Living Like “Wee” People
Luke 19:1-10
In 1978, composer Randy Newman came out with a parody song entitled “Short People.” The song started out making fun of short people because apparently we like to make fun of short people. The song started:
Short people got no reason
Short people got no reason
Short people got no reason
To live
They got little hands
Little eyes
They walk around
Tellin' great big lies
They got little noses
And tiny little teeth
They wear platform shoes
On their nasty little feet
Well, I don't want no short people
Don't want no short people
Don't want no short people
`Round here
Short people have been offended by short people jokes for ages…like the one about the short guy that walks up to the counter, the cashier says, “That’ll be $4.86.” The short guy says, “Oh, I think I’m a little short.” The cashier says, “How short are you?” The guy looks at the cashier and says, “I’m 5’2”, but what’s my height got to do with it?”
We encounter a “short” person in Luke’s gospel this morning. His name is Zacchaeus, and if you’ve ever been to Sunday school you remember this little song:
Zacchaeus was a wee little man,
and a wee little man was he.
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see.
And when the Savior passed that way
He looked up in the tree.
And said, 'Zacchaeus, you come down!
For I'm going to your house today!
For I'm going to your house today!'
I’m sure Zacchaeus had heard all the short people jokes popular in his day because he wasn’t just short in stature, he was short on reputation. It’s bad enough he was a tax collector, but he was the chief tax collector, and he was the chief tax collector in Jericho of all places.
Let’s talk about tax collectors. The people considered them traitors, cheats and extortioners. They were Jewish men who contracted with the Roman government to collect the Roman taxes from the Jewish people. The problem was the Roman law put no cap on the commission a tax collector could charge for collecting the tax. Rome only cared about their percentage. Whatever the tax collector charged the people for collecting the tax was up to the collector, so tax collectors often charged exorbitant amounts, not to Rome, but to the people who were paying. Think of it this way: The IRS agent shows up on your door, presents you with a tax bill for $1,000, and then the agent says, “But, you have to pay my collection commission, so the total will be $1,250.” Zacchaeus would be that guy, and he was in charge of other tax collectors, in Jericho, which was a center of the tax collecting community. It would be like he was the IRS agency chief in the Austin, Texas office. Zacchaeus was not a well-liked man. He wasn’t despised because he was a short man, but because of his “short” reputation with the people.
I think there are a lot of “short” people in the world. Not short in stature, but short on other important characteristics. I know a lot of people who are short-tempered. Ask my wife, she’ll tell you sometimes I’m one of those people. I know many others who are short on love, and still others who are short on compassion. They are turned inward and are turned off by the suffering and the needs of others. There are others who, because of tragedy or illness or desperation, become short on faith and short on hope, and that can make them become short-sighted. They have no vision beyond the end of their nose. They fail to see the possibilities that exist around them.
There are probably a lot of ways in which Zacchaeus was short. He was probably short-tempered, especially when he dealt with people who couldn’t or wouldn’t pay their tax bill. He was probably pretty short on love and compassion, too. After all, he had spent most of his life chasing his dream of being rich, and had apparently accomplished it in rather short order, too. I don’t find too many old guys out climbing trees. I just turned 50, and though I probably could climb a tree, it’s not on the top of my list of things I want to do these days. To reach the pinnacle of his chosen career, and at a rather young age means he stepped on a lot of people. Seriously, though, if you’re going to spend your life extorting money from folks, you can’t have much concern for their well-being, so love and compassion are not high on your priority list.
I wonder if he was short on faith and hope, too? He had spent most of his adult life apart from the synagogue and the Temple. Tax collectors were considered unclean because of the work they did. He was not a part of the regular worshipping community among his own people. There was little “spiritual formation” or “religious” observance going on in his life. It is with spiritual formation, folks, like it is with so many other things—“Use it or lose it.” Zacchaeus was not using it very much, and likely he became very short on faith and very short on hope. But, as today’s text reminds us, it’s never too late for short people. All it takes is an encounter with Jesus.
Zacchaeus heard Jesus was coming to Jericho. We know Zacchaeus was curious because he went out of his way to see Jesus. Crowds were not safe places for tax collectors. You just never knew when someone might decide to exact revenge on a traitor, so it was safest to stay in controlled environments. If he stayed back along the edges, he’d never see Jesus, and if he pushed his way forward, no telling what might happen. So, he runs ahead of the crowd, finds a safe place in a sycamore tree (probably chosen because of its large, bushy limbs and leaves—a good place to hide) and waits for Jesus to come along.
Where did Zacchaeus’ curiosity come from? Maybe it was from another tax collector named Levi, whom you know as Matthew. Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee one day and calls a tax collector named Levi to come be his disciple. That night, Levi invites other tax collectors to dinner with Jesus. Could Zacchaeus have been at the dinner that night? After all, Jesus looks up in the tree and calls Zacchaeus by name, doesn’t he? Apparently, Jesus has encountered him somewhere before. We don’t really know if Zacchaeus knew Jesus, but we know that Jesus knew Zacchaeus. He called him by name—“Zacchaeus! Quick, come down! For I must be a guest at your home today.” Zacchaeus accepted the invitation, and that’s when the transformation happened.
Zacchaeus’ response indicates that he may have been short in stature and short in reputation, but he stands as a towering example (pun intended) of the amazing grace of God in Jesus Christ. He was a “wee” little man, but all of us should aspire to be such “wee” little people, too. “Wee” people acknowledge and accept the grace of God. We Wesleyans believe that God comes looking for us. God knows us and calls us by name. Like Zacchaeus, we may be hiding in a tree, but Jesus sees us. We call that “prevenient” grace. Change came to Zacchaeus when he got out of the tree. Is there something in your life that needs to change? Try getting out of the tree. Christ is calling. He knows who you are, and he wants to share fellowship with you. You’re not too despised, you’re not too short on anything, not love, not hope, not faith, not temper, not anything. “Wee” people have no trouble accepting their own acceptance. That’s the first change that happened for Zacchaeus, and that brought him great joy.
The second change for Zacchaeus is demonstrated in his repentance. Repentance means a change of mind. Zacchaeus changed his mind about the life he had lived. “I’ll give half my wealth to the poor, and I’ll refund any money I’ve stolen four times over!” Apparently, he had lots of money if he could afford to be so generous. But, that’s the change joy brings. That’s the change Jesus brings. Selfishness is what puts us up a tree in the first place. It isolates us from others and from God. That’s what Adam and Eve discovered after their sin in the Garden of Eden. The serpent said, “Eat this fruit, and you’ll be like God.” They bought the lie, and that’s the most selfish thing any of us can do. Selfishness makes us short people. “Wee” people turn from selfishness to selflessness. We change our minds. I like the way the Apostle Paul said it in Romans 12:2—
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (NIV)
We come to the table today, and I remind us that it is Christ’s way of calling us out of hiding, out of the tree if you will, calling us to celebrate his salvation, to accept our own acceptance and repent. He’s calling us to live as “wee” people in a world full of short folks, and thereby become an example to all the other short people who can’t see Jesus.
Zacchaeus wasn’t a short person after all, but he was a “wee” little man!
