We are all Zacchaeus some days - Episode 29

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Welcome to Jen’s New Song.  My name is Jennifer Holmes and I’m so glad you’re here.  This is a podcast for the broken, the weary, the hurting, and the suffering.  Here we have honest conversations about mental health issues and we look at them all through the lens of God’s word.  A lot of people don’t realize the vastness of what the Bible has to say about depression, anxiety, doubt, fear, or relational issues.  The Bible is full of comfort and guidance for all of life’s problems, including the struggles of our minds and emotions.  

Each episode will have a short encouragement from me as we study God’s Word together, drawing on my own experience with mental illness and my continuing education in counselling, or we will have honest conversations with a guest.  

Whether it’s you who struggle, or you want to better understand how to minister to others, thank you for joining me today.

Today’s we’re going to talk about Zacchaeus.  If you grew up anything like me, the song is now running through your head - Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he.

I won’t sing the whole song for you, but I read something very interesting several weeks ago that has had me thinking about Zacchaeus a lot lately.  I’m sad to say that I cannot give this person credit because I cannot for the life of me remember where I read it.  Honestly it was probably Twitter, where I would have zero chance of ever finding it, so I didn’t try.  But I’ll do my best and tell you that this insight was not original to me.  This anonymous person said that the way you sang that song as a child might tell you something about how you see God.

You know the part - And He said, Zacchaeus you come down!  For I’m going to your house today, for I’m going to your house today.  We sang it with one hand on a kicked out hip and the other hand wagging a finger in the air.  And we generally accompanied it with a stern or even angry face.

The writer went on to say that this symbolizes how a lot of people see God - a angry hip, face, and finger all working together to put us in our place.  Can I be honest with you?  At first I kind of rolled my eyes and thought, for Pete’s sake.  It’s just a children’s song.  Does everything have to be a war on evangelicalism?  Do we have to be offended by everything? This immediate thought may have been influenced by the fact that I probably spent too much time on Twitter that day.  I can say that because I spend too much time on Twitter every day.  But that’s besides the point.  By the end of that article or really long tweet thread, the author had made their point and I don’t think I’ll be able to sing that song the same way again.  Before you start having some of the same thoughts I did, let me explain.

Our first character in this Bible story is Zacchaeus.  In case you are not familiar with him, the Bible says he was a tax collector.  In fact, the Bible says he was a chief among publicans, or tax collectors, and he was rich.  When the Roman government collected taxes from the people, they told the tax collectors how much the expected.  But then the tax collectors were authorized to take as much as they wanted to demand from the people, keeping the surplus for themselves.  You can imagine why they were hated.  

Here were people who betrayed them by working for their captors and not only worked for them, but were authorized to oppress them even more.  They were getting rich of the backs of people who didn’t deserve to be treated that way.  Not only was Zacchaeus one of those people, but he was in charge of them all, likely charging the tax collectors too so they had to charge the people even more.  It was all a vicious system with the regular people paying the price.

The other thing we know about Zacchaeus is that he was a short man who was interested in hearing this Jesus speak.  So, knowing he won’t be able to see over the crowd, he climbs up in a Sycamore tree so he could see Jesus.

The second character is Jesus.  Did you know that Jesus describes Himself as meek and lowly?  The Son of God, and those are the two words that He uses to describe Himself.  Not powerful or sovereign or any other words we might think of to describe a King.  Instead he uses two words that are likely the very opposite of our tax collector.  

Jesus also said he came to seek and to save the lost.  Lost is the very definition of Zacchaeus.  All of Jesus’ interactions with those who were seeking Him and those who were lost are all done in love and mercy and compassion.  Jesus saved His anger for the Pharisees - those that were hurting the people Jesus came to save.  Anyone who came to Him looking for a Saviour was treated with great love.

So when I put all of those things together and thought about the way we sing this little Sunday School song, I started to realize, I think this writer is right!  It would be very out of character for Jesus to be angry with Zacchaeus and to wag His finger at him and be demanding to go to his house.  When you think of the way Jesus was with those who were lost, you read the text in a different way.  Instead of “Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.”  we might read it as, “Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.”

I think the text supports this second reading too, because it says that Zacchaeus came down quickly and received Jesus joyfully.  I can’t imagine that this seasoned tax collector, who was used to the entire town literally hating him, and I’m sure making that well known, would have responded with joy to another angry voice.  In fact, I’m sure that Jesus’ compassion and love and warmth were exactly what he needed.

Zacchaeus ends up a believer and restoring all that he had stolen from the people.  What an example of a life changing faith in Christ.

At this point you might be saying, so what Jen?  Is the whole point of this podcast to change the way we sing a Sunday school song?  Well, I considered that as my day job is a music teacher, but then Covid hit and we can’t sing at school right now, so I haven’t had to make that decision!  But no, that’s not the point of this podcast.  You go ahead and sing that song however you like.  It’s just that it got me thinking.

If we, from the time we are little children, learn to see God as someone who is perpetually angry or Who waves a finger at us when He wants us to do something, we will be far less likely to have honest conversations with Him.

What if, instead, we saw this conversation with Jesus the way we’re learning to see how God responds to Elijah and John the Baptist as we’ve seen in previous episodes.  What if instead of a wagging finger, we see invitation?  What if instead of anger, we see love?  What if we see the Jesus who didn’t see a tax collector but instead saw a lost soul whom He loved?

The story of Zacchaeus continues a few more verses because Jesus causes an uproar among the people by eating with a publican.  Jesus does this a lot because He continually responds to people in a way that is the opposite of how the religious people respond.  And aren’t you glad?  For most days, I find myself feeling like a tax collector.  One who is sinning, failing, doing the wrong thing.  Sometimes I feel like an outcast, just like Zacchaeus.  I often feel weak and frail and like a wee little person who is just desperately trying to see Jesus.  

Zacchaeus’ conversation with Jesus teaches us much about our God.  That when we seek Him, He will be found.  That He welcomes all of us, no matter our sin or our suffering.  That we can be restored in Him.  That we can come away from our conversations with God with great joy.

We are all Zacchaeus some days.  Seeking Jesus.  Trying our best to get to Him.  Then finding He comes to us.  In our feeble, desperate attempts to live this Christian life we are not greeted by an angry God, but One who instead holds out His hand and says, come.  Come quickly to me, beloved one.  Let’s dine together.

Thank you for joining me today for another honest conversation from the Bible.  If you would like to read Zacchaeus’ story for yourself, you can find it in Luke 19.  Maybe you know a friend who is in sin or suffering and would be blessed by this episode.  Would you share it with them?  Did you know that I have a transcript for each episode available on my website for those who are hearing impaired or who just prefer to read instead?  Just head to jensnewsong.com and you’ll find the latest episode right on the front page.  And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss any future episodes.  Thanks for listening.