Zacchaeus!
He must have been short and his appearance was that of a little man. When I think of Zacchaeus, I picture someone like Danny Devito. Small but with moxie. Zacchaeus was the lowest of the low in society. Someone who cheated, and abused people in the name of making a dollar. He had heard of this Jesus and wanted so much to see him. Alias, the crowd was to big so he climbed a tree to get a better look. That is when Jesus spotted him and asked if they could dine together. I think of that often these days. We place so much importance on our status in life. On living a orderly life of integrity, in an effort to impress our Savior, and earn a place by his side. We place judgement on those that live a life we consider to be dishonest or different. But then we focus on Zacchaeus. At that time there had to have been many “good” people and religious leaders there to see Jesus but Jesus noticed Zacchaeus. Why? During Jesus’s ministry he preached almost daily about looking to least of these. Telling us “the first will be last and the last will be first”. His message was… that the very people we chose to judge are the ones he came to save. Zacchaeus did not have to do anything… simply accept Jesus’s amazing grace. In turn he gained a new understanding. Maybe we should simply give ALL people a large measure of grace and watch what our Lord can do with it.
I Love You! – Perry