[dwashbur]

The story of Jesus and Zacchaeus in Luke 19 caught my eye in several ways. One is the way the Greek text describes his problem: "His height was little." That makes me laugh.

Zaccaheus is a person on the fringes, the one nobody wants to associate with, who has heard that this Jesus guy will hang out with anybody and he preaches love and acceptance, he might even be able to love a corrupt tax collector.

But the fawning throngs see someone like him and say "no, you're not good enough for him. He would never want anything to do with YOU." He goes to desperate measures just to get a look at this amazing person.

Along comes Jesus.

As he loved to do, Jesus pulls a complete reversal of everything the crowds expected. "Come on down, dude, party's at your place." (That's essentially what the Greek text translates to in modern jargon.)

Zacchaeus is so overwhelmed by this he knows he's in the presence of a man of God. He looks at his life internally and says, "This is wrong. Just by being here this man has shown me a better way and convinced me that I need to get right with my God and stop doing the shady things I do."

The fawning crowds are incensed. How dare such a holy man share a meal, one of the most intimate and important things to do in that culture, with someone he knows is so evil? The evil's gonna rub off on him!

Zacchaeus ignores it all and invites all his friends. Now, his friends are all as corrupt and marginalized as he is, so it's quite the gathering. Our host wants to tell Jesus about how the Lord has changed his heart.

The best part is, he doesn't say "You've changed my heart." He announces what he's going to DO about it. He didn't have to say "I repent" or anything else. His actions tell what's in his heart, and Jesus rejoices. It's that simple to come to Him.

In Zacchaeus, I see the gay child whose parents throw them out in the name of God. I see the mentally ill, drug-addicted homeless girl who has to sell herself on the street to survive. I see the African-American child who will never have a life because of someone's bullet, whether a criminal's or a cop's. I see all the people that society deems unacceptable.

But Jesus tells them "Party's at your place. Let's go."

Jesus loves the marginalized. Zacchaeus is a prime example.

Any thoughts?

[Athos]

I like the image of a short man climbing a tree to see Jesus. Luke (or whomever) must have had a big smile when he wrote that. That's the context of Jesus saying "Come on down" (from the tree). Jesus must have smiled too when he saw little Zacchaeus perched on a branch like a giant bird.

[jlisenbe]

I like your views on this text. It is certainly true that Jesus would reach out to those with whom organized religion had little to do. That is true, in fact, throughout the Bible. God tended to choose those for whom others had little regard such as Moses, David, Rahab, Joseph, and Saul. The list goes on and on. That's a great point.

It's also a good point that He did not leave them as He found them. To stay in the presence of Christ was to turn away from sin and move towards righteousness. It certainly happened with Zacchaeus, and still happens today. It can be argued that it is the identifying mark of genuine Christianity.

"Come on down, dude, party's at your place." (That's essentially what the Greek text translates to in modern jargon.)

Not sure how you get that. The Greek simply says that Jesus will stay at his house. The likelihood is he is there to have a meal, but even that's not directly stated. But at any rate, it's not terribly important. Your overview is still quite good.