Zacchaeus, so the song goes, was a very little man. What he lacked in stature he appears to have made up for in cunning, taking from the poor, storing up treasure for himself and caring not a jot for anyone else. Yet he was drawn to climb a tree to see Jesus. But even Zacchaeus was shocked when Jesus invited Himself around for the evening. It seems to be the one thing that Jesus needed to say to get His attention. Cutting right through to his heart, and to the heart of the matter. Instantaneously, it seems, Zacchaeus is transformed, a changed man, seeking to make amends with all he has wronged, and throwing in his lot with Jesus. Even as this life-changeing, town-changing event was taking place, and Zacchaeus was doing himself out of a nice little earner, many were grumbling, criticising Jesus for consorting with sinners, even tax collectors.
It’s easy for us to try and keep ourselves, or the Church, pure. We try to stay away from things that will damage us. We sing the right songs, read the right books, eat the right food and so on and so on. We can be prone to criticising others who do not approach God, life, faith, moral and ethical issues in the way that we do.We can walk under a cloud of righteous indignation, thinking that we are making all right around us, when actually we are the ones who suffer when we live in such a pompous and arrogant fashion. Jesus cuts through all social convention in declaring that salvation has come to the house of Zacchaeus, but he does not care. He does not care about anything apart from that another one has been added to the Kingdom. Oh that we would commit ourselves to the discipline of living with this attitude.
What’s the one thing Jesus could be saying to you today, trying to get your attention? Can you remember the first time it happened? Are you willing to open up your life and let the light shine in, so that the light of God might shine out today?