Staying Curious About Zach

This is no ordinary day!

A few days ago we got curious about a wee little man named Zach and the beginning of his encounter with Jesus. There was a huge crowd, and Zacchaeus, small as he was, couldn't see a thing, so he got an idea! That crazy little guy ran ahead and climbed up into a tree!

And, I left you with a cliffhanger. When we stopped the story the crowd was approaching the tree Zach is hiding in. I imagine he is trying to look through the branches and leaves to figure out which figure in the crowd is Jesus. I bet Zach thinks his plan is working. Jesus is going to walk by, the crowd is going to pass, and he’s going to climb down and go about what would otherwise be an ordinary day of collecting taxes. But this was no ordinary day and Zach’s story is about to take a crazy turn.

As the crowd gets under the tree, Jesus does something I don’t think anybody is expecting. He stops!

Can you picture it? This whole crowd walking down the street together and all of a sudden Jesus halts in his tracks! I bet the back of that crowd all starts running into each other, and the front of the crowd probably keeps walking on ahead before they notice the group has paused.

What was going on? Everyone probably wonders. At first, they are more than likely still yelling and cheering and talking, but as Jesus stands there I bet the crowd quiets down. Maybe his friends ask him what he was doing.

“Why are we stopping, Jesus.”

Maybe Jesus puts up his hand or holds up a finger to quiet everyone down.

Zach is probably trying to figure out what’s happening too. Why are they stopping?

And then it happens! Zach’s worst nightmare.

Jesus looks up!!!

And even worse than that, I’m guessing the crowd does, too. What is Jesus looking at? Is he going to do another one of his famous analogies, something about tree branches and fruit and abiding in him?

I think that’s probably what’s happening in the crowd, but what about Zach? Holy cow! He has to be completely mortified!! The way I imagine it, he tries to make himself even smaller than he normally is, moving branches full of leaves to try to cover his face. If they see him, the embarrassment he feels will be worse than any embarrassment he’s ever faced.

And then, as the crowd becomes still and quiet, Jesus calls out!

“‘Zacchaeus!”

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus…” (Luke 19:5a)

Are you kidding me? Jesus calls him out, right in front of everyone! But, can we pause for a minute and consider what the crowd might be expecting Jesus to yell out after saying Zach’s name?

Maybe they thought he’d say, “You’re a wicked man, stealing from all these people.” as he motions his hands pointing out the crowd. “You should stay up in that tree, you crook!”

Or perhaps they’re expecting Jesus to say something about Zach’s allegiance to the Roman government, pointing out his divided loyalties and his lack of respect for God and Israel.

Or maybe they just thought Jesus is going to tell Zach to stop being ridiculous, come down from the tree, and act like a normal adult human being.

Whatever folks in the crowd think Jesus is going to say next, I bet none of them, except maybe some of his disciples (Matthew in particular) expect the next sentence that comes out of Jesus’ mouth.

“Hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” (Luke 19:5b)

No way!! Talk about a wild turn of events!

Now, I’m so sorry to have to do this again, but I’m gonna push the pause button on the Zach story, because I think it’s important to sit for a while and consider what’s happening here.

Zacchaeus, a man who is hated by virtually everyone in town, a man who I’d imagine feels like an outcast among his townspeople, is called out by name, by Jesus, the man everyone in town is trying to get close to.

That’s a very important part of this story! To me, Jesus calling Zach by name shows us that no matter who we are or what we’ve done or what others think about us or even what we think about ourselves, Jesus isn’t afraid to engage with us. He’s not put off by our messiness or brokenness. He actually meets us in the midst of it.

Have you heard Jesus call out your name in the middle of your messy life?

The other thing that I think is really refreshing is that Jesus doesn’t invite Zach to come down and go somewhere with him. He doesn’t say, “come down and join me at the synagogue.” He doesn’t even ask Zach to come down and go to some sort of party or reception taking place to honor Jesus.

No! Instead, Jesus invites himself over to Zach’s house! As I pointed out yesterday, I bet very few people usually went to Zach’s house. Maybe some of his tax collector buddies did from time to time, but Zach was actually the chief tax collector, the boss of all the tax collectors in town, so even if they did hang out with him, I’d imagine there wasn’t much intimacy and friendship!

Jesus tells Zach, not only do I want to come to your house, but I want to stay there for a while. I want to hang out with you!

Y’all, the great news is that Jesus wants the same for us. In John 15, he tells us to abide in him. To abide means to remain with. He wants to be with, to abide with you and me!

Have you learned what it means to abide in Jesus? Maybe over the next few days you could spend some time in solitude and silence just abiding in him!

And, for our friend Zach, He’s got a pretty important decision to make! More on that in a few days!!