Those word’s come from a children’s song about Zacchaeus, the
short tax collector who climbed a Sycamore tree to try to see Jesus
in Jericho. Even though he was rich, he was short in status in that
town. Most importantly Jesus saw Z in the tree and looked at him
lovingly, and said that he wanted to go to Z’s house. That really
boosted Z, lifted him up tall. In fact, he was so moved in Jesus’
loving presence that he said he would give half of his wealth to
the poor, and pay back 4 times any he had cheated. Jesus calls Z a
Son of Abraham, just as righteous as those who looked down on
Z. Jesus does that. He always wants to lift up the little ones, the
short on status people. He looks them in the eye with love.
I wonder where we are in this story. Well, in our struggles Jesus
looks at us, to lift us, to give us also a vision to join him in lifting
up others. And he knows we can easily enough join the
nay-sayers, the crabby people, who grumble about Jesus’ focus
on the downtrodden. And he forgives and renews our vision
again, for his kingdom’s sake. I wonder how many in poverty were
blessed by what Z shared with them.