Jesus and the Crowd

In the midst of the political, cultural, and religious tumult of our culture, sometimes I lose my way. I can’t easily find Jesus in the crowd. When I look to others to see what they’re seeing, or what they are doing, I lose track of his calling on me.

I think of Zacchaeus the tax collector, a man who live in two worlds and who belonged to neither. (Luke 19:1-9) A Jew, who worked for Rome. Betrayer of his people. If he looked to his fellow Jews, he was chastised, and hated. If he looked to Romans he was thought of as lesser than and a means to an end. An agent for a brutal and violent empire.

The agony he must have endured.

So he climbed high to see beyond them. In the chaos of the crowds, with everyone arguing who this rabbi was, whether he was the Messiah or a heretic, Zacchaeus climbed above them. Perhaps he climbed to hide, where, in the anonymity of the foliage, he might test for himself who this Jesus was. Just to see the one of whom there was great commotion.

The beauty of the passage is that as he passed, Jesus looked directly at him. There were no Jews and no Romans, only Jesus and Zacchaeus.

Seek and you will find.  

“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.” (Luke 19:5)

Jesus saw him, and knew him. Nothing else mattered, and to that Zacchaeus responded with utter abandon.

Salvation came to his house that day.