The transformational encounter

We all know the story of Zacchaeus, short, rich and by his own admission a thief. Zacchaeus would have been unpopular and despised, but he wanted to see Jesus, not from a distance, not through a crowd but properly, even if it meant looking undignified by climbing up a tree and almost certainly joining the children and youth up there. 

The more amazing thing is that Jesus wanted to meet Zacchaeus. Along came Jesus, surrounded by a throng, and stopped, looked up and called Zacchaeus by name and invited himself to dinner. Imagine the Queen walking the line when she suddenly picks you out by name, even though you’ve never met her, and invited herself to dinner. That’s the reality of what happened. Zacchaeus, the unpopular, despised tax collector was honoured in the sight of the crowd. And Zacchaeus immediately received Jesus and the encounter was transformational.  In the sight and sound of everyone Zacchaeus promised extreme restitution, to pay back four times what he had stolen. 

At this point the crowd lost the plot and grumbled about Jesus dining with a sinner. Jesus drew their attention to the fact that this was what he came to do, seek and save the lost but surely it didn’t mean people like Zacchaeus?  It did.  The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart 1 Samuel 16: 7b. 

A similar thing happened at Gadarenes when Jesus delivered the demoniac from many demons so that he was free, clothed and in his right mind, surely a case of great rejoicing. Instead, the crowd were frightened and begged Jesus to leave. Admittedly their livelihood of a herd of pegs was now at the bottom of the lake, but didn’t they have any compassion for this poor man bound and out of his mind? 

One encounter with Jesus transforms the life of any individual, no matter how wretched but our response is very telling. Are we full of self-righteous indignation (the elder brother syndrome) that Jesus could wish to not just associate with but transform an individual or are we fearful of the power of God to move in miracle-working power that will truly transform lives? I believe that wonderful verse in John 13: 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another, will become evident when we truly rejoice over one sinner saved and set free. 

The Kingdom will certainly be evident amongst us when the Church has a different mindset from the world and celebrates when the broken, lost and rejected sinners are touched by an ever-loving God. The most powerful testimony of God’s transformational power is a life transformed and a Church eager to celebrate and testify to a sceptical world that God is real and here’s the evidence. 

God of the miraculous

One of the advantages of taking a topic when reading the Bible rather than reading through a Gospel or another book is that incredible themes start to lift off the pages.

One thing I have been reminded of recently is that God is the God of truly outstanding, amazing miracles. Not just that but when God is about to do something significant, it is always accompanied by the miraculous.

 Noah built an ark in the desert for 120 years and God brought the water to float it. Abraham and Sarah were not just old but ‘as good as dead’ (Hebrews 11: 12) yet their one son (born to Sarah aged 90) birthed the whole of the Jewish race

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Moses, an 80 year old no-hoper, was so insecure that he argued with God 5 times about his inability to fulfil his calling. Yet he ended up leading a motley group of slaves out from one of the most powerful military nations in the world at that time. In the process he performed outstanding miracles including the parting of the Red Sea which led to the complete overthrow of the military might of Egypt. God miraculously provided water from a rock for approx 2 million people and fed these people morning and evening for 40 years.

They entered their Promised Land when God again parted the waters, this time of the swollen, flooded River Jordan. The Israelites then took the first fortified city they came across – not by military might – but by walking round the walls every day for 7 days and the walls collapsed.

And so it goes on; curses turned into blessings (Numbers 24: 10 - 11), shepherd boys becoming kings (Psalm 78: 70 - 71), mighty armies overthrown by the power of praise (II Chronicles 20: 22) and many more until we come to most incredible miracle of all; God himself giving up all his glory, majesty and power to become a tiny baby born of a virgin. This happened in an insignificant town, not in a palace and not even in a home but outside with the animals.

The Christmas story is full of miracles – miracle babies born to elderly parents like Zechariah and Elizabeth, a virgin birth, the glorious heavenly host revealed to humble shepherds and Gentile magi travelling miles to follow a star to worship a king that his own people did not even acknowledge.

He continually reveals himself today as a miracle working God.

Sometimes I think our God is just too small. We struggle to believe that the God who parted the Red Sea will come in and make a way for us where there appears to be no way. We battle to realise that the God who fed two million people every day for 40 years will provide for us and that the man who raised Jairus’ daughter and Dorcas (to name just two) will breathe life into our hopeless looking, dead situations.

Or that the same God who inspired 5000 people to be saved in one day can save our family and friends.  Or that the God who forgave Zacchaeus and the woman caught in adultery will forgive our sins. Or that the God who healed Naaman the leper will heal our eczema and so on.

Our faith is so small and yet our God is so big.

Let’s ask God to forgive us for our unbelief and help us stir up again the gift of faith that he has given each one of us so that we can come to our miracle working God and be amazed at the things he wants to do in and through our lives.  

Zacchaeus

Luke 19: 1 – 10

We are all familiar with the story of Zacchaeus which we probably learned in Sunday School. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and as such would have been hated by the people firstly because he worked for the Romans, the occupiers of their land and then he took more money from the people than was necessary by cheating and extortion. Tax collectors and sinners were always mentioned in the same breath. When Zacchaeus heard Jesus was in town, he wanted to see this man that everyone was talking about but being short, he couldn’t see over the heads of the crowd so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree for a good view.

Now if Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector he was not a young man and it must have been a bit undignified to have climbed up and joined the local youths up a tree! I suspect though something in his spirit was drawing him to a divine appointment for when Jesus passed, he stopped, looked up and called Zacchaeus by name. Jesus invited himself to his house. I think this may have been the nicest thing anyone had done for Zacchaeus in a long time. Tax collectors were very unpopular and cheating ones even more so. Now here the celebrity preacher, teacher and healer wanted to come to his house and Zacchaeus did not pass up on the opportunity.  He received and welcomed him joyfully the Amplified Bible says. Kindness opens the hardest of hearts –condemnation keeps them firmly closed.

Of course the crowd were not as happy and could not understand why Jesus would want to go to his house. There were plenty of worthy local dignitaries who would have been delighted to host Jesus and show off to their friends their exalted visitor. Jesus though had salvation on his mind not hospitality. Salvation came to Zacchaeus’ house and to his household and he made generous restitution for all his past sins and extortion. What a wonderful outcome from one act of kindness to a ‘sinner’.

The crowd’s reaction though is one that dwells in all our hearts. Who is worthy to be honoured? It is the elder brother syndrome from the parable of the prodigal son. Every one of us has a tendency towards deciding whether a person is worthy or not of honour.  However, when we can learn to genuinely rejoice over the honouring and prominence given to others, especially those considered unworthy because of faults or sin, something of self righteousness will have been broken in our lives.

A pastor I know tells the story of a prostitute who got saved in his church and everyone was delighted until she started dating one of the elder’s sons. All the joy then turned to condemnation. Let us examine our hearts and root out those self righteous tendencies to judge others and decide whether we think they are worthy of honour or not and let us rejoice with the Father over every sinner saved and every unworthy person exalted by him – including ourselves!