Communion Service Sunday 2nd November – led by Anne Walton
I think we are used to Anne’s love of visual aids, but we might have wondered just how she was going to weave this particular one into her Reflection. She’d been out shopping, and with all that Halloween merchandise on display, had been tempted, and given in. We were the first to see her actually wear it. Perhaps luckily, no child had called at the door on Halloween? Certainly, we were lucky, because at the back of the church for us were two little baskets with some chocolates that she’d had ready for them – all treat and no trick for us!
Notwithstanding the headgear, Anne only believed in one ghost – The Holy Ghost, The Holy Spirit. God’s presence here on earth.
The reading from Luke 19 was about Jesus and Zacchaeus the Tax collector. And Anne thought that we might have noticed that there were people around who seemed to possess everything that this world held in value. Perhaps, just perhaps, we’d even been a little bit jealous?
Zacchaeus was someone who seemed to have it all. He was a rich man, a man of position and power. Yet, there was actually more to Zacchaeus than met the eye. It was what he lacked that made the difference in his life. And though some of us might seem to have it all, seem to be happy and successful; if we were to look deep down inside ourselves, we might also realise that something was missing. And if that were the case, then, like Zacchaeus, we needed to call upon Jesus.
Anne’s first thoughts on reading the story from Luke was that we were being presented with two people who were both seeking something. Zacchaeus, ‘the seeking sinner’, and Jesus, the ‘Seeking Saviour’.
Zacchaeus, the seeking sinner, had been a tax collector working for Rome, who was allowed to extract taxes from the people living in Jericho and could set his own tax rate, charging more than Rome demanded. And that meant he was a man of considerable wealth, and that people were probably a little in fear of him. He might not have fully understood all that was happening in his heart and in his life, but nevertheless, he’d suddenly felt a desperate need to get close to Jesus. But before he could get to Jesus, he’d had to overcome two large obstacles. Because he was a little man, he couldn’t see over the heads of the crowd: also, his sins were preventing him from getting close to Jesus. So he’d climbed a tree to get a glimpse of the Lord as he passed by that day, allowing nothing to stand between him and seeing Jesus.
And Jesus, the Seeking Saviour, had been seeking souls to save by grace, because if he didn’t show people their need, they’d never be able to recognize it themselves. Just as we would never be able, nor would we have the desire to come to Jesus, unless Jesus came to us first.
Now, when Jesus had stopped under that tree that day, he’d known everything there was to know about Zacchaeus. Yet, he’d still loved him, still had compassion for him. He’d taken the time to stop and reach out to this little man. And when Zacchaeus had obeyed Jesus’ order to come down from his street so he could welcome Jesus into his house, he’d recognised that Jesus was looking for something more than just a place to visit for the day. And Zacchaeus’ salvation had been marked by the two things that he’d done. He’d obeyed the Lord’s call and had come down from the tree. Then, he’d not only had he allowed Jesus into his house, he’d allowed Jesus into the very core of his life. So Jesus had taken this little wicked man, and in one instant, had saved him forever.
For that’s what Jesus did for all those who came to Him by faith. Eternal salvation became theirs through Him. And through the gift of the Holy Spirit, he was still doing so today. Because when there was no one around but ourselves and God, and we heard the truthful sound in our souls, like the blast of a thousand trumpets – where we’d been… or, what we’d done – if we repented and turned to God in faith, then by grace, Jesus would save us.
And yet Luke’s story seems incomplete to me because it doesn’t tell us whether Zaccheus’s life and his behaviours were set on a new path after he’d taken Jesus into his life, or whether that moment had simply passed. If salvation is not to be a “get out of jail free card”, that life-changing moment has to be just that – a truly changed life.
Potters Bar United Reformed Church 