Praying Affectively Effectively (According to Your Word Pt. 2)

or, Scriptural Attitudes of Effective Prayer

This tongue-twister of a title is intentional. Last week we studied a number of areas about which the Bible tells us to pray. We want our prayer to be "according to the word" as the psalmist wrote often in Psalm 119. However, while we are often concerned about the effectiveness of our prayers, we may be looking at it the wrong way.

When we consider what makes prayer effective, the questions that really stand out as crucial are not,

"Where should we pray?",

"When should we pray?", or even,

"What pattern should we follow in our times of prayer?" 

The crucial question in determining the effectiveness of our prayer is,

"What is the attitude of our hearts in prayer?"

Prayer is not primarily a tool to get stuff done that is to be measured in effectiveness (although as the KJV says, it “availeth much” James 5:16b), but a relational heart response to the Lord God, who is “merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” If we love God then we will want to share our life with him. As we approach praying “according to the Word,” we need to not just list the things the Bible says that we should pray for, but we need to consider the attitudes with which we pray.

1. An Attitude of Confession…

This means being honest with God about your thoughts, actions, and words. It means that we do not come to God by minimizing our needs or spinning our guilt into someone else’s responsibility. An important element of effective prayer is not just the act of confession, but the attitude of confession—constantly wanting to be more honest with God than before. While effectiveness should not be the motive behind confession, we cannot hope for our prayer to be effective if we are functioning in either open sinfulness or subtle self-righteousness.  We need to recognize that we are sinners and need a Savior. We need to agree with God that He's right and we're wrong (Psalm 51:1-4; 1 John 1:8-10). 

2. An Attitude of Relational Repentance…

Repentance is turning away from sin, and turning (back) toward God! If our prayer is going to be effective then we need to be quick to repent, turning away in word, thought, and deed from those things and attitudes which God says are sins and (re)turning towards him. When we repent, we can see God move with great blessing in our lives. How is this repentance an attitude and not an action? It, like confession, is an action sourced in the heart. Our repentance needs to be more than just an improved “Do/Don’t” list, or saying we are sorry. It is a change of heart that produces a change of mind that results in a change of lifestyle.  An attitude of prayerful repentance doesn’t seek something from God so much as it seeks out God himself. We begin to evaluate all that we think, say, and do (watch, read, listen, eat, etc.) based on whether it helps us, or hinders us, in loving God more and sharing that love with the world. As such, true repentance becomes preemptive to sin, in that when we are tempted we repent before we come to the place where temptation gives birth to sin, so we don't sin in the first place (2 Chronicles 7:14; Matthew 3:8; 2 Corinthians 7:9-10).

One of the most well-known passages on repentant prayer is 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 

John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus’ coming by urging people to repent. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.…Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Matt. 3:2, 8). I have frequently used a bungee cord to illustrate repentance. It involves an unhooking from that which is not God and returning relationally to the one who is our very life—the Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). We do well to remember that repentance is relational and is a turning away from anything that hinders me from turning toward Jesus, from loving him more.

3. An Attitude of Humility…

I believe that one of the great hindrances to effective prayer is a lack of humility. Scripture says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6,10; 1 Peter 5:5). Yet some believe that when they pray they can come claiming their rights, demanding their due—if they say the right words the right way God must give them what they want. That is not the perspective of biblical faith but of magic. This attitude of entitlement is not the right attitude, since the only thing we can demand is what we deserve… and we really don't want that (Rom. 3:23a)! Let's approach prayer differently and come in humility, both dependent and submitted to God and his will! It is then that our prayer will be effective “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16c). Jesus himself models an attitude of humility in every aspect of the incarnation, especially in his death in our behalf (Phil. 2:3-11). Humble prayer is others-centered, kingdom-flavored, and Christ-directed. "Thy will be done."

4. An Attitude of Praise…

Another attitude of effective prayer is praise. Praise is speaking the truth about the Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Some might argue that praise is an action, not an attitude and that is partly right. However, the action of giving praise rises out of affection for Jesus which changes the way we face the day. When we face the day with a prayerful attitude of praise we come looking for an opportunity to see the shared goodness of God that surrounds us and to speak out in praise rather than complain, grumble, and grouse. Praise is also a wonderful antidote for the "shopping list" mentality in prayer.  Perhaps we are conditioned to come to the Lord only when we have a list, not necessarily praying selfishly, but certainly with a task-oriented and business-like approach. An attitude of praise changes that. It helps us to shift our attitude in prayer to become more centered in the person of God revealed in Jesus Christ.  If you need a praise primer, a starting point for praising God, I recommend the truth he most often uses to describe himself in the Old Testament—He is merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (Psalm 86:15; 103:8; 111:4; 112:4; 116:5; 145:8; Luke 6:36). Let's worship the Lord in our prayer times, just for whom he is and what he is like. If our prayer is effective, we are probably like the psalmist who sought the Lord in prayer, not so much for what God could do for him, but for a relationship with his God (Psalm 150).

5. An Attitude of Petition…

For our prayer to be effective, we need to present our requests to God, as it is written, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6). Yet the way in which we petition the Lord not only affects the impact of our prayer, it affects our very desire to pray and intercede for others. There are at least two ineffective extremes in petitioning God. 

• First, our request may be so general that there is no way that we could ever know if God had answered our prayer (e.g., "God bless the people in Africa") which tends to bring us to the place where we pray less. 
• Second, we might make our requests so specific that we end up praying selfishly and/or against the will of God. 

We need to find a place of balance, somewhere between presumptuous specificity and half-hearted generalities. This may involve using our compassionate imagination to prayerfully put ourselves in the other person's place, trying to get a sense of what their needs might be, and then praying that God would meet those needs according to his Word. Yet leaving the Lord some latitude as to how he might fulfill his Word (Psalm 20; 1 John 5:14-15).

6. An Attitude of Gratitude/Thanksgiving…

Prayer that is affectively effective is a prayer that is thankful—to God from the heart that knows the love of Christ. Thankful,

• for what we have,
• for what we don't have, and
• for all those situations and souls that we have the sacred privilege to lift to Christ in prayer. 

We probably would see more answers to prayer if we were more thankful for the amazing grace that God continually shows us. Thanksgiving is a more affective and effective expression of faith, contentment, and love (Psalm 100:4-5; Philippians 4:6-7; Colossians 4:2) than forwarding our fine-print demands.

7. An Attitude of Faith and Endurance…

When we ask, “according to” God’s word, the Bible, we need to pray with faith, trusting God to hear and respond in steadfast love… now, and over the long term.  How can we do this?

Ask in faith without doubting (James 1:6-7). We are not to be doubleminded and use prayer as an effort to “cover all our bases,” just in case it might work.

If we know we have mixed faith, let's confess it, and ask for help (Mark 9:21-24)

And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” 

And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire   

                                                                                  and into water,

                                                                  to destroy him. 

                                 But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 

And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! 

         All things are possible for one who believes.”

      Immediately the father of the child cried out and said,

                                                             “I believe; help my unbelief!”

There are seasons of disappointment (when the answer is not what we wanted). In times like this, we should take heart in Jesus’ own prayer, as which he prayed with blood, sweat, and tears, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Matt. 26:42).

There are seasons of discouragement (when there appears to be no progress and people are in pain) But all is not as it appears…our perception of the process of growth and influence is limited. There are different roles to play in God’s plan which are assigned by his sovereign wisdom.

For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” (John 4:37-38)

The people of God had been longing to see the Messiah finally come, but none did until the right moment came.

But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. (Matt 13:16-17)

Sometimes, we have no rest, just “fighting without and fear within” as Paul experienced long ago. In those times, we must look to God to comfort us, and sometimes he uses the faithfulness of others to do it. So, keep your eyes open and your heart tender!

For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you… [by your repentance] (2 Cor. 7:5-7)

There is no season to give up. We are not able to perceive the length of the spiritual season while we are in it, but once the harvest comes, and it will come, we will recognize it and rejoice even in the process.

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Gal. 6:9)

 Effective prayer is, first of all, an affective prayer! 

Wind & Fire Come Down to Earth Pt.2 “What Shall We Do?”

Last week we ended with the promise that, “it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”(v.21, Joel 2:32) But what is his "name"?

1) The Call to the Risen Christ (v.22-35)

Peter preaches about "This Jesus"

In this section of his sermon, Peter makes it very clear that the name of the Lord upon whom we must call is Jesus of Nazareth. This first part tells us quite a bit about him. As you read through these verses, I encourage you to make a list of the things it says about who Jesus is, what he is like, and what happened to him.

 ²² “Men of Israel, hear these words:

                    Jesus of Nazareth, 

                        a man attested to you

                                             by God with mighty works and

                                                                 wonders and

                                                                 signs

                                       that God did through him in your midst,                      

   as you yourselves know— ²³ 

             this Jesus,

         delivered up according to the definite plan

               and foreknowledge of God,

   you crucified and killed

                                  by the hands of lawless men. 

                                               ²⁴ God raised him up,

                                                          loosing the pangs of death,

                  because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 

²⁵ For David says concerning him,     [Quoting from Psalm 16:8-11]

“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
    for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
²⁶ therefore    my heart was glad, and

                     my tongue rejoiced;
                     my flesh also will dwell in hope.
²⁷ For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
                     or let your Holy One see corruption.
²⁸         You have made known to me the paths of life;
         you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

²⁹ “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence

                                         about the patriarch David that

                                                     he both died and was buried,

                                              and his tomb is with us to this day.

³⁰ Being therefore a prophet,

         and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him

                              that he would set one of his descendants

                                                                on his throne, 

³¹            he foresaw and spoke about

                      the resurrection

                             of the Christ,

                                that he was not abandoned to Hades,

                           nor did his flesh see corruption. 

³² This Jesus God raised up, 

                                and of that we all are witnesses. 

³³ Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God,

                         and having received from the Father 

                                                  the promise of the Holy Spirit, 

      he has poured out this

                          that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 

³⁴ For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
³⁵     until I make your enemies your footstool.”’ [Psalm 110:1]

In speaking about verse 22, I mentioned a good quote about the “mighty works and wonders and signs” by which God “attested” to Jesus. Here is that quote,

Three terms are used to describe the way in which this took place in the course of his ministry. There were miracles (dynameis, 'powers') or mighty works, signifying the operation of God's power or kingly rule through him (cf. Lk. 11:20). But these could also be called wonders (terata), because of the amazement they effected in the witnesses, and signs (semeia), because they pointed beyond themselves to the character of Jesus and the significance of his coming. (Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles, 145)

Peter’s audience had certainly heard about the mighty works God had done through Jesus. Peter claims as much. We need to remember that the claims of Acts and the Gospels could have easily been disproved if they were not true. It was during a time when there was an abundance of eyewitnesses. Yet, the evidence pointed towards the truth of what they claim…that “this Jesus” was Lord! Here is a simple list of some of what this passage says about Jesus of Nazareth…

• v. 22 He was attested by God working through him in power
• v. 23 This Jesus, delivered up on schedule (according to plan), but what did they (and by extension humanity) do with him? “You crucified him.”
• v. 24 God raised him up since it was not possible for death to hold him.
• v. 31 He was foreseen by David
• v. 32 He was raised up by God, and the 120 disciples speaking that morning were all witnesses.
• v. 33 He poured out the Holy Spirit
• v. 34 He is the “My Lord” of Psalm 110:1, which is the most quoted verse of the Old Testament in the New Testament. In fact, Jesus himself quoted it in Luke 20:41-44.
• v. 36 God made him both Lord and Christ!
• v. 36 This Jesus [is the same one] whom you crucified

Don’t miss Peter’s emphasis on “this Jesus” in making his appeal. The same Jesus who taught in their synagogues and healed the sick in their streets had died and been raised.

In church, we played the audio of a classic sermon excerpt, entitled “My King” by the late Dr. S.M. Lockridge, which was originally preached in 1976, fully 40 years ago. We used to listen to it at least once a year. Here is a link to the audio.

“Well, I wonder…do you know him?” When we listen to this wonderful description of the Lord Jesus, perhaps we can relate to the dilemma the listeners faced that day.  

2) The Confrontation… Getting a clue; facing the facts  (v.36)

   Let all the house of Israel therefore

                                       know for certain that God

         has made him both Lord and Christ,

    this Jesus whom you crucified.”

There is a scene in Disney’s The Kid  (perhaps the only Bruce Willis movie without shooting or explosions) where Willis’ obnoxious character, Russ Duritz, realizes that he has to go to someone he had mistreated to find the answer to his own problem. At one point, she says, “Can I get a warm-up on my coffee while he is getting a clue?” Well, that morning in Jerusalem, there was a whole crowd of people “getting a clue!”

Let me also say that this passage does not give any support to anti-Semitic claims (Most, if not all, of the 120 speakers were Jewish). Jew and Gentile alike, all the world collectively, and each of us as an individual, are responsible for Jesus’ death!  What that first audience had going for them was a conviction, which led them to ask a faith question instead of finding someone else to blame.

3) Their Conviction (v. 37)

    Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart,

and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,

“Brothers, what shall we do?” 

When I read this, I can almost hear the “Oh crud! We are so busted!” To learn that Jesus was God's plan for their salvation…but that they had rejected and killed him, would be brutal news. Think about Isaiah’s reaction after he realized that he was in the presence of God but was not sinless. He cried out, “Woe is me! I am utterly undone!” (Isaiah 6) On Pentecost, the crowd reacted much the same as that morning long ago. Oh, that we were “cut to the heart” more than we are. It seems that we are a culture that has turned denial of personal responsibility into a profession and a form of performance art! If you don’t believe me, just take a moment to read the patronizing safety instructions on everything!

But there would be good news for the crowd that day… Peter answered their question.

4) The Change Jesus Brings (v. 38-41)

   And Peter said to them, 

     “Repent and be baptized

                 every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ 

              for the forgiveness of your sins,

                               and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

   For the promise is for you and 

                                 for your children and

                                 for all who are far off,

                                      everyone 

                                        whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 

⁴⁰ And with many other words

                                he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, 

                            “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 

God’s promise of salvation in Christ was not just for Jewish people long ago. Certainly, it came through the Jews, but it was for all the world. I will discuss the specific command of “repent and be baptized” below, but here I want to clear up the phrase, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” We often get this wrong. Only Jesus can save us. What this means is that we have to "make a break with the generation…and call on Christ!" A.T. Robertson summed it up, "Be ye saved!"

5) The Conclusion—the Church did some Math (v.41)

    So those who received his word were baptized,

                              and there were added that day

                                                          about three thousand souls.

Why do I say the church had to “do some math?” Because they “added” 3000 souls that day. In saying this, I am fulfilling my promise for another “Dad joke” this week. I also challenged the kids in the congregation to do the math and tell me how many people were a part of the church as of Acts 2:41. Are you smarter than they?

The crowd's question, “What shall we do?” is a good one for us to ask as well. Jesus took our sin upon himself, making eternal life available for us, so we should:

1. Repent.

Repentance is a complete change of mind resulting in a change of direction. It is not merely external/behavioral, but internal and relational. Repentance involves sorrow for sin…our old way of life is no longer what we glory in. In repentance, we are relationally turning back to our Heavenly Father in Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit! It is important that we realize that we don’t repent in order to be forgiven, but because we have been forgiven in the death and resurrection of Christ. We love him because he first loved us!

2. Be Baptized.

“Baptism” is a Greek word that has been given English letters without translation. So what does it mean? The nuances in the original language include both immersion (like a sunken ship) and identification. I have to ask myself the question, “In what am I immersed?  With what, or whom, am I primarily identified? For the nation of Israel, it was the Exodus event. In fact, 1 Cor. 10:2 says, “they all were baptized into Moses at the Red Sea” but this is not our defining moment. Christians are defined by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism is about our declaration, identification, and obedience:

• Declaration—We are saying something.  In baptism, we are declaring that we are dead to sin and alive to Christ.  We are making public our decision to submit to Christ and to leave behind the sinful things of the past.  We are saying that we have determined that because of Christ's finished work on the cross, we will no longer allow sin to reign over us, but instead will submit our lives to Christ, actively living for Him. In baptism, we are immersed in Christ!
• Identification—We are relating to Someone.  In baptism, we are identifying ourselves with the Savior, in both his death and his resurrection. In going down into the water, we identify with the death and burial of Christ. In coming up out of the water, we identify with the resurrection of Christ. We are saying that if there is going to be any distinguishing feature, any recognizable traits in our life, it will be that people recognize by our life and our words that we are followers of Jesus!
• Obedience—We are following Someone.  In baptism, we are obeying God's Word, beginning our life with Christ in an appropriate way.  We are commanded to be baptized; Jesus has given us an example to follow.  In being baptized as a profession of our faith in Christ, we are beginning to walk with the Lord as we ought. Until we begin to do the basic things he has told us all to do, how can we have confidence in any kind of specific/personal leading from the Lord?

3. Receive the promise of the Spirit and of salvation to all who call on the Lord Jesus!

• God comes to live within us through the Holy Spirit.
• He forgives us of our sins, something we could never do for ourselves.
• He empowers us to live faithfully unto God and each other.

Do you know him today? If you have never asked Jesus to forgive your sins and to be the Lord of your life, you can do so today. And if you do, make sure you tell someone!

If you haven’t been baptized and want to declare God’s work in your life, identify with him, and obey his commands, I suggest that you talk to your pastor about it as soon as possible!

Seeing, Seeking, & Saving (Part 2)

Zacch & Bart’s Excellent Adventure (Part 2)

In Part 1, we considered Bartimaeus (Bart) and how Jesus healed him despite the crowd's attempts to get the blind beggar to shut up. However, once Jesus healed him the formerly crabby crowd began to rejoice when the oppressed man was healed. However, Kenneth E. Bailey poses an important question,

“By extending special grace to the very man the crowd had just rejected, Jesus gives the crowd a verbal slap on the wrist! Would they be able to absorb Jesus’ public criticism of them? Yes, indeed, for they join the formerly blind man in his praises to God. As long as Jesus is offering special grace to the oppressed it would be churlish to make a fuss. When he offers special grace to the oppressor it may be a different story, as the reader soon discovers.” (Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, 174)

In this post, we will consider an oppressor‘s (Zacchaeus) encounter when he sought to see Jesus. 

II) Zacchaeus Seeks Jesus (Luke 19:1-10)

The Bible is filled with passages encouraging people to seek God. The truth is God wants to be found by his creatures. Here are a couple of well-known “seeking” passages. In the context of sinful Israel being sent into exile, the Lord spoke through the prophet Jeremiah of the coming day when they would seek God again,

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (Jeremiah 29:12-14)

In the New Testament, Jesus in his most famous sermon taught that God would respond to the seeker, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)

This leads us to the story of a famous seeker preserved in the Gospel of Luke named Zacchaeus (Zacch). Let’s read Luke 19:1-10…

                        He entered Jericho and was passing through.

And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus.

              He was a chief tax collector and was rich.

       And he was seeking to see who Jesus was,

                         but on account of the crowd he could not,    [Why?]

because he was small in stature.  

          So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree

                                         to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

  And when Jesus came to the place,

                        he looked up and said to him,

                                                              “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down,

                         for I must stay at your house today.”

  So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

  And when they saw it, they all grumbled,

                        “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

  And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord,

           “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.

                                                          And if I have defrauded anyone of anything,

                                                                    I restore it fourfold.”

  And Jesus said to him,

              “Today salvation has come to this house,

               since he also is a son of Abraham.

                               For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

As we look at the second part of this week’s adventure we need to take into consideration a number of Biblical allusions that may be in play and also consider the counter-cultural surprises it contains.

I) Biblical Allusions (Joshua 7; 2 Sam. 12:5-6; Ex. 22:1-5; Luke 3:7-14; 18:18-30):

The Zacchaeus narrative is such a familiar story, especially for those who have grown up in the church and can picture a Sunday school teacher putting Zacchaeus up in the old flannel-graph tree. Yet as I read this story I see that it is filled with allusion to Old Testament and even other New Testament events. This may not be your parents' Zacchaeus in a tree story, delightful though it might have been.

While these events didn’t usually make it to the flannel graph…they add great depth to the story. Simple observation often opens the door to greater understanding and appreciation. Too often we don’t take time to notice the interpretive clues that are right there in the text.

1. Where does this narrative take place? It takes place in Jericho which reminds me of the story of Achan in Joshua 7. In his greed, Achan took what had been devoted to God, from the conquest of Jericho, for himself. Now in the Roman town of Jericho, one of the top three tax collecting sites, Zacch is the one who perhaps has been defrauding others for his own benefit. Achan’s sin hurt others, so must have the oppressive policies of the chief tax collector. In an act of repentance, Zacchaeus pledged to give half of what he has to the poor and promises to repay any he has defrauded fourfold. This is likely a culturally appropriate exaggeration for changing the way he does business. What a change!
2. This fourfold restitution evokes David’s reaction to Nathan upon hearing his story of the rich man who stole the poor man’s lamb (2 Sam. 12:5-6) when he cries out that the man who did this should die after making fourfold restitution (Ex. 22:1-5). The law called for it. Here Zacch makes this declaration without being confronted.
   
3. To make a New Testament connection, the proximity in Luke’s account begs us to ironically compare Zacchaeus, the ruler of the tax collectors, to the rich young ruler of (18:18-30) who went away sad when Jesus asked him to give his goods to the poor. Here the despised and oppressive tax collector, after being in the presence of Jesus pledges to give the majority of his wealth to the poor and mistreated unasked! Salvation indeed had come to his house…and it was received and responded to! 
4. Finally, Zacchaeus’ response is one of full repentance in keeping with the message that John the Baptist had preached along the Jordan River probably not too far from Jericho. In fact, it’s possible that Zacchaeus heard it from John directly (Luke 3:7-14)!

“Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, ‘Teacher, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Collect no more than you are authorized to do.’” (3:12-13)

In addition to these allusions that would likely have been understood by the original audiences, there are a number of aspects to this narrative that would have tweaked those clinging to the dominant culture of that day. I am indebted to Kenneth E. Bailey’s works for helping those of us immersed in Western culture to begin to see Jesus' ministry and teaching within its native the Middle-eastern culture, and thus better understand the teaching of Christ.

Counter-Cultural Surprises:

Zacch’s adventure began with the desire to seek Jesus so that he might be able to see “who he was”. We know that he couldn’t see because he was short—Or do we? Certainly, that was the case but as a wealthy man, he should have been held in honor if he hadn’t been a traitorous and cheating tax collector. However, because he was likely the most hated man in town, he could not enter or push through the crowd to see Jesus. It would have been too dangerous…like the U.S. President walking into a crowd of protesters,  without Secret Service protection.

Zacch seems to have been willing to step outside of cultural norms to seek Jesus and Jesus is willing to violate that same cultural sensibility to seek and save the lost. Here is a brief sample of counter-cultural surprises in this narrative:

• Jesus, instead of stopping to enjoy the hospitality of the leaders in Jericho “was passing through”. The celebration of the welcoming crowd in the last scene (Bart’s story) perhaps grew uneasy and disappointed that he was not going to honor them by staying the night.
• Zacch ran to get ahead of the crowd. An adult man doesn’t run without bringing shame to himself. We can be sure that Zacch thought he ran unseen while everyone’s attention was diverted. Most likely he was wrong. Someone always sees those embarrassing moments.
• Zacch climbed a tree.

  

  This tree in the movie was not
  leafy enough. He was looking
  to remain hidden but failed.

  This was strike two. It would have been culturally unacceptable for an adult to climb a tree like a child. This tree, by law, would have been outside of town but provided Zacch little protection from ridicule. Bailey argues effectively for the probability that Jesus didn’t just guess Zacch’s name or demonstrate supernatural knowledge (though it is certainly possible) but that the angry crowd had surrounded the tree and were hurling abuse at the little tax collector they had “treed”. They could say whatever they wanted from the anonymity of the crowd, much like comment threads on almost any political or sports-related web post.
• 
  Jesus called Zacch down and invited himself to his house. If Bailey is right and the crowd was taking out their hostility on the tax collector in the tree, then to borrow a line from a Captain America movie, Jesus “stepped on their moment” by inviting himself to Zacch’s house and giving him safe passage away from the crowd. Bailey suggests that Jesus deliberately redirected the hostility of the town onto himself. Pretty awesome! If Bailey is not correct, then Jesus still broke social protocol by inviting himself, and passing up the town’s hospitality for that of a turncoat tax collector!
• Zacch accepted Jesus into his home and responded to this show of costly love by repenting and announcing a new approach to business. Certainly, the hostile crowd could not have imagined such a change…one that would profoundly benefit them.

As a result of reading this narrative I have to ask myself some soul-searching questions:

• Is there anything in me that takes advantage of others for my own benefit?
• Do I recognize Jesus' acts of love, forgiveness, and acceptance towards me?
• Do I allow Jesus, who by the Holy Spirit indwells me, to make changes in my life?
• Am I teachable and open to correction by the Holy Spirit or do I need to be smacked in the ego with the 2x4 of affliction or can I quickly catch a clue as the Holy Spirit gently brings conviction?

I want to be sensitive to such conviction this week. I want to answer the call to repent wholeheartedly like Zacchaeus did!

Conclusion: Jesus Saved them both (Bart & Zacch)!

To lean on Bailey (Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, 182-183) one last time, Jesus said three things at the end of this pericope (i.e., self-contained story, event):

1.  “Today salvation has come to this house” “The life-changing power that entered Zacchaeus’s house was not Jesus’ decision to stay overnight. Rather, it was Jesus’ deliberate act of shifting the town’s hostility away from Zacchaeus to himself. ‘With his stripes we are healed’ (Is 53:5).” [Bailey 182] 
2. “Since he also is a son of Abraham.”  Jesus was publically declaring Zacchaeus’ citizenship in the community of Israel, and more importantly the community of faith. He was part of the kingdom of God because he responded to the love of the king with costly faith. Jesus was saying that “He is one of us!” 
3. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” We talk about how Bart saw Jesus and how Zacch was seeking to see Jesus, but ultimately it was Jesus who saw him and was seeking them. That is how God works. Have you stopped to consider whether He looking for you? If you are lost, then the answer is yes!

Are we seeing? Are we seeking? Jesus is saving!

O Lord, do your work in us so that those who watch our lives and perhaps have grumbled against us, may instead be prompted to praise you!

May we listen to the Spirit who gently and persistently exposes our blind spots so that you don’t need to take more drastic measures with us (like you did with Achan and even with David). May we not oppress or intimidate others, but deal fairly and even generously with them because you have shown your love to us!

May we joyfully welcome you to stay at our house anytime and may your presence with us purify us all! Amen.