United Church of Pittsford

Luke 19:1-10

And so we have a castle / a building made of boxes of cereal; cereal that will eventually reach the homes of persons who need food. Your generosity is to be commended and the display, the visual is also a great idea.

Now you might have received an e-mail from Scott Hanson recently reminding us to bring cereal today…and also including information and statistics that this castle / building could not be ‘taller than Pastor Dave’…therefore it needed to be around ‘three to four feet’ tall!

OK, I’m short; but not that short! OK, I’m vertically challenged; but not that challenged! Nevertheless a neat idea and we thank you, Scott.

Now what Scott didn’t know was that today’s scripture and today’s meditation focuses on a man, Zacchaeus, who also was ‘vertically challenged’; he was ‘short in stature’.

Talk about coincidences; or should we say ‘God-incidences’!!!!

Perhaps one of the reasons I was so ‘at home’ in the Philippines was that I was one of the taller people. It was only when I went into the region of Apayao and worked with the Kalinga tribe that I, once again, needed to ‘look up’. Working with the Ifugao, the Bontoc, the Isneg, the Igorot – I was the tall one! It felt good!

Now on to Zacchaeus and his encounter with Jesus.

Jesus meets Zacchaeus in Jericho – on his way to Jerusalem. Jericho is about 15 miles from Jerusalem. Later in this same chapter from Luke, in verse 29, Jesus arrives at Jerusalem and we read the familiar Palm Sunday text of the triumphal entry into the Holy City.

We know Zacchaeus was a tax collector and he was rich! He was not the best loved person in town. He had contracted with Roman authorities for the right to collect revenues in the district…and there was a lot of revenue to collect as Jericho was on a main trade route and was an important customs center. His neighbors and fellow towns people despised him for sharing in the Roman occupation, domination and rule of their land.

His urgent desire to ‘see Jesus’ gives us a clue!

Perhaps he had heard about this itinerant preacher. We know Jesus had healed a blind man in Jericho. Maybe Zacchaeus had heard about that act of caring and mercy. Perhaps Zacchaeus was drawn to Jesus because he so desperately wanted to be received and loved and valued and healed; And somehow, he believed this traveling Rabbi was such a welcoming person. Perhaps Zacchaeus knew he was not the person he should and could be, and this wandering Rabbi could help him change…to become what he wanted to become but could not do it in his own strength alone!

Now if you’re short and not in the front three rows of a crowd –especially along the side of the road or street, you know the problem. YOU CAN’T SEE!!! So Zacchaeus climbs a tree, hoping for just a glimpse of Jesus and gets the surprise of his life. Jesus stops – looks up – and invites himself to dinner!

Zacchaeus rises to the occasion – climbs down quickly and welcomes Jesus – all to the accompaniment of a grumbling, mumbling crowd: bewildered, confused, perhaps angry (maybe jealous is a better word) that Jesus is to be a guest 'of one who is a sinner'. Jesus (they thought) should go to the house of one of Jericho’s elite.

For Zacchaeus, transformation takes place in an instant. He goes way beyond the tithe – he gives 50% of his possessions to the poor, along with a promise that for any he has defrauded – he will repay four times as much. A substantial amount of money traded hands that day!!

Zacchaeus’ experience reminds me of these words of the Apostle Paul to the Christian community at Corinth:
If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God!

After Zacchaeus’ conversion / transformation / born again experience Jesus gives his ‘short’ meditation:
Today, salvation has come to this house, because he too is a Son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost!

And surely Zacchaeus had been sought out and saved. He experienced what a phrase in our anthem this morning said:
Talk to us (me) O Lord, Let your healing words fill our (my) empty souls (soul).

So – what happened!

Zacchaeus got a new heart, a new focus, a new beginning, a new reason for being – a new life!

Why did ‘what happened’ happen?

Here these words from Joyce Rupp, in her soul-stretching book:
OUT OF THE ORDINARY

"Jesus, I am yearning to wear a Zacchaeus heart!
I am wanting to hear you call my name as you did his.
I am anxious to know that you are inviting yourself to my home,
I am humbled, amazed, excited and astounded, just as he was.

But that is where the desire to wear a Zacchaeus heart stops,
because I know what happens when you visit someone’s house:
Conversations occur.
Choices are presented.
Changes happen.

That’s because you look for more than dust when you come to visit
and you talk about things more vital than the weather.
You move into the heart’s dimension.
You gaze deeply.
You don’t just dwell.
You interact.
You activate.
You dwell so lovingly that the truth cannot be resisted.

Help me to welcome you and yearn for your love.
Grant me a Zacchaeus heart that turns around and sees the truth.
I need the gaze of your love to remind me of my truest self.
I, too, need the strong call to make amends and start anew.
Hurry, Jesus, come and stay at my house."

That’s the story of Zacchaeus. And the story of Zachaeus shows what can happen when a person responds to what Jesus says! The story alerts us to all the possibilities – all the newness – that await us as individuals and as a congregation when and as we respond to the call of God through Jesus Christ in our lives!

One final thought on this familiar story.

Zacchaeus needed help in ‘seeing’ Jesus. His help came in the form of a tree: he climbed the tree to see! There are people out there who need us to be their tree so that they can see Jesus and be changed, transformed, made new all over!

Let’s invite Jesus to come to our house and stay – and dwell there and make the changes in us that he desires! And let us look for those opportunities when we can be a tree to enable someone to see Jesus!