15 Nov 2016
It’s a common theme we see in stories, literature, and the
movies: two people in search of one another, they face obstacles that separate
them, and then finally they’re united (or reunited). And we see this very clearly in the story of
Zacchaeus and Jesus.
Now, we usually focus on the crowd as an obstacle, and then
we look to their coming together. But
how they came to be together has to be noted.
Zacchaeus was “seeking to know who Jesus was.” But this is echoed later on when we see that
Jesus, too, was seeking. Zacchaeus
didn’t have to shout out to catch Jesus’ attention—Jesus was already looking
for him.
And this is a theme that runs throughout Scripture, and
throughout human history, really: God in search of his children, his lost
sheep. It started in the Garden of Eden,
after Adam and Eve hid themselves, and God had to go searching: “My children,
where are you?” And we have the Prodigal
Son, whose father “saw him from a distance,” because he was looking for his
lost child. And then we have Jesus who
came “to seek and to save what was lost.”
God is actively looking for us. But he won’t find us unless we make our
hearts known to him. That’s what
Zacchaeus did when he climbed the tree.
That’s what Adam and Eve did when they stepped out from behind the
tree. That’s what the Prodigal Son did
when he turned around and went home.
They were signals to God that said, “I want to be found by you, God.”
God is searching for us, always. How are we letting him know that we want to
be found?
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