples asked, “Then
who can be saved?”[2] The
rich person who had just left their company, in their eyes, had all the right
credentials of a worthy candidate. It didn’t make them feel very secure when
Jesus said a person of wealth who had kept the law diligently was excluded from
the kingdom. Zaccheus was rich, and probably thought
that the prophet from Nazareth would see him in the same light as all religious
leaders. Most Jews disliked Zaccheus because he was the chief tax collector,
and tax collectors were traitors in their minds. However, Zaccheus was on
Jesus’ list of people who needed saving. Based on the account of Zaccheus one doesn’t
have to worry if he or she is good enough to make the “saving” list. The
question seems to be, are we bad enough? Just in case you feel a need to rush
out and be very bad to get on the list, you don’t have to worry, we are already
bad enough and need saving. My point is this, Jesus didn’t set the bar high to
make people work to achieve a required state of “goodness”; that’s a human issue.
Jesus removed the bar, there is no standard to be achieved, no chasm to leap
over, not even an entrance examination –there is only an invitation.
Years ago I read an illustration by someone
that went roughly like this; a man fell over the edge of a cliff, but was able
to grab hold of a tree root to prevent falling to his death. Another man ran to
the edge, reached over and took hold of the victim’s free wrist and tried as
hard as he could to pull him to safety. Finally the rescuer spoke to the other
and asked if he believed that he could be pulled up to safety, to which the
victim answered, “Yes.” “Then”, said the rescuer, “let go of the root!” Jesus
is our rescuer, he has a firm grip on us and is working to pull us to safety.
In the case of the rich young man alluded to earlier, the root he was hanging
on to was his wealth –he just couldn’t let go. It is imperative that we let go
of whatever it is that inhibits our complete trust in Jesus. As long as we hang
on to roots from our past we are unable to fully reflect God’s love and grace
in our lives.
There is no long, complicated, theological
thesis on how to let go of roots. There is no process of consultation to go
through to achieve letting go. Reclining on a psychiatrist’s couch is not going
get you where you want to be. The only way to let go of the past is as Nike’s
trademark says, “Just do it!” “Just do it!” Sounds simple, and if it was, I’d hopefully
have got rid of more baggage many years ago. Paul speaks to the quandary we
face trying to balance forgiveness and the need to feel remorse. “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid
hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies
behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the
goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”[3]
Some part of the need for remorse is self-flagellation in keeping with the
concept that one must pay for sins committed. Sometimes it just doesn’t feel
right to be happy, when you haven’t done anything to deserve it. I get the
theory of God’s forgiveness, and I believe he loves me, although I don’t
exactly know why. God promised in scripture, “I will forgive their iniquity,
and remember their sin no more.”[4]
God sees me in Jesus, others see me from an external perspective, but I look
out through a blur of memories some good, and others not so good. Paul was able
to put memories of negative experiences behind him, and he had some bad ones. Paul
focused on pressing on toward his goal, not looking backward.
For
this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven
and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches
of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner
man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that
you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the
saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the
love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the
fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all
that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be
the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and
ever. Amen.[5]
There is a small matter that has to be
dealt with before one can let go of baggage; maybe not so small. We have to
submit to God, and accept his gift of forgiveness. Meaning, we need to get our
egos out of the way, since they are the biggest stumbling blocks to becoming the
person God wants us to be. The scripture speaks of joy, and Jesus talked about
an abundant life, either of which can come only when we accept God at face
value, which means pushing our egos to the side. That’s what it means to
believe.
He
was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not
know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of
God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood
nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.[6]
Those who went to Sunday school may
remember the account of Naaman the leper. He had been told that he could be
healed in Israel. He was a prominent soldier and leader. Upon arriving in
Israel Naaman was frustrated that the king couldn’t help him, and finally ended
up outside a prophet’s house. To further insult him, the prophet didn’t even
appear, he sent his servant out with a message to dip himself in the muddy
Jordan River. Naaman was extremely angry
and upset that he had been treated like a commoner, and didn’t intend to do
anything the prophet told him to do. Naaman fortunately had wise servants, “…his servants came near and spoke to him and
said, ‘My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would
you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash,
and be clean’?” Naaman was falling over his ego, mad and frustrated, and would have left the
same way as he came if not for the advice of his servants. In essence his
servants told him, “Just do it!” My response may not be
the same as Naaman’s; it might be fear, but whatever it is, I need to accept
what God offers, and believe.
No comments:
Post a Comment