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.
Did you ever learn this song about Zacchaeus? I remember learning it as a child when I attended vacation bible school in the summer. This song comes to mind when I turn to the story of Zacchaeus in Luke, chapter 19. Zacchaeus is perhaps the most unlikely hero in the Bible and that is why I love him.
The story of Zacchaeus follows the story of the healing of the blind beggar Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus fits our biblical ideas of salvation. His fragility and need are apparent. He is blind and begging on the street, a person who doesn’t count in the world, poor and unnoticed until Jesus calls him, heals him, and tells him his faith has saved him. A remarkable story, yet not as unexpected as the saving of Zacchaeus.
The story of Zacchaeus inspires me because from start to finish, it tells me about grace. Mary Fraser, who served as the Director of Pastoral Care and Counseling for the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church writes,
Long ago, while pastoring in the Northeast, I gave up on the notion of grace as rescue or grace as the God version of the knight suddenly riding in on the white horse to save the princess. Instead, I came to know grace as the ingredient of welcome in the midst of exile.
Grace: The Return From Exile
Mary Fraser
Zacchaeus is in exile. His exile is obvious. Though he is a man of power and wealth, his wealth is tainted by his participation in a corrupt system that alienates him from his community and from God. His wealth gives him power, but his short stature exposes his vulnerability. Zacchaeus is so short he must run ahead of the crowd and climb a tree so that he might get a chance to see Jesus as he passes by. It is Zacchaeus’ vulnerability and the way he boldly casts off his self-consciousness to seek Jesus that endears him to me. If Zacchaeus can find his way to God, surely, I can too. Yet, while in a surface read of the story, we might focus on Zacchaeus’ seeking efforts, exploring the depths of the story, we find that it is not effort but grace that takes Zacchaeus from exile to home.
Looking at Zacchaeus from the outside, we might think his wealth and power gave him assurance of his place in the world, and yet, Zacchaeus “was seeking to see who Jesus was” (Lk 19:3). I would love to have a conversation with Zacchaeus to ask him why he was seeking Jesus, but maybe his answers would be like any of ours. Maybe Zacchaeus felt the same loneliness, restlessness, anxiety, difficulty in relationships, and sense of impermanence that many of us feel in our lives. These experiences open our hearts to feel the reality of our exile from God and to question the ultimate meaning in our lives. The questions about meaning exile evokes are God’s grace operating within us, calling us to leave behind the safety of the impermanent shelters we build around ourselves to venture into the night looking for our true home. Like Zacchaeus we have weaknesses and shortcomings that make our journey arduous. Like Zacchaeus, grace works deep within us stirring us to find a way to see what God wants us to see.
Though Zacchaeus sets out to see Jesus, it is Jesus who stops beneath the tree and looks up to see Zacchaeus. Grace opens Zacchaeus’s heart and grace fills the space that it opens, transforming Zacchaeus’s own life and his relationship with others. Zacchaeus is an unlikely, somewhat humorous biblical hero who teaches us simple lessons.
One, listen deeply to the questions of your heart and boldly seek to follow where those questions lead, even if this involves embarrassingly climbing a tree while others are watching.
Two, when Jesus meets you in your seeking, welcome him with joy and let that joy transform you. You may feel like you are in exile, but God seeks you, finds you, and leads you home. All you have to do is listen and observe.
Carefully observe the way your heart draws you and choose that way with all your strength.
Hasidic Saying
