Wednesday 30 May 2012

...The Simplicity That Is In Christ...

I talked about the term "babylon", which is to say "confusion", in my last post.  This post is a juxtaposition to that post because I want to put the purpose for this time that we live on the earth in simple terms, using a few different passages.  The purpose of this age is very easy to remember because Moses told us, "Thou shalt remember all the way that the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, and to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no (Deuteronomy 8:2)."  And it is important to know what is in our hearts because that is where true belief begins, "for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16)." "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Joel 2:32 & Romans 10:13)."  And we know that there have been 2,000 years since Christ walked the earth, which seems like a long time because the Lord is "longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9);" but this period of time will come to an end at some point.  "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry (Habakkuk 2:3)." And we want to be those who have listened to God and have taken heed to what He has said, not confused, "lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, [our] minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2)."  For "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33)."

So believe in Him.  And call on Him. "His name is great (Psalm 76:1)."  What is His name?  "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He is also become my salvation (Isaiah 12:2)." "Jehovah is His name (Exodus 15:3, Jeremiah 33:2, Amos 5:8 & Amos 9:6)." God bless.

Saturday 26 May 2012

Deliver Thyself, O Zion, That Dwellest With The Daughter Of Babylon...

The title of this post is taken from Zechariah 2:7, but the reason for this post is very short.  I simply want to give the meaning of the word "Babylon" and connect it to what is going on in the world today.  The word Babylon in the Bible is the Hebrew word "babel".  The word means "confusion" and originates from the events that occurred at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11).  It comes from the root word "balal" which means "to mix together".  So the entire meaning of the word is given in that Babel is "confusion by mixing things together"... or like when you would say, "you have that all mixed up".  (It is also very closely related to the English word babble, which is nonsensical speaking.)  At that time (in Genesis 11), man had begun to build a tower to the heavens to save themselves from a possible second flood, and God came down and confused all of their languages to prevent them from building the tower too far and taking stock in supplying their own salvation.  The story has close connections to what is going on today.

Today people all over the earth are working together to come up with answers to every question under the sun.  Nations are working together in the fields of science, politics, education, finance and numerous other areas to advance our civilization to heights that have never before been reached.  There is just one problem with that: as cultures come together more and more, the morals and ethics of those cultures are getting all mixed together and the once distinct cultural systems are changing over time.  You see a lot of this mixing occurring in the entertainment world and, with all deceitfulness, there are a lot of hard hitting immoral lessons that are being delivered with sugary-sweet, catchy pop beats.  We in North America are seeing things that were once considered to be immoral by the very people that founded our nations being thought of as moral under a new ideology - things which are directly opposed to the Word of God.  And God has told us, "I am the Lord, I change not (Malachi 3:6);" and again "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law [the Word of God], till all be fulfilled (Matthew 5:18)."  So when nations that founded themselves on the laws and precepts of God begin to change what is right, it won't be too long before He's coming down to put a stop to it, just like He did at the Tower of Babel.  We're getting closer and closer to that time my friends.

The Bible has clearly laid out what the events are that lead up to the end of this age, so don't be someone who gets carried off into Babylon, which is to say "confusion", because there are people out there who want to mix everything together and confuse it.  Examine the Bible, let it be your foundation and your tower, and you won't be lead astray.  God bless.

Friday 9 March 2012

He That Gathereth Not With Me Scattereth...

Incubation time is good.  I've taken some time away to study and think, and now have some thoughts to jot down... 

My previous posts focused on which spiritual family tree you make yourself a part of.  They focused primarily on God's family tree, but there is also the other family tree - Satan's family tree - and the Bible has plenty to say about that tree and how to identify it.  Jesus showed us how to deal with Satan's family tree in the gospels.  First Jesus dealt with Satan's temptations in the wilderness for 40 days, then He continued to deal with Satan's childrens' temptations for the remainder of His 33 years (40 years less 7 years).

Satan's children are the Pharisees in the gospel - this is undeniable.  Both Jesus and John the Baptist call the Pharisees a "generation of vipers" (Matthew 3:7; Matthew 12:34; Matthew 23:33; Luke 3:7) meaning the children of the serpent (Satan being the serpent from the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3).  Jesus makes this even more explicit in John 8:44 where He says to the Pharisees, "You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning..."  This pinpoints what Satan's goal is - to murder.  It's my belief that Satan couldn't give two figs about murdering a human body, because a human body is temporary.  Rather, Satan wants to murder the souls of people.  He does this by scattering people from God, keeping them from the truth.  And this is where the title of the post comes in because Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, "He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad."

The idea of scattering is the principal idea for the post.  This was what the Pharisees intended to do.  When you read the Bible and take note of how the Pharisees act when they are around Jesus, they continually want to use the Old Testament law to condemn and kill people, but they never use it for it's intended purpose, which is to protect people (especially vulnerable people).  The only time they use it to protect someone is to protect and justify themselves.  They separate themselves from all of the other "sinners" that they believe are going to hell.

The idea of separation and scattering in connection with the Pharisees is interesting, especially when you look at what the word Pharisees means.  The word Pharisee (the Greek word) comes from the Hebrew root "parash", which is translated a couple of different ways.  In a couple of verses, it is translated "show" or "declare", but the sentiment is more like "distinguished", and the Pharisees definitely thought they were distinguished (see Matthew 23 for a better picture of this).  In Ezekiel 34:12, the word parash is translated as "scattered" and refers specifically to the scattering of sheep ("He that gathereth not with Me scattereth...").  In Proverbs 23:32, the word parash is translated as "stingeth", as in the sting of the serpent ("Ye generation of vipers...").

These verses all go hand in hand so that we can observe the types of behaviours the children of Satan exhibit, so we can not behave that way, and so we can protect our family (our spiritual family) from people that do behave this way.  They let us know how not to scatter, so that we can go on gathering.  God bless.  

Thursday 2 February 2012

Aaron and Lucas

Just a short post today.  I find names to be fascinating in the Bible.  Quite often there is overlap with names that we might not even realize if we don't look at the history and the meaning of the names.  One such example is that the name Jesus was the modernized version of the name Joshua. (Isaiah also comes from the same roots.)

Two names I want to point out that I find remarkably similar:

Aaron = "light bringer"
Luke* = "light giving"

*The word in the Greek texts is always "Lucas" as refered to in 2 Corinthians 13:14, Colosians 4:14, 2 Timothy 4:11, and Philemon 1:24.

God bless.

Sunday 29 January 2012

God Trieth the Hearts and Reins...

There are two concepts that I would like to explore in this post.  The first is what it means to be a "Son of Abraham".  The second is how God knows if you are a Son of Abraham.  Both of these concepts are firmly lodged in the story of Abraham, and are also illustrated elsewhere in the Bible.

To Be A "Son Of Abraham"

Abraham's name is mentioned 250 times in the King James Bible.  But what does the name mean? (If you have been following my blog previously, you know that I love to use names in the context of the stories being told.)  Abraham is introduced in Genesis 11 as "Abram", which means "exalted father."  At this point in history, Abram had yet to have a son, and does not produce the heir of his estate until later, when he is 100 years old.  (100 in terms of Biblical Numerics is the number of the elect, or chosen.)  Then, in Genesis 17:5, God changes Abram's name - He adds an "H" to his name, an "H" which is also found in the middle of God's sacred name, Jehovah (yah-Ho-vah) - to create the name "Abraham", which means "father of many nations". (Indeed, God gives the meaning of the name in the very same verse).  But what does that mean, that Abraham will be a father of many nations?  Abraham is the great-great-great-etc-grandfather of Jesus, Who is the Lord of all nations.  And that is what Abraham's name means.  (There is no word for "grandfather" in Hebrew; the word father was always used, even when a grandfather was being described.)

But how is it that he is considered the "father of many nations"?  It's true that he fathered Ishmael, who is considered to be the father of the Islamic nations, and that he fathered a number of children with his second wife after Sarah had died, who also became nations, but I believe the name has to do with those who are faithful to God and His Son Jesus Christ.  The family relationship is considered through faith, and not by genealogical birth.  Let me explain through some Scriptural examples:

In Matthew 3, John the Baptist chastises the Pharisees and the Sadducees that come out to see him, by saying, "Think not to say within yourselves [in your thoughts], 'We have Abraham to our father:' for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."  Meaning that birth by genealogy was not going to save them; rather it is faith and repentance unto God that will gain His salvation.

The Pharisees seemed to think that salvation was a physical birthright, though.  In John 8, after the incident where the crowd wanted to stone the adulterous woman (possibly adulterous... maybe falsely accused? I'm not sure how trustworthy the mob was - see the next post on when to believe crowds in Scripture) the Pharisees are arguing with Jesus about their heritage.  Jesus corrects them in verse 24 by saying, "If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins." Meaning, regardless of whether Abraham was there patronymic father or not, without faith there was no salvation for them.  He later says, in verse 37, "I know that ye are Abraham's seed." The word for seed in the Greek is "sperma", so that there is no confusion that Jesus is talking about the actual physical offspring of Abraham.  A few verses later He says, "If ye were Abraham's children [the word here is "teknon", not "sperma", to differentiate from the prior statement], ye would do the works of Abraham."  I think the Pharisees see what Jesus is getting at by using the two different words, switching from a physical meaning to a spiritual meaning, because they reply, "We have one Father, even God;" to which Jesus replies, "If God were your Father, ye would love Me... ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." This once again focused who's child a person is by what they do and how they act.  (I've condensed the argument for the sake of discussion and illustration, but I encourage you to go back and read the entire chapter.  It's a good one!)

Once again, in Matthew 12 and Mark 3, Jesus asks, "Who is My mother? and who are My brethren?...whosoever shall do the will of My Father Which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother." Here, the mother is the "mother nation," and the brothers and sisters are those who believe and act in God's will. 

Paul makes this crystal clear in Galatians 3:26-29 when he says, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

A son of Abraham is one who believes and acts like it. (Now think about this in terms of Zacchaeus' actions in my prior post.)

How God Knows Whether You Are A Son Or Daughter Of Abraham

How does God know whether you are truly a Son or Daughter of Abraham?  He can see your insides, which is to say, He knows your thoughts and motivations.  He gave us plenty of examples to explain this to us, and I will go through a few below.

Solomon says in Proverbs 21:2, "Every way of man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts." We may be able to justify our own actions, but God knows what your thoughts are at the time that you act, and He takes this into consideration in His judgment.

Solomon's father David wrote in Psalm 7:9, "Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins." Trieth is also another word for "examine".  Though we may not know a persons intentions when they act, thus making it all the more difficult to judge them for it ("judge not, lest ye be judged"), God does know their intentions.

In Revelation 2:23, Jesus says, "I AM He which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto everyone of you according to your works." Now compare this statement with the parable that Jesus tells in Jericho after calling Zacchaeus out of the sycomore tree (see the next post).  God rewards based on your intentions and the actions that come from those intentions.

How do we know that God means that He can see your thoughts in the verses above? God tells Amos in Amos 4:13, "For, lo ["lo" is like an asterisk, and it means "pay attention to this!"], He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, [Jehovah], The God of hosts, is His name."  Since the Lord is declaring His name in the verse, I used the actual Hebrew name, rather than "The Lord" that is in the English translation.  Jesus also constantly was able to determine peoples' thoughts when He was around them, and dealt with them righteously (an example is in Luke 6:8). 

What about a physical example?  Well, a physical example of this has to do with Abraham, who is the main tie together for this post.  In Genesis 15, the Lord speaks with Abraham, and tells him that Abraham and his seed will inherit the promised land, and Abraham asks "how will I know this will happen?" and the Lord tells Abraham to lay out an offering, physical animals, and that they would be split down the middle and laid out in halves (except for the birds).  Abraham does so, and he also drove away any unclean birds that would try to peck at the insides of the offering.  Then what happened?  The Lord walked in the middle of the cloven animals with a lamp... so that He could see the insides of the offering.  And once He had seen the insides of the offering, He made a covenant with Abraham.  This is the same figure as God "trying the hearts and reins".  It's also the same as Jesus telling the Pharisees to "wash the inside of the cup" (Matthew 23:26) and is also the same figure as washing the "inwards" (insides) of the offerings that are made to God (see Leviticus 1:9 for an example).

"But how do we know that the offerings and sacrifices you described above mean us?" you may ask me.  Paul gives you the answer to this in the beginning of Romans 12.  "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."  The figure of the sacrifice was always meant to be our love and good actions and knowledge of God (see Hosea 6:6).

Are you a son or daughter of Abraham?  Remember it is your thoughts and actions that determine if you are.  You can change your behaviours (a.k.a. repentance from the old behaviours) and pray also for help to do so.  God bless.

Thursday 26 January 2012

Zacchaeus The Pure And The Two Trees Of Life

My previous posts were going in a different direction; however, I recently had been doing some studying that got me very excited, and I wanted to take a new direction (although, there is a bit of a common thread between the prior discussions and these new posts).  The post today is related to Luke 19, the story of Zacchaeus, and the parable that follows; but it also draws on other areas of the Bible.  The inspiration came from a reading of Luke 19 after my pastor had posted a blog about it, but the revelation of the reading shattered any previous traditional teaching that I had done on the story, and that's what I would like to share.  So, the story of Zacchaeus is as follows:

And Jesus entered and passed though Jericho.  And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.  And he sought to see Jesus who He was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.  And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see Him: for He was to pass that way.  And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, "Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house."  And he made haste, and came down, and received Him joyfully.

And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That He was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.  And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold."  And Jesus said unto him, "This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

And as they heard these things, He added and spake a parable, because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

He said therefore, "A certain nobleman went into a far county to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.  And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, 'Occupy till I come.'  But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.'  And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.  Then came the first, saying, "Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.'  And he said unto him, 'Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.'  And the second came, saying, 'Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.'  And he said likewise to him, 'Be thou also over five cities.'  And another came, saying, 'Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: for I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.'  And he saith unto him, 'Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant.  Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?'  And he said unto them that stood by, 'Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.'  (And they said unto him, 'Lord, he hath ten pounds.')  'For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.  But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.'"  And when He had thus spoken, He went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.

The message of the reading incorporates both the incident with Zacchaeus and the parable that follows.  Primarily, it has to do with the two trees that are presented in the incident.  You may ask yourself, "Two trees? but I thought there was only one?"  No, there are definitely two trees in the story, and a deeper look into the language used shows the difference between the two.

The choice between trees is a huge lesson in Scripture.  The choice between trees was one of the first lessons given in the Bible, in the Garden of Eden.  There were two trees, and Adam and Eve had to pick between the two trees.  Satan was able to fool them into choosing the wrong tree. 

The choice between trees is also one of the first lessons given in the New Testament.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, "Ye shall know [the tree] by their fruit (Matthew 7:16)."  In the verse before, he also states that false prophets (those of a bad tree) are like wolves in sheeps' clothing - they have the appearance of being harmless, but they are not!  So, again, we are to carefully choose our tree.

But what is this "choosing you tree" that I'm talking about?  It is choosing your family tree.  "What?! I can't choose what family I'm born into!" you may say.  In a physical sense, that is true, but in a spiritual sense, Jesus teaches on several occasions that that is not the case.

So what does this have to do with Zacchaeus and the two trees that I haven't identified yet?

The Tree of Life

Jesus is the Tree of Life.  Jesus is the Living Word of God (see John 1), and His Word brings life.  Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father but by Me." In Revelation 2:7, Jesus says, "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."  So Jesus, in the story of Zacchaeus, is the first tree, the Tree of Life.

The "tree of life"

The second tree is the more obvious one in the story.  It is the tree that Zacchaeus runs ahead of the crowd to climb.  Zacchaeus is very excited to see the Lord, and is obviously a very intuitive man, because he engineers a solution to gain his heart's desire of seeing the Lord more clearly.  He, being a short man, finds a tree with branches that are close to the ground, easy to grasp, even for a short fellow like himself (I love that the word in the Greek word to describe his shortness is "micro"... I mean, that's short!).  But everything is not as it seems here; there are a few red flags for this tree that need to be discussed.

First off, this is the Sycomore tree.  In English, it's also known as the "fig-mulberry" or the "Egyptian fig" tree.  The first red flag is that the tree is known as the "tree of life" in Egyptian mythology, which is to say that it is the tree of life for false religions, and should not be confused with the Christian Tree of Life.

Second, this Sycomore tree gets its name from two Greek words.  The first is "sykon" (English: fig), and the second is "moron" (English: mulberry).  The reason it is called such is that it is actually a fig tree (by genus), but had the appearance of a mulberry tree (so mulberry was given as the descriptor). 

Fig-Mulberry = Sykon-moron = Sycomore.

The word "sykon" is the base for the word "sycophant" in the English language, which literally means "to show your figs."  To show your figs is a bit of a vulgar expression in the Greek language.  It's speculated that the term had to do with people who would attempt to pilfer figs in times of drought in Israel, when it would be illegal to export these figs out of the country.  But the person would be so stupid as to divulge that he had copped some figs, and would thus "show his figs."  Today, the word "sycophant" is associated with what's commonly known as an "ass-kisser" or a "brown-noser".  It's someone who attempts to make personal gain through flattery and concealed betrayal.  (Think about this in terms of what is going on in Zacchaeus' story.)

The word "moron" is commonly considered slang in the English language for someone of substandard intelligence.  The word was officially introduced into the English language by psychologist Henry Goddard to describe someone with a low IQ, having the mental capacity of about an 8 to 12 year old.  The word actually did come from this tree, for which the fruit is slow in growing; hence the association with slowness.

Not only was the tree slow to bear fruit, but the fruit of this fig tree was inferior to the fruit of a regular fig tree (the sykon).  It was used to feed pigs.  Also, in order to get the fruit to ripen fully, it had to be pierced three days before it was picked.  This is pretty significant in spiritual imagery, though I don't think it is for the reasons that are commonly taught (because the fruit of our Lord is superior, not inferior).

Now, we have the trees identified, but let's see if we can apply them to the story.

Zacchaeus the Pure

Any time I've heard this story taught, Zacchaeus has always been identified as a great big sinner.  It's been taught as, "the crowd calls him a sinner, so he must be a sinner."  But hold on a minute! Is that the way that it always is in Scripture?  The crowd says something, so it must be true?  I don't think so.  Let me elaborate. 

Romans 2:23 says, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Now, that's everyone.  That means Zacchaeus is a sinner, but every person in the crowd of accusers is a sinner too.  So for this crowd to turn their noses up a Zacchaeus and say "What!? Dine with him? But that guy is a big fat sinner!" is hypocritical.  The Pharisees pulled this same trick with Jesus all the time, complaining that He was a friend of sinners, and He called them hypocrites.  So, it would seem that we can't really trust the word of the crowd here.

But why did they call him a sinner?  Likely because he was a publican (a tax collector); and not only a publican, but the chief publican!* so he must also be a chief sinner, right?  Wrong.  There's a problem with that logic.  It is a person's actions that makes him a sinner, not what he or she does for a living.  As long as you do your job honestly, treating people fairly, and with respect and love, then there is no sin.  Here are some other examples of incidents with publicans in the Bible.  When John was preaching in the desert and the publicans asked him, "what should we do?" did he say, "For heaven's sakes, stop being publicans!!!"? (Luke 3:12-13)  No.  He says, "Be fair, don't rip people off."  When the Pharisees came to trip Jesus up with legal mumbo-jumbo by asking if it was lawful to pay taxes, did Jesus say, "No! Taxes are a great sin, and those who collect them are evil!"? (Matthew 22:15-22)  No.  He says, "Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what is God's"  Meaning what?  Does God desperately want your money? No! He wants your love, for you to know Him (by His Word), and to treat people properly (see Hosea 6:6 and Micah 6:8).  Money isn't going to matter much in heaven, but if you can use it to win souls here on earth for Him, then that is a worthy cause.  So being a publican does not on it's own make Zacchaeus a sinner.  In fact, he was chief publican, meaning he was the boss, and you don't typically get to be the boss of anything without a lot of hard work and good treatment of people.  So, if anything, the fact that he is chief publican tells me that he was a rather decent fellow.  But is there anything else in the narrative to suggest the same?

*(I have to say this, "believers" and taxes have never been two concepts that have mixed - they hate paying taxes! Just look at what is going on in the United States right now, and how the Republicans are adamantly opposed to raising the taxes.)

What does the word "Zacchaeus" mean?  It actually means "pure" and is why I titled the post the way I did.  But is there anything else that suggests this?  How about the fact that Jesus basically calls Zacchaeus one of his lost sheep?  When Jesus comes to the sycomore tree, He calls Zacchaeus by name, like one of His sheep (see John 10:3).  He also refers to Zacchaeus by saying, "I have come to save that which was lost," which is the same language that Jesus uses to describe His lost sheep (see Luke 15:4-6).  What about, when the crowd accuses Zacchaeus, what does he do?  He defends his honour by saying, "Sinner? Lord, [he knows Jesus as Lord as soon as he sees Him - see John 10:4] I give half of what I have to the poor! If any of you can tell me that I have taken anything by false accusation, I will pay you back fourfold!" Fourfold, according to the law, was the penalty that a sheep thief had to pay (Exodus 22:1), which suggests to me (even over and above the fact that Zacchaeus was so eager to see Jesus at the beginning of the story) that Zacchaeus is actually a God-fearing man who knows the Hebrew law quite well... he just hadn't met Jesus before. 

And what does this say about Zacchaeus, that Jesus wanted to dine with him?  At this time, Jesus was on the final leg of His journeys to go to Jerusalem and be crucified at Passover.  But Jesus had a rule that He had given to the disciples when they were out evangelising, and I'm inclined to believe that He would also follow that rule when He was travelling.  Jesus had told them, "Go... to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:6)... And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet (Matthew 10:11-14)." Isn't this exactly what Jesus had just done in this story?  He came to save that which was lost (His lost sheep, Zacchaeus); He was to abide at one's house who was worthy; and the receiver, Zacchaeus, did receive Him, and received Him joyfully, so there was no need to shake the dust from the feet. 

(There's one further note on Zacchaeus that is part of the way that I read the story.  The text calls him short and I take that to mean that he was a very humble man.  Scripture sometimes uses height in a story to describe the character of a person, as it did with Saul (1 Samuel 9:2) and I believe height is being used here for the same purpose.  Zacchaeus is humble, and that's why he chose the tree that he did, because it was an easy tree to climb into... but, due to the nature of the tree, the ease that it provided actually turned out to be a danger.  This ties into the overall message of just what that tree was below.)

So it would seem that Zacchaeus was not as bad a person as some may teach.  A sinner? Yes - everyone is.  But a largely sinister man? No. (I don't want to say that God would not accept the repentance of a truly wicked person.  He clearly states that He will in Ezekiel 18 and shows a physical example when Ahab, one of the worst kings that Israel had ever seen, humbles himself before God in 1 Kings 21:27-29. But that is not the message that I get from this story.)

The Crowd

What about the crowd then, that has falsely accused Zacchaeus of being a great sinner?  Why would they do this?  They clearly did not want Jesus to abide with Zacchaeus - but why?  I believe it is because they wanted Jesus to abide with them; they were jealous.  They accuse Zacchaeus so that he will suffer, and they will gain from it: and it's a false accusation.  I think Zacchaeus recognised what they were doing, but let's breakdown some of the language used for the crowd in this story. 

First, it must be pointed out that Jesus was very famous at this time and would draw crowds wherever He went - great multitudes in fact.  But since there is nothing new under the sun, we need to recognise that some of the crowds would have the same behaviours as crowds today, and would be there simply because someone is famous, and they want to be associated with someone famous, and not necessarily because they believed in the message.  People who do this are known as "sycophants" today (see the explanation of "sycophant" above). 

Second, when Jesus says that He is to abide at Zacchaeus' house, what does the crowd do? They murmur.  This word "murmur" is specifically associated with hypocrites.  The word Luke uses in the Greek - "diagoggyzo" = "by murmuring" - is only used twice in the New Testament, once here, and once in Luke 15:2 to describe the murmurings of the Pharisees (who were self-righteous hypocrites) when they saw Jesus spending time with "publicans and sinners."  Otherwise, the word is "goggyzo" ("murmur"), such as when Paul uses it in 1 Corinthians 10:10.  But the point is that murmuring was specifically associated with the unbelievers of Israel of old.  The fact that they murmur does not lend to the credit of the crowd.

Third, Zacchaeus uses a very special word in his speech to Jesus when he is false accused (and if I've worded this post properly, it shouldn't be too hard to guess the word).  The word in the text for "false accusation" is "sukophanteo"... or, in modern language, "sycophant."  I think it's Zacchaeus' way of letting them know that they had falsely accused him, which connects the crowd with the tree that Zaccheaus had climbed, and the fact that Jesus calls him out of that tree to save him.  This crowd was a group of sycophants.  They throw Zacchaeus under the bus for their own personal gain.  And Zacchaeus was lost among them, in their tree, so to speak.  He was lost in the sycophant tree, in the moron tree that produced slow inferior fruit, and Jesus calls him out so that he can associate with a much better Tree - the Tree of Life.  The same calling is laid on many of us.    

What is the message then?  Does the message above mean that there was only hope for Zacchaeus, and the rest of the crowd were all "goners".  Absolutely not, they just needed a correction by the Word of God, and if they heard Him, they too could come out of the moron tree, and start living in the Tree of Life.

If we are to be sons and daughters of God, we should act like it.  Our tree should not resemble the mulberry (moron), but should produce good fruit.  That is clearly what Zacchaeus' actions in his story, and the parable following, are saying.  Jesus calls Zacchaeus a "son of Abraham", of his family tree, but it's not because of his genealogy... it's because he acts like it, he does the works of Abraham (see John 8).  The same opportunity is open to all who believe (John 3:16) and is not just laid on the physical offspring of Abraham, but those who have the faith of Abraham, which is what Paul says in many of his writings. 

Be careful how you read Scripture.  Be careful what tree you are climbing into to get closer to the Lord.  God bless.