{"id":5299,"date":"2019-10-16T08:00:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T00:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=5299"},"modified":"2021-10-15T15:44:56","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T07:44:56","slug":"225-jericho-zacchaeus-and-the-big-and-small-in-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=5299","title":{"rendered":"234. Jericho: Zacchaeus and the Big-and-Small in Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\">19\u00a0He entered Jericho and was passing through it.\u00a0<sup>2\u00a0<\/sup>A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich.\u00a0<sup>3\u00a0<\/sup>He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature.\u00a0<sup>4\u00a0<\/sup>So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way.\u00a0<sup>5\u00a0<\/sup>When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, \u201cZacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.\u201d\u00a0<sup>6\u00a0<\/sup>So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.\u00a0<sup>7\u00a0<\/sup>All who saw it began to grumble and said, \u201cHe has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.\u201d\u00a0<sup>8\u00a0<\/sup>Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, \u201cLook, 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.\u201d\u00a0<sup>9\u00a0<\/sup>Then Jesus said to him, \u201cToday salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.\u00a0<sup>10\u00a0<\/sup>For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.\u201d <\/span><\/strong>[<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Luke 19:1-10<\/span>, <em>NRSV<\/em>]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/PB260119-Church-of-Good-shepherd-Jericho.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-5429\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/PB260119-Church-of-Good-shepherd-Jericho-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"299\" height=\"224\" \/><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Jericho-Promegranate.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-5729\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Jericho-Promegranate-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/>\u00a0<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Zacchaeus_in_the_Sycamore_Awaiting_the_Passage_of_Jesus_Zach\u00e9e_sur_le_sycomore_attendant_le_passage_de_J\u00e9sus_-_James_Tissot.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-5303\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Zacchaeus_in_the_Sycamore_Awaiting_the_Passage_of_Jesus_Zach\u00e9e_sur_le_sycomore_attendant_le_passage_de_J\u00e9sus_-_James_Tissot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"313\" height=\"224\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Zacchaeus_in_the_Sycamore_Awaiting_the_Passage_of_Jesus_Zach\u00e9e_sur_le_sycomore_attendant_le_passage_de_J\u00e9sus_-_James_Tissot.jpg\">\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Interior of the Church of the Good Shepherd, photo credit: Dr. LL Chan); Jericho pomegranate;\u00a0<em>Zacchaeus in the Sycamore Tree Awaiting the Passage of Jesus<\/em>, by James Tissot<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jericho, a city within the Palestinian West Bank, enjoys a great reputation for its existence since very ancient times and is mentioned many times in the Old and New Testaments.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">According to the Old Testament, the Lord commanded Joshua and the Israelites, as they first entered the Land of Israel after forty years in the desert, to march around the city walls once for six days, and on the seventh day to march around the city walls seven times with the priests blowing their rams\u2019 horns. When the people heard the sound of the horns, they were to shout a great shout and the wall of the city would fall down flat. Scripture says that is exactly how the Israelite conquest of Jericho happened (See\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Joshua%206\">Joshua 6:1-27<\/a>).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Prophet Elisha was known to purify the waters of Jericho\u2019s natural spring with salt (2 Kings 2:21).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jericho is considered to be the location at which Jesus healed Bartimaeus, the blind beggar (Mark 10:46-52) and eaten with the tax collector, Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As priests and Levites working in the Temple were living in Jericho during Jesus\u2019 time, it is believed that Jesus had the road to Jericho as the locale for the famous Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30 &#8211; 33).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jericho is located northeast of Jerusalem, very near the Jordan River, and about 6 miles north of the Dead Sea. Famous for the many springs surrounding the city that provide irrigation, the land surrounding Jericho produces lush vegetation, and is referred to as \u201cthe city of palm trees\u201d (Deuteronomy 34:3; Judges 1:16; 3:13).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We had a very delightful visit to this city, buying fruits and textile, enjoying fruit juices especially those freshly extracted from great big promegranate fruits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We also celebrated Mass at the Good Shepherd Church.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><u>Reflection<\/u><\/strong>:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jericho is familiar to Christians for the New Testament stories of Jesus healing Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, and dining with Zacchaeus, the rich tax collector.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The story of the encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus in Jericho is food for a great deal of reflection on the reality of what are big and what are small in our lives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Imagine, a big man has come to town. There is so much talk about this Jesus of Nazareth. He has a big name, so big crowds follow him everywhere he goes. Zacchaeus, too, wants to see him, to get to know him, to benefit from being close to him. But he just cannot get close because he is too small.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This man is small not just on account of his physical stature. He is small in his social reputation as well &#8211; a \u201csmall man\u201d, as we would say pejoratively in Chinese, expressing disapproval and contempt. Being a tax collector for the Roman occupiers made him worse than a sinner. He was in fact a traitor. Worse still, as a publican on behalf of the hated occupying force, Zacchaeus turned greedy and selfish and enriched himself by over taxing the people and keeping lots of ill-gotten gains for himself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This is a man who built his wealth on the miseries of his own people. He became a religious outcast, hated by his fellow countrymen. Knowing that he is not doing right by God and humans, he is often troubled by sin and guilt. He does not really like his situation altogether, but he also does not know how to get out of the rut. As things stand, he is a sinner, lost without God. And being so far away from the source of real peace and joy, how can he ever have lasting satisfaction and comfort in his ill-gotten gains?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So this small man has a big idea. He shall climb a big tree to overcome the big crowd that is blocking his view of this big man who has come to town.\u00a0So the small man climbed up a big sycamore tree.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lo and behold, Jesus not only notices him, but even calls him down with an unimaginable proposal:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u201cZacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Salvation is coming to his house, imagine that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">But make no mistake, salvation is not about keeping our heads in the clouds; we really need to come down to earth to meet Jesus the Saviour. We need to climb down from our big office, big chair, big and special &#8220;position, power and privileges&#8221; (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em><strong>We<\/strong><\/em><\/span> are the ones to decide!&#8221;), big self-importance, and be part of the common, ordinary, crowd to whom Jesus always comes and with whom Jesus always identifies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What Jesus is doing here, Raniero Cantalamessa points out, \u00a0is to bring Zacchaeus \u201cback to his house and there, out of the public eye, without witnesses, a miracle happens; he recognizes who Jesus truly is and finds salvation. We are often like Zacchaeus. We seek Jesus and we seek him outside in the streets, among the crowd, yet it is Jesus himself who invites us to return to the house of <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>our hearts<\/em><\/span>,<\/strong> where he desires to meet with us.\u201d The heart is the &#8220;place&#8221; in which each of us can enter into contact with the living God. Scriptures call our hearts &#8220;the inner self,&#8221; &#8220;the hidden man of the heart&#8221; (See Rom 7:22; 2 Cor 4:16; 1 Pet 3:4). Jesus, Cantalamessa says, &#8220;never tires of referring to the &#8216;secret&#8217; place, the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>&#8216;<strong>heart<\/strong>,&#8217;<\/em><\/span> where real contact takes place with God and his living will and on which the value of every action depends.&#8221;\u00a0WE may not be able to go into an external desert, but all of us can take refuge in the interior desert of our <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em><strong>heart<\/strong>.<\/em><\/span> \u201cChrist dwells in the inner man,\u201d St. Augustine said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The rest of the story is familiar and three essences may be extracted for our instructions. They are all concrete and real, and well suited for reflection towards concrete Christian living.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>First, Zacchaeus needs to come down to earth.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Salvation need not be about those big things in life, either real or imaginary. It\u2019s about doing little things well, with love and care. To do so, the first thing Zacchaeus needs to do is to give up his \u201cheight\u201d, which in practice is to give up on his inflated ideas and come down to earth. All he has to do is to be truly small in the presence of God, so as to humbly come clean on his sins. Then, salvation will come under his roof.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Second, those who fee<span style=\"color: #000000;\">l unworthy need not worry how \u201csmall\u201d they are.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Against the people\u2019s wishes, and against the religious leaders\u2019 characteristic grumble against Jesus for keeping sinners company and eating with them, Jesus eats with sinners and brings salvation to them. Jesus communes with people considered \u201csmall\u201d and even \u201cunworthy\u201d. It is those who think too highly of themselves, of how entitled to salvation they are, who will meet with with disappointment.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Third, one can tell when people experience a true conversion. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">From deep in their hearts, they repent of their past wayward ways.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They return to the way of Christ.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They live like they have a lot of making up to do. So Zacchaeus wants to pay back what he had unlawfully obtained and be generous at the same time.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">For Jesus, the kingdom of God is his focus. He leaves us with this message, that is, he wants us to engage in works of kingdom advancement. In these works, all people and things regardless whether they are long or short, big or small, must be attended to. But once again, the Jesus we see in the Gospels makes it very clear, does he not, that special attention must be rendered to the \u201cpoor\u201d and the \u201csmall\u201d, the \u201cneglected\u201d and the \u201cinsignificant\u201d, the \u201cmarginalized\u201d, \u201crejected\u201d and \u201costracized\u201d, for <em>they<\/em> are the ones Jesus wants to bring into the kingdom of God first. Can we render them a little bit more attention please, and stop them from having to climb and hide up in some big trees?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Luke, in this Zacchaeus story as elsewhere, is fond of the word \u201ctoday\u201d which he uses repeatedly to mean the present period of salvation brought about by Jesus (see 4:21; 5:26). Salvation is not something to be expected only in the future at the second coming of Jesus or in heaven after death. It can be experienced here and now, just as he says to Zacchaeus: \u201cToday salvation has come to this house\u201d (Luke 19:9).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Copyright \u00a9 Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh, October 2019. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to <strong><u><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"mailto:jeffangiegoh@gmail.com\">jeffangiegoh@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/u><\/strong> You can also be dialogue partners in this <em>Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry<\/em> by sending us questions for discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>19\u00a0He entered Jericho and was passing through it.\u00a02\u00a0A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich.\u00a03\u00a0He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature.\u00a04\u00a0So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=5299\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh","author_link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?author=1"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?cat=1\" rel=\"category\">From Our Perspective<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"19\u00a0He entered Jericho and was passing through it.\u00a02\u00a0A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich.\u00a03\u00a0He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature.\u00a04\u00a0So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him,&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5299"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5299"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6704,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5299\/revisions\/6704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}