He Chose Me!

I remember many years ago, in gym class, watching the athletes choosing their teams.  Watching the team pool dwindle, finding myself last or next to last, the one the team gets stuck with at the end.  Zaccheus, I imagine, was like that last pick. 

“Oh, no, we got stuck with him last time!  It has to be your turn now.  He can’t hit a ball for nothin’!”

So, he didn’t even try anymore, to fit in, to be on anyone’s team.  But he found a way to get even.  He made himself a big shot by stealing people’s money as the county tax collector.

You can imagine that when Jesus stopped and set his sights on Zaccheus that day in Jericho, everyone was shocked, perhaps dismayed at Jesus’ choice of company.

But think about how this rejected, unwanted man must have felt to be Jesus’ first choice that day.

“There must be some mistake. Does he really mean me?  He chose me! He’s coming home with me today!”

And knowing that God picked him out of a crowd, chose to spend the day at his home, changed everything for Zaccheus.  “Just for the chance to be with you, to belong to you, I will give up my lifestyle, and pay back four times what I’ve stolen.  Just because you chose me.  Just because you believe there is something worth loving in me, I will be that valuable person you somehow see through all the crud.”

So we, too, get to be like Jesus, to look past boorish behavior, smelly clothes, obnoxious words, and pick the Zaccheuses of this world to befriend, share a meal, sit down and visit with them, because we see what Jesus saw when he looked up in the tree that day in Jericho so many years ago.

I want to love what you love.

I want to hate what you hate.

Want to hold dear to my heart,

All that you hold in yours.

Help me to see what you see.

Help me to hear what you hear.

To hold dear to my heart,

All that you hold in yours.