Luke 19: 1 Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector of Jericho, it means he held a prominent position in the Revenue Service, a Roman government servant . People were overtaxed, they had to pay a large amount as tax and the tax collectors added their share too. There was no law protecting the taxpayers hence tax collectors were not appreciated or liked during Jesus’s times. Zacchaeus happen to know on social media, the news, flyers, posters if in modern times that Jesus was in Jericho and was passing by. He purposed in his heart to see this Jesus, but there was an enormous crowd.
His height was against him, he was short in stature. That did not stop him, he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed up a tree to see Jesus. He had to violate social norms, he had to lift his long dress a bit to run, in Jewish culture male members don’t run. The crowd must have laughed at him also wanted him gone since they disliked him. But that didn’t stop him, Zacchaeus didn’t make any excuse to be in the presence of Jesus. Amidst all the possible hostility by the crowd, Jesus spotted him up in the tree and asked him to come down immediately. (Luke 19:5-6) That must have given the crowd a cultural shock. How could Jesus talk to a sinner? Jesus insists that He must stay at Zacchaeus’s house not at the councilor’s house or Mayor’s house or MLA’s house, the Sr. Pastor’s house but with Zacchaeus who was most disliked. The presence of Jesus convicted him and he repented, his life turned around.
(Mark 5:25-34) Let us meet the woman with the blood issue. She is highlighted in 3 of the gospels. As per law Levi 15:25-27, she was considered unclean. This meant that she lived an isolated, lonely life, everything she touched was unclean. She could not relate with people and was quarantined for long 12 years, she was cursed, scorned. Most of her wealth was spent in seeking a cure for the issue and paying doctor’s bills, but medical science could not resolve her issue.
It only got worse, she was utterly lonely and probably found it difficult to keep herself sane. She heard about Jesus, she desperately wanted to be cured of this issue and she could not care what people thought. She also believed that this Jesus could heal her. Since the law did not let her meet Jesus, she strategized to squeeze in the crowd and touch the hem of His garment which she believed had power to heal her. Jesus turned around to see this woman with immense faith and reckoned that not only was she healed but saved too (made whole).
We have so many excuses to not meet Jesus and we are so concerned about what others would think. Imagine, if we would not hesitate to break every rule to meet up with Jesus how radically our lives would change. Jesus looked at people beyond their people given labels and sins.
Let’s pray that we too have Jesus eyes and heart when we look at people. Let’s pray that we will not hesitate to run up to Jesus at any time.
Sol.Lalitha Menon