You Come Down!

I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant. 

✙ Genesis 32:10

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Unworthiness is a frequent theme of the Bible—whether it's unworthiness in others' eyes or the eyes of the one being judged. What's remarkable is that it's seldom God who deems one human being less worth than any others. In fact, the opposite often seems to be true: It is the weakest, the poorest, the youngest, the outsider whom God chooses to make God's love and/or power known in the world.

One such outsider—whom the evangelist Luke goes out of his way to tell us was also quite small physically—was a dishonest tax collector named Zacchæus. Whether it was out of a true desire for salvation or simply curiosity, this short man would not be denied a view of the One many were calling Messiah. And so, in the most undignified manner imaginable, he made himself seem even smaller—or at least more childlike—by climbing a tree in order to see Jesus.

Jesus did not look upon him and point out his ridiculousness or his dishonesty, but instead invited himself to Zacchæus' house. Rather than being called away from his home to follow Jesus, Zacchæus is invited back to his own home, and from there he rehabilitates his reputation—not for his own sake, but for the sake of the gospel.

Sometimes a disciple is called to leave it all behind and start anew. And sometimes a disciple is called to stay at home and put right that which has caused hurt to another (or to many others, in Zacchæus' case). The Lord is calling all of us to come down where we ought to be. The Lord is ready to declare us sons and daughters of God. But whether the Lord is calling us to follow him out into the world or simply back to our homes to make his love known from there, that's to be determined by our unique relationship with Jesus.

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Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.”

✙ Luke 19:9

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Prayer after thinking about today's devotion:

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Call me away from my selfishness, Lord. Grant me a vision of your vision for me.

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After your own thanksgivings & petitions, close with the Lord's Prayer.

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