“‘Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’” (Luke 19:5).
Saint Augustine often said that he was worried that Christ would walk past him and he would be distracted and would fail to see Him there…
And I have been thinking about that today because it is clear that Saint Augustine wanted more… He wanted more in life and was willing to sacrifice more to get that.
And he was not the only one. In the New Testament, we are told the story of Zacchaeus…
“He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, and rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’… 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 came to seek and to save the lost.’” (Luke 19:1-10).
And Zacchaeus was a man who also – apparently – wanted more. He made lots of money. He was a tax collector. In those days a Jewish man could not get a better job than that. That job meant that he would collect taxes for the Roman government and then charge some extra on the top that he would keep for himself in a sort of ancient embezzlement scheme. And because of these tactics, Zacchaeus was not well liked in his community and had few friends.
But Christ – God Himself – came out of nowhere down that road and became the friend of Zacchaeus. And what did that friendship look like? It was not pure acceptance. Christ did not walk up to Zacchaeus and say – remain exactly as you are and change nothing and I will be happy. Instead, he noted that Zacchaeus had climbed a tree to have a look. And that was all that God needed from Zacchaeus – that willingness to see. Then God could take over the rest…
And how did God take over? Well, He became friends with Zacchaeus, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today.”
And Zacchaeus felt that Grace of that encounter and it changed everything for him…
Because God did not ask Zacchaeus for everything. He just wanted one little thing – Zacchaeus’ willingness to SEE. Once He had that, God could do the rest. God could do everything MORE.
And I have been thinking about that today as I have been thinking about what God is asking of me. And it seems to me that I only need to make the first move – by looking up to see. And then God can do the rest. God can certainly do MORE than I ever could…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.