Man on a Limb

Discipleship is designed to be face-to-face. When we are the disciples of authors, we try to make it to the book signings. When we are the disciples of musicians, we drive for hours to attend the concert and try to get backstage passes for meet-n-greets. When we are the disciples of sports teams, we attend all the games and want to have tickets as close as possible. When it matters, we go out of our way, maybe even out on a limb.

Although Jesus wasn’t a social media celebrity with his picture everywhere, news of his healings and his friendliness towards sinners was spreading widely. He was passing through Jericho and had already healed a blind man on his way in. The crowds were beginning to gather, and Zacchaeus wanted to see. He like all the others had never seen Jesus in-person. But he was curious. He had to see him.

But he was blocked by the crowd. Now scripture tells us it was because he was short in stature. Short in stature physically, but also short in stature socially as well. Greco-Roman culture correlated physical flaws with moral deficiency. So if you were challenged in height, you were someone morally corrupt. Scripture says he was a chief tax collector. He was like the district manager of the tax collectors in a town that had a prosperous trade commerce. He oversaw the taxation, making sure everyone was charging more than Roman law required. And so, even though Zacchaeus was at the top of his profession, he was an outcast in the community, seen as a traitor by his fellow men. He was a man everyone loved to hate, considered by them as beyond the point of redemption. Maybe you have someone like this in mind. In the community or in the country. Please don’t name names, but imagine this person in your mind’s eye.

Zacchaeus was blocked from seeing Jesus because he was short, but perhaps the crowd also intentionally blocked him. Jesus wouldn’t want anything to do with him after all. He was a rich thief.

Zacchaeus could have called it quits. Gone back home. But he further throws his reputation aside by lifting up his tunic, exposing his legs, and running along the side of the crowd. As if that isn’t enough,he climbs a tree. Notice the sense of urgency he has here. I can only imagine the thoughts of the crowd. What is that guy doing? Is he crazy?

Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was. He wanted to observe him from afar, and so he is crouching in a tree. And Jesus is passing through the crowd. The crowd who wanted miracles, who wanted face-to-face time. But out of everyone there, Jesus looked up in the tree to the one they had mocked. Notice how in this scene Jesus is looking up at the one everyone else looked down upon.

And with the same urgency that Zacchaeus climbed the tree, Jesus asks him to come down. Jesus calls him by name and tells him that he must stay at his house today. At this point the crowd is astonished and grumbling. Jesus is going to be a guest in his home? Does he know who he is? Is he condoning this man and all of his sin? Why is he wasting his time?

Now I don’t know about you but if Jesus approached me wanting to come stay at my house, not just for a meal but actually stay there I would be like, “this is great” but inside am thinking of all the things I gotta clean up first. One commentator notes the long-term effect of this remark. Jesus is interested in long-term discipleship, not random hit-and- run kindness.

Jesus wants to take up root in the house of our lives, in the soul of our being. He doesn’t just want us to gaze at him from a distance, to hear some stuff about him and watch him pass by. He wants us to climb down and follow, because discipleship is meant for face-to-face. Maybe we haven’t been crouching in any trees lately, but sometimes we can crouch in our houses, in our offices, and even in our churches. We want Jesus to be close but not too close. Because once we encounter God face-to-face, everything changes.

This is what Jesus is looking for, to seek and to save. Not to seek and to leave alone, but to seek and to save. I worry sometimes that we don’t spend time talking and listening to God because we are scared to hear what God might say. It might cause us to love our enemy, to give our stuff away, or to make friends with sinners. I have never prayed and had God tell me, “Hannah, you are doing great in all areas. No room for improvement.” You’re A ok.” Discipleship is not a spectator sport. When we stay in the tree and never come down, our spirits become like lukewarm water or food that has lost its flavor.

But what would happen if we were listening for God to call us by our name? What would happen if we were so eager to see Jesus that we went out on a limb? Jesus called Zacchaeus by name. He didn’t just happen upon him. It wasn’t some random selection. He was looking for him.

And so he climbed down, saw Jesus face-to-face, and his whole life was transformed. He declared that he would give half of his possessions to the poor, and that all of those he had defrauded he would pay back four times as much, far and above what Jewish law requires. Jesus then declares that salvation has come to this house and that Zacchaeus, the man everyone loved to hate, the man on the limb, is a son of Abraham. He is part of the family of God.

Suddenly the salvation of one man extends to his entire household. It extends to everyone he has defrauded. It extends to the poor. One man’s salvation spills over and has domestic, social, and economic implications. Redemption is meant to spread out beyond yourself. Redemption isn’t stagnation. Redemption is a reordering of life. And it effects everyone.

God takes what we consider beyond redemption and breathes new life into it. It is like Mary said in The Chosen, “all I know is I was one way, and now I am completely different.” The name of Zacchaeus means innocent, but he was a man guilty of stealing from others. But when Jesus called his name, and Zacchaeus met him face-to-face, he stood as a man redeemed, living fully into who God created him to be. All because he went out on a limb. All because he wanted to see. Because discipleship is meant for face-to-face, and it will lead you to do some crazy things.

**response- invitation to discipleship. invitation to the altar, to climb out on a limb, to be willing to see Jesus.