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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
Jesus entered Jericho
and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a
chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but
because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and
climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the
spot, He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must
stay at your house today.”
So he came down at once
and welcomed Him gladly.
All the people saw this
and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
Luke 19:1-7
This ends
today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Be careful who you
associate with.
You may have heard those
words of caution before.
As I think of them, I
believe the first time they were spoken to me when I was growing up as my
parents wanted me to show prudence regarding the kids I hung out with. The gist
of their concern was centered on being adversely influenced by other to do what
I knew was wrong or even to be found guilty by association if I was identified
with the wrong crowd.
These words sunk in and
I found myself hearing them again and again as I became an adult, as if my
parents were still whispering in my ear as I had to make choices who to (and
not to) spend time with. Maybe you can relate to this as well.
Indeed the world would
say, “Be careful about whose company you’re in”, but as we see in today’s
passage, and in other places in Jesus’ ministry, Jesus didn’t exactly prescribe
to this life attitude. Look again at today’s passage drawn from the opening
verses of Luke, Chapter 19:
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the
name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to
see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So
he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming
that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus,
come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
So he came down at once and welcomed Him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the
guest of a sinner.” Luke 19:1-7
Here we find Jesus making
a stop in Jericho on His way to Jerusalem and His fateful last week of human
life. Note that initially, He had no
notion of staying. The scriptures tell us He was simply passing through. But as
we have seen so many times in Jesus’ ministry, He adjusts His plans to meet the
will of His Father, especially when it came to helping others.
In the case of His
passing through Jericho, His change of plans was centered around a man who had
to be despised by His fellow Jews, a man by the name of Zacchaeus. Here’s why
we know he wasn’t held in very high esteem.
The scriptures tell us
that Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector which meant he was an overseer of
others who collected taxes for Caesar and the Roman Empire. What made the tax
collectors so hated was that they were notorious for charging more than the
Romans were levying and then pocketing the difference for themselves. This made
tax collecting a very lucrative way of getting wealthy for the Jews who got to
do it, and that wealth was largely gained off the backs of their fellow country
people. Thus it’s little wonder that the people viewed Zacchaeus, and other tax
collectors, as sinners and people they would not ever associate with.
Well, Zacchaeus had no
doubt heard something about Jesus before He entered Jericho. There had to be a
buzz around town, perhaps based on all that Jesus had done during His three
years of ministry work. And so we find the chief tax collector climbing a
sycamore-fig tree so he would have a good vantage point to see Jesus, given
that “he was short” and “could not see over the crowd”.
As Jesus arrived at the
spot where Zacchaeus was perched in the tree, He stopped and looked up at him.
What caused Jesus to do this, I don’t know but He obviously had it comes to
mind that He needed to spend time with him because He did not hesitate in
telling the chief tax collector to “come down immediately” because He wanted to
stay at Zacchaeus’ home.
Imagine how you would
have felt if you were Zacchaeus. He obviously was excited enough to just catch
a glimpse of Jesus that he was willing to climb a tree. You get the feeling he
would have been satisfied enough to just see this man that everyone had been
talking about. But little did He know that Jesus had other plans, plans not
just to allow Zacchaeus to see him from the tree but to meet with Him up close
and personal. It was an opportunity we see the chief tax collector gladly
except as he welcomed Jesus.
Well, this all didn’t
happen in a vacuum. Rather, everyone who had gathered to see Jesus - you know,
the crowd that diminutive Zacchaeus couldn’t see over - well, they were less
than happy with what they witnessed, muttering and sneering:
“He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
In other words, they
were thinking:
“How could He associate
with a sinner like that?”
Maybe they would say the
same about any Christians like us who would do the same today, who would be
willing to associate with those the world would look down upon and feel not
worthy of someone spending time with.
So what do we do in
those situations?
Well, we follow the lead
of Jesus who didn’t shy away from hanging with the sinners of His time. In
fact, you may remember that He said this when called to task by the Pharisees
on another occasion when He chose to be in the company of transgressors:
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and
learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’For I have not come to
call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:12-13
How would sinners find
their way to Jesus if He didn’t spend time with them?
Indeed, how will sinners
today come to know and trust Jesus in their lives if we don’t share fellowship
with them?
Jesus came for sinners
and if we are going to carry on His work as laborers in the harvest field
today, then we need to do as He did. We need to follow His lead and not
hesitate to hang out with sinners with the hope of bringing them to Jesus and
the righteousness that can drive them away from wickedness.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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