Zacchaeus Is Out on a Limb

This weekend’s Gospel text tells the story of Zacchaeus who climbs a tree to see Jesus.  Zacchaeus is a person with a position of importance as the ‘chief tax collector’.  But somehow God’s spirit is at work in him and he wants to see Jesus.

I imagine that Jesus was touched to see a ‘man of importance’ climb a tree in order to see Him.  That was an undignified thing for an adult to do in Jesus’ day. But Jesus sees it as an act of faith. And then Jesus does the unthinkable. He invites Himself to dinner at Zacchaeus’ house. 

    

Zacchaeus is elated! And he immediately makes an ongoing commitment to repent and repay anyone he has defrauded and to be especially generous with the poor.

When’s the last time you went out on a limb and took a risk to do something unthinkable because of your faith?  Do you generally give people the ‘benefit of the doubt’? Think of a time when you were given a second chance…a chance to start over in your life.  Who stands by you when you need someone to believe in you?