Zacheaus and me

This coming Sunday’s Gospel reading is the story of Zacheaus. I stumbled across a commentary that suggested the “short in stature” bit didn’t so much describe Zacheaus’ height as it did his status among his friends and neighbors in society at the time.

At first glance this doesn’t seem to be a big deal, but when you sit with the reading, you see that it shifts the entire meaning of the story. What I found most compelling about this was that it wasn’t so much Zacheaus’ sinful behavior that becomes the heart of the story, but rather the people who keep him from seeing Jesus.

It is right near the blind man story in Luke, where the crowd tries to keep Bartimaeus from distracting Jesus. It seems the crowd is trying to monopolize to the best of their ability the time and attention of Jesus. Likewise we find that the NRSV’s version of the story, where Zacheaus states he will give half his possessions and he will pay back those he wronged is wrong. Turns out Zacheaus may have been doing this ALREADY!

So this got me to thinking about how we as the church and we as individuals keep people from seeing Jesus, even those people Jesus so desperately seeks out himself. I can’t imagine I would do anything differently if I were part of the crowd and knew of Zacheaus’ sinful nature. Why wouldn’t Jesus invite himself to MY house, after all it is probably a much more humble dwelling and I don’t even have an eight the possessions of Zacheaus, so don’t have hardly as much to give away.

Dogma, doctrine, racism, bias, jealousy, all sorts of things help us get in the way or at least help us try to prevent people from seeing Jesus. Is this because we have a vision of Jesus we don’t want to see changed? Is it because we have enough friends and acquaintances that one more would be the straw that broke the camels back? Is it because we think we are superior to everyone else? Why do we keep people from seeing Jesus? Why do we force people to take extraordinary measure, like climb trees, in order to get a glimpse of Jesus?

So, how am I in the way, how am I keeping people from seeing Jesus? How can I get out of the way and allow grace and love to flow more freely, more fully between Christ and the people who are seeking Christ and the people Christ is seeking?

Comments

Monica said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
2:11 PM
Monica said…
Good questions. Good post. Seems to fit with the quote in the Gethsemane e-letter that says being humble means not making comparisons. Of course this leads to questions of how we(individually & collectively) might move toward needed change.
2:12 PM
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