Out on a Limb

Today is the Sunday of Zacchaeus in the Greek Orthodox Church. Here's the text, Luke 19:1-10 (NIV):

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a sinner." But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

Father Jerry preached on this text, and everything he said was well worth listening to, but his obvious delight in the comment by the Church father, Ambrose of Milan, caught a hold of me too:
When Zacchaeus was ‘in the crowd’ he couldn't see Jesus. It was only when he rose ‘above the crowd’ by climbing the sycamore tree that he was able to see Jesus. In fact, not only was he able to see Jesus, but Jesus was able to see him.

And what did Jesus do?
Did He call Zacchaeus like He called His other disciples, Levi and the rest, with "Follow Me"? …No. Instead, He gave Zacchaeus a concrete order, a single command, “Come down immediately!” And to top it off, He told him the reason right then and there, “I must stay at your house today.” If this is not the ultimate case of ‘too good to be true’, I don't know what is!

To have Jesus stay with you! With you, personally! What would I or anybody give, to have that said to us, “I must stay at your house today"? Well, this is what Zacchaeus gave, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Talk about repentance! Talk about turning ‘about face’!

Is the ‘process’ of salvation really this easy?
You decide you want to see Jesus. You put yourself in a place where this is a possibility. You see Him, but more importantly He sees you. He gives you a concrete command. You do it. He enters your ‘house’ and you tell Him you want to make good on what you owe. And you hear Him declare, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.” And what does it mean to be called a ‘son of Abraham’? The answer can be found fully in chapter 11 of the Letter to the Hebrews, which starts out, “It was for faith that our ancestors were commended.” (Hebrews 11:2 JB)

When people heard that Jesus was going to stay with Zacchaeus, a filthy collaborator with the Romans and a tax collector, they said “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But what does the Word of God say about people like Zacchaeus? “…God is not ashamed to be called their God…” (Hebrews 11:16 JB)

Back to Father Jerry's sermon, he made different points than the ones I just digressed on, but they honed in on the idea of leaving the crowd, rising above it, as the surest way to see Jesus, be seen by Him, and be given a concrete command. That command is one that only Jesus can give, and it will vary for each of us. Yet, I believe that the first thing the Lord wants to do with each of us is ‘move in’ with us, no matter what it looks like to others.

“Anybody who receives My commandments and keeps them will be one who loves Me; and anybody who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show Myself to him.” Judas—this was not Judas Iscariot—said to Him, “Lord, what is all this about? Do you intend to show Yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We shall come to him and make Our home with him.”

John 14:21-23 (Jerusalem Bible)