TWENTY-TWO DAYS TO EASTER
When I originally committed to doing a blog as a spiritual journey for Lent, I counted 40 actual days leading me to 'Good' Friday (good for us, not for Him), Sunday included. Then midstream I decided it's about Easter - not about death. Anyone can die for a cause. The real event is Easter - - that's the reason we believe! So - I started this countdown to E-day.... I thought an explanation might be in order!
Readings for today:
Matthew 20:29-34
Mark 10:46-52
Luke 18:35-43
Luke 19:1-10
Luke is the only one who bothers to tell us about Zaccheus, yet this is one of the most familiar stories from my childhood. We sang about him frequently in Sunday School: "Zaccheus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he. He climbed up in a Sycamore tree the Savior for to see; and as Jesus passed that way he looked up in the tree and he said, 'Zaccheus! You come down, for I'm going to your house to eat. I'm going to set you free.' " Zaccheus believed and obeyed. Jesus did what He promised. Happy ending. I like happy endings.
Today is a day of happy endings in our reading. But in their real world, Zaccheus' role as tax collector - - not just tax collector - - but chief tax collector - - meant he was a Jew employed by the Romans to bilk his own people out of their hard-earned money. As long as the Romans got their required amount, the tax collector could add whatever amount he wanted to that for his own gain. Talk about riders and pork projects! Men who accepted that kind of filthy job were greedy and not the kind of guys you'd want to be related to.
If you are concerned - as I am - for how high taxes will go here with the current trend toward leveling the playing field with Socialism, you can begin to understand some of the fears about Roman rule. (Except that they didn't have a welfare state benefiting the Jews at all in mind, so there was no underlying supposed intended good for 'all the people.') The Jews who were employed by the Romans as tax collectors were despised by their fellow Jews - so when they accused Jesus this time of eating with a sinner - that was practically a compliment in comparison to what might be stated.
Zaccheus, short in stature, wanted to see Jesus so badly that he climbed a tree just to get a glimpse. I wonder what hope he held...but whatever it was, he got more than he could ever have asked or imagined. Jesus met him at the level of his need. When Zaccheus promised to give half his possessions to the poor and pay back four times what he had taken, he was undoubtedly giving up everything - trading his wealth for a clear conscience and full heart. I really do love this story.
Our other story today is one of those prime examples of the proof that the Bible is true. We are gifted with 3 versions of the story. Was it going into town or going out of town? Was it one blind beggar - or two? The collective memory on this one is a little like hearing different perspectives of an accident - - but the reason it adds to the proof that the point of the Bible is true is that if the Bible was just an intentional concoction by multiple authors to deceive - they would have done a better job of lining up their stories. But - they all share the one thing that leaps out most to me: Jesus question - - "What do you want me to do for you?" It seems that the answer to that question would be obvious. He was blind! But, Jesus looks on the heart. Blindness wasn't the only issue. The blind weren't just inconvenienced by blindness - they were defined by it.
He asks us that as well. "What do you want me to do for you?" I, for one, intend to answer that question! Lord, there are some things I want today - desperately want. Let me tell you...." And like the formerly blind in the story....I will follow!
Humor for the day:
A man was walking along the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and came upon a very interesting old bottle. He picked it up, pulled out the stopper - - and out came a genie. The genie told him, "I have been stoppered in that bottle for a thousand years. For releasing me, I will give you anything you ask.
The man, who was terrified of flying, had always longed to see Hawaii, so he said, "I'd like to have a bridge that goes from here to Hawaii."
The genie looked at him in disbelief and said, "That's a really hard one. Can't you think of something else?"
The guy thought for awhile, then said, "O K - I'd like to understand my wife."
To which the genie immediately replied, "How many lanes did you want that bridge? Four, six or eight?"
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