Striving and Climbing

Gospel	Luke 19:1-10

Salvation comes to the house of Zacchaeus

Jesus entered Jericho and was going through the town when a man whose name was Zacchaeus made his appearance: he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man. He was anxious to see what kind of man Jesus was, but he was too short and could not see him for the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way. When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and spoke to him: ‘Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today.’ And he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully. They all complained when they saw what was happening. ‘He has gone to stay at a sinner’s house’ they said. But Zacchaeus stood his ground and said to the Lord, ‘Look, sir, I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek out and save what was lost.’

I love to watch the Olympics.  Many people do. I think that the reason that it is so popular is that we admire people who forsake all other things in the pursuit of a higher goal.  We know that hours upon hours of dedicated time is spent practicing and honing the skills needed to win a medal.  Yet, most of the dedicated athletes come, perform, and go home clutching only the memories of having participated.  Many of those athletes will begin getting ready for the next Olympics four years in the future.  Once again they will deny themselves the pleasures of an ordinary life and take up the training in the hope that they will succeed.  They are willing to go to any lengths to get the prize and they fix the goal in their sight and all of the pain and suffering that their training brings them is seen as a good because just perhaps the next time the athletes of the world gather, they will be good enough to take home the prize. 

Our hero Zacchaeus, was a man that no one looked up to.  I mean that figuratively and factually.  He was celebrated by the majority of the people of Israel as walking, talking, human scum because he worked for the Romans, the occupiers of Israel, and helped them rape the wallets of the hard-working people by collecting taxes for the occupiers. He also was a short man who was used to spending a lot of time missing out on things simply because he was too short to see what was going on. He knew Jesus was coming and he had heard great things about this man.  He wanted to see Him.  Well, as normal, the only things he could see was the behinds of his taller fellow citizens.  He decided to run ahead and he climbed a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus pass. All he wanted to do was to see this man.  He did not expect the Holy Teacher to speak to him, a tax collector so he almost fell out of the tree when Jesus spoke to him and said that He wanted to stay at his house that day.  Zacchaeus immediately came down and passed through the forest of legs and agreed to host Jesus.  He ran ahead and had his servants prepare a party lunch for him, his friends, who were all pretty much in the same business as Zacchaeus, and for Jesus and his disciples. 

I can imagine the joy that Zacchaeus felt as the Holy Teacher reclined at table with him and his friends.  We do not know what Jesus said at the luncheon but we do know the words had to be very powerful indeed!  Zacchaeus, in front of witnesses, repents of his ways and says that he would give half his property to the poor and repay quadruple any person that he had defrauded in the course of his employment.  Jesus must have felt joy when he told  Zacchaeus that salvation had come to his house that very day. 

Jesus does not ask us to do much.  He asks us to forgive the unforgivable, to love the unlovable, to be ethical in a world where ethics is losing its place.  We need to do what needs to be done no matter what.  We have to be willing to go to any lengths to be with Jesus.  We need to climb the tree of life and allow Jesus to call us down because He wants to spend the day with us.  Get climbing young warrior for Jesus is just down the road.  Give a listen to today's song, it seems to fit nicely with the reading.