| This story is written
by Anthony de Mello; a Roman Catholic spiritualist. I discovered
it in the September/October issue of Emphasis magazine,
p. 61.
A farmer mistakenly placed an eagle's egg
in the nest of a brooding hen in his barnyard. The eaglet
hatched, along with the chicks — and as he grew, he grew
to be like one of them. He clucks and cackles. He scratches
the earth for worms. When he flaps his wings, he manages to
fly a few feet into the air, no more.
Years go by. One day, the eagle, now grown old—sees
a magnificent bird soar above him in the sky. It glides in
graceful majesty against the powerful wind, with scarcely a
movement of its golden wings.
Spellbound, the eagle asks, "Who's that?"
"That's the King of the birds, the eagle," says
his neighbor. "He belongs to the sky. We belong to earth—we're
chickens."
And so, the story goes, the eagle lived and died a chicken;
for that's what he thought he was.
Had Jesus not come near him, Zacchaeus
could easily have lived and died as a tax collector, nothing
more. Give Zacchaeus credit; he appears to have been looking
for Jesus. My guess is he was longing for something more, something
beyond the wealth he had obtained as a tax collector.
Ask yourself this question: Do I want something more that only
God can provide? If your answer is "No!" you may as
well go home for there is little of value for you here.
If your answer is, "Yes!" then you need to answer a
few more questions. What am I willing to do in order to allow
myself to be found by Jesus? When Jesus finds me and asks to
come into my home, will I let Him in? If I let Him in, what will
I have to change? What will I have to throw out that is keeping
me from truly experiencing the deepest joy of life? What will
I need to do in order to be what I'm created to be?
Many of us learned a Sunday school song about Zacchaeus.
We know he was short. He climbed into a tree to better see
Jesus. And, when Jesus came by He invited Himself to the
home of Zacchaeus. Paul Harvey would say, "and now for the rest
of the story." Zacchaeus
wasn't well liked. He was the chief tax collector in
the wealthy area of Jericho where much commerce took place. Many other
tax collectors worked for Zacchaeus so he got a piece
of everyone's action. In spite of his great wealth and power something
must have been missing in Zacchaeus' life. Why else would he have braved
the crowds attempting to see Jesus? The song suggests
that he climbed the tree because he couldn't see over the others in
front of him. I suspect he avoided the crowds because of the taunts
and possibly out of fear someone would attempt to harm him. I wonder
if Zacchaeus didn't want to see Jesus because Jesus had
so many friends and Zacchaeus had almost none. Maybe he wanted to
learn Jesus' secret for friendship.
How many of us would be filled with joy if a total stranger
met us on the street and told us they were coming home for
dinner? Even if this person were a well-known celebrity many
of us would probably hesitate. Imagine what might happen if
George W. Bush or John Kerry pointed to you at a rally this
week and informed you they wanted to come for dinner. Would
their visit change your life forever or just upset your routine
for a few hours?
I believe Zacchaeus was ready to have his life changed. How
many of us are able to admit that something is missing—something
we cannot identify specifically. I wonder if that eagle
that stayed on the ground didn't have a funny sensation
when he saw the eagle flying overhead. I wonder if Zacchaeus
didn't look at Jesus and seeing how others responded
to Him and how Jesus responded to them—I wonder
if Zacchaeus didn't suddenly realize what was missing
in his life—something that is supposed
to be a part of every human life—something
called loving relationships.
The way the story is recorded in Luke 19, Zacchaeus
had a sudden conversion experience. Jesus told him
to come down from the tree for He wanted to have dinner
at his home. Zacchaeus was filled with joy. Nobody
ever wanted to do anything with him. Now this popular
teacher had singled him out from the rest of the crowd.
This is how God works most of the time—one on one when
you are least expecting it. Dr. Billy Graham told
me one night after a crusade in which hundreds of people had
come forward, "Jim,
if we don't make God real for each one who
came forward tonight most of them will be lost again
in a few months."
Almost before Jesus could say anything else, Zacchaeus
was announcing a major life change. Note that Jesus did
not ask him to do this. Zacchaeus volunteered to give away
half of his wealth and restore four times as much to anyone
he cheated. The law at the time required full repayment
plus twenty percent. Zacchaeus was offering four hundred
percent. He had suddenly had the eyes of his heart opened.
He understood what the Beatles would sing two centuries
later, "Money
can't buy you love!"
Like so many other happy stories in Scripture,
this one also has its downside. The people in the
crowd who thought they knew Zacchaeus were appalled
that Jesus would have anything to do with this
unclean sinner. One has to wonder if their minds
changed when they later were recipients of Zacchaeus' generosity.
Those of us who are in the church have to occasionally examine
our attitude toward those who are outside of God's Kingdom.
Are we prepared to meet them where they are and as they are? Are
we willing to be seen with them and even socialize together? In
spite of what we may believe some recent surveys have shown that
many who are outside the church are just waiting to be asked and
will offer a positive response to an invitation to be included.
Keep in mind that Jesus' only comment to Zacchaeus was essentially
to say, "I want to be your friend." There
was no judgment of Zacchaeus by Jesus other than
to recognize his potential.
I know that evangelism
by whatever name we call it makes many, if not
most, of us nervous. So I want to return to where
I began. Look at your own life today as honestly
as you can. Is it possible you are up some tree
of your own? Is it possible you are on a branch
that is about to break?
My reasonably educated guess is that Jesus is at this moment
reaching out to you calling you by name saying, "Take
my hand. I know where to find that which is missing
in your life."
Will we respond in joy at such an invitation? Will
our accepting it be a life transforming experience?
Don't be too shy
to try. Zacchaeus put away his pride to discover
what was missing in his life. So can you! |
