WHAT
IS OUR STORY?
Our modern day Bible is the result of a long history. We probably do not give much thought that
the Book we use so often that begins with Genesis ands ends with Revelation
historically speaking is a relatively new development. We have become so used to having a Book
divided into chapters and verses that it is difficult to imagine it being in
any other form. However, most of the
original writings of the Bible were recorded on scrolls and were printed by
hand. As such they were very expensive
and even the wealthiest centers of worship seldom had more than one or two
“books”. Further, the system of
dividing the Bible into chapters and verses is manmade and of comparatively
recent origin (about 1551).
Dividing the books of the Bible into chapters and verses is
not without its drawbacks. Frequently
the divisions are arbitrary and tend to break the sense of the reporting of an
incident. But the major limitation is
that accounts are often treated as separate entities and not put into context
i.e., what was happening before and what happened next?
The setting
for our present reading is Jesus passing through Jericho on His way to
Jerusalem. While He travels there and
does the works as Luke reports, He is aware that this will be His final journey
to that city, where he will soon meet his death.
Immediately
prior to the event we will be examining is His healing of a blind beggar. “He called out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have
mercy on me!’ Those who led the way
rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, ‘ Son of
David, have mercy on me!’ Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to
him. When he came near, Jesus asked
him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’
‘Lord, I want to see,’ he replied.”
(Luke 18: 38-41 NIV). Jesus
healed him and the previously blind man followed the group as they continued on
their way.
As
they proceeded we come to another account of a man who couldn’t see. This account is probably the most familiar
event in our New Testament and one most of us probably sang a song about as
children; it starts, “Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was
he …”. One may wonder why the account
of Zacchaeus immediately follows the healing of the blind beggar but I believe
it is all part of “seeing” Jesus.
READ:
LUKE 19: 1-10
We
are all familiar how Zacchaeus climbed up into the sycamore tree to be in
position to see Jesus, as he was so short that it couldn’t see over the
crowd. Why Zacchaeus climbed the
tree is not necessarily an important question for me, rather I wonder why he
wanted to see Jesus.
Luke
writes: “ He was trying to see who Jesus was.” So maybe it was just curiosity.
There is nothing in the story that causes one to believe that Zacchaeus
came to see Jesus in order to have his life changed. But that is what happened!!
We read that “When Jesus came to the place; He looked up and
said to him, ‘ Zacchaeus, hurry, come down; for I must stay at your home
today.’ We don’t know why or how Jesus
knew Zacchaeus or why He chose him out of the crowd. Luke leaves this point vague.
We do know that: “so
he hurried down and was happy to meet with Him …” and something happened! Although the healing of the blind beggar
was a spectacular event, but how about what happened to Zacchaeus? His story is really the only one that
needs to be told! It is the story how
someone’s life was radically changed when that person met Jesus. Is this our story and if it is shouldn’t we
be telling it to others who haven’t yet “seen” our Lord and Savior?