In Small Packages

 

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very year at Christmas, I give the “packaging award” for the item that has the most compact and the most innovative container.  Rarely, if ever, are these packages large; instead, they are small, light, and leave me wondering how the manufacturer ever packed so much into such a little container. 

 

As I have grown older, I have learned that the size of the package in no ways belies what lies underneath the wrapping.  As a kid, I naturally believed that the bigger the package, the bigger the prize.  This, however, is not always the case and in fact is seldom true.  Watches, rings, fun electronics, gift cards, etc. all come in small packages, but they produce the biggest bang.  Dynamite does indeed come in small packages. 

 

It should come as no surprise, then, that the Bible is chock full of examples of small packages that produce big bangs.  We need look no further than the opening verses of Luke 19 to find one such example; an example we all know far too well. 

 

In Luke 19, we meet a man named Zacchaeus.  As children in Sunday school, we all learned the song about Zacchaeus who was a “wee little man” who climbed up in a sycamore tree because he wanted to see Jesus.  We learned the motions to accompany the song, but I wonder if we really understood the implications of those few brief verses. 

 

Luke 19:3-4 gives us this simple description of Zacchaeus: He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd.  So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.   

 

What a lesson this man teaches us.  Please notice two truths in tucked away in this passage.  First, Zacchaeus was short in stature.  I can identify with this!  Most people are taller than I am and since I am afraid of heights, being close to the ground is indeed a comfort.  But Zacchaeus was also short in other ways.  In addition to being short of stature, he was also short in spirit.  Zacchaeus needed to see Jesus, he wanted to know him, and he wanted to experience the Lord first-hand. 

 

Here is the second lesson Zacchaeus teaches us.  His shortness was indeed an obstacle in his life.  He had no doubt been the brunt of many jokes and had literally been overlooked for his entire life.  But he did not let his stature prevent him from seeing Jesus.  He climbed a tree and placed himself in a position both to see Jesus and to be seen by him.   

Zacchaeus would not be denied, his goal was to see the Lord and he saw him.  In fact, the story goes that Jesus requests Zacchaeus to come down so he can spend the day with him. 

 

Zacchaeus came down and took Jesus home with him and what a change there was.  He gave away half is possessions to the poor and restored fourfold any monies extorted from his neighbors.  Upon hearing and seeing this, Jesus stated that salvation had come to Zacchaeus’ house because Jesus had come to seek and save the lost (verse 10). 

 

Wherever you are today, in whatever circumstances you find yourself, there is hope.  Zacchaeus did not stop and he did not falter because of his height.  Instead, he ran to a tree, climbed up in it, and made sure that he saw Jesus.  When we position ourselves to see Jesus, when he is our goal, when we refuse to let our circumstances prevent us from reaching him, then we will know the joy and the peace of spending time with him.  How long has it been since you climbed a tree?