Luke 19:1-10

19:1 He entered Jericho and was passing through it.

19:2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich.

19:3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature.

19:4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way.

19:5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today."

19:6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.

19:7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner."

19:8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much."

19:9 Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.

19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."

One of the favorite Scriptures for youth groups and Vacation Bible Schools alike is the story of Zacchaeus. He was a powerful, rich man who lived in Jericho. You remember, he’s the one who wanted to see Jesus so badly he climbed the tree just to get a glimpse. When Jesus saw him he called Zacchaeus out of the tree and went home with him for dinner. We usually look at this scripture from Luke 19 and talk about how Zacchaeus turned his life around because he saw Jesus, but I think his life was turned around that day before he got out of bed and his feet hit the ground.

Zacchaeus woke that faithful morning and decided he was going to see Jesus that day. Sometimes when we determine to do something is when obstacles start piling up. For this man, he was so disliked because of his profession that the people crowded in to make sure he won’t see God that day. As the chief tax collector, there was not one person in the crowd who was his friend. A Jew, paid by Rome to collect taxes from his own people, he also had the legal right to extort any amount for himself on top of the taxes he collected. This made him wealthy and much hated.

So what possessed this little man to climb a tree? How bizarre, how eccentric, how exposed he was to the years of gossip to follow his tree climbing? Yet he would not be deterred: He was going to see God that day. And because he did, his life was never the same. What does Zacchaeus do then? He tells Jesus and everyone standing in earshot, “I am going to make things right and give to the poor and payback with interest anyone I defrauded.”

But I want to stress the point that all this was the outcome of a decision Zacchaeus made before he got out of bed that morning and his feet hit the ground. His life changed the moment he decided to see Jesus that day, not when he saw him.

From this point of view, what can we get out of this story? What would change in our lives if we too decided to see Jesus every day? The idea I am positing is before your feet hit the ground you talk with God and determine that today you will see God’s presence through the actions, heart and presence of others.

As a Priest, I have frequent opportunities to see God at work. When you observe people doing selfless things, when you become aware of a magnificent sunrise or when you see people doing good just for doing it and not for public notice: You are seeing God at work.

This last week I visited a couple who are both nearing death from different diseases. He is ninety-six and she eighty-eight. They have been married over sixty years and as they sat with me and jovially finished each other’s sentences I learned how they met and of their love affair that continues to this day. I noticed that all these precious memories were washed in gratitude to God because they saw his Hand not just in the big events of their lives, but in all the days of their lives. When I asked them if seeing God in every day was hard to do given the natural amount of tragedy people their age would have experienced. He answered, “No dear,” and she finished, “it just takes practice.” Together they chuckled and looked into each other’s eyes with love. All I know is that I want what they had and what they had was God working through them.

If you ask God to open your eyes to see Him, it is amazing what you start recognizing as God’s Hand at work. More and more you will see the good He does. The result is you will start seeing the world more and more through His eyes and suddenly, quite suddenly, you find yourself doing the blessings of God and not just observing them! And it all starts with each day intentionally asking God to see Him at work during the day before your feet hit the ground. Try it. As wise couple told me, “It just takes practice.”

The Reverend Dee Shaffer, Vicar
Our Savior at Honey Creek
Spiritual Care Director Heartland Hospice