One thing that has stayed with me from my days in the protestant church is the wonderful little song about Zacchaeus.
Every year on Zacchaeus Sunday during the children’s sermon we sing that little song:
Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.
He climbed up in to the sycamore tree to see what he could see.
And when the master passed his way he looked up in the tree,
And he said “Zacchaeus you come down,
For I’m coming to your house today. For I’m coming to your house today.”
This is a special day for the children in our church and is also a wake up call for all of us.
The great fast is coming.
This stirs up many emotions: excitement, dread, soberness, joy, a bright sadness, anticipation, fear, and wonder.
Why such a mixture of contrasting movements in the soul?
Because we are embarking on a journey that brings with it many different experiences.
We look forward to it and we are afraid of it because of what we know what we are going to encounter.
We are going to descend into our hearts and see what is there.
We know from the past that we will not always be happy with what we find and at the same time we know that our Lord Jesus Christ is always there with us and brings us up “out of the miry bog.”
Every year at Christmas time our family will watch that great holiday classic “It’s a wonderful life.”
Each time I dread it because I know I will have to have my guts torn out before I get to experience the happy conclusion. George Bailey sees his whole life crumble around him and descends into “the desolate pit.” In the end, the grace of God brings him up and “sets his feet secure.” God puts a new song into his mouth, “ a song of praise to our God.”
So will it be with us if we are willing and courageous enough to make the journey.
My children in Christ our holy mother church gives us Zacchaeus Sunday as a sign, as a prompting, telling us that we are on the threshold of a spiritual battle.
One could argue that we are always in a spiritual battle and this is true.
However as Ecclesiastes says, “to everything there is a time and a season.” God has ordered things in such a way that our life, our time, our yearly calendar, has within it variety and ebbs and flows.
When the season of repentance came to Zacchaeus, he seized the opportunity, he climbed up into the sycamore tree, and he came down to be with Jesus and his life was changed forever.
As we anticipate the great and holy fast on this Zacchaeus Sunday, let us imitate him.
