When A Little Guy Meets A Big God

Luke 19:1-10

When a Little Guy Meets a Big God

Today’s passage is a very popular children’s Bible story, but it’s a lot more than that. It reveals the very heart of God: one who pursues each one of us to draw us into a loving personal relationship with him, and in so doing, to change our entire life for the better. As we walk through the story of the “wee little man,” let’s consider our own spiritual journey, and the one those around us need as well.

First, to follow Zacchaeus’ example, you need to...

1. Recognize your low stature without God.

Let’s look at Zacchaeus’ low stature. He is famous in the Bible for being a short guy. Perhaps he got ribbed growing up, “Zacchaeus, you ought to be a Rabbi. At least your sermons would be short!” Or, “I feel sorry for short people. When it rains they are the last to know!” Zacchaeus was “vertically challenged,” he was “height-impaired.” But his low stature extended beyond his physical attributes; it involved his personal reputation as well.

Back then tax collectors made their living by charging more than they had to for the occupying force and lining their pockets with the difference: kind of an authorized extortion system. Their salary could be as high as their ability to pressure their fellow citizens. The locals considered them traitors and cheats, scoundrels out of reach of retribution. And Zacchaeus was not only an IRS agent; he was head of the department, the “CHIEF tax collector.” The end result was that he was filthy rich ... and greatly despised ... and very lonely ... and very lost.

Have you ever wondered if someone was beyond God’s love? Maybe they are just too wicked? I’ve met many a Veteran who felt they were beyond God’s love. But that’s not the God of the Bible! He gives us a great promise in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from ALL unrighteousness.” When we say, “My sin is just too great. They’re sin is just too great to be forgiven,” we’re really saying more about GOD than we are about that sin; we’re limiting the redemptive power of God’s love. If God loved a Zacchaeus, God can love you. And God can love your worst enemy. Romans 8:38-39 says NOTHING can separate us from the love of God. Nothing!

Zacchaeus recognized he needed help. AA calls it “rock bottom.” That was Zacchaeus: filthy rich and empty, hollow inside. So recognize your low stature without God. And when you realize you are at rock bottom,

2. Reach high for God’s grace.

The good thing about Zacchaeus is that he got curious. When Veterans are bound by their PTSD symptoms, we ask them to get curious, to grow in curiosity about what they’ve always told themselves about their trauma, what it means for who they are and who the world is. As they become curious, and begin putting some of their long-held beliefs to the test, they discover some of those thoughts haven’t been so accurate or helpful after all. “Maybe it wasn’t my fault; maybe there was nothing I could do to prevent it.” Or, “Maybe I could go out to the mall and not risk my life.” Curiosity may have killed the cat but it has saved many a Veteran’s life.

Curiosity saved Zacchaeus’s life, too. Verse 3 says, “He wanted to see who Jesus was.” What a great goal us! But be careful; it could change your life! Zacchaeus undoubtedly had heard of this famous rabbi who was healing people and preaching to the masses in the countryside, who had recently raised Lazarus from the dead just fifteen miles away.

Now Zacchaeus wanted to check out Jesus firsthand, and he wasn’t going to let his short stature get in the way. He decided to climb a sycamore tree, what we would call a mulberry tree. Can you imagine this grown man wearing a robe and climbing up a tree, with bystanders watching? Zacchaeus did whatever it took, not matter what people thought. He lived out the two verses we mentioned last week: Jeremiah 29:13, he sought God with all his heart; and Hebrews 11:6, he earnestly sought after God, which God rewarded. And that leads us to our third action, to:

3. Respond to God’s personal invite.

Did you notice what Jesus did in the story? He invited himself to Zacchaeus’ house! Sound rude? Not if you’re a VIP. Imagine someone very important—a seven- or eight-foot Spurs player—and they come up to you in the crowd and say, “Hey, show me where you live. Let’s go to your house for lunch!” After you get up off the ground (from fainting), you would be thrilled, everyone looking at you as if you were famous, as you go off with your new friend.