June 23, 2024
"Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at you house today." - Luke 19:5b
They didn't like him too much, it sounds like. His friends from school, they thought he was a traitor. His parents were saddened about the decisions he made along the way. Sure. He was rich, but he was a sinner with a corrupt heart. And he had forsaken his faith for ill-gotten gain.
...and out of all the people lining the street in Jericho that day, Jesus chose him to have dinner with. His classmates couldn't believe it. His parents didn't understand it, But Jesus wouldn't have it any other way. He didn't see Zacchaeus as a criminal, or a sinner, or a heartless traitor. Jesus saw him for who he really was and for who he was really created to be...and Jesus called him by name.
* * *
It has become a bit a spring tradition for me. Over the year, I gather branches and stack them up. Some of the branches, after big Kansas storms, fall out of the mature oaks we have growing in our yard. Some of them, I trim from our miniature orchard we have been nursing along over the years. Recently, the power company had to trim one of our cedar trees to make room for an outdoor light on a power pole.
So, this year's pile was especially lavish. For comparison, that is our oldest son, Sam, who is 6' 2" tall.
It was time. Our neighbors began to question how much longer we were going to have our ill-favored incline. We started to worry about wild animals lurking in the detritus.
So I rented an industrial chipper and got to work. In about five hours, I had reduced the branches and bramble to chips and mulch. I spread it around our little orchard and our hostas. I used some to line the flower bed and created a little secret trail to watch the fireflies at night. It was so satisfying!
And then I discovered it...that little, beaten, and bruised forsythia bush underneath it all. (Sam is pointing to it in the picture below.) I know that it doesn't look too good now, but it will come back early next spring with beautiful yellow flowers heralding, once again, these warm days and short nights.
It was there all along. Deep down.
And I think that we are often like this forsythia...or Zacchaeus. We get buried. We are there all along, only deeper down. The world suffocates us with it's demands and piles on with it's delights, and we forget who we were created to be. Underneath the weight, we can no longer hear the One who created us and still calls us by name.
But we now how the story ends. Zacchaeus comes up from under it all...
He, climbs the sycamore, has dinner with Jesus, and was changed...or maybe it is more precise to say, "uncovered." I like to think of the townspeople of Jericho the next day getting a knock on their door from Zacchaeus. Some roll their eyes and some burn with hatred towards this man doing the business of the Roman government. However this time Zacchaeus was not asking for money. He was giving it away. This day, Zacchaeus wasn't an agent of the overlords. This day, Zacchaeus was a servant of the Lord of Israel. This day he was repaying anything extra that he had taken over the years, even four times the amount of anything that he had cheated.
He, climbs the sycamore, has dinner with Jesus, and was changed...or maybe it is more precise to say, "uncovered." I like to think of the townspeople of Jericho the next day getting a knock on their door from Zacchaeus. Some roll their eyes and some burn with hatred towards this man doing the business of the Roman government. However this time Zacchaeus was not asking for money. He was giving it away. This day, Zacchaeus wasn't an agent of the overlords. This day, Zacchaeus was a servant of the Lord of Israel. This day he was repaying anything extra that he had taken over the years, even four times the amount of anything that he had cheated.
In my mind's eye, some people open the door and weep with joy when they understand what is going on. Some embrace the exile. Everyone was in a bit of shock. Except Jesus. Jesus knew who Zacchaeus really was the whole time, under it all and down deep. After all, Jesus created him, Jesus knew his gifts, and Jesus had called him by his true identity. (See, "Living Fearless" below.) After all, it wasn't lost to Jesus what his name meant.
Zacchaeus means, "Pure and Innocent."
Who is Jesus calling you to be? What is Jesus calling you to be free from? What are those things that keep you from Him and swallow you up? Don't stay buried. Feel free to bloom, even after the bruises and cares of the world have swallowed you up. He knit you together and He still calls you by name.
Church Stopping. Less Doing. More Being.
Recently Finished: "Living Fearless," by Jamie Winship. (If you have forgotten who you were created to be, if your prayer life feels lifeless, if you feel smothered or stuck, or if you just want to read an account of God at work...I highly recommend this book!)
What am I reading: "Journey to the Center of the Earth," Jules Verne (Fun excursion to the middle of the earth.)
On My List: "Simply Christian" by NT Wright (I have not read Wright before. Now, to "Wright" that wrong!)
Recent movie: Seabiscuit. (Fun movie based on a true story.)
Recent song: "Don't Use Me," by Bride (Mind blown! These guys were so good!)
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