OnFire #103 Zacchaeus Throws Away His Lifts

April 16, 2007

Hi Folks:

We've been looking at the characters in Mark, but some of my favourite characters are from other books. We find Zacchaeus in Luke 19.

Zacchaeus takes me back to my childhood, and singing the old Sunday school songs. Remember this one?

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he

He climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see

And as the Saviour passed him by he looked up in the tree

And said, "Zacchaeus, you come down

For I'm going to your house today. I'm going to your house today."

At six feet tall, I am often the tallest person in a room. A few years ago, however, Jan and I went to a show in Toronto (the Abba tribute, "Mama Mia"). At intermission I looked around the room and I realized that about three quarters of the men were taller than I was. So were at least a quarter of the women. Freaky.

After telling this story, someone told me that some upwardly mobile men buy lift shoes to gain up to 4 inches in height. I checked it out. Sure enough, these shoes actually look normal on the outside, not the 70's style platforms I had envisioned. They come in dress shoes (for the office), running shoes (for the gym), work boots (for the aspiring engineer), golf shoes (for networking on the links), and hikers (for the company retreat). OK, that explains a few things.

In any case, Zacchaeus was short - a "wee little man" - so he ran ahead of the crowd to climb a tree and see Jesus. What a picture - a wealthy man, chief tax collector, boss of the tax collectors in Jericho, a man of position and responsibility, running and climbing trees to see Jesus.

Its interesting to see what people will do when they want something. They'll buy lift shoes to stand out among the other "Alpha Males." Zacchaeus broke social convention because he so wanted to see Jesus.

As I look at Zacchaeus, my own faith is challenged. He had such a hunger, interest and fascination for Jesus that he would embarrass himself in order to fill it. We could say that Zacchaeus lost himself to find Jesus. How well am I doing at losing myself to fill my hunger for Jesus? Some days I think I do all right. Other days I'm filling up for Troy, not Jesus.

Zacchaeus reminds me that there are lots of ways to be little without being short. This is the way I felt about myself for many years. Unsure of myself. Feeling unworthy, incapable. Wondering if life would ever come together. Little can be a state of mind, a state of faith.

I look at Zacchaeus and I'm reminded that being a man has nothing to do with size. When Zacchaeus finally met Jesus, he understood that he needed to make things right, and so he offered to pay back generously four times more than he had cheated. Plus, he gave half his possessions to the poor. Zacchaeus no longer needed his possessions and his money to be big. He threw away his "lifts."

I've tried a lot of "lifts." Not in my shoes, you understand. As a student, I thought that if my marks were good and I put some degrees behind my name, I'd prove myself. But after school, no one really cared about marks and degrees. Then as a pastor, I thought the size of my church might say something about my size. My church didn't grow, and God has placed me in smaller churches. I took up fishing and hunting to try to fit in with the men around me. But I got seasick and I've never brought home a deer.

None of these things make me a man. They are fun and I enjoy them (not the seasick part), but they are no indication of manhood. Jesus was the biggest man of them all and it takes a big man to follow him. Zacchaeus became a bigger man when he decided to follow Jesus, and so do I.

Some of the women are wondering where you fit into this picture. Believe it or not, it takes the same stuff to be a real woman as it does to be a real man. Weird, isn't it? Again, its not about anything but following Jesus. Its not about how well you can juggle and multitask. Its not about how well you can keep house, cook and tend children. Its not about how well you can be all things to all people. Its not about how you look. Its about following Jesus. Faith. Character.

Hope this helps. Be OnFire.

Troy

April 16, 2007