Sunday, June 26, 2016

Zaccheus

…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.








[1] Luke 19:2-10
[2] Mat 19:25 
[3] Php 3:13, 14
[4] Jer 31:34
[5] Eph 3:14-21
[6] Joh 1:10-13

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