Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 19 verses 1 through 10:
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich.3He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycomore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’6So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’ 8Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ 9Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’
"Zacchaeus was a wee little man,
A wee little man was he . . ."
Zacchaeus was a strong and domineering person in town whose power made many cower. But deep down he was full of his own insecurities, self-doubts, and shame. Deep down he really was a wee little man.
Jesus saw the insecurity, the fear, the loneliness; he reached out.
My great-aunt Anita used to say Jesus came not only for the down and out, but for the up and out also. When Zacchaeus was up in the tree and completely out of the community, Jesus reached out his hand to him. For Zacchaeus too was a son of Abraham.
We may know someone just like him.
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