A Wee Little Man

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
Luke 19 (click the link)


KEY VERSES:
1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

8 But 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.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:1-10, NIV)


REFLECTIONS:
When you were a child, did you learn the song about Zacchaeus?  “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.  He climbed up in a sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see.  And as the Savior passed that way He looked up in the tree.  And He said, Zacchaeus, YOU COME DOWN—for I’m going to your house today!”  This song, complete with hand motions and climbing actions to appropriately express the lyrics ended with a celebration of clapping and skipping depicting a joyous Zacchaeus taking Jesus to his home.  

Verse 4 (and the song itself), describes Zacchaeus in child-like terms as he “ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Him.”  The Wiersbe Bible Commentary has a quote from John Calvin’s writings: “Curiosity and simplicity are a sort of preparation for faith.”  Zacchaeus’ actions that day certainly reflected these preparatory qualities.  Even Jesus’ own words, in the previous chapter of Luke (chapter 18:17) state the following:  “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Celebration is the perfect “take-home” message for a child to remember how joyful a person would be to have Jesus recognize them in the crowd, call them out and go to their home.  But Jesus had a “take-home” message for the adults that day, as well as now.  In verse 7 we hear the astonishment in the tone of the judgmental mutterings “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”  Isn’t that just like our Lord?  Spending His time drawing close to sinners while those who think of themselves/ourselves as “righteous,” look down their/our noses and mutter about the company Jesus keeps.  

The name Zacchaeus means “pure” or “righteous one.”  However, by the account of this Zacchaeus, he was not living up to the potential of his name until Jesus called him down from the tree and invited Himself to Zacchaeus’ home.  Luke’s account of this event indicates that Zacchaeus immediately confessed his sins to Jesus and then gave evidence of his faith by promising to pay back (more than the law required) those from whom he had wrongfully taken excessive taxes.  As James 2:22 states (Contemporary English Version) “Now you see how Abraham’s faith and deeds worked together. He proved that his faith was real by what he did.”

During this Lenten season, Pastor Greg has been challenging us to daily become more aware of Jesus’ presence, to purposefully spend more time with Him as our focus, confess our sins and seek ways to lovingly reach out to sinners.  Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” 

Are our deeds an expression of our faith?


PRAYER:
Lord Jesus Christ, we thank You that You provided us with so many examples of how we should live daily to shine Your light in this dark world.  Help us to not be overwhelmed by this world, but to seek more of Your presence and guidance in our daily walk.  


WHO AM I?
I am Linda Stewart and I am one of several PRF women working to memorize the Book of James as an “extra credit” part of the Women’s Bible Study.  We would all cherish your prayers that our memorization skills will be divinely supercharged to accomplish this task, for the glory of God.