Luke 19:4-7 "So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And 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.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
How hungry are we to see Jesus today? The answer to this question will tell us if we are going to experience Him as a passerby in our midst or as a guest in our homes and lives. When Jesus was travelling via Jericho, He didn't expect to stay overnight, neither did the crowd nor did Zacchaeus. But the thirst in Zacchaeus to see the Lord was so great that he overtook the crowd and found an elevated platform to get a better glimpse of Him and Jesus stopped in His tracks and was compelled in His Spirit to lodge with him.
When the crowd looked at Zacchaeus they saw a rich chief tax-collector, a short guy, a man who is a sinner. But Jesus was able to see past the sin of the sinner to the original image in which he was created, that of His own (Genesis 1:26 "Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.."). When we are hungry for God, we look the most like Jesus. The Son of Man was always thirsting for the presence of His Father in Heaven. Even as a young boy His appetite for God's presence was so great that remained in the temple at Jerusalem for three whole days absorbing all the knowledge He could about His heavenly Father and it didn't even bother Him that His earthly parents were searching for Him (Luke 2:49 "And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?”)
If we are truly famished for God like Zacchaeus we won't allow our shortcomings to hold us back from seeking and serving Him. When Jesus went in to sup with Simon the pharisee who was also a leper, the sinful woman (Mary) displayed a very uninhibited form of worship (John 12:3 "Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume"). When Simon condemned the woman's sin in his heart, Jesus rebuked him (Luke 12:44-46 " Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.") The reason Simon did not lavish these treatments on Jesus is not that he didn't desire to serve his guest, but that he was more conscious of his leprosy and didn't want to defile the Lord by touching Him, unlike the sinful woman whose hunger to repent and serve Jesus overtook her sin-consciousness. We're like that sometimes. We don't feel worthy to touch and be touched by God but we also look down on someone else who wants to do so because we feel they too are unworthy.
It's time to get ravenous. It's time to grow a bigger appetite for Jesus and allow it dictate our course of action. Are we going to be part of the crowd or are we going to climb a tree? That's going to decide if Jesus is just passing by or if He is here to stay with us.
God Bless
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