I want to be a sycamore tree...

I often find myself filling in for a Sunday school teacher at the last minute. I found out last night that I'd be teaching the 4th-6th graders this morning. My mom, who told me that I was short teachers, told me the lesson was about Zacchaeus. I thought, relieved, "Oh good. That'll be easy. I don't need to prepare for this at all." When I told the kids we were learning about Zacchaeus I was met with the same response I initially had. Some kids started singing the song about Zacchaeus being a wee little man, others said they knew the story so we should just go outside and play. God spoke to my heart just then and said to tell them we were all going to learn something new. So, I said, "Pssssh. That song is the baby version of Zacchaeus' story. I'm going to give you each a notecard and challenge you to write something on it about Zacchaeus that you did not know before."  No one knew where the story was found, so everyone's notecard started with Luke 19 - before we even got into the story. There were little details that I didn't know, like that it took place in Jericho, but the most important thing that I didn't know was the whole point of the story. Here's what I learned today:

Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, not just a regular old tax collector. He was a Jew that was taking money from the Jews to give to the Romans - totally not a cool job. The Jews thought of them a traitors and thiefs, especially since they were allowed to charge extra for their services and keep that as a sort of commission. Jesus was in town and his popularity had grown such that he had a tremendous following. He was the star of the show and had a huge crowd. Zacchaeus wanted to see/hear Jesus but he was too short to see over the crowd so, like you all know, he climbed up into a Sycamore tree so that he could see what Jesus was all about. Jesus saw him and made his made through the crowd to the tree. Can you imagine being Zacchaeus? He saw Jesus walking towards him. What do you think was going through his mind? I'm sure the last thing that was going through his mind was that Jesus was walking his way to actually talk to him. But, over to the tree Jesus walked, as the crowd watched to see where he was going. He stopped at the base of the tree, and looked up at Zacchaeus. He told him to come down from the tree and take him to his house, that he was going to stay with him while he was in town. People were snearing and shouting to Jesus that Zacchaeus was a thief and a sinner. The funny thing is, Jesus knew that. Jesus knew his name. He had called him by name and told him to come down out of the tree. Jesus met Zacchaeus where he was. He walked over to that tree showed him compassion. Showed him that he didn't care want anyone else thought of him, he loved him the way he was. Zacchaeus' heart was changed. He told Jesus that he would give 1/2 of his wealth away and give back to those he stole from four fold. Jesus knew his heart changed and said that salvation had come to Zacchaeus' house. Note he said salvation CAME to Zacchaeus, not that Zacchaeus came looking for salvation. This is confirmed in Jesus' next statement about himself.. that he came, " to SEEK and to save what was lost." Jesus sought him out and brought salvation to him. I had never understood the story the way I understood it today, the umpteenth time I'd read it I finally understood the message. I am a Christian (in fact, Kristi Anne). By definition, I should be like Christ. When people see me, they should see Christ. Am I helping salvation find people? Am I seeking the sinner and showing them through example - not by preaching at them- the love of Christ? So I decided that I want to be the sycamore tree in this store. I want to be the instrument that is used to help sinners see Christ.