THE SAVIOR, A SHORT GUY, AND A TREE

If you grew up in church, you will likely remember singing, “Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he…” The story behind that song is found in Luke 19. Jesus is passing through Jericho. An incredible crowd has gathered to see Jesus, but one man in the crowd desires to see Jesus more than anyone. His name is Zacchaeus. We are told three things about Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, he was rich, and he was small in stature (vs. 2-3).

Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus so desperately that he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a tree. Not exactly a dignified action for a rich man who is trying to keep up a certain reputation. However, his behavior is rewarded when Jesus sees him and says, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today” (v. 5).

This story causes me to ask myself a question; how bad do I want to see Jesus? How bad do you want to see Jesus? Of course, I’m spiritualizing the story a bit and essentially applying it to believers, but what extent would we go to in order to get a fresh glimpse of our Lord? How much time are we willing to spend in prayer? How serious are we willing to get about Bible study? What sin are we willing to step out of through repentance? All good things for us to consider.

We learn of Zacchaeus that he was willing to go the whole way. Scripture tells us his response to Christ, “Behold Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold” (v. 8). That’s quite a commitment. However, those are the words of a man who is serious about truly seeing his Lord.

PERSISTENCE AND HUMILITY

Prayer is often talked about and practiced throughout the Bible. Prayer is a discipline that is to be a part of the believer’s life. In Luke 18, Jesus is teaching the disciples about prayer. He tells them two stories in order to give insight as to how prayer should be approached. The first story is the story of a persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8). The second story is the story of two men who went to the temple to pray – one was self-righteous and the other was humble (Luke 18:9-14). Jesus is teaching that two characteristics are necessary in prayer: persistence and humility.

The first story, the story of the persistent widow, teaches us about persistence. It is a story about a lady who desperately needs justice from a local judge. The judge is a hard-hearted man and does not fear God nor respect men (2, 4). For a time this judge refuses to answer this woman. However, she persistently comes and finally he relents and gives her justice. The judges stated purpose for giving her what she wanted, “because she keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming” (v. 5).

We might ask ourselves why this woman was so persistent. The answer is simple, she had nowhere else to turn. We too have but one place to get our needs met. We must come before our Father in Heaven and ask. Why do we have to persist? Are we trying to get God to relent and give us what we want? No, God uses the process of prayer to change, shape and mold us. Our persistence serves a purpose in our lives. God will answer and meet our needs, but only when the need has served its purpose to develop our faith.

The second story teaches us about humility. It is the story of two men who went to the temple to pray; a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee prays, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11). He goes on to enumerate all of the great things he does through fasting and tithing. The second man, the tax collector, would not even lift his eyes to heaven. He prays, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Jesus then tells us that only one of these men is justified, the tax collector. Jesus sums up his teaching with this point, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (v. 14). The call is a call to humility in prayer.

Let us strive to incorporate both persistence and humility into our prayer life. Persistence shows that we know who our God is. Humility shows that we know who we are. Both are necessary.

GIVE THANKS!

You know the drill. A problem arises, or a need presents itself, and off to prayer we go. We faithfully wait and trust. We spend the next days or hours waiting for God to move on our behalf. Then it happens. God provides. Our problem is solved or our need is met. Now what? We make our way through the next days happy and in a good mood because we made it past the latest crisis.

Unfortunately, we often forget to return to the same God we were pleading with just previously. We forget to return and say thank you. Maybe we even fail to recognize that it was God answering our prayer. We may simply count ourselves lucky that the problem worked out. We should make it our habit to be as diligent in thanksgiving as we are in asking.

Scripture records a story of ten lepers that Jesus met on the way to Jerusalem. These ten cry out to Jesus, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (Luke 17:13). We can’t really blame them. The life of a leper was a lonely one. You were not allowed to have contact with anyone. Additionally, you were watching your body literally be eaten by a disease.

Jesus answers the lepers by saying, “Go and show yourselves to the priests” (17:14). In other words, you have been healed, now go get verification. Once the lepers had this verification, only one returned to thank Jesus. Jesus asks him, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:17-18). What happened to the other nine? Their lives had just been forever changed. No longer did they have to live in isolation. Sadly, once the problem was solved, they forgot about the Lord and went on their way.

We must be careful not to be in the company of the nine. We must be like the one. The one who came back to say thank you and give glory to God. We must find ourselves in this 10% that takes time to worship. We must be careful about moving on with life too quickly after a problem has been solved. Give glory to God for the things He does in your life.