The Man In The Sycamore Tree

As converts go, Zacchaeus was definitely a 'big catch' as we would say. A chief tax collector for the Romans, he was responsible for other tax collectors and his wealth was the fruit of a corrupt economic system.

So, when Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was coming to town, he closed the drawers of his desk and locked them. He closed the door of his safe and locked it. He closed the door of his house and locked it. One imagines that he must have used several keys before he left his house. Zacchaeus was a money man and all he thought about was money.

But he wanted to see Jesus, just see and observe him. And, therefore, before the street filled up, he climbed a tree, and sat on an overhanging branch to watch the action.

There's a sense in which we all resemble Zacchaeus on his tree branch, by only observing rather than getting involved. We like to sit in our tree in judgement on others, saying what should be done and who should do it. It's almost always so much easier to be a spectator than to be a player.

But back to our man in the sycamore tree. Jesus entered the street and stopped under Zacchaeus' tree. At first, Zaccheus was happy about that as he now had a grandstand view of Jesus and any proceedings. Then Jesus looked up and saw him in the tree. Zacchaeus probably wished he could have made himself invisible. But Jesus called him down. Zacchaeus almost fell out of the tree. He received Jesus graciously and told him all the things he was prepared to do with his money. But he spoke only in terms of money; it was all he knew.

Then, Jesus took over and acted as if he had never heard of that grubby word money. Instead, he spoke about the person, the human being. He even gave Zacchaeus a name, he called him a son of Abraham. That name 'son of Abraham' gave Zacchaeus a whole new dimension, it spoke of him in terms of eternity and the promise of eternal life.

That same invitation is made to us today: to come down from our tree and open ourselves to our real dimensions and possibilities. Jesus invites us not to define ourselves by money and the material things of life. Just as with Zacchaeus, he reminds us that we are much bigger than we realise; we are sons and daughters of God with heaven as our true home. If this is true, then we need to respect, in ourselves and in each other, that divine impulse.

God really does work in amazing ways. So often those we consider to be far from God are maybe closer than we realise, while those we consider close to God may be further away than we can imagine. Just like that man in the sycamore tree!