Répondez s'il vous plaît

Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich.  He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.  When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name.  “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”  Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy.  But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.  Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”  Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”  Luke 19:1-10  (NLT)

How lucky am I!  I’m rich!  No, I haven’t won the lottery, and with the exception of a portion of the Super Bowl pool, I haven’t come into any extra money as of late.  No, the fact is this – 53%, that’s 53 out of every 100 people on the face of the earth…53% earn and live on $2.00 a day.  You read it right…two dollars.  Per day.  I am a rich man.  As far as material things go, I want for nothing.  Maybe that's why I so often find it easy to live without God.  I'm not relying on him for the very basics of life.  But, every now-and-then, a rich person responds.

Just a couple chapters earlier in the book of Luke, Jesus despaired over how hard it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of heaven.  But in chapter 19 we read about a rich man who did!  I’ve heard dozens of sermons on this passage over my lifetime, but today it struck me at a more oblique angle. 

What caught my eye was this:  Jesus noticed this man in the tree, invited himself to dinner, and “Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy.”   The money was an afterthought.  Zacchaeus’ stuff, those things of his life came after.  Jesus wanted to have dinner with him, and he got excited about it!  Money be damned – what mattered was spending face time with the Messiah!  That’s so cool!  Zacchaeus got it.  He understood what was really important, in spite of the relative ease with which he lived his life.  

In Revelation 3:20 Jesus says, “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”  Jesus wants to have dinner with this rich man!  Over the last few months and especially in the last several weeks, I have heard this rapping at my door.  In the beginning it seemed a little tapping, I wasn’t even sure I heard it; I had to keep peeping through the peephole.  Then it grew ‘til it has become this pounding!  I know we always picture Jesus as this kind and considerate guy, as he politely knocks on the door of our hearts.  (Gotta love the metaphors).  But I don’t feel like He’s being particularly meek or gentle in this case at all.  It seems as though he’s pounding with both fists, kicking at the bottom of the door, rattling the handle and yelling!  How cool is that!  Dinner with the Messiah!  Maybe hope for a rich man!  But I fear…

How far does it go?  How far do I go?  Rich young ruler?  Zacchaeus?  I know opening that door is gonna cost me, one way or another.  But I get excited at the thought of being able to say – “whatever, I want to sup with the King.”