Looking up (Luke 19)

Jesus looked up to Zacchaeus.
No one had looked up to this man. It wasn’t just his lack of height or that fact that he didn’t usually climb trees. People had no respect for him.  They did not expect Jesus to invite himself to Zacchaeus’s home.
Imagine the moment. Place yourself in that tree. Jesus is looking up at you. He is respecting you. Honouring you. The people who don’t respect you are looking rather foolish.
Now hear this: he wants you to practice looking up at other people. Those who humble themselves will be lifted up. Those who make themselves great will be torn down. That’s how God’s kingdom works.
The story of Zacchaeus comes after other stories that make the same point:

• Two men go to pray but one looks down on the other. Guess who goes home in the right with God?
• Jesus’ disciples don’t want Jesus to be bothered by little children. Jesus disagrees and tells us to become like little children.
• A man comes to Jesus, claiming that he has obeyed all the commandments. Jesus tells him he has set the bar way too low.
• A blind man shouts to get Jesus’ attention. The crowd try to stop him, but Jesus hears him and heals him.

Jesus is there for the rejected ones. If you look down on people, whoever they are, you reject not just them, but Jesus. The one thing you must not do is make out that you are good.
In the middle of these stories Jesus talks about himself. He was mocked, insulted, spat at, flogged and killed. But he was also raised to life. Jesus is there for those who are rejected because he is a rejected one too.
In the kingdom of God we can look up at people because we know Jesus is looking up at us.