“When I contrast the loving Jesus, comprehending all things in his ample and tender charity, with those who profess to bear his name, marking their zeal by what they do not love, it seems to me as though men, like the witches of old, had read the Bible backward, and had taken incantations out of it for evil, rather than inspiration for good.”
I am so struck by what he says…”marking their zeal by what they do not love”. Have you encountered this type of Christianity? I have and it is the thing I hate most about the church today. Yep, I faithfully serve Jesus Christ, and I just said that there was something I hate about some of these churches that also profess Him. Back to Chapin, he calls Jesus “loving”. His life was defined by that! The most famous verse of the Bible, “For God so loved the world He gave His one and only Son…” LOVE! So why, when Christians encounter a person who has not chosen Christianity, do we jump condemn? And, really, I thought that this was a recent cultural change in Christianity. I thought back to the days of my grandmother or before, trying to figure out where we got off track. Where we started to call ourselves Christians because of what we don’t love instead of by what we do love. And you know when that was? Always. Even before Christ was crucified and every year since the church has struggled and fought against this.
As a little girl, raised in a Reformed Mennonite church in the woods of Pennsylvania, my siblings and I would attend what was, and still is call VBS or Vacation Bible School. There was always a theme, we would play a million games and make the coolest crafts. I looked forward to it every year. They would teach us these silly songs as ways to remember Bible stories…and they worked…! May be you know this one… “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he.” Yes, no? Well, either way, I wanted to take a look at this story found in Luke 19. The Bible says he was “the chief tax collector”. Think the big boss of the IRS. He had worked his way up and was no longer the one knocking on doors to repossess your car, but now had men who did that for him. It’s more extreme than that, however. See, at this time Israel was occupied and controlled by the Romans. The Jews were pretty much slaves in their own land, and extremely oppressed. Now, what makes this Zacchaeus guys so much more “evil”? This was a trader…what was considered the scum of society. He was a Jew, hired by the Romans to tax, rip off, and be the ultimate Oppressor of his own people.
To put this more modern day, Aldrich Ames is considered to have committed the worst act of treason against America. As a CIA agent, he passed on information to the Soviets and it’s estimated to have compromised at least one hundred operations and caused the execution of at least ten U. S sources. He is a Zacchaeus. In fact, besides characterizing Zacchaeus as being “the chief tax collector”, it says “and he was rich”. It’s interesting that the Bible even says that because it’s a given that as a tax collector he was wealth, so what this implies is that he was also very deep into dirty money. To further connect Zacchaeus to Ames, it’s believed that Ames had collected 4.6 million dollars for his espionage. He was seriously rich.
So, now, what do you think, putting yourself in Zacchaeus’ shoes (or sandals), would be your reaction when you hear that there is this Messiah, possible Jewish king, coming through your town? Excitement? I doubt it. The story says, being of small statue (hence the wee little man), Zacchaeus climbed into a tree to see Christ. I think two things put him there. First, fear of the Jews who despised him. He had stolen their money flat out, so I don’t think they wanted him to now stand next to him. Second, I think Zacchaeus was further spying. If Christ really was this Jewish king then he could be out of a job! If Rome was to be overthrown then his time of wealth was over. So there he is, perched like a small bird and Jesus walks by. Christ’s reaction and conversation with Zacchaeus has pierced my heart to the extreme this past week. If we had our way, we would have Christ look up, rebuke Zacchaeus, lynch him in the street and then ransack his house till everyone was given back their money. The Jews were so blind to even think that Jesus was there to see them, but, no, Jesus went to that town for one man. Zacchaeus. He even knew his name. Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down. I must stay at your house today.” Don’t miss it. Don’t miss the fire this must have lit in Zacchaeus. He was an outcast, hated by his own people. Accepted? Never. Now, right before him was the Messiah and He knew his name. He wanted to stay with him!
This is acceptance. Love. Grace. It’s like Zacchaeus walked into a Sunday morning church service, tried to blend in, even sitting in the bleachers, just to see a glimpse of Love. He even heard his name. The Pastor read “For God so loved the world that if Zacchaeus believes in Him and he shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” He is broken that someone, a Jew, a King wants to be with him! Then, he catches the eyes of the crowds. Whispers start and soon everyone knows who he is. They know what he does for a living. The Bible says that the crowds complained saying, “Jesus had gone to be a guest of a sinner.” Ha. Oh, the church…we always think Christ lies with the saints when He spent His life serving the sinners. It’s true that Zacchaeus was a sinner. That wasn’t a false title. Their wrong understanding comes from thinking that Jesus wouldn’t want to associate with him because of it. Jesus actually turns to the crowds and says, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Now, I am not lumping you in with the Aldrich Ames’ of the world. I am not calling you traders or scum. Far from it. That is what the “Jews” of today (aka those that mark themselves by what they do not love) want to call you. It’s their eyes you feel catching you. I wanted to tell you Zacchaeus’ story so you could hear what you are from the Man himself, Christ. That He calls you by name. That it’s YOU He wants to be with. He is more concerned about loving you than even the most righteous priest. This world hears your job title and either a. wants you for their gain b. looks down at you. And I am lumping me in with the Jews. I know there are problems with the church. I know that I have to remind myself of my own sin, of how I am still in such need of acceptance and love as you are, BUT, I hope that with every visit you get from us ladies at Asha, every bag we pass out filled with goodies, that you understand one thing… God is in love with you. Not the cleaned up, post-dancer, perfect saint version, but the perched-in-a-tree, hidden from society, ashamed to walk into a church version. (Or anything between). God is ALWAYS about acceptance before obedience. And like Zacchaeus, who it says that he repaid back to everyone 4 times the amount he stole, I pray that any change you make in your life would only be out of being completely blown away with God, seeing that all that matters is His acceptance. He wants to give you a life beyond the money you make, the rush you get. It’s not a life where now you can look down at the Zacchaeus’, but can be just as defined by love as Jesus was.
